Shin'en is Beyond Scared Straight
Remember, this story is really just me having fun with Shin'en and Persephone…and Annabeth to a smaller extent. Which means there's next to no plot involved.
I mean, there's a little bit of plot. The last chapter was plot, freeing Persephone up for all these fun shenanigans I have in mind.
This chapter has zero plot at all!
Oh, and if you want to follow my reddit escapades, my current username is "leoram1217."
Disclaimer: I don't own PJO
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Persephone had the biggest smile on her face that she's had in a while. Since Paul used the Prius and took himself and Annabeth to Goode, she and Sally had gotten a cab to take them to Alt High. Even after Percy's little comment this morning, Persephone was still riding a joyous high.
Earlier that morning, while the kids were eating cereal for breakfast, Shin'en had posed this question:
"Why didn't you just use the Mist to get back into Goode?"
Everyone came to a stop.
"You know, the Mist? That magical barrier that warps memories and perceptions, and-"
"I know what the Mist is," Persephone interrupted her little brother. She looked at Annabeth. "Why did no one think of using the Mist to get me unexpelled from Goode?"
"Uh…" Annabeth was honestly drawing a blank.
Persephone huffed. "I've been cheated."
"It's even worse when you remember that Chiron used the Mist to get you of that middle school mess after the Laistrygonians attacked you during gym."
Persephone sat back in her chair.
"And if I recall correctly, Hazel has become something of a master manipulator of the Mist. Why didn't you reach out to her for help in avoiding Alt High?"
"Um…huh," was Persephone's dumfounded response. "Ah…she left before the semester started and I couldn't get ahold of her?"
Shin'en hummed. "What about Lou Ellen? I know you aren't the best of friends, but I do think she would've happily scratched your back for a favor or some drachma."
The girls looked like their entire world was coming undone as Shin'en pointed out that Persephone's entire tenure at Alt High could've been avoided by a snap of the fingers and the manipulation of some magic. Sally was leaning against the kitchen sink with a hand over her mouth, and Paul was just staring off into space, having the same expression on his face that someone did when a problem of theirs that they'd been working on for so long was solved so simply.
"Seriously," Shin'en said with the corners of his mouth slightly curled upwards, "did no one here think to use the Mist to get you back into Goode?"
"Well, obviously not," Persephone said shortly, glaring daggers at her supersmart girlfriend. "I thought you weren't supposed to be a dumb blonde?"
"You didn't think of it either," Annabeth returned.
"I suck at using the Mist, and you know that!"
"Well, I'm not that great with it either. I haven't really had time to practice, anyway."
Annabeth's milk started moving of its own accord in her bowl, and that's when Sally stepped in.
"Easy now, sweetheart. It's okay. It doesn't matter now, okay? We're going up to Alt High and signing you out today for the last time."
Persephone took a breath. "Right. Just would've been nice to spend my last semester of school in one I kind of enjoyed."
"I know, baby."
Dumb plot, Shin'en thought to himself as he munched on his Coco Puffs.
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"Good morning," Sally said in a formal manner to the receptionist in the front office. "I'm Sally Blofis, and this is my daughter, Persephone. I'm here to sign the papers that'll remove her from the education system."
"So, her drop-out paperwork?" the lady said out of the corner of her mouth, which was moving up and down as she chewed on a wad of gum.
"Yes, that."
While Sally frowned, Persephone still grinning, too happy to be upset by the words used and the tone that accompanied them.
The receptionist got up from her chair and disappeared further into the office. About a minute later, she returned with the vice principal, now acting as the principal following the apparent suicide of the other guy, who had walked in front of a train while under Shin'en's Mist-based genjutsu.
The look on his face put mother and daughter on edge.
"Mrs. Blofis and Ms. Jackson?"
"Yes, sir," Sally answered.
"You wish to sign your daughter out of school?"
"Yes, sir."
"No."
Persephone instantly bristled, while Sally's eyes narrowed.
"And why not?" she demanded evenly. "She is eighteen and I am her mother. I am legally able to remove her from this institution with my consent."
"That is true in most cases. However, this yesterday, just before I walked out to leave."
The VP handed over a very official document. Sally read it and her jaw dropped. "This can't be legal!"
"I'm afraid it is, ma'am."
"What is it?" Persephone barked, her anger rising.
Sally looked at her daughter. Knowing her dyslexia would make things unnecessarily difficult, she just explained. "This is a court order from the superintendent, signed by the mayor, saying that because of your truancy your junior year, you won't be allowed to drop out-"
"WHAT!?"
The school instantly flooded as Persephone exploded the plumbing. The pipes in the walls, floors, and ceiling ruptured, the toilets erupted, the sinks were blasted out of the walls, water spraying all over the place. There was a panicked cry from within the office, and some poor girl came hopping out of the clinic restroom, trying to pull her pants and panties back up.
Despite the fact this was a water emergency, someone in the school pulled the fire alarm, and the halls were filled with shrill ringing and a stampede of soaking, smelly delinquents that had all been doused in the nasty sprinkler water.
