Ariadne was fuming.
She was standing over Jackjack's bed as he rode out the last of the curse that had been placed on him. And yeah, she could still feel the aftereffects of it all. Because noooo, it wasn't bad enough that her and her twin's lifestrings were once intertwined... they had to add on the munchkin also.
[At least it wasn't a pit scorpion. That had been horrible to deal with alongside the concussion she had gained when she fainted from the effects and hit her head on the basketball court.]
The ocean mages were doing their best to break it, but whatever that little jerk did was holding on strong.
When she got her hands on him...
The child of the sea turned away heading back towards the council room. The gods were rushing around on Olympus and investigating the remaining kids at camp half-blood. A lot of them had to face the council, being subjected to countless questioning from Apollon and Hermes. Even the judges of the underworld had been brought forth to question them.
[Of course, Percy had put his foot down and demanded fair questioning of everyone at camp. There was no reason to treat the demi-titans as the only suspects. They didn't treat the Hermes' cabin any different after Luke was revealed to be a traitor.]
The rest of Castellan was in disarray. Will was splitting his time between the two camps as he healed and taught healing as best as he could. Everyone else was focusing on rebuilding though the kids were their first priority.
Everything–everything was just a mess. And she never wanted to be a leader... never wanted to be queen but everyone was looking at her as if she had all the fucking answers. She didn't know what to do.
"This is my fault," her brother stated. Ariadne turned to him, "What the fuck are you talking about?"
"It's my fault. I should have recognized those signs. I was literally doing the exact same thing that Luke did for me." Ariadne sneered, offense settling in her bones. "I'm not seeing how this is your fault." She'd be damned to the pit before she let him carry that on his shoulders.
"But it is my fault," he protested. "The same thing is happening all over again and I was to stupid to recognize the signs."
He really shouldn't have been shocked by the slap to the face.
Ariadne stood in front of him, eyes swirling darkly. She looked at the rest of them standing in the council room. The parents and Luey. The spirits. Even Amphitrite and Persephone. "I'm going to say this only once..."
She shot a glare at her brother, "Call yourself stupid again and I'm going to hang by your ankles over the pit, you got that. You're not stupid at all." She then glared at Annabeth and Thalia. "You're not a Seaweed Brain or a Kelphead."
"Just because you didn't see him as a traitor means nothing. We didn't see Luke as one. Annabeth and the Stolls knew him for years. We didn't see Silena as one and I spent a lot of time with her. And we've always been more susceptible to The Mist so it goes without saying that the son of magic would be able to twist our beliefs."
She ran a hand through her hair, leaning into his side when he wrapped his arm around her. "If it's your fault, then it's mine also."
"What? How?"
Ariadne raised a brow, "You heard Ariadne and Libera. They were raised as second best. Their own mothers compare them to someone else. I knew that there was some kind of resentment there from when Persia first introduced herself to us."
She didn't look at Sally Jackson. That woman was not her biological mother. She smiled sardonically at Percy, "And they clearly don't have their own twin brother in their life to keep them on the straight and narrow."
Ariadne looked back at the others, "I had you and I had Clarisse and Silena and Beckendorf and Connor and Travis and Lee and Nico and Will and Drew and Chris. I had Coach Hedge. I had Hermes and Apollon. I had Artemis and Aphrodite. I had Triton and Rhode and Benny." She looked at their step mother, holding her hand for the elder woman to take. "I had mom and I had dad." She smiled prettily at all of them, "I had so many people to keep me on the side of our family. I had so many people that reminded me of what we were fighting for. You all kept me grounded when I felt like a slight breeze could have pushed me away."
She smiled softly at the kiss that Amphitrite placed on her forehead. She looked back at her brother, "So, if it's your fault, then it's mine too. I should have recognized those signs in them as they were the same that I had felt."
Ariadne could see the battle wager in his mind. Despite her being the older twin, they had thought it was the other way around for sixteen years and only found out the truth at such a pivotal moment in their lives. Percy was protective, especially of her. Especially after being kidnapped and her following mental breakdown.
The fight drained out of him as his shoulders drooped, "Okay. You're right." She smirked, "I know I am." She then looked around, "Alright. We can figure everything out later. Right now, we need to prepare. We know who is on the other side now. We have to build up defenses. Clarisse, I want training upped. Annabeth, after you finish with the construction, I want you with Clarisse. Battle tactics. Formations. I want it all. Hector, I want you to join in. We learned standard formations from Athens and Sparta. Give us an upper hand."
