How the Giant War Ended in Backup Plan
Weren't expecting this one, were you?
Yeah, ran into a roadblock with AC:T and am currently brainstorming where to go with it, and while doing that, this morsel ran across my mind.
The canonical ending to the Giant War per the Backup Plan continuity, along with the groundwork for the rest of this little story of mine.
And, yeah. I have written and published my own novel, the same novel I went on hiatus to finish, and when I came back, it's like three-fourths of my fanbase moved on. I linked it on my profile, so go check it out!
And buy it.
I see you, wanting a story like this one but with Naruko and Shin'en. Well, who said Naruko won't show up here?
Disclaimer: I don't own PJO
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Sally sighed after beholding the evening news. Principal Harding was dead vis suicide after walking in front of a speeding subway. She knew the man, the principal of her daughter's high school, and she did not like him. He had a kind of meanness in his eyes. Of course, that didn't mean she wanted the man dead.
It seemed her son had other ideas.
"Percy," she said gently, as the family was gathered in the living room for the evening dinner, "you can't just go around killing people because they make you angry. Or because they're mean to your sister."
"I mean, I'm good with it," Persephone said unhelpfully to her mother's point. "That guy was an A-class jerk and was actively out to get me. It's been everything I could do not to land myself in his office and in some kind of trouble."
Meanwhile, Shin'en was sitting there, wondering why demigods didn't use the Mist more often. You'd think being taught how to manipulate the magical mind-altering energy that altered mortals' memories and perception of things would be high on the demigod curriculum in order to ensure demigods could fight monsters and defend themselves from bullies without getting in trouble with the law. But apparently not.
"I know that, sweetie," Sally said, "but we can't just go around killing people because they're mean to us-"
"He wanted to rape Persephone," Shin'en stated.
Paul hit the mute button on the TV, bringing the living room to total silence. "I'm sorry. What?"
Everyone was staring at Shin'en with wide eyes and pale visages, all of them totally caught off-guard with that one.
Shin'en took another sip from the Big Blue soda in his cup. "He wanted to rape Persephone. The old man was lecherous pervert. The reason he called me to the office was because those four harlots went and cried to him after I sent them running. All four of them committed to fellatio with him, so he would do something about me. He had two corrupt police officers in the office with him, and intended to beat me. However, the old man and his two helpers, while enjoying access to the majority of the girls in the school, had their eyes fixed on Persephone.
"Being a demigoddess makes her unusually beautiful in the eyes of many, and that includes old perverts. Persephone was the prize in his eyes, and the reason he watched you like a hawk was because he was looking for any excuse to call you to his office and make you have sex with him in order to avoid expulsion and jail. But you kept on your toes and it pissed him off. He's also a bit of a racist, since because of my name, he thought I was Japanese, and wanted to discipline me extra hard for what my people did to Pearl Harbor. Anyway, I took exception to his intentions with me and my sister, and saw to him and the officers accordingly."
Shin'en took another sip of his Big Blue.
"Oh," Sally finally managed to say.
The gravity of this fact settled heavily on their shoulders, since all of them knew about Persephone's mind-rape years ago.
"Thanks," Persephone said.
"You're welcome."
There was silence for a few more minutes, Annabeth with her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide.
Paul hit the mute button again, and the TV resumed its sound.
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"How did the Giant War end?" Shin'en asked later that night after Paul and Sally had gone to bed, and the "kids" were occupying Persephone's room.
Persephone was wearing the same style of pajamas she'd worn since she was a toddler and undergoing her nighttime toilet training. Sally had dressed her pride and joy in a t-shirt and pull-up, that way it'd be easier for her daughter to go potty in the night without one more thing to have to take off. Sixteen years later, Seph was still wearing just a t-shirt and her underwear.
Annabeth was much more modest given the presence of her future brother-in-law, wearing an adult-sized Little Mermaid number consisting of grey lounge pants with a seashell pattern on them, and a teal shirt with a portrait of Ariel sitting on the rock with the wave crashing behind her.
Shin'en wore pants, leaving his upper body and accompanying scars exposed.
Annabeth made great effort not to stare at his muscles. And also his scars. It still scared her, that horrible image she'd seen with everyone else that day, when Shin'en got so enraged that his chakra coils ruptured and raw chakra went spilling into his body, cooking him from the inside out, and bursting through his skin in so many places.
