Heyyyy...so...it was late. And to be honest, this was a chapter I majorly procrastinated on to the point where I uploaded it late...Sorry...T^T
But, yeah, it's late and I'm so sorry! It's also not even that long, but the reason for that is because next chap is where all the action is going to be. This is like a, well, I guess you'll find out when you read, but anywho, hope you enjoy ittttt
And regarding my other PJO fic, I Promise They Said, I'm SO sorry for making the wait so long, but I FINALLY started working on the chapter. Problem with that one was that I would write something, scrap it, write something, scrap it, etc. etc. because I had no idea where I was going to go with it. But now I know! Sort of. It's a work in progress, but don't worry, it's not like I abandoned it it's just taking a loooooong time, but I'll get there. :)
Anywayyyyy, enjoy!
Disclaimer - I'm not Rick Riordan
Chapter Twenty Two - Sunday
Percy woke up that morning energized. He was of course, nervous - this was the day that he would end up in one of three ways: kidnapped, victorious but still part of a war, and third, dead. None of the options sound very nice, but death sounded sorta bad so the fact that it was even an option sort of sucked.
But he felt...a sense of calm. It was the strangest feeling, being calm when he knew all the things that was about to transpire that day, but...his emotions were kind of lacking.
He wasn't scared, and that was the most shocking part of that morning. Nervous? Yeah. Anxious? Definitely. Excited? Yep to that. But was he scared? Surprisingly, no, no he wasn't.
And perhaps it was the fact that he had his friends by him, and that they would help him when he was in need, that they had concocted a whole plan to execute just for his and his family's safety. That was, to say the least, really heartening, and it made him all that more confident that it'll be alright.
He opened up his room's window and looked down at the street from the second floor, watching. He breathed in deeply.
You're surprisingly...okay.
"Psh, you say that like it's a bad thing," Percy murmured back at Blackjack. Said pegasus nickered before saying saying, Nah, it's not bad. But...aren't you worried?
Percy smiled a bit, leaning a bit on the window sil, letting the slight breeze ruffle his hair as the crisp morning air surrounded him.
"Not really," he answered, watching as a few people walked on the sidewalks. A woman and her son walked side by side and hand in hand. Kind brown eyes. The brightest smile. A caring embrace and an encouraging voice. "My mom'll be safe, and that's sort of...all that matters."
...You matter too, boss.
Percy's eyes widened at that before he threw his head back a bit and laughed. "Blackjack you cute little -"
Hey! I'm handsome, not cute and I'm not little either! Percy just laughed, the grin on his face surely bright and genuine as he responded to Blackjack with a nod.
"And so do you, buddy, so do you."
Maybe it was the calm before the storm, but Percy didn't mind that the storm was coming. He was pretty comfortable with being calm before it came. It definitely beat not being calm. That would have been sucky and stressful.
Besides, there really was nothing to worry about.
Everything was going to be just fine.
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Annabeth, for once, felt the need to bump her leg up and down like Percy always did and considering the anticipation she was feeling that morning, she would say it's excusable. But she breathed in, out, and looked at her watch she latched on her wrist with stern eyes.
This is it, Annabeth, Athena said. Your plan will be put into motion, and everything will work out just fine.
Despite the calm encouraging voice of her Intent, Annabeth wasn't sure. Her plan was by far the best she could think of, but it was also very far from being fail-safe, meaning there was a possibility that something was going to go terribly wrong, and if not terribly, minorly, and even then, that's...dangerous.
Especially if so many of her friends were involved.
Don't fret so much, girl, Athena chided with a chuckle. Annabeth raised an eyebrow at that.
"Just because I named you after mom doesn't mean you are," Annabeth replied. She'll admit though, that the moment she heard the owl's voice, it sounded strangely similar to the voice she remembered of her mother when she had been alive, and...despite its strangeness, it was nonetheless not unwelcomed.
Well, Annabeth, what you needed when you spoke to me was a companion, but as well as a companion, you needed a parent, the Intent explained softly.
Annabeth scrunched her eyebrow at that, realizing absentmindedly that she was getting distracted from thinking about the plan at all, but she let it slide since this was new information. So...you're a parental figure then?
That's right, Athena said. She hummed a bit before adding, I know I will never replace her, but, when you need it, I will always be here when your real parents can't be. Annabeth was silent, mind rarely blank at the moment at the words her Intent said. Mom, she prayed silently. She was an atheist, but she still found herself doing that sometimes: praying to her mom. She wanted to say something more, but she found herself leaning into the back of her wheely chair, gazing out her window.
She watched silently as the sun shone brightly through the clouds, the very very white clouds. Clouds were made of water molecules, so she knew that no matter how fluffy it looked, it really was just a chunk of water and that if she were to brush her hand over the fluff, her hand wouldn't feel cotton but rather come back wet.