Of course, not a drop landed on Persephone and her mother, and the same was said for Shin'en.
"I don't know how you did this!" The VP shouted over the alarms, the rushing water, and the screaming kids as he pulled his suit jacket over his head, "but I will find out how and I'll make sure you never see anything besides the inside of a cell for the rest of your life!"
The receptionist and other secretaries had already run out of the building, meaning the VP was alone on the other side of the office for his brief tirade. He turned to flee and smacked into the unhappy form of Persephone's little brother.
The VP looked up into glowing red eyes, and he no longer desired to press charges against Persephone.
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"You didn't let me finish," Sally said a little while later when they were all back at home, the whole of Manhattan practically on lockdown on account of the "terrorist bomb" that went off in Alt High that blasted the plumbing. Parents were released from work to get their kids, busses were called in to pick up all the other kids, and the National Guard had even been called in.
The mayor had declared a state of emergency following the bomb.
They weren't taking the chance this time.
"The paper said that you wouldn't be allowed to drop out because of your truancy until you complete the…Scared Straight program."
Persephone stared at her mother. "…I never told anyone I'm gay."
"It's not a sexuality thing," Annabeth said with a sigh. "A Scared Straight program is a psychological tactic used on at-risk kids, ones that have already been in trouble for things drugs, shoplifting, violence, and truancy. What happens is that the kids are taken to a prison and treated as inmates, having to wear the prison garb, eat the prison food, stay in the cell, follow the prison schedule, and basically be bullied by the inmates. The idea is to scare a kid into being straight with the law. They get a taste of what it's like to be jailbird, and so they change their ways. Or, that's supposed to be how it works."
"Oh my gods," Persephone groaned.
But Shin'en snorted. "What are you worried about? This'll be fun."
"Fun?" Persephone demanded. "The education system is jacking me into prison just so I can drop out! How is this fun? How is this even legal? Am I the only one that thinks this doesn't make any kind of sense at all?"
"It makes a little bit of sense," Annabeth said with a small shrug. "You have one of the worst track records for schools in history. While this is totally a huge overreach, there is some logic in this. The way it's being looked at is that you've been in and out of schools left and right, got into trouble at each school, and just last year, you skipped nearly a whole school year. In the eyes of the law and the education system, you're trouble, and are heading for something really serious."
"But I'm not, dammit! I'm a hero! I saved all their asses—twice—and I just want to be done with school and go be an instructor at camp!"
"Yeah, good luck telling anybody that," Annabeth said flatly. "You think going to prison is bad, try the mental hospital."
"Well, that's the thing: I can spin it and say I've got a job lined up at a summer camp for kids with ADHD and dyslexia, and I'm joining their year-round program."
"Valid," Annabeth nodded. "But this is the court we're talking about. They might nod their head and say Good for you, and then they'll turn around and say You still have to go through the Scared Straight program."
"This is bullshit," Persephone muttered. "Stuff like this makes me think I should've let the Giants win."
"Baby," Sally said gently.
"I know, I know, but still…"
"I really don't know what you're so broken up about," Shin'en said, making his big sister glower at him. She opened her mouth to retort, but he spoke up again, "Because I'm going with you."
There was silence for a few seconds before Sally said, "Oh, no, young man. I will not tolerate you killing so many inmates and police officers."
"Kill them? Please, I wouldn't waste the effort. I would, however, keep her temper in check to make sure she doesn't accidentally kill somebody."
Persephone's eye twitched. "And why would I be the one to kill somebody?"
Everyone kept to themselves how Persephone had already killed somebody, that person being Smelly Gabe.
"Because you've only ever fought other demigods and monster, and other divine beings. You've never actually fought a human hand-to-hand, and so you don't know how fragile they are compared to your strength," Shin'en said seriously, the mirth gone from him. "I take it you've never seen the show Beyond Scared Straight?"
"No."
"It's the televised version of the Scared Straight program. They get a camera crew in the prison and they film the kids and their experience with the inmates. Used to watch it towards the end of the school year and leading up to the week-long breaks. The police and the inmates are allowed to get in your face and scream at you, and the police are allowed to be as physical as the law allows given the situation, while the inmates are allowed physical contact as well, albeit limited and restricted, and always under watch. I can see someone getting in your face, and you punch a hole through them. Or push them through a wall that's on the opposite side of the room. Hence, I am going with you."
"Sounds good to me," Paul said after a few seconds.
"What about you?" Persephone asked Annabeth. "Gonna join us in prison?"
"No thanks. That'd be overkill."
"Wimp."
"Whatever makes you feel better."
"When's the date of this thing supposed to be, anyway?"
"I have to book an appointment," Sally answered. "I need to look at the program schedule and sign you up."
"Terrific."
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"This is stupid," Persephone grumbled as Paul pulled up to the prison.
"Look at it this way," he tried to ease her feelings, "when you get done with this, you can finally drop out and go to camp."