His sister answered, "Well, we won, obviously. We finally made it to Athens, ran into the snake people, infiltrated the Giants' base on the mountain, and went to work on 'em. Me, Annabeth, and Piper were the vanguard, going in with the idea of sabotaging what we could and setting the stage. It didn't end well, but it did enough. Leo came swooping in with the Argo II, Hazel on Arion, Frank as this big dragon, and Jason with his wind and lightning. It was awesome!"
Shin'en couldn't help but smile at Seph's enthusiasm. The way she smiled, the way her eyes lit up as she remembered the battle, the excitement and genuine awe in her voice as she recalled the events…it was clear that the world of myths was where she belonged. Not working a 9-to-5 job, and certainly not stuck in some classroom.
Annabeth frowned a little bit because she analyzed things the same way Shin'en did. She didn't like the way Persephone got so happy about the times they all almost died.
"We were winning there for a bit, but then that stupid magic law about a half-blood and god working together kicked in, and then we started getting overwhelmed. But then that's when the gods finally came down to help us. Man, it was so cool—the chariots, the armor, the weapons, the steeds, the way they all just charged in and started teaming up with us…we started mowing through Giants like they were grass. I wish you were there. It would've been the best thing ever."
Shin'en shrugged. "Couldn't get off work."
Persephone stuck her tongue out at him. "Anyway, so, us and the gods destroyed all the Giants and sent them all back to Tartarus, but, as it so happened, I got punched in the nose, and Jason got cut across his arm. Our blood dripped on the ground, and that was all Gaea needed. Not that I'm complaining or anything, but she was really stupid. She had the whole planet to manifest her consciousness on, and she chose to manifest her whole self in one point, at Camp Half-Blood.
"Now, the Romans were laying siege to the place, right? Reyna had to leave the camp to come help us since we recovered the Athena Parthenos and needed to get that back. She, Nico, Bianca, and Hedge took care of that, but Reyna leaving meant that Octavian was the next guy in charge, but no one listened to him on account of that fact that he wears diapers without any pants."
Shin'en smirked, quite pleased with what he'd done to the augur those years ago with genjutsu. It was funny to him.
"Since no one listened to Octavian, the senior centurion of the First Cohort stepped up and took over. Long story short, he died and was posthumously considered a hero." Shin'en arched a brow and his sister continued. "Well, he managed to get his hands on these huge artillery devices called onagers, and he loaded them up with a lot of explosives and Imperial gold for some reason, and was going to shell the camp, but Nico, Will, Lou Ellen, and Cecil snuck through the Roman field camp and sabotaged most of them, except for the last one, and that's when things went sideways.
"Zeus did something good for once and managed to physically slap all of us from Athens, Greece to Camp Half-Blood on the other side of Long Island from Montauk. We were in the Argo II, strapped down, and he literally tossed us up and smacked us like a volleyball. Gods, that was an intense flight. Anyway, so we made it at about the same time the monster army the centurion gathered turned on him and attacked the legion, which was about the same time Reyna strangled Orion to death after delivering the Parthenos. She took back control over the legion, I took control over CHB, and we led the charge against the monsters."
Persephone grinned widely.
"And she nearly blew up the half the island," Annabeth said flatly.
"Nuh-uh!" Seph protested. "Don't exaggerate, it was only about a tenth."
"What happened?" Shin'en asked.
"Well, that eagle standard thing with the magic that we recovered from Alcyoneus? I got my hands on it during the battle and I got supercharged. I. Kicked. Tons. Of monster butt. Big lightning bolts jumping all through the monsters, big winds, a lot of water—yeah. It was awesome. Then Gaea finally popped up, and then swoosh went Leo on Festus. He, Jason, and Piper basically unplugged Gaea from her power generator, and beat her. What helped was the rogue centurion and his onager? Well, he was standing too close when the thing misfired and launched. He got launched with it, straight into Gaea's face, where he blew her up. And himself. That's why he's posthumously considered a hero."
"I see. What happened after the battle?"
"The Romans hung around for a bit and we all bonded."
"And you two and Reyna…?"
