Since nobody said anything about the cover page, I'm leaving it as it is.
Warning: Very long A/N at the end! I swear I won't make it that long every time!
Word Count: 8933 (excluding AN) (With A/N, in my word file, it's showing 9750 but here it's showing 10078. Funny!)
Chapter 8: Finally, some answer and… gli-? STOLLS!
or Start of an Apocalypse
It honestly shouldn't even come as a surprise that the spread Demeter set had a wider variety of cereal than actual food, even if it was lunch and not breakfast.
"Who eats cereal for lunch, woman," Hades stated more than he asked.
"Oh, hush. One bowl of cereal a day keeps nosoi and their sicknesses away." The goddess of harvest frowned. "Even if you don't, those kids need to eat healthily."
In the end, Demeter allowed a larger section of lunch items on the condition everyone at least takes one bowl of cereal.
The goddess had opted for a buffet-type setting with a long table full of food and smaller round tables all around.
'No need to be all formal with a long table and everything.' She had said.
Hephaestus informed them that the spot of the garden they were in was just opposite to the Demigod Quarters and that it would be fully functional in about an hour or so if they wanted a tour. The chosen spot was certainly a good one, with greenery around and a beautiful view of Olympus.
Everyone drifted off in their own groups.
Nico and Hazel went with Hades.
Percy, as promised, sat with Sally and was joined in by Poseidon.
Thalia dragged Jason and Piper to a separate table where they were joined by Artemis and Aphrodite and, by extension, Ares.
Apollo and Hephaestus gathered up Stoll brothers, Frank and Leo to relay their revised plans.
Athena, Annabeth, Rachel, and Reyna sat with Hermes, George and Martha. (With Hermes sitting with them and not with Apollo only because of George and Martha.)
Hestia, Demeter, and Dionysus sat together, the two goddesses making idle talk while the wine god grumbled about not being able to see his wife even when he's on Olympus.
Lastly, Zeus and Hera sat alone, their egos preventing them from mingling with the others.
("They should sit with us, not us with them, damn it!" Zeus grumbled.
"Oh, it's quite alright, husband dear, let's talk about that wood nymph you declared off-limits," Hera said frostily.)
After a few minutes when Octavian walked out, nervous and still scratching himself, Sally smiled and invited him over, much to the other two's chagrin. Thought, sitting between a god and one of the strongest demigod ever did little to soothe his nerves. Not to mention, the nice lady while nice was just as scary. And not wanting to cross her was the only reason he even agreed to sit with them.
The conversation at the table started awkwardly at first, flowing smoothly after Sally assured Poseidon she didn't have any hard feelings. Percy talked about his friends, camp, and gave the vaguest outline of his quests. His parents listened intently. Octavian made as little noise as possible, afraid even the slightest of noise could possibly end up in his death. Which was not very far from the truth.
Once, when Percy was talking about a particularly amusing Capture the Flag night, Octavian made the mistake of sneezing and that had resulted in him being impaled by Poseidon's trident. Sally was conveniently in the throne room checking in on her blue cookies when it happened. Apollo had to rush in and heal him before he bled to death.
Poseidon insisted that it was completely out of reflex and unintentional and that the latest note from the Fates hadn't mentioned anything about unintentional or reflex.
Which was correct.
He got off the hook without any trouble whatsoever.
After Apollo had healed the blond legacy and Sally made Poseidon apologize (even though it wasn't his fault, technically), Octavian stalked off to an empty table furthest from the servings and contemplated all his life choices. Demeter made him eat two more bowls of cereal.
The rest of the lunch wasn't as eventful and passed in frivolous chatter.
The only conversation that wasn't frivolous and inconsequential was the one that happened at the table with George and Martha. (And at Zeus and Hera's table. That conversation was of utmost importance for Zeus if he didn't want his wife to leak that video of him doing impressions of all the Olympians on Godtube. Utmost importance indeed.)
"How will all this affect the future?" Athena looked at the twin snakes expectantly.
"Yes, we'll get to that," Martha spoke up. "First, let me start by telling you that there won't be any paradoxes."
"Theory of multiverse?" Annabeth raised an eyebrow.
Martha shook her head. "Many-World Interpretation."
"What's the difference?" Rachel asked.
"Multiverse pictures many self-contained universes in different regions of space-time. Many-World Interpretation is based more on quantum mechanics." Athena explained. "It envisions our Universe as one of many parallel worlds that branch off from each other, every nanosecond, without intersecting or communicating."
"I think I've read about it." Reyna mused. "'Every action brings about another fork in the path, and every possible result is played out simultaneously'."
The red head's eyes lit up with understanding. "Oh, it's that one! In which every action results in a completely new parallel world being created with something or the other difference in it and it goes on like this, creating infinite parallel worlds."
"Yes, so now you see why there won't be any paradoxes," Martha said.
"It'll just create a new parallel timeline." Hermes nodded.
"Wait. If these parallel worlds started branching off from the start of time, are you telling me it's possible that in one of those other worlds we're just some fictional characters written by a sassy old man?" Rachel asked, wide-eyed.
