*falls over from barrage of various thrown items* *helps you all throw things at me* *glares at my distracted muses who are off in la la land* *bangs head on table and keyboard* *sobs as the days continue to pass by*
Nuff said.
But still….SORRYYYYY I'm back now. I won't bore you with the details of what happened…in fact, I'm just going to let you all enjoy the story!
Please note: I wrote this way too late at night…my muses finally stopped asking why the rum is gone long enough to pay attention to the poor demigods…so there are probably some typos. My humble apologies, feel free to point typos out to me if you see them and I will happily edit them.
Enjoy!
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Alex jerked awake from the nightmare, breathing heavily as she sat up in her bunk. She sat like that for a few minutes until she had composed herself, then slid down from her bed onto the cool floor. She stalked silently to the window and peered out, groaning when the sun's first rays pierced into her eyes. Fully awake now, last night's events became front and center in her mind, and she turned to wake her brother up. If they really were going to have to go on this quest thing, he was suffering every second of it with her. She grabbed a cup of water of her nightstand and went to her brother's half of the cabin, smirking. When she reached his bunk, however, the sight that greeted her was not what she had been expecting. The glass slipped from her hand and shattered when as it hit the floor, and Nico startled awake, glaring drowsily at her.
"I know you like waking me up, Alex, but I don't think breaking things was necessary." His voice slurred a little, and his eyes couldn't quite seem to focus on her, although she could see he was trying to hide it.
She raised her eyebrows, taking in his bloody face and shirt, and crossed her arms. "New days require new methods." Alex responded, refusing to admit she had dropped it on accident. "Care to explain what happened to your face?"
"What?" Nico gave his half-sister a confused look and reached up to touch his face. Feeling the dried blood, he groaned and flopped back onto his mattress. "It's nothing." The muttered reply did not satisfy her, and she continued to stand there, arms crossed, giving him a death glare. Nico opened one eye, and seeing her expression, sighed and gave in. "Fine. I just got into a little fight last night. Got a concussion and a bloody nose, apparently, but that's it." Alex raised her eyebrow at the pointed words, but shrugged and turned away.
"Boring." Was all she said as she vanished into the bathroom to get ready. Nico gaped after her for a second, then rolled his eyes and stood up. Alex emerged a few minutes later to find him leaning heavily against the bedframe with his eyes closed. She gave a dramatic sigh and patted his shoulder. "That bad?" She asked gruffly, not knowing what else to say.
Nico jumped a little and started to shake his head, then apparently decided against it. "I just got a little dizzy. I'm fine."
Shrugging, Alex tossed a washcloth and a fresh shirt at him, which he caught with a slight wince. "Hurry and get cleaned up. Chiron wants us to leave as soon as possible, which is really just his pathetic excuse for avoiding questions, if you ask me."
Nico paused in the middle of washing his face, giving Alex a shocked look. "You mean…we're leaving for the quest? Today?" He said, incredulous.
"Yep. I knew demi-gods were spontaneous, but wow, this is like, crazy spontaneous. Like isn't there supposed to be, I dunno, a briefing first? Or like, specific training? I mean, I'm all for just going out and kicking some monster butts, but I hadn't pegged horse dude as that kind of guy." Nico just nodded at her, looking distracted. Knowing he wasn't listening, Alex sighed and packed her backpack. She hadn't planned on coming to this camp, much less going on a wild goose chase quest, but at least it would get her mind off her past. Maybe I'll even have fun, she thought, then snorted. As if I could have fun or make friends with that bunch of idiots. A sharp rapping on the door interrupted her thoughts. Alex grabbed her bag and opened the door, closely followed by Nico.
Jane stood in the doorway, fidgeting with her orange t-shirt. She looked up when Alex opened the door, and smiled. "Hi, Alex! I was just coming by to, um, just to see if you guys are ready yet?" She stumbled over her words, not looking at Nico, and Alex raised an eyebrow. But before she could speak, Jane continued on. "And I was just wanting to check on Nico after last night." She said in a rush, a slight blush creeping up on her cheeks. Alex groaned mentally and pushed both of them into the street.
"Yes, we're ready, and Nico is perfectly fine." She said, then paused. "Wait, how'd you know about last night?" Alex asked suspiciously, and this time it was Nico who blushed, almost impercetibly.