Persephone grinned. "I don't think my sex life is any of your business, baby brother."
However, Annabeth was blushing furiously.
Yeah, they had a threesome.
"Wise answer," Shin'en said with a carefully measured voice. Forgive him, but the thought of his big sister having sex—lesbian or otherwise—made his skin crawl. "What about you and the rest of the Seven? I take it you're all friends, still."
Persephone's smile dropped from her face. "No. Not really. We didn't really along that well during the quest. Different philosophies in the end."
"Do tell."
Annabeth's mouth set into a thin line and her expression became guarded.
Persephone drew her legs up to her chest, resting her chin on her knee as she stared off into space.
"One morning, I had a realization. Yeah, we saved the world from the Titans, and yeah, we were going to save the world from the Giants, but…what were we really saving? What were we really accomplishing? I mean, we saved the world and it kept on spinning, but it kept spinning the same way it had been. Kids were still getting beat up and raped, girls were still being kidnapped and sex trafficked, corporations were still exploiting workers, politicians were still corrupt, governments were still corrupt, dictatorships were still a thing, and so was crime, poverty, starvations, disease….Really, if you stop and think about it, we didn't save anything.
"Objectively speaking, us heroes actually made the world worse. I mean, if Kronos had won, we'd be living in an entirely different world right now. The Titans would be in charge of the universe, and things would definitely not be like they are now. Would they be better than they are now? Debatable, I guess. There wouldn't be anymore corrupt politicians or evil corporations, that's for sure, but mankind would probably be enslaved and treated as toys for entertainment. And it's pretty much the same with the Giants, only mankind would be totally wiped out. Again, objectively speaking, that would technically bring world peace.
"So, following that line of thinking, I proposed that us heroes, after the Giant War, we took some bigger steps in the world and actually made a real difference. With all of our powers and stuff, we definitely could've made a dent in global warming, brought down some cartels, busted some trafficking operations, delivered food and clothes to the poor, and a whole bunch of other stuff. I said, that because we have powers, we were supposed to use those powers for more good things than just fighting mythological bad guys. Putting it mildly, that was not the majority opinion.
"Me and Piper got into it. She basically said that all we had to do, as demigods, was just fight the monsters. That was the highest part of our calling. Not saving kids that were chained up in basements, not saving kids that were being beaten by their parents—not doing anything meaningful. Anything worthwhile. Piper said that after the quest, the rest of the guys were going to move on forever from this life. They wanted to go pretend to be normal. I hate that. I hate that with all that we can do, none of them wanted to do anything more."
At the word "none," Persephone was looking at Annabeth, because she, too, had no desire to further her career as a demigod. She just wanted to go to college and become a world-class architect.
"Anyway, we put our differences aside and focused on the quest, but we never got over that rift. After the battle at CHB with Gaea and her army, Leo died, but not really? Nico and Bianca said they felt Leo die, but then something happened, like his soul was on its way to the Underworld before it stopped. So, Leo blew up and finally put Gaea to rest, Hazel, Frank, and Reyna all went back to the legion, with Frank as the new praetor and Hazel as the new Fifth Cohort centurion, Piper and Jason went back to California to continue their education, and Annabeth and I are here, also continuing our education. I can't really say I'm friends with any of them…not even Hazel and Frank, after our quest to Alaska."
Persephone's eyes were downcast. She was sad.
Shin'en listened to every word with rapt attention. These were his sister's true thoughts and emotions, key insight into who she was as a person. "Why haven't you done anything to better the world?" he asked curiously. "Manhattan has no shortage of crime."
Persephone chuckled without an ounce of mirth. "Because Mom and this one don't want me to."
Annabeth crossed her arms. "Sorry for worrying about you and your wellbeing, and your seemingly desperate need to put yourself in harm's way."
"It's not a desperate need," Persephone retorted. "It's about responsibility. We have the power, we have a responsibility to use it to do good, and that goes beyond the monsters and the gods. There are plenty of human monsters, too."
"And we're not judges, juries, or executioners," Annabeth returned. "We're trained to protect mortals, not cast judgement on them for their crimes. That's the job of other mortals. You know, the legal system?"