"Who knows? In another world, we being here to read the books and even discussing this might just be some part of a Fanfiction written by a random teenager." Annabeth said ominously.
Everyone present at the table shuddered.
"Now that's a scary thought," Hermes muttered.
"Right." George dragged the 'I'. "So anyway, now that we've got that covered, let us tell you how you all got here and what will happen next."
"That would be nice." Reyna agreed, not minding the change of topic. Well, not exactly a change of topic but it's certainly better than discussing how in another world they're just some fictional characters written by a sassy old man or a fangirl.
"You all know that timeline is basically points of time put together linearly, right?" George looked at them all with his beady eyes.
Everybody nodded.
"Now, let's take the timeline Annabeth came from as a whole. In that timeline itself, the points from where the others came from also exist."
Daughter of Athena's eyes widened, "Are you saying all of them are from the same timeline?"
"Very much so. In fact, right now, the place and time we're in are also in the same timeline."
"I see," Athena muttered. "If Many-World Interpretation is true, no timeline will ever collapse. It will only form a new world."
Martha hummed in agreement.
"That also means the moment you were taken from your time point, a new world was created, separate from this timeline." The goddess of wisdom continued.
"Which means, Annabeth's timeline and this timeline are now two different entities, diverging from the point when she was taken." She inferred.
'She reached that conclusion by just saying everyone was taken from the same timeline?' Rachel thought. 'But I guess that's expected. She is the goddess of wisdom'
"Wait, does that mean our past will change?" Reyna asked.
"No, no." George shook his snakehead vigorously.
"Let me explain this." Athena offered. "Take Leo and his friends for example. They said they come from a little while after they finished their quest. After everything here is said and done, they will be sent back to the same time point they were brought here from."
"And that will create a new world," Hermes said.
"It will create multiple new worlds." Athena corrected. "Some will remain as it was before they were pulled out, it will be the same as your past, and there will be others in which they retain all the memories they develop here which will change their future and those events will be different from your past."
"Gods, this is complicated," Reyna muttered.
Rachel made a sound of agreement.
"To answer your original question, will your future change?" Athena turned towards the Roman demigod. "No, I don't think it will. Because the past you have already lived can never be erased, only a new world where it never existed can be created."
"That is all correct." The snakes nodded.
"So, let me get this straight," Annabeth tilted her head. "After we are done here, we will all be sent back to our original time points and nothing from our past would have changed because all these events happening right now will diverge into a completely different timeline. And because of Many-World Interpretation and creation of new worlds paradoxes won't happen."
Reyna added, "And for the Hazel, Frank, and I from the same time point as Octavian that was here before me but was sent back to their time point, more new worlds will be created just like in the Leo example."
It was a humbling thought, to be that small, that insignificant.
Nothing special about oneself. Multiple versions out there in parallel worlds all doing different things but all so small in the grand scheme of time-space.
Even when they'll return to their time, there'll be multiple copies, multiple new worlds, multiple them.
"But all of this just speculations." Athena stared at the twin snakes with her piercing grey eyes. "How would you know all of this is true?"
"Lady Athena, we do know all this is true," Martha said politely. "In fact, it was your future self who explained this all to us."
Goddess of wisdom continued staring at them, unimpressed.
"You find and manage to decode some of Chronos's inscription," George added. "Something about getting some help- or was it clue- from the Universal meeting."
"What's Universal meeting?" Annabeth asked.
"A meeting of all the Pantheons," Hermes answered bewildered that someone would call a meeting of that extent. He was pretty sure there were around a hundred years or so left for that.
"Isn't that dangerous?"
"Very."
Athena looked at them astonished before muttering, "I guess that is possible, no matter how infinitely small the chances. Annabeth and that sea spawn did mention Egyptians and Norse."
"Fine. But even if I did find out about all that why would I want to send these demigods to the past to read books? Even if does create a better timeline with fewer casualties, it's a risk just to disclose information this sensitive!"
"It was a calculated risk. You said you knew what you were doing."
"And what was I doing?"
"That we do not know."
Athena pursed her lips. "Was there a prophecy?"
"Not that we know of."
"Anything noteworthy? Anything at all?"
"Well, you kept stressing on Chronos."
'Chronos, huh?'
The goddess was about to continue her interrogation when a scream sounded through the air. Everyone turned towards the source of the noise only to find the scrawny blond legacy with Poseidon's trident sticking out of him.
"Idiot." Athena muttered as Apollo put down his fork with an annoyed 'Seriously?!' and rushed over to the bleeding mortal.
After the commotion settled down, Athena turned towards Hermes's snakes to ask something but was beaten to the punch by her daughter.
"Why are present George and Martha in a stasis?" She asked. "I know, you said it's because two identical beings can't exist in the same time plane but you also said that present George and Martha were actually different than you. And does that mean our present selves also went into a coma?"
"We are different but at the core, we are the same. We're immortal and have lived long enough that a couple of years do not make much of an impact on us." Martha said. "That's why the present us are in stasis. Two identical or near-identical beings can't exist in the same time plane."
"And our present selves?"