But that didn't stop her from wondering what it would be like to ride a cloud.
"Hm," she hummed to herself before closing her eyes. Might as well get some thoughts cleared out before everything goes down. And with that, she breathed, and concentrated on that: breathing.
Can't have her hyperventilating from stress after all, she thought idly with a small smile.
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Apollo drove down the highway, bopping his head up and down to the random song playing on the radio. He wasn't familiar with it, but it sure was catchy. Cruising on the flat road with legal speeds in his Chariot Corps car, he found himself grinning widely. He knew very well it wasn't the music that made him smile, though, of course music was wonderful, but instead it was what was to come that made him grin.
A grin that didn't quite mean he was happy. It was more a grin of anticipation.
Death or life, we do not know, Delphi whispered quietly in his mind.
Apollo pushed his foot a bit harder on the pedal.
For future and more cannot be shown.
He watched as the road shown nothing but emptiness, no other cars driving alongside his own.
But one absolute of waters ahead...
"Is that I don't quite care if I end up dead," Apollo finished, grinning widely. Delphi was silent as Apollo laughed. He slammed his hand on a button on the dashboard, and the car's roof started to recede, and soon, the wind, despite the glass in front of him, whipped through his clothes and hair, and the radio was inaudible against the howling in his ears.
That's not how it goes, Delphi complained.
"Does it matter, Del?" Apollo said, voice carried away by the wind leaving only silence by his mouth. "It's not like it matters much, now does it? Can't quite change the future, now, can we?"
...That which we cannot touch
And that which we fear
Is of ends meet and much
But that which we tear
And cry for
Is the death of a brother and cousin
"And if it so be, then let it be," Apollo sang. "For death, do I fear, but loss do I cry for,
"So let my tears be lacking
"For that rope I hang from,
"shall soon be slacking."
Apollo let the Intent sing on, the melody washing over him like a wave crashing around him, to drown but to ready, and his grip on the wheel tightened as his grin fell into a small smile, a smile that one might call sad.
Stay safe, cuz.
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Piper looked at the time. It was half past eight in the morning, and she was already in Upper Westside. She had already texted Annabeth of her location, and got the all clear for alerting the police. Early was fine, since it was better than being late. So Piper headed toward 100th Street with thoughts of the past week lingering in her mind.
Ever since Percy joined their group, things had become...exciting. And honestly, Piper had a side of her that enjoyed the thrill, the feeling that she was on a secret mission, about to save the day for someone with her unique skill.
She was excited to use it, use her strange set of skills to help some plan move forward without a hitch and she was confident that she could do it. Of course, she had worries. Of course, she had doubts. She was human, so, there was no getting around feeling those negative emotions in a time as stressful as this one.
But she kept her cool, and she kept it up because she could and it helped. It also would be suspicious if her inner turmoil started showing on the outside, since she was pretty sure she'd look like a mess if that ever happened.
So like her father, she acted. She kept her mouth a graceful upward curve, eyes looking straight and confident as she looked around for a phone booth.
She started to think of Jason. Her heart melted a little as it always did when her mind's eye set its sight on the blonde boy. He was the most handsome, sweetest -
Gotcha, Piper thought as she spotted an old-style phone booth, one of the last four of them in all of New York City. She made her way to the old thing and found that a few people who passed by were taking pictures of it. She raised her eyebrow at that, but followed suit, taking her own phone out and taking a picture herself. She even snapped a selfie before she sent it to Annabeth.
Piper breathed, readying herself a bit before she waited for a moment before walking right up to it, and opened the door. She walked in and closed it. She looked down at the clunky machine in front of her with narrowed eyes. Piper of course, knew how to use it, but that didn't mean she used one often, rather, she used it rarely.
Taking out her wallet from her pack, she plucked a few coins and and clinked it into the slot before pushing down on a small lever like contraption.
Jason...He really was the boy of her dreams, but that just meant that she had noticed it, clearly, when he started hiding something from the rest of their friends, but even more hurtful, from her. But she let it go. He had been going through...a lot, what with new long lost family members and a war involving his family, etc.
But she wished he would tell her. He usually did, but...
She shook her head as she dialed the tell tale number for the police. 9 - 1 - 1. She heard it ring, and she bit her lip, a bit of her anxiousness showing as she sighed. Jason was entitled to his own secrets. And even if it was something he was going through, she knew, that her perfect imperfect boyfriend would come around eventually. He always did.
Click. "911, what's your emergency?"
Almost like reflex, Piper's mouth morphed into a smile. She opened her mouth and spoke.
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Percy was starting to feel the nervousness that he hadn't felt that early morning coming to him slowly. Little by little, minute by minute, he found himself pacing, tapping his finger, and moving his leg up and down more than he usually would. He stood up from his room's desk and made his way downstairs where he could find himself food - distraction - in the fridge.