Persephone glared, hard. "The legal system almost separated me and my mother, putting her under investigation for negligent parenting and me in a foster home. The legal system forced me into mandatory counseling and forced my mother to pay for it. The legal system got me kicked out of the one school I kind of enjoyed going to, only because you and Paul were there, and forced me into a glorified juvenile hall where I have to piss in a cup three times a week because I kick so much ass on the swim team, the teachers are all jerks, and I have to deal snotty bitches, one group of which literally planned to kill me. And that's just me, personally. Never mind how the legal system is biased in favor of women and white people, etcetera etcetera. So don't you dare talk to me about the legal system."
The scary part was how Persephone's tone remained clam and level, like the eye of a hurricane.
"Sorry," Annabeth mumbled.
"And why not cast judgement on them?" Persephone continued. "If I kick a rapist between his legs and crush his berries, is there any kind of wrong in that? If I bust up a drug ring and prevent a bunch of dealers from selling stuff that's killing people—killing kids—and break all their legs or something, is that wrong? I mean, actions have consequences. People who do evil things are punished for those things. I'm just cutting out all the jailtime, court appearances, legal fees, and tax dollars. Batman does it. Why not me?"
"Because Batman-" Annabeth started to say, but was interrupted by Shin'en.
"If you say it's because Batman is a fictional character and can do stuff like that, I am going to feed you alive to a colony of carnivorous spiders."
Annabeth turned pale as a jug of milk, because she knew damn good and well that Shin'en would deliver on that promise.
"The person and the setting may be different, but the premise and principle is the same. Batman felt that, with all his money and who is family was, he had a duty and responsibility to the people of Gotham to make the city a better place for them, first by taking down the crime families, and then defeating the supervillains that started popping up. This theme is echoed across most of fiction, in that people with powers feel the need to help others, and go above and beyond to do that. Why not you? What excuse do you and the others have for not answering a similar call here?"
Persephone looked at Annabeth, also waiting for the answer.
After several silent seconds, the blonde finally decided to say, "Because…we have our own lives to live. We're free to chose what we do with ourselves. If we want to go to high school and lead a life away from quests, then we can. We don't have to devote ourselves to being a superhero like Batman, or Superman, or Spiderman, or so on, if we don't want to."
Persephone scoffed. "Yes, we do. And to that freedom point, if we're free to do what we want with our lives, why are you forcing me to finish high school and take the DSTOMP test so I can go to college in New Rome with you? You know I don't care about school."
Annabeth swallowed. Truth be told, she had absolutely no counterargument to that, because when she asked herself why she wanted Persephone to finish high school and go to college with her, she hadn't liked the answer she came up with, but she'd made no effort to correct herself.
But Shin'en read Annabeth like a book. It was easy for him—he'd been trained how do that, read people, and he had all those extrasensory powers. He'd also spent nine months practically glued to the hip of Xenophobic Annabeth, and at their core, X-Annabeth and the present Annabeth were hardly different.
Prideful.
They wanted their way, and they hated it when they didn't get their way, because they thought their logic in why they should get their way was solid and sound, and anything contrary they could not comprehend and so they needed a valid explanation in order to change their thinking, or else they'd become embittered and angry and seek ways to get their way, anyway.
Annabeth wanted Persephone to go to college with her in New Rome so they'd be together, but Persephone didn't want to go to college. Annabeth didn't like that; she didn't like that Persephone didn't want to go to college with her. It was proof that Annabeth was indeed a demigod, because her behavior in this regard was so totally human.
Shin'en's eyes were boring into Annabeth's from where he sat on the ground, against the wall, while Annabeth sat on her girlfriend's bed next to her.
"Well?" Persephone prompted. "Why are so such a butthole about me going to college with you? If you're worried about us drifting apart because it's a long-distance thing, then check this out!"
Before Annabeth's very eyes, Persephone's body instantly dispersed in a swirl of water with a strange sound, and then she reappeared in another swirl of water on the other side of her room, leaning against her door with a grin.
"Water travel!" she chirped. "Nico, Bianca, and Hazel can travel through the shadows, and I can travel through the water. Even the little water particles in the air. Took some practice, but I got it down. My range is wherever there's water, so this whole planet. I can teleport to you wherever you are."
"…when did you have time to practice that?" Annabeth asked.