"She - uh - helped me back to the cabin last night." He said quickly, and Jane gave him a confused glance, but didn't speak.
"Uh-huh." Alex looked between the two of them and fake gagged, then continued walking toward the sword arena. Jane and Nico, both blushing slightly, hurried after her.
Catalia stuffed the last few things into her backpack and looked around the crowded Hermes cabin. She had barely spoken to any of her cabin-mates the night before, still trying to process everything that had happened. Being honest, she still hadn't processed it. And how could she? In a matter of hours, she'd learned she was thousands of years old, was the daughter of two primordial beings, her father was an evil maniac who was trying to destroy the world, her mom was dead, there was a huge prophecy, and she'd gotten back all of her memories. Well, almost all of them. She still felt as if something was missing, but the answer kept flitting away from her. And adding onto all of that, she also was 90 percent sure Leo had asked her out. Well, more like 70 percent…or lower. Romance wasn't exactly her forte. With a sigh, she grabbed her bag and left the cabin, trying not to wonder if she'd ever see it again. She shot a longing glance towards the lake, wanting to avoid the avalanche of questions she knew the others had, but she would have to answer them eventually. She jogged towards the sword arena, hoping she wouldn't run into anyone. But of course, with her luck, she ran into Leo…literally. She stumbled back and tripped over a rock, causing her to drop her backpack and crash to the ground.
"Ow." She muttered, then grabbed her bag, trying to regain her dignity.
Leo bent down instantly, reaching his hand out to help her to her feet. She took it, blushing slightly as she tried to ignore the butterflies in her stomach.
"Sorry, Cat. You're so short I didn't see you!" He joked, grinning.
Catalia rolled her eyes and responded. "Ha ha, very funny. Just because you had a growth spurt doesn't mean you get to make short jokes." Leo just smirked and started walking again, grabbing his own bag as he went. Catalia dusted herself off with a sigh and followed him into the arena. Chiron looked up as they entered, looking deep in thought. The prophecy scroll was spread out in front of him on a table, surrounded by notes, books, and various maps. Annabeth and Percy were already there, sitting together on a bench off to the side. Catalia waved at Percy as she walked past him to sit down, and he gave her a brief, distracted smile before turning back to Annabeth. Catalia sighed internally, wishing she could go back in time and prevent last night from ever happening. Leo sat down next to her, fidgeting with bits of metal from his pockets. She watched his fingers fly over the scraps, forming a small model car, then deconstructing it just as quickly. Unconsciously, her own fingers twirled, creating another car out of what appeared to be thin air. Leo made the scrap bits into a model of a mouse next, and she continued to watch him. Suddenly a squeaking sound broke the silence, and she smiled, impressed at his mechanical skills.
"That's cool, how did you make it do that?" She asked, but Leo jumped off the bench, the little metal mouse falling to the ground and breaking. Catalia looked at him, startled. "What's wrong?"
He just stared at her hands, his mouth wide open in shock. Confused, she looked down, then shrieked when she saw a live mouse in her hands, along with the model car she had made earlier. Then the mouse crumbled into black dust and vanished, leaving Leo even more astounded. He gaped for another minute before he spoke. "What the heck just happened?" She shrugged casually, feeling her brother's worried gaze from across the room bore into her.
"Creation powers." She said, hoping he would leave it at that. But of course, he didn't.
"Yeah…but…that was a living thing." He mumbled. "You can create life?" She heard Annabeth gasp, and shrugged again.
"Yeah."
"But-" Leo started, but Annabeth interrupted him.
"That goes against all science and logic," She started, and Catalia sighed, turning around to face her.
"I know it does. But aren't our whole lives against logic?" She pointed out. The daughter of Athena nodded slowly, but her brain was already thinking about something much more complicated.
"If you can create a living mouse…could you create a human being?" She whispered, her eyes wide.
Catalia froze, memories filling her head. She shook her head with a laugh. "Don't know, I've never tried. But I doubt it." She lied, shoving the memories of a time long passed out of her mind.
Leo spoke up again as Annabeth's eyes glazed over with ideas and whatever else went through genius brains such as hers. "But why did it die?"
Catalia turned to him, trying to ignore the looks both Chiron and Percy were shooting at her. "Oh, um…" She hesitated, not sure how to explain. "Being the adopted daughter of Chaos has…perks." She said, then turned away again, not wanting to see the look on his face. She knew that they didn't hate her for her parentage, but that didn't make it any easier to admit. They don't hate me yet, she reminded herself. But as soon as they find out what I did…what I couldn't do…what I'll have to do…they will hate me.