He did exactly that, and started microwaving a hotdog from the day before. After thirty seconds, he found himself biting his lips and he pushed pause and took the food out. It wasn't hot or warm. It was sort of...an unsatisfying lukewarm. But he sort of didn't care at the moment, and he inhaled the hotdog, mind intentionally blank as he moved his right arm in movements - sword fighting forms, he realized - absentmindedly.
His gaze turned toward the direction of his front door. He wondered...
He groaned. "Bro, I don't even know when Ethan's gonna come 'get' me," he grumbled as he threw himself on one of the tall chairs around the kitchen counter. He tried to pop the last bit of the hotdog into his mouth only to find that his hand was already empty and that that last bit was already in his stomach.
He took a moment to stare at his food-less hand solemnly.
His stomach made a weird noise, and he wondered if the hotdog was actually from only one day ago. "Well, I hope I don't get food poisoning. That'd be a stupid way to lose a fight."
He could almost imagine. Percy, pointing his sword at the General, only for his stomach to be the one to break the tense silence. Percy, asking to excuse himself to the bathroom in the middle of a fight because his stomach hurt.
Yeah, that wouldn't go too well, Blackjack snorted.
Yes, I would advise against eating anymore questionable foods, Master, Riptide agreed.
"You know what?" Percy said after staring at his stomach for a while longer. "I think I agree with both of you."
o)0(o - linebreak
Luke knocked on the door, slipping his phone into his pocket. Today was the day that everything happened - Apollo's attack on HQ, Percy's kidnapping, maybe even Jason's, and finally, Luke's cover being blown.
Ethan said not to do anything, but Luke still knew that after today, his life would never be the same as it had been before. He would be called back to Kronos's side, but he won't be alone. He'd make sure he wouldn't be.
He would make sure that Percy, Jason, and even Annabeth are brought to the Timeless, and that he succeeds in this absolutely. According to Ethan, they wouldn't be sending the General in, but instead someone else. A so called trump card. Luke had an inkling of an idea of who it might be, and frowned at it.
That trump card wouldn't be enough, but with Luke, then, just then, it would be enough to take both Percy and Jason with them. And Annabeth would follow. Luke would make sure of it.
He would foil their plan that almost foiled his own, but it wouldn't because Luke saw that Saturday in Green Forest when Annabeth and Jason Summoned.
They were planning to join the fight, he'd assume, and not just any fight, but a fight between Mediums, and they would be one of them. Luke didn't doubt the beast of a man that Kronos was sending, if it was only Percy that he would be going against, but it wasn't just Percy.
It would be Percy and one more Olympian plus a genius named Annabeth Chase.
As Luke heard scrambling behind the door, he plastered on his smile, making sure that it reached his eyes but making it soft and not so wide it was straining.
An unnatural natural smile.
The door clicked open, revealing a smiling Bobby who shouted, "Annabeth! Your boyfriend is here!"
"He's not my boyfriend!" came the call of Annabeth as the blonde headed girl came into view. Luke waved as she gestured for him to come in and follow her.
"Good, you're here," Annabeth said. "Jason should be arriving in a few minutes. Come on, let's go up."
Luke nodded and walked behind her as he gazed at her. He chuckled internally. He supposed that it was fair - he had hidden his ability to Summon for years now, so it only made sense that Annabeth hide her own.
But one thing that differentiated them both: Luke knew, and Annabeth didn't.
Luke replied with a smile.
"Let's get to it."
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Grover chewed on his nail nervously as Thalia stood silently next to him, a menacingly excited smile on her face. Despite knowing the girl for so long, he never understood her thinking pattern and how she could possibly find this kind of situation exciting.
All Grover felt was immense anxiety times ten plus fifty multiplied over by twenty. Not to mention fear. Yeah, definitely a lot of that.
"I am so ready for this," Thalia cackled as they stared at the apartment complex in front of them. Yeah, Grover definitely didn't understand Thalia and he doubted he ever would. Like, ever.
"I'm not," Grover noted nervously as they started walking away, around the block for the second time. According to Piper's text to Grover, she had called the police and they should have dispatched a patrol unit to the correct address and that it should take them around a few more minutes from what she could gather.
"You think we should go inside and make sure there are no Timeless inside the building already?" Grover asked with a slight voice crack.
Thalia shrugged. Today, Grover noted, she wasn't wearing her usual gothic clothing in accordance to Annabeth's instructions. Grover as well was not wearing his bright colored hat. Instead, the both of them were wearing much more discrete clothes, clothes that would let them blend into the crowd quite easily. Their common hair colors of black and brown were also helpful with that.
"Annabelle didn't say nothin' bout going in, and to be honest, she's the mastermind behind the plan, not us," Thalia said, jokingly saying Annabeth's name wrong.