Persephone shrugged. "Didn't really have to practice. I just thought about it, focused, and boom. Feels really weird, though. Is that what it feels like when you do it?" she asked her brother.
"Yes," Shin'en answered simply. His eyes settled on Annabeth. "My sister has established that she can be by your side in an instant, meaning you don't have to worry about being separated from her in college while she teaches at Camp Half-Blood. Are you satisfied now?"
Annabeth swallowed, a sweat breaking out across her brow.
Logically, everything was solved. Persephone didn't want to go to school anymore, she was eighteen, due to turn nineteen this summer, so she could legally drop out of the education system. She didn't have to finish Alt High—the place was just the last ditch effort for those kids to get their diploma that couldn't behave in normal school. What stopped the majority of the student body from letting them do that was parental approval. Due to the nature of Alt High, students actually had to have their parents' signature to drop out, but Sally would certainly give it if that's what Persephone really wanted.
And it was.
If Annabeth didn't say something, if she nodded her head and accepted this situation, Persephone would probably go running through the apartment to wake Sally and get her to sign off on her drop out. If not, then next morning. Persephone was brimming with anticipation. She really did not care at all to finish high school, get her diploma, or even her GED. She wanted to move into camp and become an instructor.
To Annabeth, it felt…empty. Hollow. Underwhelming. Like, all the things Persephone accomplished, she really couldn't finish high school? But that was flawed logic; of course she could finish school, she just didn't want to with every fiber of her being. But, teacher? That felt underwhelming as well, for the same reason. All the power she had, and all she wanted to do with was teach kids how to kill monsters? Kind of seemed contradictory to Persephone's stance that she should be something like a superhero, using her powers on a grander, global scheme.
Difficult to be a superhero if she was holed up in camp.
…
Well.
Not if she could teleport.
Annabeth bit her lip, her heart hammering in her chest as more sweat appeared on her forehead.
"Hey, are you okay?" Persephone asked.
Shin'en smirked. "Her world is falling apart around her, and it's all the fault of her pride."
Annabeth looked up and glared at him.
"What do you mean?" Persephone raised a brow.
Shin'en stood up and clasped his hands behind his back.
"Hubris is her very nature. She likes to be in control, in charge, and in command. She is the smartest, most intelligent, and wisest, and this means that everyone should do what she says. Her word is law. She gets what she wants because what she wants is rooted in logic and reason, and therefore cannot be refuted."
"Shut up," Annabeth hissed under her breath.
Shin'en continued staring at her down his nose.
"She's like a child not getting her way. She wants you to go to college with her because she wants you to. No other reason than that. She wants you by her side because that's what she wants. She's selfish. She knows you don't want to keep going to school, and she knows how much you hate it there, but, in a way, she doesn't care. She is determined to go to college to achieve her architectural degree, and she wants you there for no other reason than it's because she'll be getting her way. She is, essentially, a bitch."
"Shut up!" Annabeth's face turned red as angry, frustrated, embarrassed tears sprang to her eyes.
"Hey!" Persephone shouted louder than her girlfriend. Then she rounded on her little brother. "And you! Quit it with the creepy, psychological stuff, okay? You're creeping me out." Then she looked back at Annabeth. "Is that true? You really just want me to go to college because that's what you decided you want, and you're going to make it so that you get what you want?"
"Answer with the truth," Shin'en commanded, only for his sister's head to snap to him.
"Shut up, Percy!"
The other two in the room both stared at Persephone, Annabeth's jaw agape, Shin'en's eyes narrowed. Never, in either of their minds, did they think Seph would actually ever raise her voice at her brother.
Persephone's eyes bored hard into her twin's, telling him to keep his mouth shut.
Annabeth recalled a past conversation with her girlfriend about how she would corral Shin'en, and Persephone had asserted she'd use her "awesome big sister powers." This must've been those powers at work, because she was unyielding, unfaltering, and unwavering as she stared down Shin'en, the demigod that had destroyed Titans, laid waste to civilizations, and murdered tens of thousands of people.
There was a frantic knock at the door the broke the battle of wills between the siblings.
"Persephone?" Sally's voice called from the other side, panic clear in her voice. "Is everything alright? Baby?"