The arena door slammed, snapping her out of her depressing thoughts. Alex, Nico, and Jane entered, each carrying a bag and dressed for travel. Jane brushed her hair out of her face and sat down on the nearest bench, dropping her bag to the ground. Alex followed her, ignoring everyone else in the room. Catalia looked at Nico, trying to decide if she should tell him about her weird dream the night before. Then she noticed the bruises forming on his face and gasped. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her brother look down, looking almost guilty. Narrowing her eyes, she made a mental note to figure that out later.
"What happened to you?" Leo asked Nico, smirking.
"None of your business." Nico snarled, leaning up against one of the targets with his bag at his feet.
Leo stepped back, looking surprised. "Sheesh, no need to…" he trailed off as he walked away to a seat. Catalia sent Nico a reproachful and curious look, but he refused to meet her eyes. With a slight sigh, she turned her attention to Chiron as he cleared his throat and began to speak.
"Now that you are all here, we can begin. I'm sure you all have some questions, so before I send you off, I will answer as many as I can."
Alex snorted. "Some questions? We got a lot more than that. First one. Why in the name of everything sane are we leaving today? We barely got any warning, we have like no clue where we are going or what we are doing, no time to prepare, and we just found out we needed a quest last night!" She took a deep breath and barreled on before Chiron could speak. "Secondly, what the heck are we doing on this quest thingy, where are we going, what in the name of Hades does the prophecy mean, how the heck is she thousands of years old, what weird things can she do, and how do we even know she's on our side?" Alex asked, her arms folding and her gaze searing into Catalia's shocked face. Taken completely off guard by the barrage of questions, all she could do was stare at Alex, dumbfounded. Sure, she had expected them to have a lot of questions…but she hadn't expected any of them to doubt her loyalty. Alex continued to glare at her as the room erupted into chaos. There was both outrage at Alex's accusations and agreement with her questions exploding from all sides of the room. Chiron groaned again, muttering to himself about how he couldn't wait to get them all off his hands. Catalia stifled a smile at his words, trying to tune out the other's yelling.
Finally, Chiron stood, shouting, "quiet!" The sharp word fell like a command, and instantly everyone silenced and turned to look at him. "You are leaving today because the fate of the world is in your hands, Alexander Murphy." Chiron said sternly, ignoring Alex's flinch at the use of her last name. "Chaos is rising again, and he must be stopped. You will travel to Greece, to one of the few relatively safe entrances to his dominion left. Prophecy's can never be fully interpreted until they have come to pass. And as for your enquires's of Catalia, those you must learn on your own. I cannot say anything that will cause you to trust her, nor can I fully explain something I was not there to witness. I doubt you will even be able to comprehend her life and skills, or if she will even attempt to explain. But that is her decision, and you will respect the leader of this quest. Am I understood?" Chiron's voice left no room for disagreement, but Alex wasn't one to back down. She huffed and stomped into the very corner of the room, but Chiron seemed satisfied. He turned back to everyone else, his the clacking sounds of his hooves echoing off the arena walls. "Any questions?"
Annabeth raised her hand as everyone else shook their heads, still processing what Chiron had said. Chiron nodded at Annabeth and she began to speak. "How are we going to get to Greece, Chiron? The Argo II was destroyed in the war, we can't fly, and I'm guessing we don't exactly have time to take a road trip." Chiron nodded, a slight smile touching his face. He turned to Leo, who was fidgeting with spare parts. Catalia followed his gaze, confused. Leo looked up, raising his eyebrow at everyone's stares.
"What? Did I burn my pants off again?" He asked, looked down.
"What- no." Chiron said, looking incredulous. "We we're discussing how we're getting to Greece." He said, with a meaningful look that was completely lost on Leo.
"Oh. That's nice?" Leo said, still looking confused. "But why is everyone looking at me?"
Chiron sighed. "I am not completely oblivious as to what you do in that bunker of yours, Mr. Valdez."
Leo's eyes widened. "Oh…you mean…oh."
Catalia raised her head with a questioning look. "He means what?"
Leo shifted guilty, and Catalia's curiosity heightened. "I kinda…sorta…well that is to say…Istartedbuildinganewargo…" he mumbled, causing multiple mouths to drop open in shock.