"No, your present selves aren't in stasis." George sigh. "Mortal lives are fleeting, you grow every day, change every day. While you may be the same at the core, your experiences have changed you monumentally, indistinguishably. It's as you said, you aren't the person you were five or six years. Also, not being in the immediate area helps."
"I guess I'm the prime example, huh?" Rachel mused.
"Exactly."
Annabeth nodded in understanding.
"Well, have fun." The red-head said, standing up. "I've got what I wanted to know."
She skipped over to Apollo and Hephaestus's group.
Reyna followed her suit and went over to Jason, who was doing nothing but glaring at the war god.
"Do you have any more questions?" Hermes turned towards the mother-daughter duo.
"Not really." Annabeth shrugged. "Though I do have to ask Travis and Connor if gods said anything to them. I'll ask them later, now that I know a paradox isn't going to kill us all any moment."
With that, she excused herself to join her boyfriend and his parents.
But before she did, she met her mother's eye, and an understanding passed between them.
This was not all there is to it.
"That sea spawn…" Athena glared at him.
"Yeah, still a bit surprising that they're both are dating," Hermes commented, following her line of sight.
The glare turned towards him. "Why are you even here? I know for a fact you aren't all that interested in the time travel we were talking about."
The god of lies shrugged. "True. But I was interested in knowing what happened to present George and Martha."
"Aww. You do care."
"Give us some rats for all this trouble!"
Hermes turned towards George with raised eyebrows. "Maybe I will. It is very unlike you to be this serious or not demand rats after every other sentence."
"I don't know what you're talking about. Now give me some rats!" Then added much more loudly. "Guinea pigs will do!"
Percy cringed and turned to glare towards the snake while Annabeth broke down in fits of laughter.
"You really shouldn't tease him like that." Martha sigh.
"It's fun! You should try it sometime!"
'Now that's more like the George I know.' Hermes thought before asking. "That guinea pig thing came up before too. Is there a story?"
"You bet there is. Now, about those rats."
Athena sigh. She looked over to her father's table to see if she should go over and explain the time travel business to him but decided against it when she saw him being chewed out by his wife. It was a rare occurrence and not a single person around didn't not want to savor it.
She watched as Hermes took George and Martha and headed over to Apollo and Hephaestus's table with an impish grin that screamed he was up to no good. Seeing Hermes coming over, the god of sun mirrored his expression and started distributing his special wine-flavored nectar. Only to gods and goddesses, of course, demigods and mortals got blue chocolate chip cookies thick shake. (Some of the gods and goddesses were very jealous.)
She sigh once again as Apollo called a toast to all the time travelers and his 'Awesome' self.
This was going to be a long day.
It had taken a while to come up with how to go along with their sparring plans.
In the end, they had decided that Frank and Thalia would have an archery contest (mostly because Artemis wanted to see her future huntress with a bow and Frank was the only other archer in the group) while the more sword fighting and hand to hand combat-oriented demigods' parings would be Piper and Leo, Hazel and Nico, Annabeth and Reyna, and Percy and Jason; in the respective order.
Sally and Rachel went back to bake more cookies and talk about stuff while the Stoll brothers dragged off Octavian to be the test subject of the new obstacle course Hephaestus created.
Only gods (and goddess) present there were Apollo, Hermes, Poseidon, Hades, and Artemis. The rest of them were either lounging around or sitting through the lecture about time travel Athena was sure to be giving in the throne room right now.
"Okay, people." Apollo clapped his hands to gain the attention of a dozen ADHD demigods. "Here are the rules! First, no killing allowed. Or fatal injuries. Healing them is a pain." He sent a pointed look towards the god of the ocean even though he wasn't participating in the spars. "Second, since we're short on time, each match will have a time limit of ten minutes."
Hermes sigh at demigods' raised eyebrows, "Yes, I know but father made it pretty clear that 'they are here to read the book, not to play with their weapons'."
"Right." Apollo continued. "So, the match will automatically result in a tie if you exceed the time limit. Yes, even if you are winning. Thirdly, the referee will have the final say in the match- no arguments. Don't worry she'll be fair."
"Who's the referee?" Thalia asked.
"My dear little sister-"
The god of the sun was cut off by his 'dear little sister', "For the billion and twenty-fourth time, I'm not your little sister! I'm older than you, foolish little brother!"
"What are you talking about? I'm older than you! You're my little sister!"
Hermes rolled his eyes as the twin Olympians started their usual argument once again. "Yeah, so Artemis is the referee."
"Not that I mind, Lady Artemis is very fair," Percy said slowly. "But why aren't you and Apollo the referee?"
"Ah." Hermes grinned. "Because we are going to be giving commentary!"
He snapped his fingers and a huge loudspeaker system appeared next to him out of thin air.
"There's going to be commentary?!" Leo asked wide-eyed.
"Yup!"
Most of the demigods sigh in resignation.
"Any other rules?" Reyna asked.
"Nope."
"Then let's get started!" Thalia said with a grin.
After Apollo and Artemis finished up with their sibling spat, they led everyone to their training grounds. Which was basically a grove right next to their lunch spot.