Persephone opened the door enough so a bit of her face was visible. Her expression did not ease Sally's nerves.
"We're sorting some stuff out. Go away."
She shut the door, and that's how Annabeth knew that shit was in the fan right now. The blonde swallowed under the intensity of her girlfriend's eyes. Like her brother's, they changed shades when she was angry. No longer were they like the bright, sparkling waters of the Caribbean beach, but dark and cold like the Arctic.
Like Shin'en's eyes.
A fresh wave of shame brought new tears to Annabeth's eyes. "I don't want us to be apart," she sobbed, crumbling and breaking into pieces. "Even if you can just teleport, I-I-I don't w-want to away from you! I don't want us to be separated…not again. And-and-and I'm delusional, paranoid, and mentally ill—I feel like, if we're apart, we'll…drift. We won't mean as much to each other. And yes! I want my way, dammit! I want my girlfriend to be with me, forever, until we die, and then I want us to be in Elysium together! Is-Is-Is-Is that w-wrong!? That I want to spend the rest of my life with the girl I threw an apple at in the traditional Greek proposal, and need to properly propose to here soon!? Am I insane!?"
Annabeth shattered as her irrational fear of the future got a hold of her, compounded with her selfish hubris and the cognitive dissonance that came with it, the sentiment that her thoughts were wrong but she didn't do anything to better herself.
Annabeth dropped her watery, mucus-covered face into her hands and sobbed, her shoulders shaking as a dam splintered. She felt arms wrap around her, and she turned and flung herself into the chest attached to those arms.
It was when she did that that she realized she was crying into Shin'en's chest. It was barely a second later that she felt Persephone's arms encircle her from behind. Annabeth was too distraught to care, and she just cried until she was done.
"Sorry," she mumbled, indicating Shin'en's watery, snot-covered torso.
The matter all rose from his body and was tossed out the window behind him, the window opening and shutting seemingly of its own accord.
"Feel better?" he asked.
"Yeah."
"Where do we go from here?" he spoke again.
Annabeth looked at Persephone, who looked at her.
"I want to be a teacher at camp," she said. "I'm more than a diploma and a degree. School is not where I belong. I belong out there, helping people. You can disagree with me all you want, but I will die on this hill: I have the power, so I have the responsibility."
Annabeth just nodded. "I know. I've known that since the Sea of Monsters. I can see it on your face. Your eyes only sparkle in that way I love whenever we're at camp or on a quest. In school, it's like you're dead inside."
"I am dead inside when I'm at school."
Annabeth nodded again. She was silent for a little bit, then she said, "So, I guess this is it, isn't it? Today was your last as a student in the United States."
Persephone felt something in her that was hard to describe. It was like a mixture feeling of resignation, nervousness, and excitement. Resigned because she'd spent so much time and effort already in school, working to finally be free of that prison, and now here she was, about to throw all that progress away. She was nervous because she was standing at the edge of the cliff, and the bottom was further down that what it seemed. What was going to happen now that she finally took that leap into the life she wanted for herself? That question tied into why she was excited: she didn't know, but she was looking forward to finding out!
"Yep, guess it was," Persephone exhaled. "So, you're good? You're okay with me dropping out and teaching at camp?"
"You know when I get out of school. You'd better be here so we can have dinner together every night. And every Friday we're going on a real date. And you're visiting me every day at college."
"Obviously." Seph rolled her eyes. "I'm not abandoning you, or anything. I mean, this is like what normal life is for couples. You have your job, I have my job, and we come home to spend the evening together when the workday is done."
Annabeth nodded. "Yeah."
Persephone beamed. "Alright, then."
She turned around and left her bedroom. Sally was in the living room, pacing in her bathrobe with the lamp on. She looked up when she heard her daughter.
"Everything okay?" she asked, puzzled by Seph's big smile.
"I'm dropping out of high school," she said like a person declared they were cancer free. "Annabeth and I had a heart to heart, and we've got it sorted. Tomorrow, you're signing the paperwork that'll let me drop out of Alt High, and then I'm going to camp. I'm going to be a full-time instructor like Luke."
Sally stared at her daughter for a solid two seconds, before her eyes fluttered shut and a little sigh escaped her as the corners of her mouth curled up into a small, sad, smile. "I'd hoped you'd finish high school and get your diploma, and do what I couldn't, but I guess school never was the right place for you, was it?"