"You did what?" Percy asked incredulously causing Catalia to jump a little. He'd been so quiet, she'd forgotten he was there.
Leo cleared his throat and repeated himself. "I started building a new Argo." He blurted, a sheepish smile flitting across his face. "I was bored…and it seemed like a good idea." He defended himself hurriedly, but Annabeth interrupted him.
"Leo, it's fine! No one is mad at you for building something helpful." She said, smiling.
"What's the Argo II?" Jane asked quietly, and Catalia jumped again. Sheesh, people needed to stop being so quiet, she thought, sighing.
"The flying ship Leo built that we used to transport us during the war. It got destroyed during the trip from the Parthenon to Camp." Nico answered, causing Catalia to jump for a third time.
"That's it!" She shrieked. "Everyone move where I can see you and stop being quiet!" Everyone turned to stare at her, and she realized she'd spoken aloud.
"Uh…Cat?" Percy asked, confusion and concern laced in his voice. "What…?"
She cleared her throat with an embarrassed smile. "Um…sorry…just got a little startled. Um…carry on." Percy nodded, still looking confused, but to her relief everyone stopped staring at her.
"Anyways…" Annabeth said, "This is perfect! Having a new Argo fixes the transportation problem."
Leo started fidgeting again. "Well…um…it's not exactly perfect…it's not finished." He said, frustration and shame evident in his voice.
"Oh…" Annabeth said disappointedly. "Well, could we finish it soon?"
Leo shook his head. "It'd take months to finish, even with help. I'm sorry."
Annabeth's shoulder slumped, but she smiled at him. "Don't worry about it…we'll figure something out."
Chiron nodded thoughtfully, then turned to Catalia. Her eyes widened when she realized what he was implying and she hurriedly shook her head. "I don't think that's a good idea, Chiron." She whispered quietly, but he continued looking at her. Annabeth followed his gaze, and her face light up.
"Of course! Cat, couldn't you finish the ship?"
Catalia hesitated, shoving away memories again. "I…"
Percy met her eyes, a question in his eyes. "You don't have to, Cat, it's okay." He said it gently, but she could hear the plea in his voice.
She sighed. "I'll try. But I'm not making any promises." Chiron smiled and finally stopped staring at her.
"Wonderful." He trotted back to the table in the center of the room, eyeing the seven demigods. "Then we have a plan. Once the ship is ready, you will be on your way." He said it without question, as if there wasn't any doubt that she would be able to finish building an entire ship. "Leo, take Catalia to the bunker. Percy, go with them. The rest of you, finish preparing."
Alex slipped out of the shadowy corner she had retreated into. "One more question, Chiron. You said she was our leader?" Her voice was carefully neutral, but Catalia could hear the underlying hostility.
Chiron gave her a stern look. "Yes, she is. She knows more about Chaos and your quest than even I do." Alex nodded stiffly, then turned and left. Nico and Jane followed her, grabbing their bags as they went. Annabeth spoke quietly with Percy, then left, leaving just Percy, Leo, Catalia, and Chiron.
Leo turned to Catalia, holding out his hand encouragingly. "You ready?" Catalia nodded, trying to calm her inner turmoil. Percy took her other hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, and she smiled at him. They didn't understand why she was upset, but they simply cared about her, and she appreciated that more than she could express. Chiron nodded to them as they left the arena and headed towards the woods. "Let's go kick some unfinished ship butt!" Leo smirked and dashed off towards the bunker. The two siblings grinned and took off after him, laughing. And for just a few moments, they were simply a trio of carefree teenagers, without the weight of the world upon their shoulders.
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Ta-da! I hope that super long chapter made up for the insanely long time it took me to post this. Who's proud of me for not doing a cliffhanger? *grins* I don't have much to say today (shocking, right?) other than that I finally finished school *cheers* so I will be updating a lot more often! If any of my readers are still here even after this way to long break *sobs apologetically* then cheers to you, and a huge thanks! I love hearing from readers, so please leave a review to let me know what you think, it'll make my day! Constructive criticism and error correction are very much appreciated, and I definitely accept requests for POV's or little events along the way. I will also accept requests/ideas for stories!
P.S. If you got either of my references to other fandoms…lemme know, I'm curious!
Alright, that's all for now!
Annie