"Hephaestus installed all sorts of traps. All god-level so we're obviously toning them down quite a bit." Artemis explained. "Challenge is simple enough. Your goal is to hunt a deer automaton, only it is impenetrable except for one spot. You'll have to find it. On the way, try to get as many targets as you can."
"The targets are important. Each target is worth ten points and the deer is worth a hundred." Apollo informed. "An as I said earlier, the time limit is ten minutes but if one of you manages to 'kill' the automaton before that, the contest will be declared over. The one with more points wins."
"Which will obviously be the one who 'kills' the automaton." Frank nodded.
"You should probably mention they are not allowed to go after each other," Hermes called out.
Apollo rolled his eyes but relayed it all the same.
"We realize not all of you had your weapons on you when you when the fates sent you here…" He said, handing him a bow and a quiver full of golden arrows. Artemis offered the same to the daughter of Zeus, only her arrows were silver.
"This will also help us keep track of your points," Artemis said as Apollo took his seat next to Hermes as a commentator. "Only because this is an archery contest and not a fight, you are not allowed to use your powers."
With cheers and good luck wishes from friends, both the demigods ran into the grove as soon as the Artemis gave the signal.
Frank knew Thalia had the advantage in this type of hunt. She was accustomed to the woods after all. And he couldn't use his shape-shifting powers either.
Logically, he had two choices, he could either ignore all the targets and go straight for the automaton or vice versa. Going after both was not an option.
Either way, the odds weren't exactly in his favor.
It took him a couple of minutes of avoiding traps and weighing his options to realize he hadn't come across any targets. He had assumed they would be abundant with how Apollo had said they were important and assigned them ten points each.
In his musing, he accidentally walked right into a very basic tripwire trap.
As he reflexively dropped to the ground and rolled away from the barrage of arrows, he caught a glimpse of blue among the red fletchings. He turned just in time to see the glimpse of the blue turn into an unassuming red, blending the arrow in with the surrounding ones.
'What was that about?'
A moment later when the realization struck, Frank decided to go all Harry Potter The-Opponent-Gets-The-Snitch-But-I-Still-Win style.
He already had hundred and seventy points when he saw it. If not for the fact the goddess of the moon saying it was an automaton, he would have never thought the deer before him wasn't a real one. It was a beautiful Reindeer, thought its right antler was shaved off leaving only a small stump, running as if someone was chasing it. Thalia probably was. That would explain the missing antler.
Correction, it was running straight towards him.
Well, not exactly towards him. Just in his general direction. He was standing behind a clump of bushes, his angle hiding him from the automaton's sight.
'Strange.' Frank thought. 'I thought all but one spot was impenetrable.'
He notched an arrow aimed at the stump and just a second before he let it fly, he saw a glint of silver gliding toward the same target.
As both the arrows neared their target, Frank saw Thalia fire another arrow, realizing her first arrow wasn't aimed at the stump but at his arrow.
The silver one crashed into the golden one, twisting and making it hit the second silver arrow, shifting its trajectory and embedding it deep in the automaton deer's head, its shaft sticking out from the antler stump.
The automaton stumbled and fell down in a heap.
Frank stared at it with a dropped jaw.
Thalia came running towards it, stopping a few feet back, another arrow notched in if it wasn't 'dead' after all.
An air horn sounded.
"Eight minutes and fifty-four seconds. Close but not bad." Thalia muttered.
Frank came out of his hiding stop, still staring at the automaton in disbelief.
"What the Hera was that?!" He exclaimed.
Somewhere, the goddess paused in chewing out her husband to turn and glare in the grove's general direction.
Thalia grinned. "A move Lady Artemis taught me herself."
"But still, how did you even know…?"
"That's practically the entire trick, isn't it?"
"You've got to teach me that."
The huntress hummed as they started walking out of the grove. "Sure. If we get time. It took me months to get it down."
The roman demigod sigh as he followed her. "How many points did you score?"
"Hundred and eighty. You?"
"Congratulations. Hundred and seventy."
Thalia turned to face him, surprise showing clearly on her face. "I'm guessing you figured out that target thing a whole lot faster than me."
Frank shrugged. "It was an accident, to be honest. Tripwire."
Artemis's lieutenant sigh, "I was too busy avoiding traps and looking for the automaton and targets to think that we had to activate the traps to get the targets."
"That was a clever one." The praetor agreed, chuckling. "Though after we figure it out, it's quite obvious why all the traps were so poorly hidden."
Thalia nodded. "So you weren't after the deer from the start?"
"No." Frank concurred. "I knew I couldn't beat you in a game of hunt, especially not in woods like these, you have much more experience than me."
"Clever." Daughter of Zeus complimented as they walked out of the woods.
Cheers and compliments welcomed them both.
"That was a perfectly executed move." Artemis beamed at her future huntress with pride. "And good job detecting the vulnerable spot."
Honestly, it was a hunch. What better spot than the base of the antler itself? That of course meant the spot wasn't just a small fleck.
"How did Mars ever get him?" Apollo muttered.
"Zhang, my man, that was awesome." Percy clapped him on the shoulder. "Almost had her."