"I guess."
Meanwhile, Shin'en was just sitting there, thinking to himself how he could've skipped all of this with a snap of his fingers. Unlike his sister, and apparently unlike the majority of all attendees of the camps, Shin'en had endeavored to learn how to work the Mist. The benefits of being able to use the magic that warped people's memories and worldly perceptions was just too great to pass up. Being able to tie the Mist to his Sharingan was just icing on the cake.
"Remember you two," Sally said. "Look out for each other and keep your heads down. It's yes sir, no sir, yes ma'am, no ma'am to everyone, even the prisoners, and especially to the guards. Be nice, be respectful, and please, if you have any kind of love for me, no killing, maiming, or serious injuries."
Sally was looking harder at her son than her daughter with that order.
Shin'en raised his right hand and crossed his left fingers behind his back. "I do solemnly swear not to kill, maim, or seriously injure…you know, rats or something."
"People," Sally amended for her son. "You do solemnly swear not to kill, maim, or seriously injure any people."
"Of course."
"Now promise me you'll do that without crossing your fingers behind your back."
Persephone snickered at her little brother, who stuck his tongue out at her.
"No, thanks. I use toilet paper."
Shin'en smirked. "I have done the laundry, and I have seen your dirty undies. I beg to differ on your statement."
"Hey!"
Annabeth, who was between the twins the entire time they bickered, finally asked, "Why were you looking inside of your big sister's dirty underwear?"
"Because she can't take them off like a properly functioning human being and leaves them inside out in the basket. You should know; you sniff them."
Annabeth turned scarlet while Seph blushed, and Paul and Sally blanched.
"Okay, that's enough. Out, you two. Off to prison."
Shin'en was smirking as he exited the car at his mother's command, while his sister was embarrassed as she got out. Meaning Annabeth was left alone with the mother and stepfather of her girlfriend. They watched the twins disappear inside, and then Paul drove away.
That's when Sally maneuvered around in her seat to look at Annabeth.
"You sniff my daughter's dirty panties?"
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The twins had foregone their Akatsuki cloaks because they both knew they wouldn't be allowed to wear them, and while Shin'en knew they were virtually indestructible when matched up against the weapons of this world, Persephone didn't want anything to happen to one of her most prized possessions.
Her Christmas present from her little brother.
Seph was wearing one of her many orange t-shirts under a blue hoodie, and some thermal leggings, as this was Manhattan in the middle of January, and a flexible denim skirt to cover up her eye-catching buns. Call her a prude, but while Persephone knew people were going to look at her ass, and she knew there was nothing she could do about wandering eyes, she did try to limit the show. To finish her look, she was wearing some tough, tan hiking boots with steel toes that came up above her ankles to provide that good support.
Shin'en was dressed in his Akatsuki gear minus the cloak. He still had the open-toed blue sandals, the white leg warmer, and the blue pants, but he'd ditched the supply pouches. He wasn't shirtless, and the shirt he wore was hilarious: a black tee with the Akatsuki cloud on the center of the chest.
They went inside the prison and found the waiting area before them. A rather large expanse of room with metal benches bolted into the ground.
"Names," a guard at the door barked.
"Persephone Jackson and…" Seph hesitated, shooting a quick frown at her brother, "Shin'en Yūrei."
Her butthole of a younger twin had warped the Mist to get himself booked into the nonsense, but wouldn't use the Mist to alter his death certificate. Remember, as far as all official documentation went in this world, Percy Jackson had died mere minutes after his birth due to complications with his lungs. He'd drowned in his own blood.
"So, that's how you pronounce it," the guard muttered, writing down checks on his clipboard. He sat that down and grabbed a plastic tray. "Put your phones, keys, wallets, and any other possessions you have on you in this tray. They will looked after and returned to you at the end of this program."
Persephone shrugged. "Left everything at home."
The guard set the tray down and grabbed his security wand. "Spread your arms." The twins complied as the guard waved them down. "Alright, go through."
The twins went through the high-end metal detector without issue. As it so happened, Riptide, being made of the divine metal Celestial Bronze, did not set off mortal detection methods.
The waiting area opened up to a larger chamber, one with lockers and more benches, and occupying the benches were several teenagers that were not ethnically diverse. Standing before the seated teens was about a dozen armed guards, all equally not ethnically diverse. If you looked into the family trees of all these people, you'd be able to trace the most common ancestries to Africa and Spain, in that order.
The twins weren't helping, since their healthy, sun-kissed complexions and black hair made them look Hispanic.
There was no camera crew, meaning this wasn't going to be filmed and televised as part of the series.
"Take a seat," one of the guards rumbled out in a deep voice. He was the biggest, and not necessarily because of his muscles.
The twins got seated next to each other and had to wait for another four minutes and twenty-two seconds for apparently the last of their "class" to arrive. In that time, Shin'en analyzed each and every guard before him, all the teenagers surrounding him, mapped the entire layout of the prison, counted how many male and female inmates there, all of their heights and weight, the scars on their body, how much hair was on their body in all places, who needed to wipe their ass better, who had recently finished getting fucked in their ass, which of the females were on their periods, how much weight each person was going to lose the next time they occupied a toilet, and more.
