Welcome everyone to chapter 5!
I'm so glad that whoever's reading this has made it this far and I really hope that you'll continue to enjoy this story as it progresses! I don't really have anything fun or funny to say right now as I'm kinda in a hard spot medically so let's just jump right in!
I hope you enjoy and let's get right into this!
Jakob sighed sadly as he watched Adam and Angel play.
He was so used to seeing his wife with their kids that it seemed unnatural for her to not be. The two babies looked up at their father when they heard him sigh and Angel hobbled to her feet and slowly made her way over to her dad while Adam continued to smash his blocks together. Jakob couldn't resist the smile when he saw his daughter's teetering steps.
He knelt on the floor and held his arms out to his daughter. When she reached him, he picked her up and tickled her, causing her to laugh. Adam noticed the attention his sister was getting and whined so the young father picked up Adam, copying what he did to his daughter.
"Looks like you got both your hands full. Need just one more?"
Jakob looked up to see Lauren standing in the doorway, watching with a small smile.
"Please." He pleaded. The raven-haired girl mortal and walked over, sitting cross-legged across from the blond. She quickly reached out with her one hand and skillfully grabbed Angel from where she was starting to walk away, placing her on her lap.
"They're so adorable," She smiled as Angel bounced on her knees.
"I love them so much." Jakob agreed, handing his son the wooden block with an M. "But with Kayla not here... it's so much harder."
"You know, you have an entire camp full of people who would love to take care of your children when you need a break." Lauren reminded. "Even the Ares kids love them and they don't like anyone."
Jakob chuckled.
"True." He agreed. Then he sighed. "It's just so hard to let them go, even for a moment. Kayla's been taken three times now. I mean, I understood what I was getting into when I first started dating her but I didn't realize it'd be so heart-aching. She disappears so often I honestly have no idea what I would do if my kids disappeared too."
Jakob sighed miserably as his son played with his blocks. Lauren shot him a gentle smile.
"I know you're still kinda getting used to being a dad and all, but you need to remember that you don't have to take all of this responsibility on your shoulders at once," She reminded gently, carefully and skillfully giving a sleeping Angel to Jakob. "It's like I said: there are two camps filled with people who would do anything to keep your children safe. Nothing will ever happen to either of them with the lot of us around."
"Thank you, Lauren." He thanked quietly, taking his daughter. The mortal nodded and quietly left.
Jakob managed to stand without waking Angel and laid her on the couch, positioning her so she wouldn't roll or be pushed off. Baby Adam gave a cute little yawn so his father laid him beside Angel. He stretched his baby arms out then placed a hand on his twin sister's, closing his blue eyes. Jakob smiled and placed their blanket over them. After making sure they were secure and safe, he turned and left the Big House.
He flipped the light off on his way out.
But Jakob rolled his ocean-blue eyes when he saw the group of people sitting on the porch waiting.
Jakob rolled his ocean-blue eyes when he saw the group of people sitting on the porch waiting.
Jason, Piper, Annabeth, Percy, Nico, Will Solace, Ashlyn, and Thalia looked up as he closed the door and the son of Apollo braced himself, knowing exactly what they were doing and what they were going to say.
"How are the twins?" Ashlyn, Leo, Will, Percy, and Piper all spoke in unison as soon as the blond came into view. Jakob collapsed with a groan onto the porch steps, leaning against the verandah.
"They're asleep." He reported. "And I don't blame 'em: I would say yes to a nap too."
"Then why don't you?" Thalia suggested with a shrug, her Lieutenant's circlet shining in the summer sun. "Honestly dude, I say go for it. You deserve a break."
"Well, I do have a son and daughter to take care of and without Kayla here, it's so much harder." Jakob reminded her. His voice cracked when he said Makayla's nickname, not bothering to cover it.
"I'll watch them!" Piper, Percy, Ashlyn, and Leo all voiced their offer in unison. Jakob chuckled.
"Hey, they're my niece and nephew! I get the first call." Leo immediately defended.
"You fell asleep the last time you babysat and they almost burned down the house. I'd put you in third or fourth place." Jason joked and the fire-user childishly blew his best friend a raspberry.
"The Valdez are fireproof, mi amigo." He shrugged as he ignited small flames atop the tips of his middle fingers and stuck his tongue out.
(my friend)
"You and your sister may be fireproof but her house isn't." Annabeth then reminded him knowingly. "And we until know for sure if the twins are or not, we shouldn't risk-"
Annabeth was cut off when Lauren suddenly gasped loudly in pain, catching the attention of the small group.
Her only hand shot to her collar bone and she stumbled back against the railing as though she had been shot, knocking over a potted plant in the process and sending it shattering on the ground. Her face showed she was in an intense amount of pain; tears had already formed in her hazel eyes.
Jakob jumped to his feet and quickly grabbed his raven-haired friend before she could fall. The group of friends were worrying and asking what had happened but Lauren seemed to be in too much pain to answer, her breathing coming in short, pain-filled gasps.
The son of Apollo's eyes then widened when he saw a black mark on Lauren's chest. It was spreading across her skin like a drop of ink in water, just below her collarbone.
"What's going on?" Percy tried to ask, moving to his feet beside the blond.
"I don't know," Jakob shook his head, hands on the raven's shoulders. "Lauren? Lauren! Lauren, what's happening?"
He tried to get his mortal friend's attention but got no answer. Instead, her hand shot out but as soon as her fingers touched his face, there was a flash and suddenly Jakob was somewhere else.
Jakob blinked in confusion as his vision began to clear.
He instinctively looked around but frowned when he saw that he was in some kind of cell: dozens of closely-placed bars made of solid black metal formed a large cell-like cage that sat in the middle of an otherwise empty stone room. Jakob turned around as a sound caught his ear and gasped.