"Nope!"
"And this is what you really want? This is what your heart telling you to do?"
"It is. One hundred percent."
Sally nodded. "Okay, then. Tomorrow, I'll sign you of school early. For the last time."
Persephone beamed and hugged her mother, though they had to do it sideways on account of Sally's rotund tummy.
"Oh!" Sally suddenly let out a surprise grunt.
Persephone felt it too. "Aww, she's kicking!"
She placed her hand on her mother's midsection, and sure enough, she could feel the little bumps as the unborn Estelle kicked against their mother's uterus. The little creature almost seemed excited in there.
"She's happy for you, too," Sally smiled.
"I can't wait till she's born. I wanna hold her!" Persephone almost whined.
Sally giggled. "About another two months, sweetie. Now, off to bed with you. We've got a big day ahead of us tomorrow."
Persephone nodded. She gave her mother a goodnight kiss and went back to her room. She found Annabeth still sitting on the bed, only she was staring at Percy with a worried expression, and Percy himself was standing stock still, staring through the wall, it seemed.
"He just…went rigid," Annabeth said. "He turned his head that way and he hasn't moved since."
Persephone nudged her brother. "Percy? You okay?"
Shin'en's eyes slowly slid to hers. "…yes. We're going to have a great year together."
Seph nodded. "Yeah. Definitely."
The first ten minutes of the night saw Annabeth and Persephone sharing the bed together like they had for months, with Shin'en just leaning against the wall. But Persephone didn't feel right with that.
It would've been funny if she just shoved Annabeth off the bed and replaced her with Percy, but Seph wasn't that mean. Instead, she got out of bed, making Annabeth pout, and got on the floor by her brother, pulling him down next to her. That was when an old instinct in them triggered.
They put their foreheads together, Percy's arms crossed in an "X" in front of him, with Persephone's arms wrapped around his, so she was hugging him tightly to her. Their legs tangled together, and they both drifted into sleep in unison. It took Annabeth a little while to adjust to not having her girlfriend to warm her up, but she eventually fell asleep herself.
Come morning, after such a time had passed, Sally gently knocked and entered after no response, for the kids were all sound asleep still. When Sally saw the position the twins were sleeping in, having not budged so much as a millimeter, she immediately burst into tears.
The way they were cuddled together was exactly like their ultrasounds.
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And that's this chapter. That is how the Giant War ended in Backup Plan. Remember, the last time we saw the Giant War per the BP canon was the incident with Kymopoleia. After that was the non-canon "happy ending," and then I jumped into the canon ending that all of you loved so much.
For some strange reason, I have begun forays into the wild cesspool that is…Reddit. More specifically, the Percy Jackson official subreddit called r/camphalfblood. What am I doing there, you ask? Well, posting those big questions that make people uncomfortable, and making those observations that piss people off. Essentially, I'm taking my opinions and sentiments that I discussed in Ch. 64 of AC:T, and bringing them to the subreddit.
As of this chapter, 3/18/2022, I have been perma-banned from the subreddit, suspended from all of Reddit for making an alt account to evade the ban, which is a violation of their policy, and suspended a second time for the same thing. So, I have been perma-banned and suspended twice. I'm currently on my fourth account, but this time I'm using a VPN and Chrome's Incognito Mode.
I have determined that the subreddit is full of idiotic, liberal children that are in desperate need of a wakeup call. Case in point, I posted a poll on the subreddit that revolved around Persephone's ideas about demigods and the responsibility they have with their powers.
The poll was: should demigods use their powers like superheroes to fight mortal monsters (rapists, murderers, sex traffickers, drug dealers, criminals, etc.), or do they only need to worry about fighting mythological monsters?
Before I got banned the second time, 59 people voted.
9 were in favor of crimefighting, and the other 50 were in favor of the demigods basically sitting on their ass and letting evil prevail.
If you can come up with a logical argument as to why demigods only need to fight mythological monsters instead of the mortal ones, then I would love to hear it.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, because I do love writing about Shin'en and Persephone.
I also bought Elden Ring, so as long as it took for this chapter to come out, the next one will take even longer.