Persephone managed to tune the world out and get lost in a fantasy of her Annabeth raising their children, a firstborn girl and secondborn boy, alongside Percy and Naruko's children, a firstborn boy and secondborn twin girls.
After the last girl arrived and was seated—forcibly, because she wanted to give attitude right off the bat—the biggest guard spoke up. Well, more like shouted. The acoustics of the large room magnified his voice.
"Welcome to my prison, convicts! You are all here because you are at risk children, and the great state of New York has decided to spend taxpayer dollars in an attempt to reform all of into law abiding citizens, before you end up permanently in my prison! While here, you will address me as Warden Beers, are we clear!?"
There was some half-hearted mumbling, while the twins didn't even open their mouths. They just looked at each other out of the corner of their eyes, sharing a silent little smirk at this human. Of course, this got the wrong attention.
Warden Beers went stomping down the way to tower over the demigods with his rather impressive 6'4, invading their personal space. He smelled like donuts and sweat. "I said: are we clear!?"
Persephone smiled and nodded her head. "Yes, sir," she said.
The warden turned his full gaze to Shin'en.
"Transparently."
"I've got my eyes on you two," the warden growled.
Persephone had to resist a snide comment to her brother.
The warden stomped back to the center of his stage, and some people noticed that something was missing from his utility belt. Whispers and mutters broke out, and one guard said, "Chief, your gun!"
Beers' hand snapped to his belt and indeed, his firearm was missing. "EVERYONE ON THE GROUND! NOW! NOW!"
The other guards surged forward, shouting and screaming at the kids, who all hastily got down as the situation went from zero to a hundred.
"Get those two!" Beers roared, and guards grabbed the prone twins, hauling them to their feet.
"Way to go, Percy," Seph grumbled as she was pushed against the lockers with her arms forced behind her back. A kick at the insides of her feet made her spread her legs.
"I never stole it," Shin'en returned innocently.
"Shut up!" the furious warden thundered in their ears. "One of you took my gun and whoever that was is in a lot of trouble! Stealing from an officer of the peace, illegal possession of a firearm, in a prison!"
Shin'en grunted as hands furiously patted him up and down. "What makes you think I or my sister took it?"
The warden slammed his big hand onto the lockers next to Shin'en's head. "You will speak when I give you permission, convict! And my gun was in its holster before you got here, and then it was gone when I walked away from you two! I know one you little thieves stole it!"
"Are you sure about that?" Shin'en asked.
"Yes, I'm fucking sure! I-"
The warden touched his belt, and there was his gun.
It brought everything to a pause as everyone beheld this strange phenomenon. The warden undid the holster and brought his gun out, checking the safety, the chamber, and the magazine. Everything was good with it. Beers stared at Shin'en in disbelief.
He was the warden of the prison, with many years under his belt (and many pounds). He wasn't stupid, and knew the criminal mind. Even if this punk or his sister had pickpocketed his gun when he had been standing over them, there was no way they could've possible slipped back into his holster. They'd been hoisted to their feet and their hands grabbed, and he had to walk over to them. He even came to stand beside Shin'en, who had both hands forced behind his back, and the warden's holster was at his right hip, anyway.
There was absolutely no way that Shin'en could've slipped the gun back into the holster, much less Persephone.
The twins were both facing the lockers, and the six guards frisking them looked at their boss for instructions.
"Er, let them go. Alright, back to your seats!"
The twins were let go and they returned to their bench, all the other kids getting back up.
Persephone crossed her arms at her brother. "Don't do that again."
Shin'en shrugged. "Your wish is my command."
Warden Beers cleared his throat. "As I was saying, convicts! I am the warden here, and while in my prison, you will obey every rule we tell you. You will address every staff member here as sir or ma'am. Rule Number One: I make the rules! And my next rule is dress code."
He nodded at a guard, and she pushed a big box forward to the warden. He reached inside and pulled out an orange jumpsuit with short sleeves.
"All of you will wear one of these over your clothes! You will be here for the rest of today, all of tomorrow, and the morning of the following day until ten AM, and this will be your outermost layer at all times! No exceptions! Now, put them on, convicts!"
The warden hefted the box, showing his strength, and just started reaching in and throwing jumpsuits around without regard for size. The reason for that was because all the jumpsuits were XXL, and had varying fits for all the teens. For the twins, their jumpsuits were extremely breezy and baggy with their athletic, 5'10 physiques. However, the jumpsuits had built-in belts and cinches at the ankles, so they were able to tight things up.
"Naruko would love these," Persephone noted.
Shin'en raised a brow. "How do you know her favorite color is orange?"
"SHUT UP, CONVICTS!" roared the warden, making Persephone wince and Shin'en's other brow twitch a few times.