Hazel beamed at him. "That was amazing!"
The discussions and praises kept coming till everyone reached the clearing a little far from the grove. A nice little stream flowing nearby and plenty of shade.
"Alright! Next up is Piper and Leo!" Hermes announced.
Their fight didn't last as long.
The first thing Leo did as soon as the fight started was put on his Anti-Aphrodite-Shriek-Earplugs prototype.
With Piper's charmspeak rendered useless, Katoptris wasn't very effective against Leo's fiery onslaught.
Leo's victory was swift and scorching.
Nico and Hazel's fight was much more humorous.
A second later the fight started, Percy called out, "Nico, remember the doctor's orders!"
The demigod in question had turned towards the green-eyed demigod so fast he almost got whiplash.
And got skewered by his half-sister's Spatha.
Almost.
"Shut it, Jackson!"
He shot a glared at his cousin before drawing out his Stygian iron sword and blocking another strike.
"Doctor's orders?" Hazel raised an eyebrow.
Nico groaned, shooting Percy another quick glare, and decided it wouldn't really matter if Hazel knew.
"My doctor recommends that I not do any 'Underworld-ly stuff'. I overexerted myself transporting Athena Parthenos. My powers are a bit out of whack."
(Apollo paused in the middle of extracting details about Nico's doctor and their relationship and blinked, "Wait, did he say Athena Parthenos? Does Athena know about this?"
Without waiting for an answer, he went back to trying to get out more juicy details about that doctor and Nico.
Hades raised his eyebrows at 'My powers are a bit out of whack' and made a mental note to have a chat with his son.)
"'Recommended' is putting it a bit lightly, don't you think?" Percy grinned, his eyes twinkling with mischief.
Nico ignored him.
Rude.
Then again, he was in the middle of a fight.
Son of Hades continued, "Don't worry about me. I can still use them if it's not for too long."
And proceeded to shadow travel behind his half-sister, slashing in a wide arc.
'His transporting speed is much slower than what I remember.' Hazel frowned as she ducked and went for a leg sweep. 'Tartarus and then Athena Parthenos really took a toll on him.'
Nico somersaulted back and put his hand on the ground.
Hazel instinctively knew what he was trying to do and immediately put some distance between them.
A moment passed.
Nothing happened.
People blinked.
"What the Hera?" Nico looked at the ground as if it just swallowed his Happy Meal.
The goddess in question, once again, glared in their general direction.
Poseidon sigh, "That drama queen."
"Zeus," Hades muttered darkly. "He put wards around Olympus." He looked at his son. "You're not strong enough to get through them."
"So I can't even summon a single skeleton?" Yup, the ground had definitely swallowed Nico's Happy Meal.
'That's some serious handicap, he can't use most of his powers.' Hazel thought. "Hey, so how about we turn this into a sword fight only match?"
Nico reluctantly tore his eyes away from the ground-that-had-definitely-swallowed-his-Happy-Meal to his sister.
"Fine," He muttered sulkily.
"Swordsmanship between Greek and Roman style?" Hermes spoke into his mic. "Sounds fun!"
Continuing his commentary, he said, "Both the demigods at ready and there they go! A dodge by Hazel. Nico stays at attack, not giving his half-sister any opening. And oh! Masterfully using her Spatha's length to her advantage, Hazel stops Nico's advance!"
Hermes cheerfully continued with his commentary alone, Apollo still busy getting all the juicy info, quickly analyzing and reporting every minor detail.
"What an unexpected turn! Who would have imagined Nico switching to Roman style in the middle of that feint? A quick reaction by Hazel. Hey, isn't that block the standard one they teach at Camp Half-Blood?"
"Both of them picked up some moves from each other," Frank noted. "That wasn't a Roman move."
The rest of the fight continued the same way, both of them turning tables at each other and mixing in Greek and Roman fighting styles.
That was until Apollo accidentally spoke into his mic.
"Nico is dating his doctor?! Wait, what? His doctor is Will? As in my son Will?! Will Solace?!" He exclaimed before his eyes lit up in a way that could only be described as 'being possessed by Aphrodite'. "Solangelo!
Poor startled Nico jumped back and turned towards Apollo in sheer surprise.
Hazel, noticing the opening, didn't waste a moment before going in for the kill, disarming him before he even had time to react.
"Hazel Levesque wins!" Artemis declared.
"And the victory goes to Hazel Levesque!" Hermes cheerfully repeated.
His cheer, unfortunately, was short-lived. Killed off by Nico di Angelo's killer intent.
He glaring daggers at Apollo and his informant. Which coincidently happened to be one Percy Jackson.
"What?" Percy raised his hands innocently. "I was just telling Apollo how you went after your doctor because I wasn't your type. The fact that your doctor is Will just slipped out."
Son of Hades' glare was replaced by a loud groan.
Thalia and Annabeth sigh and rolled their eyes.
"Will you ever let that go?!" Nico groaned. "I just lost my fight because of you two!"
"We can have a rematch." Hazel offered, handing him his sword that she had sent flying. "That was an unfair win."