In one of the back corners of the cell, Makayla and Lauren sat huddled against the bars as they held each other tight. The two girls looked about three years younger than they were now and once Jakob noticed that Lauren still retained her left arm he realized where he was: they were in Makayla and Lauren's cell from when the girls were Ganabranth's prisoners.
But how did he get there? Was this some sort of flashback?
"Makayla? Lauren? Can you hear me?" He called out, kneeling in front of the two girls. They didn't respond so he reached out to try and touch them but his hands passed through their bodies as though he was a ghost.
A door on one the far side of the room then slammed open and the two girl's heads shot up. Immediately they both curled together tighter and muted sounds of fear passed their lips as the person who entered walked over to the cell to rest his arms on the bars.
"Good morning Beautiful and good morning Sweetheart!"
It was dark so Jakob couldn't see the newcomer clearly but he scowled as he recognized the sickly cheerful voice; only one person ever nicknamed Makayla "Beautiful".
"Now what do you want?" Lauren demanded. Her voice was heartbreakingly weak but her utter hatred for the man kept it hard.
"Ouch, no need to be so harsh." Ganabranth pouted with a sad frown. "I actually had some news that you two would wanna hear but if you're gonna be like that, I don't think I'll tell you."
Lauren rolled her eyes as the older man huffed like a child.
"Just say it." She growled.
"Fine. Turns out that today is gonna be a little different."
"What? How?" The raven-haired mortal demanded, though her voice sounded more wary than angry now. An all-too-familiar smirk came to the Serpents' Leader's face.
"Well, usually I would come and get Miss Beautiful and you have to wait here until she comes back." He reminded. "But not today. See, today we're going to switch things up and do the opposite. This time, you are gonna come have some quality time with me while Beautiful stays here. Sound good?"
A spark of insanity glinted in his muck-green eyes.
"F**k you! F**k you, you're a soulless bas**rd!" Lauren screamed her hatred but Ganabranth wasn't fazed.
"Would you prefer me and Beautiful spend some more time together?" The dark-haired man asked rhetorically, ignoring the insult.
Lauren glared venom but didn't hesitate. She whispered something to Makayla then kissed her head and stood, ignoring the redhead's cries for her to not go, and moved to where Ganabranth stood leaning on the bars, just as he knew she would.
"You are not touching her." The raven surrendered.
"Good girl looking out for your friend, that's good." Ganabranth applauded mockingly. He paused for a second then shrugged. "Too bad it's a useless trait here."
He snapped his fingers and several bars opened outward like a door despite there being no hinges or handle. He offered his arm in a gentlemanly manner but Lauren ignored it and him, walking forward with a slight limp but her chin high. Ganabranth raised a brow in amusement and moved to open the door and lead her out. Not knowing what else to do, Jakob followed before the cell doors slammed shut behind them.
He followed Lauren and Ganabranth down a bunch of dark stone halls before coming to a stop beside a black door. Ganabranth opened the door with another snap and Lauren stepped in, though she looked significantly more nervous than before; her hands were visibly shaking and sweat beaded on her forehead. Jakob quickly slipped in behind them before the door once more slammed closed.
The new room was all-too-familiar: a large metal table stood in the center of the room with a smaller table along one of the walls. On the wall behind the smaller table was a bunch of pegs where different types of tools, weapons, and other means of torture hung.
Ganabranth patted the large metal table invitingly and Lauren walked over, though very slowly and very reluctantly. She willingly laid down on the table and Ganabranth strapped her down at her ankles, waist, shoulders, and wrists. Jakob watched, totally amazed and totally shocked at how willing Lauren was acting.
"We're going to be doing something different today, Sweetheart." Ganabranth sighed, leaning his elbows on the edges of the table. "I'm sorry to have to say this… but you annoy me. A lot."
"At least there's one thing we have in common: you annoy me too." Lauren retorted smartly. Ganabranth chuckled.
"Thanks, I try. But you see, that's a problem for me cuz I don't like being annoyed. It… it annoys me."
"Wow, you should be a writer."
Jakob could see Ganabranth grinding his teeth and was surprised at how mouthy his friend was, seeing the situation she was in.
"Here's the thing: I've spent a lot of time and energy trying to get Makayla to break and when you fix the things I do manage to break, it really gets on my nerves. So I decided that I'm going to do something about it."
As Ganabranth spoke, he walked over to the smaller table and grabbed a long-needled syringe, dipping its tip into a small bottle of dark liquid.
"What are you doing?" Lauren asked, voice shaking. She tried to hide it but Jakob could see that she was scared and he couldn't really blame her; every single thing that man had done had meant some form of pain.
"Well, those abilities you have are what bugs me. I can't have you working your special magic and fixing what I break so I'm going to make sure they don't anymore." Ganabranth explained, gaze darkening.
Jakob's brows rose in shocked surprise at Ganabranth's words. Lauren had powers?
The older man then walked back over to Lauren and looked her over for a moment before placing the needle above her chest, about an inch below her collarbone. A single drop fell but as soon as the ink touched her skin, Lauren screamed as though it were acid.
Jakob tried to move forward to help her but it was like his feet were glued to the floor; he couldn't move. He could only watch as his friend writhed and screamed from what was obviously excruciating pain. He watched as the black liquid spread across her skin until it covered her chest, forming the symbol of The Serpents before fading into her skin. As soon as the ink disappeared, Lauren's screaming stopped and she went limp on the table.
"Good girl," Ganabranth muttered quietly, having watched the entire scene with a darkly satisfied look in his muck-green eyes. "I control you both now so no more magic for you: you're mine."
Then Jakob's vision went black.
And that concludes the fifth chapter of our crossover!
Thank you all for reading and I hope you continue.
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Have a good one and I'll see you soon!