Warden Beers grinned. "Now, if there aren't any questions, we'll take you to meet your new neighbors."
The guards handcuffed all the teens behind their backs, and lined them up single file with much shouting and strongarming as some of the teens wanted to be difficult. They were separated by gender, girls in the front and boys in the back, and then led out of the waiting area and into a hall. They were fast-marched through the passage, going under the periodic exit sign and some dark windows, until they hit a fork in the hall.
"Girls go that way and boys go this way!" Warden Beers barked.
All the female officers took the girls away, Persephone shooting a quick warning glance at her brother over her shoulder, and some of the male officers went with them for extra muscle, while the remaining men took the boys down the other way, Shin'en winking at his sister.
"You making goo-goo eyes at me, boy?" one of the guards demanded.
"No, officer," Shin'en said coolly. "My sister was just telling me to be on my best behavior and I was winking at her to tell her I would."
"You think this is a joke!?" the guard shouted in Shin'en's face, totally ignorant to the life-ending danger he was in. "Your best behavior—what bullshit is that!? You're in jail, boy! The only behavior here is your best behavior! You're in my house now! You hear me!? My house!"
Shin'en refrained from making the innocent observation that this was supposed to be the house of the warden, not this guy getting spit on his face.
"Of course, sir. I am sorry."
"Oh, you ain't sorry yet, boy. But you're gonna be, when you see real prisoners."
Shin'en almost shattered his composure with a raucous guffaw at what this tiny man thought a "prisoner" was, but he remained cool.
The boys were led down the hallway to the men's cellblock. They reached an annex room, one of the security measures in the event of a breakout, and on the other side of the bulletproof glass and the heavy door with the electronic lock and a drop box-like opening under the window that had the steel wiring running through it in a crisscrossing pattern was the cafeteria.
There were several circular tables and long tables, with the kitchen on the far wall across the expanse. Rising up along the perimeter were the cells going four stories high. The cafeteria was level one, and the cells were the upper three levels. Only so many inmates were actually downstairs, most being locked up. Shin'en figured the "outmates" were the ones who were in here for petty things, or had shown good behavior, and were told to put on a good show.
Shin'en was unimpressed with all the shouting and arm-waving and window-pounding, and even less impressed with the half-dozen prisoners crowding around the door, making snide comments and remarks about the delinquent teens.
"Take a good look, boys," the warden sneered. "This is what prison looks like!"
The other five boys were all trying to look brave in the face of all these missing teeth and tattoos, but Shin'en knew better. He could see the sweat on their brows, he could see the veins pumping in their necks, he could see how they shifted or stood completely still, tense and rigid, and of course, he could read the water in their bloodstreams, and he knew all the chemicals racing through them, adrenaline being the most prevalent.
Shin'en might have well been eating breakfast for how concerned he was.
"You think you can hang in here?" Warden Beers demanded. "You think you can make it with these freaks!? I Want all you boys to look at all these men, and pick one out. I want you size up one of them. You think your scrawny asses can handle one of them, if he comes for your ass in the shower? Huh!? Do you!?"
Shin'en couldn't resist. "Yeah."
The warden grabbed him by the arm and yanked him over to the door, where the gaggle of inmates were shouting and pounding on the locked portal.
"Tell that their face! Tell them that you think you can take 'em!"
They were all banging on the door, putting a good show. Shin'en shut his eyes.
"Aww, don't get scared now, tough guy!" Beers shouted.
The inmates were almost threatening to break the door down with how hard they were hitting on it, all jeering and yelling at Shin'en, but they all went quiet when he slowly opened his eyes. Shin'en just stared at them, his emerald-green eyes dark and merciless, devoid of all light and kindness. His eyes were nothing but cold, hostile, and unforgiving. There was no fear, just utter contempt for these lifeforms.
Shin'en looked at each inmate in turn, and they all backed away one by one. Their behavior caught the attention of the other inmates occupying the cafeteria for their little show, and the energy started to exponentially decrease as they picked up on the fact that something was wrong.
Shin'en spoke. "A brave little threat display you have going on here, warden. You let out the inmates with the good behavior and the light sentences to make a lot of noise, but that's all they are. Noise. Noise is easily tuned out. Besides, as bad as all these criminals are…I am worse. Open the door, please. I desire to tell these little men that I can, as you put it, take them." Then, as an afterthought, "You can even leave the handcuffs on."
Shin'en never took his eyes away from the window. Not once did he ever look the warden in the eye as he talked.
And there was trepidation in the air, even fear. Shin'en's display, the inmates' strange reaction, the fact that they were still far away from the door, crowded by their fellows as they tried to get to the bottom of what was wrong, the way Shin'en talked, his voice so low, calm, and level…the guards were getting it into their heads that they weren't dealing with someone normal.
They'd seen plenty of other tough boys come through the program, and usually, by the end of it, once they'd been exposed to real criminals, they weren't as brave anymore. But Shin'en was different. They could feel it and sense it. He was not intimidated, but not in the same way others had been not intimidated, where they'd had the confidence of the glass and the bars, and the notion that if they were assaulted by one of the inmates then the guards would swoop in and save them.