"No, it wasn't unfair. Getting distracted like that in a real fight is basically inviting Thanatos." Son of Hades waved his hand to emphasize his point.
"Besides, the time limit," Hermes added.
Apollo was still buzzing in his seat with excitement, "You've got to give me all the details!"
Nico's glare returned, alternating between the god of sun and son of Poseidon.
Hades was just happy that his son was happy in the future. His children rarely got their happy ending after all.
While the news caused some eyebrows to raise, it wasn't because anyone present there was homophobe, it was because they were surprised Nico's boyfriend, Will, managed to get the closed-off son of Hades to open and warm up to him. Quite a feat.
After an awkward stretch of glaring and innocent baby seal eyes and a buzzing god looking for juicy info on his son's future love life, Hermes cleared his throat and announced the next match.
"Annabeth Chase and Reyna Avila Ramírez Arellano."
"May the best daughter of the goddess of war win." Reyna offered as they both stepped forward, pulling out her sword.
Annabeth smiled in accordance, pulling out her Drakon Bone sword.
("What happened to her knife?" Piper asked.
Percy winced. "Long story short, she lost it in a hard fall.")
Both the fighter lunged forward, clashing their weapons.
What ensued was a whirlwind of sword and strategies. A clash of brains as much as it was of brawn.
Slash, dodge, swipe, stab, feint, swap, duck, repeat.
Both the girls kept advancing, not giving each other an inch to exploit.
After a particularly quick attack by Reyna, Annabeth jumped back.
Breathing lightly, she took in her surroundings. Patches of stomped and trampled grass, a few of them scorched due to Leo's fiery assault, a stream gently flowing a little further behind her, demigods and gods in the shades left to her and her opponent in front of her.
Reyna, being taken from the time just after leaving Epirus, was still in her full legion armor.
A strategy began forming in the daughter of Athena's mind.
Taking a deep breath, she jumped right back into the brawl.
Slashing and dodging and fighting just like before, only this time she purposefully let Reyna gain in on her bit by bit until she could go for a mutual strike, disarming them both.
Not letting the praetor retrieve or pull out any other weapon, she engaged in hand-to-hand combat, slowly inching towards her sword, all the while making it look like Reyna was gaining in on her.
Instead of slash, swipe, duck, it became punch, kick, block.
Reyna, not the one to be deterred, retailed back, turning their fight into a martial arts contest.
Quick and graceful. Pouncing like lionesses, making predictions, and split-second decisions, every moment required utmost concentration and precision.
Slowly but just as Annabeth planned they reached where her Drakon Bone sword lay.
Just as the daughter of Athena made a grab for it, Reyna swept her legs beneath her, making Annabeth jump, and slid towards the Drakon Bone sword all in one motion.
Both of them jumped to their feet, Reyna snatching up the sword.
Reyna raised the sword to Annabeth's neck. "Yield?"
Annabeth smirked. "Not quite."
The sharp whiz from above was the only indication of the incoming attack.
If not for the superhuman reflex's all demigods possessed, Reyna would have been impaled by her own knife. One that somehow fell from the sky, point right on the spot where Reyna was standing just a second ago.
"When did you get my knife?"
"Swiped it off your leg holster during your leg sweep. Threw it just as you got my sword."
Annabeth taking advantage of Reyna's momentary distraction, grabbed the knife and brought up her knee, and knocked away the sword, making it skid all the way into the stream.
Reyna, learning from her mistake, didn't dwell on the sword and instead twisted Annabeth's hand, making her drop the knife.
Annabeth having predicted that, rolled away and dived for Reyna's sword, standing up and leveling it just as the latter stood up armed with their knife.
"Knives are better for close-range battles, something that will be troublesome with a sword." The daughter of Athena smirked, panting.
Reyna mirrored the smirked, "Spears are better for long-range battle, something that will be troublesome with a knife."
What Annabeth didn't predict was Reyna's sword turning into a javelin-like spear.
"What the-? You can do that without being in contact with your weapon?!"
Reyna grinned in response.
Annabeth huffed, half in annoyance, half in disappointment.
Both the daughters of the goddess of war jumped into the fray once again.
They continued fighting until they hit the time limit.
"Tie!" Artemis announced just as both the demigods socked each other in the jaw.
'They would make fine huntress. If only Athena's daughter wasn't in a relationship.' She thought ruefully. 'Well, there's still the praetor. Reyna, wasn't it?'
"Good fight." Annabeth wheezed, raising her fist.
"Yeah. Good fight." Reyna wheezed back, accepting the fist bump.
Apollo administered them both ambrosia and healed any injury ambrosia couldn't immediately handle.
"That was badass, Wise Girl." Percy grinned at her, before turning towards Reyna. "That was impressive!"
He turned back towards his girlfriend as Jason and Hazel came forward to compliment Reyna as well.
"You predicted everything all the way up to you getting Reyna's sword and her only having her knife, didn't you?" He asked as they walked towards the stream to retrieve her sword.
The blond hummed, "Yeah that was the plan, to get that position in the end, though most of the fight was improvised."