Grover sighed at her nonchalance, but nonetheless nodded in agreement. Safest bet was to do exactly as Annabeth had laid out for them.
Grover was about to ask another question out of anxiety, but his ears perked as he heard tell tale sirens resounding from afar. He shared a look with Thalia.
"They're here."
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The buzzing from his phone caused Percy to jump slightly before he fished it out of his pocket in anticipation. He looked at the message. Your family is safe, the text said, sent from Annabeth.
Percy found himself releasing a breath he hadn't known he was holding. His mom's safety was top priority, and honestly, that might have been the only thing he was actually worried about. Running a hand through his mess of a hair, he settled himself deeper into his living room couch, facing the television that was in the process of booting up.
He put his phone on the countertop in front of him before leaning back and clicking away on his remote control, looking through different movies and shows they had on Netflix. He passed the anime section; he wasn't too into it, though he had known people who were super into it, and frankly, they creeped him out a bit (he assumed there were good anime out there, not just the weird ones those people watched, but he didn't think he'd be super into it anyway).
His phone rang and out of slight shock from its suddenness accidentally clicked the 'ok' and some random thing started playing - anime, really? - about pirates and treasure and -
"Hello?" he asked as he put the phone to his ear. The other line was silent and with a raised eyebrow and frown he said, "Butt call? Prank? Whatever it is, have a good day." And with that, he made a move to end the call but the voice on the other side, familiar and unwelcomed by all means, sounded on the other side.
"Why thank you, I will have a splendid day," the deep voice of the General said. Percy's eyes widened.
"Yeah, no nevermind, I take that back," he quipped. "Hope you have a terrible, not so very good day, dragon dude." There was an annoyed sound from the other side of the call and for a moment, Percy was satisfied with just that before he realized, Sh*t, is he here? "Where-"
"If you're wondering where I am," the General spoke before Percy could finish, "I'm not at where you are, and I'm not planning to be -" Wait, what? The General wasn't coming? Then...was it just going to be Ethan? "- and in my place, my associate will be joining you." There was a chuckle that sent chills down Percy's spine, and for the moment, his back was straight and shoulders tense. "I'm much stronger of course, but he is decent. Well, do have fun with him in the stead of me, little Perseus.
"I'll see you on the other side." The call ended, and right at that moment, Percy heard a knocking at his door. He stared, unwilling to move from his spot in front of the TV playing anime - something called 'One Pceie'? - as the knocking resounded on repeat.
We got your back, boss, Blackjack assured in his mind.
I will be on the ready, Master, Riptide said in a similar fashion.
Percy breathed, closing his eyes for a moment, a second, a mere second of simply breathing before opening his eyes to take on everything in life.
He's got this.
Standing up, as the knocking got incessant, he called out, "Hey! Have a little patience will ya? Didn't your mom ever teach you that patience is a virtue?" He opened the door to find a disgruntled Ethan. Percy saluted. "Wassup, Medium trainee man?"
"My mom took my eye out," the boy grumbled, catching Percy absolutely off guard with that statement but before he could fully react to it, someone else behind Ethan came into view. A man whose fashion sense consisted a whole lot of skulls and bones (please be fake, please be one dollar store plastic) and a lot of dirt colored clothing.
And he was lumbering and built like a mound. Literally. He looked like a freaking dirt mound that sprouted legs or something.
But the hungry look he gave Percy drowned out all tantalizing internal comments made on the guy's visuals, because that look had Percy clenching his jaw in an attempt not to eep. It...didn't feel quite as oppressive as the General's, but the guy in front of him looked like a psycho.
A psycho that was looking for blood.
Percy gulped, wondering how he was going to alert Annabeth of the new and unexpected arrival as he smiled and waved. "Hey, man, are you feeling humerus, because I'm not."
He would think that if Blackjack had hands, he would have facepalmed, because in that moment, Percy knew -
- that that pun was not the way to go.
And DONE! Next chap is the action chap. Hope I don't screw it up; my fight scenes are...questionable. But I'm excited to write it.
Hope you enjoyed thissssss :D
Guest - when you say crossover, do you mean there are aspects here that remind you of another fandom, or I should make a crossover?
flyingzuzu14 - THANK YOU! aaah, thanks for being so supportive and excited for the future to come, and heck yeah, there will be some more Olympian fam coming out. Hestia was mentioned very briefly in the beginning (in the Spirit World) but she will most definitely be making a bigger appearance later in the future so stay tuned for that! Again, thank you and hope you enjoyed this chap!
Multi fandom geekerello - Thanks! Hope the chap was okay, despite it being shorter than most :)
ImTheOnlyFanBoyInTheWorld - THaNks! I do my best :D
HAVE AN AMAZING AND HAPPY DAY!