No, Shin'en was totally in control, and that was scary.
"…lock it…" the warden started in a weak voice, so he cleared his throat and tried again. "Lock it down! Get these freaks back in their cells, now!"
It was a good thing Shin'en had promised his big sister that he would play nice, elsewise he would've broken these handcuffs and beaten everyone here halfway to death already.
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Persephone was not as morbidly entertained with this whole thing as her little brother was, and also lacked the same fear-inducing abilities that he did. Not because she didn't have the heart for it—well, mostly—but because she was just trying to keep her head down and get through this without a scene. She was led down the hall to the women's cellblock, exactly identical to the men's, complete with "scary" women banging on the windows and shouting obscenities.
She kept her chin high and her face neutral. Being the tallest girl present at 5'10—even amongst the female officers she was the tallest—she was immediately singled out and brought to the door to face the horde.
"What are you in here for, bitch?"
The guards grabbed Seph and marched her to the door in front of the inmates. "Tell her what you're in here for!" one of them barked in her ear.
Seph remained calm. "Truancy," she answered flatly.
"Truancy!? You out there skipping school?"
"I was. Landed me in an alternate high school, but-"
"You skipped school so much they jacked you into a sped program, and you were still skipping!?"
The demigoddess's eye twitched. "No. As I was trying to say, I was on my way there with my mom the other day so she could sign me out of the school. At Alt High, in order for student to drop out, they -"
"What're you trying to drop out for!? How old are you, anyway?"
"Eighteen."
"Girl, you almost done! What're you trying to skip for?"
"Because I hate school, for one. I have A-"
"I hated school, too, girl! And-"
"INTERRUPT ME WHEN I'M TRYING TO TALK ONE MORE TIME AND I WILL COME THROUGH THIS DOOR!"
Persephone's temper finally boiled over and she snapped. Her voice boomed through the cafeteria through the little opening, bringing total silence to the inmates. In the annex room, the two women that had been holding onto Persephone had actually flinched away from her like she was striking cobra. The others all stared at her in total shock that she could be that loud.
"S-Sorry," the inmate squeaked.
Persephone growled lowly. "Like I was trying to say, I have ADHD and dyslexia. I have legitimate medical problems that make it hard for me to function in a normal classroom. My ADHD makes it hard for me to pay attention and be still, and my dyslexia makes me reverse words and letters in my head, making it hard to read. I was skipping school because I had nothing but asshole teachers that never tried to work with me, and always some group of bullies that pushed me around, and then went crying to their mommies when I pushed them back. I kept getting kicked out of school after school, through elementary all the way to my senior year, and I've had enough. I don't have to graduate high school. I have a job.
"There's a summer camp I've been attending since I was twelve that's specifically designed to educate kids with ADHD and dyslexia. It's how I was ever able to move from grade to grade in the first place. Well, they offer a year-round program, and now that I'm eighteen, I can work there as an instructor, and I'm going to. I already talked with the director, and we already signed the paperwork. I'm supposed to be there right freaking now, moving in and getting my work schedule ironed out, but I'm stuck here, because Alt High is special.
"In order to drop out of there, you have to be eighteen, have your parent or legal guardian with you to sign the paperwork in the school office, but, as it so happens—and this is something Mom and I never knew in the first place—in order to actually get those papers, I have to complete a Scared Straight program, so here I am. I'm not out dealing or doing drugs, or picking fights, or having sex with random people, or drinking, or shoplifting, or doing anything illegal. School is just not for me, and it's not like I'm throwing my life away. Like I said, I have a job. I do have a future that doesn't involve this place. I'm just here to get through this bullshit so I can finally drop out and move on with my life."
Persephone's story actually brought some of the listening inmates to tears as they were hit way too close to home.
It also got really awkward at that moment.
The present officers obviously heard every word, and they could feel the truth in said words. Persephone wasn't an at-risk teenager like these other five; other than her truancy, she had done nothing illegal. In fact, she seemed to have her life together. She was dropping out of high school, sure, but she already had a job lined up and waiting for her. Per her own words, she was only here today because one of her high school's drop out requirements was successful completion of the Scared Straight program.
She didn't need to be here like these other girls needed to be here. She didn't need the rough, in-your-face treatment that the guards and prisoners were supposed to provide so as to scare these kids straight with the law. She was straight enough already. In fact, her time was being unfairly wasted, and some of the guards were exchanging looks, debating and wondering amongst themselves if there wasn't a way to get Persephone out of here at this very moment.
And her brother too, assuming he was in the same boat she was.
"Alright, that's enough out of you," the leading woman barked. She placed a firm hand around Persephone's bicep. "We're going into lockdown! Get these inmates back in their cells! The rest of you convicts, follow me!"
The inmates were returned to their cells while the teens were led down the hallway.