The green-eyed demigods chuckled. "Killed it, Wise Girl. That knife-throwing plan was awesome!"
"Thanks." Annabeth smiled. "Good luck with Jason."
Percy smiled his crooked troublemaker smile, "Do I get a good luck kiss?"
"Come back in one piece and we'll see." Annabeth rolled her eyes fondly. "Jason's no joke, you know."
"Of course I do."
Percy described his strategy as they walked back.
"Seriously?!" Annabeth blinked.
Percy grinned, "Yup."
"Well, he most certainly won't see that coming." Annabeth chuckled.
Hermes, seeing the couple approaching them, announced the final match.
"Percy Jackson and Jason Grace."
Before going to the clearing, Percy quietly requested Thalia to give him one of her arrows.
When she had asked why he had replied with a simple but impish "You'll see."
Both of them stepped forward.
"Good luck, bro."
"You too, bro."
Both of them whipped out their weapons.
They slowly circled each other, looking for any openings.
When Percy's back was towards the stream, he quickly threw the arrow he borrowed from Thalia into it.
("What is he doing?" Thalia muttered.
Annabeth snickered, "You'll see. It's genius.")
Jason frowned but ignored the arrow for the moment and went for the tiny opening Percy created as he threw the arrow.
Percy blocked the strike but Jason didn't let down his advance.
Twisting, he went for the opposite side.
Clash! Strike! Swap! Duck! Stab! Block!
Years of experience shone through every strike and every block.
Their match was going pretty much like Annabeth and Reyna's.
That was until a unicorn came charging at Jason.
A unicorn made of water with Thalia's arrow for its horn.
The son of Jupiter yelped as he jumped out of the way.
"What the Hera?" He exclaimed in complete and utter bewilderment.
The 3-foot water-arrow unicorn which looked more like a stuffed toy with a pretty silver horn made some angry noises and charged at Jason again.
Percy grinned as he too charged at the blond.
Now, the son of Poseidon on the attack, aided by an angry water unicorn that was most likely being controlled by the said son of Poseidon, Jason knew he had to bring a surprise of his own.
Especially, considering the water unicorn refused to die no matter how many times he stabbed or slashed it in half. It refused to die even by an electrocuted sword; all that did was charge it with electricity, making it even more dangerous.
In the end, he blasted it completely with an electric bolt. Which did work but also resulted in an appalled Percy swearing vengeance for killing his 'cute little pony' and coming at him like he just ate all of his blue cookies.
And the fact that Percy just resurrected it was extremely unhelpful.
That's why Jason decided to take a page out of his opponent's book.
He molded the surrounding air currents into an eagle's form with its beak being replaced with his knife.
Percy gasped in indignation.
His unicorn made some more angry noises. (How that mass of water was making noises was beyond him.)
Jason's eagle went straight for Percy's unicorn.
"You stupid eagle won't ever be able to defeat my cute little pony! Ha!"
"Your 'pony' can't defend itself against an aerial attack. So right back at you, ha!"
"Wanna bet? The loser has to give half their share of blue cookies."
"You're on."
Completely forgetting about their fight, they turned their attention toward their fighting 'pets', cheering them on.
Spectators sweatdropped.
"This was his genius plan?" Thalia drawled. "Cause if it was, it's going flawlessly."
"Well, Jason's pretty distracted," Annabeth said. "Percy can take him by surprise any time."
"Really?" Nico deadpanned. "He seems just as distracted."
Apollo and Hermes didn't seem to mind that.
They were pretty happy switching their commentary to the 'Unicorn vs Eagle fight'.
Frank muttered, "Someone should probably remind them they're in a middle of a fight…"
Percy's unicorn chose that moment to leap into the air and stab its horn into Jason's eagle's neck.
Jason's eagle retaliated by stabbing Percy's unicorn in its head.
Percy and Jason made some dramatic noises.
"Nooo! That was a fatal wound!"
"My cute little pony will die! Again!"
Both the elemental beings burst into their respective elements, the arrow and the knife falling on the grass with a soft thud!
Percy sniffled, "You did great, my cute little pony."
"You did great too, little bird." Jason mourned.
They turned to each other and nodded in sympathy.
"We accept a tie." They said in unison.
Artemis' eye twitched, "Good. Your time is up anyway."
Jason turned towards Percy, "Good spar, bro. Your unicorn was so strong. I'm sorry for your loss."
Percy nodded solemnly. "Good match, bro. Your eagle was also very strong. Gave my cute little pony a nice challenge. I'm sorry for your loss too."
("Let's never ever talk about this." Piper stared at her boyfriend blankly.
"Amen to that," Annabeth muttered.
Rest of the demigods concurred. So did Poseidon, Artemis and Hades.)
Stolls thankfully came just in time to stop Percy and Jason's 'bro moment'.
Travis grinned, "Demigod Quarters is fully functional!"
"So is the obstacle course from here to the Quarters!" Connor added cheerfully.
A painful and terrified groan sounded from behind them at the mention of 'obstacle course'.
The groan, of course, had come from none other than the test subject of the said obstacle course.