She moved from the embraces as she paced around the room. "Beckendorf, I want you churning out the best name weapons you can think of. Something new and creative. Get Leo in there with you. After the exploding legos, I know we can get something chaotic in there. Silena, I'm putting Drew and Sils and Annie with you. The best armor we can think of. Katie and Will, we already have you in food stores. But we're going to need the minerals to add to the scent neutralizers. Connor and Chris, I want you out in the fields. Whatever half-bloods you find, I want them sent directly here. Travis, I need you and Nico on top of camp. Same thing as Clarisse and Annabeth. I want to increase the training. Speed reaction is still low. That needs to be fixed. Bring back Perseus and Theseus and Bellerophon and Orpheus and bring Ahkilles up from the river. I want not a stone unturned. I know we have Hypnos children there. I want to increase their training and mix it in with Cabin 7 and 11. We had too many prophetic dreams and too many attacks while we were asleep."
She didn't know she looked like a drill sergeant as she barked out orders. "Rachel, same thing you're doing now. Any skill for divination. I need to see them increase it. Open their chakras or whatever you call it. Thalia, I want to see an increase in the number of hunters. Who knows what beasts they're going to summon this time around. I'll find you all a place to train since they don't like men."
"Mom, Percy, Krokus... we're going to have to do a complete uphaul on the training at sea. Persia and Andromeda know our tactics. We'll need to find another place to hide the training as I'm sure they probably have the other sea deities on their sides. The cyclops–"
"TYSON!"
Ariadne stopped abruptly, "Fuck. We're horrible siblings. Okay, we need to save Tyson also. Percy, can you do that? Take Luke with you. He needs more field training."
Percy nodded before he remembered the next, "Pan is still out there. And after an image of what he used to be but definitely stronger than what we saw. With Katie's blood bunnies forcibly keeping nature clean and respectable alongside the satyrs' belief, he should definitely be stronger than before."
Their stepmother hummed, "We have noticed that she added a few of her little blood bunnies into the sea. The oil spills that the mortals caused don't have many problems. In fact, they tend to transfer the oil that they gather to marked zones that go back to Hephaistos." Persephone nodded also, "Yes. Father has stated that there isn't much pollution in the air as the mortals seem to believe."
Rachel smirked, "My father isn't into tearing down places and building ugly malls and apartments. This time around, he's more into nature reserves and funding research into endangered flora and animals. His fortune comes from that and the simple fact that I've talked to a few of Apollon's older children into working for him so that no one can steal said information. Younger me can still see through The Mist, but I had one of the workers slip an application to Delphi's Academia."
Ariadne nodded sharply, "I want him found yesterday. Satyrs are going to go through new training also. I want Coach Hedge on that. And somebody get me in touch with the Party Ponies. They want a rave then I'll give them the best damn party they've ever seen."
She paused before turning to look at Percy, "I'm going to look for Neigh and Blackjack and Ennea."
He nodded his head to her also, "Me and Annabeth have Daedalus then."
She smirked, "And I'm going to that damned farm. Geryson needs to be put down before he gets too deep in his head."
Ariadne turned to look at the others, "I'm going to be wherever you need me. The prophecy says we have until Jackjack is sixteen."
"Are we sure its still him?"
"Grace is aging. Just as she did before but she's also not a tree. Whatever magick the Moirai placed on her is making it obvious she won't be the child of prophecy. That means Bianca is next and she hasn't woken up yet nor has Nico. We don't even know where Jason is so Jackjack is the only one left."
Beryl bit her lips, shaking her head at the people that looked at her, "I can't tell you. Not yet. But he's not a contender. I know that."
"Your words don't mean much to me," Ariadne replied. "But I don't want this on his shoulders either way. I don't want it on any of their shoulders. Percy and I did it once together. Jackjack has all of us on his side so he can do it again." She looked around at them all once more, "Let's get everything started. I'm going to meet with the Olympians to see if we can get some divine help also. The Moirai has made it clear by adding Jackjack to me and Percy's thread that we're a part of this prophecy again whether we like it or not. They're making it clear that they don't approve of our way to change fate. But well... fuck fate. We're doing this our way or no way at all. The Ancient Laws can go to hell. The world is fucked up away and right now, I dont see how it can get any worse even when I know that it can. I'm not letting them fuck this up for us."
The others stared at her in determination and it was hard for them to understand just why she couldn't see how good of a leader she was. How good of a queen. She looked back towards her brother, relief rushing through her at the proud smile he bore.
["You do not belong here," Apollo stated. Hermes stared at her in the eyes, "You weren't meant to be.]
That's fine. She'll make this world better so that everyone can belong and those that weren't meant to be could be more than what was expected.
"Dismissed," she stated as she paused in the middle of the room. Percy looked at Ariadne as she paced throughout the council room. "If you're going to have a big dramatic scene, at least wait until I get back." She snorted as she turned towards him, "Duh. I can't flip this stone table by myself."