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The groups were reunited in something like an interrogation room. It was large enough to fit the twelve teenagers, the twins sitting next to each other in the middle of the array of provided chairs. Because they were being made to sit, everyone's handcuffs came off. In front of the chairs was a large table, with a few more chairs on the other side. Even more chairs lined the perimeter, though some of the guards occupied those. There were some turned-off TVs in two corners, and a two-way mirror on the opposite wall.
Persephone noted the looks on the guards' faces that had been with her brother.
"What did you do?" she demanded.
"Nothing," Percy answered in an innocent voice.
"Percy. Jackson."
"I didn't, honest. I just had a staring contest with some of the monkeys banging on their bars because they were annoying me, and I delivered a bit of a bone-chilling monologue that has certain lesser men on edge. I didn't break my promise. Not a hair has been harmed on anyone's head."
Persephone rolled her eyes. "That is so like you. Always coming up with loopholes and technicalities."
Percy shrugged. "You and Mom said no killing, maiming, or serious injuries. You never said I couldn't psychologically torture anybody."
"That counts as serious injuries. You know, mental and emotional injuries."
"Nonsense. Their weak constitution is what leads to any of these perceived harms. Sticks and stones, as they say. To put it in more unprofessional terms, it's not my fault if people get butthurt over what I say."
Meanwhile, all the other teens and all the officers were just staring at the twins as they hosted this conversation in front of them all.
Persephone opened her mouth to continue this argument, but the door on the other end of the room opened. Escorted inside were five inmates, all wearing the orange clothes. They had their legs and hands cuffed, a chain connecting their limbs to a belt around their waist. There were two large, buff men, sporting several tattoos, and the rest were women, all with buzzcuts and tattoos of their own.
They took their seats with malicious grins on their faces.
"A bit different when they're not on the other side of the door, isn't it?" sneered Beers, making conscious effort to not look at Shin'en. "These are some of the worse inmates we have here. Murderers, rapists, gangbangers, and they're here to give you all a warm welcome to your home for the next two days."
"Damn, we got some cute looking meat today!" one of the men grinned. He was bald and probably hadn't seen the sun since last week, yet he could apparently wax his head given how well it was shining in the fluorescent light. He was leering at Shin'en.
One of the female inmates made a show of licking her lips as she looked Persephone up and down. "I'll take that one. I'll eat that taco of hers all day -"
And all manner of decorum and notions of playing ended in that moment as very bad memories were triggered in Shin'en's mind, memories of when Persephone had been left alone with Aphrodite.
In the blink of an eye, Shin'en was on his feet. He thundered forward and flung the table out his way and into the guards that had surged forward to stop his clearly hostile approach. His hand clamped around the terrified woman's throat, and he marched her backwards and slammed her into the two-way glass hard enough to send cracks running through the surface. He was lifting her a whole foot off the ground. His open palm sent another guard into the far wall, and the elbow of that arm knocked one more guard straight into the girls that had been sitting down.
"If you ever so much as think of raping my sister again, I'll open you from your belly to your brain and feed you your intestines!"
A little bit more pressure, and he was going to splinter this woman's vertebrae. What saved her life were a couple of gentle hands that rested on Shin'en's shoulder.
"Put her down," Persephone said in a soothing voice.
Shin'en growled but obeyed.
The damage was done, however. The radio had been used, and it was barely a second later that several more guards came rushing in from either door, yelling and shouting, only these ones were geared up with tactical armor, helmets, and stun batons.
"Fun while it lasted," Shin'en shrugged.
Persephone sighed. "Couldn't even make it one hour."
"You know it."
An electrified stick was jabbed at Shin'en, but he yanked it out of the man's hand and thrust it through his face shield and through his eye socket, slamming the guy into the ground as he did so. He yanked his weapon out of the twitching body and moved forward.
Persephone's leg lashed out like a striking snake, catching her attacker in his armored stomach when his baton was only a few inches away from touching her. His midsection folded and blood erupted into his face shield, making Persephone wince. She hadn't meant to kick him that hard, but it was harder for her to measure her strength when she didn't have the same training, discipline, and opportunity to practice that her brother did.
Shin'en twirled his baton as he approached the stunned group. One grew some balls and jabbed at him, and Shin'en tapped the man's arm with the baton, grabbed the falling baton so he had two, and rapidly struck the guy all over before kicking him into the wall. He spun and swung his leg high, catching the guard in the side of his helmet, shattering it to pieces, and sent the guard hurtling into his grouped fellows. They struggled to untangle themselves, but Shin'en was already on them, bringing his stun sticks down left and right.
On the other side of the room, Persephone had the exact same kind of success. Camp Half-Blood didn't offer the same martial arts that Shin'en knew, but the place did offer human to human combat lessons for moments kind of like this one. Since demigods were heroes that were supposed to protect mortals, the style of combat was largely defensive, focusing on a demigod's natural heightened reflexes and strength to redirect attacks.
Persephone's physical might made her more than a match for any number of these human guards that attacked her, and soon enough, she was done. Wasn't even sweating.
Now, why were the twins beating all these guards up like a couple of Batmen on steroids? Simple: the reset button.
Less than a minute after the initial storming of the room, the twins were surrounded by a bunch of broken bodies and cracked walls.
Warden Beers was shaking in his oversized pants amongst the wreckage of the thrown table. "W-What the fuck are you?"
Shin'en looked at him. "Don't worry about it, lardass, you're going to forget this all happened, anyway."
Shin'en looked at his sister. "Just like I taught you. Feel the energy around us. Immerse yourself in it, flow with it, and then take hold of it, and bend it to your will. Make all of this go away with a snap of your fingers."
In the interim time between when Persephone exploded the plumbing of Alt High and when the twins were dropped off at prison, Shin'en had been teaching his sister how to manipulate the Mist. As far as canon went, the only examples of Mist manipulation come in the form of Chiron, Lou Ellen, Alabaster, Thalia, and Hazel. A major mythological figure, children of Hecate, and children of the Big Three. This seems to imply that manipulating the Mist requires natural affinity and/or a certain degree of divine power. Whether that's true or not was honestly irrelevant in this situation, since Persephone was the daughter of Poseidon.
Like her brother had taught her, the eldest twin did indeed feel the magic barrier floating around her. She let it flow through her, becoming one with it, just like she did when she was in water, and like how she manipulated the water with her will, she manipulated the Mist with a snap of her fingers.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The first thing Persephone did when she got into the backseat of the car was mash her lips so firmly against Annabeth's that the blonde thought her teeth cracked. Shin'en calmly slid into the seat on the other side of his future sister-in-law.
Paul wasted no time in driving away from this place.
"It's still standing," Sally almost wept. "Both of my babies went into a prison and it's still standing."
"Yep. We just kept our heads down and didn't draw any attention to ourselves," Persephone said simply.
"Rather boring, really," Shin'en shrugged. "A bunch of petty scare tactics. Honestly, the hardest part to this whole thing was trying to keep a straight face and not laugh at all these scary people."
"Which you barely managed to do."
"I am a man of culture. When I find myself in the midst of quality comedy, I will laugh at it."
"A prison is quality comedy to you?" Annabeth asked incredulously.
Shin'en snorted. "That wasn't a prison. That was a retirement home. Now, if you want to know what a real prison is like, then-"
"Nope!" Persephone interrupted. "No talking about the Blood War. Thanks, but no thanks."
Yeah. Everyone was totally on board with not talking about the Blood War.
"I'm just glad you two are safe and alright," Sally said. "So, pizza and ice cream in celebration of your releases?"
"Yeah!" Seph cheered.
"Sounds good," Shin'en nodded.
"And so it shall be," Paul intoned with a smile.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Remember that show called "Beyond Scared Straight?" Involved those at-risk kids being sent into actual prison to get a taste of the hard-knock life in the effort of, quote, rehabilitating them? Well, after data was analyzed from the program, it was actually a total failure. Kids who went through the program were more likely to keep committing crime than stopping.
Anyway, it's always been a fun thought of mine of what would happen if demigods ended up having to go through Beyond Scared Straight.
This took a lot longer than I thought it would, because I actually redid half this chapter no less than four times.
The first iteration, the scene where the boys and girls are split up and Shin'en is facing down the convicts beating on the glass, had Shin'en opening the door and kicking everyone's ass, but that was a violation of his promise. I wrote that whole thing out, then went back and erased it all. Second iteration was him using genjutsu on the inmates, and then the final iteration is what you got, him using his deep voice to scare everyone.
The other scene that got redone was the interrogation room one. The first draft had Shin'en telling a horror story about what a real prison was like, prisons from the Blood War, which made it in as a passing reference as seen above, but it felt more right for one of those female inmates to pop something off about having sex with Persephone, which is definitely one of Shin'en's triggers.
He still has PTSD from Aphrodite.
From that point, the only logical thing that would've happened is that Shin'en would've flown off his rails and cut loose for his sister's honor. Which would logically devolve into a battle, which is how the first iteration somewhat made it in.
I may seriously go back and make another chapter about this premise, but with Shin'en actually fighting everyone. This is supposed to be a fun dumping ground for me, after all.
Really, though, the biggest point to this chapter is the Mist. I even put this on the subreddit, leoram1217 as my name, asking why the demigods don't use the Mist. Think about it: Percy could've used the Mist and gotten back into Goode and totally avoided Alt High. He also could've used the Mist to ditch Alt High and go help the Romans prepare for the emperors, could've even sank the fleet, saving Jason's life and the lives of all those Romans, and then went back to school like nothing had happened.
Instead, we get Rick apparently forgetting the Mist exists as a way of progressing the Apollo plot.
But, anyway.
No idea what the next chapter will be, maybe an SAO crossover where Persephone, Annabeth, and Shin'en log into the game and get stuck and have to fight their way out. Time will tell.
In the meantime, Fav, Follow, and Review please!