Octavian lay there on the ground, covered in bruises, cuts, and scorch marks, clothes all torn up and hair half burned. His shoes suspiciously looked like he had trampled through a pool full of oil and immediately set his feet on fire.
Everyone ignored Octavian.
Except for Leo.
He looked at him curiously.
Those burns did look awfully interesting.
"Yeah, so seeing you're all sweaty," Travis wrinkled his nose for emphasis. "We were thinking you should go and take a shower before we go back in for reading."
"And we can give you a tour of the Quarters. Two birds with a stone." Connor added. "Not to mention the fun obstacle course along the way."
The blonde whimpered.
"In fact, it was so much fun that Octavian would like to go through it again, won't you Octavian?"
Octavian, with a horrified look, shook his head faster than Percy could inhale his blue cookies.
"Eh. He already went through it once. We could let him be…"
The blonde sigh in relief.
"…or not."
Octavian's face morphed back to the horrified What-do-you-mean-I-can't-kill-anymore-teddy-bears expression. The one that looked like his entire life was crumbling down around him.
"Yeah! Come on, guys! Let's get it moving! Just one rule, no powers allowed."
"The last one to arrive is Zeus's underpants!" Percy yelled before running off.
Cheering, all the demigods marched off towards the 'fun obstacle course' while the blonde legacy crawled after them, once again, contemplating his life choices.
Turns out, the obstacle course was fun and not at the same time.
With flying arrows and fireballs, pits full of poisonous needles and venomous snakes, a pool of oil just before the climbing wall with lava, not unlike the one at Camp Half-Blood, the scent of freshly baked blue cookies leading them right into a trap (specially designed for Percy but was surprisingly effective against other demigods too) and the said trap being a twisting mirror maze where Apollo's haikus were on blast. And they couldn't just tune it out either, seeing they gave clues of how to get out of the maze.
The last one was particularly torturous.
Imagine going for Sally Jackson's delicious blue cookies only to be trapped in a maze with Apollo's haikus.
Without the cookies.
*Shudder*
Not that it would have been much better even if they had avoided the trap.
If they had avoided the trap they would have come across a relatively wide chasm with ropes and crawling across them the only way to get across. Which wouldn't have been that bad if there hadn't been piles and hills of an extremely real-looking illusion of blue cookies, complete with the delicious scent and everything. In fact, it looked so real, that the only way to not give into the temptation to jump in was to listen and consciously focus on the haikus Apollo was giving a live concert of.
Blue cookies are yum
but woefully not real.
I am awesome.
Don't jump foolishly,
illusions aren't real.
My haikus are great.
One might say they were lucky they walked into the trap.
Either way, one thing was very clear- weaponized blue cookies were very very dangerous.
Even more so than Rachel's weaponized hairbrush.
So when they finished the obstacle course, while not feeling any sympathy towards the blond legacy, they did understand his desire to not go through it again.
(Where did all those chasms and pits come from anyway?)
"Not another one of those haikus." Percy fell on all fours.
"Yeah. I think my ears are going to bleed." Jason copied Percy.
"Forget Anti-Aphrodite-Shriek-Earplugs, I'm making Anti-Apollo-Haiku-Earplugs." Leo copied Jason.
"Do that." Every single demigod (and all the gods and goddesses present, except Apollo) said in unison.
Even Octavian looked at Leo gratefully. (Hermes had taken pity on the blonde legacy and teleported him to quarters.)
"I'll help." Hephaestus nodded.
Artemis looked especially pleased with the thought of the invention of Anti-Apollo-Haiku-Earplugs as she went back to the throne room.
Hermes muttered, "Thank goodness. No more of those blasted haikus."
Poseidon concurred.
Apollo did not.
He pouted.
Cheered up by the prospect of Anti-Apollo-Haiku-Earplugs, Stoll brothers jumped to their feet.
"Come on!" Connor exclaimed.
"We gotta see…" Travis continued.
"Demigod Quarters!" They both ended together.
Now that they had recovered slightly from an event that would no doubt leave mental trauma, they could appreciate the bewitching structure in front of them.
It looked like one of those villa's right out of Holiday villages mashed up with fairy tale cottages with just the right amount of modern and magical. The gentle stream from earlier circling it, looking much wider and deeper, with a wooden bridge leading to the Quarters, made it look a little higher than the surrounding garden.
It was beautiful.
Mummers of acclaim and marvel rose up.
"Can you please give me a copy of the blueprints?" Annabeth alternatively looked at the Quarters and the god of blacksmiths in awe.
Hephaestus grunted affirmatively.
"Wait till you see the inside." Travis grinned.
"The last one in is Minotaur's poop!" Connor yelled as he dashed towards the door. "And there's a bowl of blue cookies inside too!"
With battle cries of 'For blue cookies!' and 'Hey! That's cheating!' and 'No, you don't!', demigods rushed after him.
It was at the garden bridge, where everyone was pushing and elbowing each other trying to get to the Quarters first, when it happened.
Hephaestus handed Octavian a remote control.
"Eh. Hold this for a sec. Gotta get those batteries and then you can take it in. Give it to my son. And whatever you do, don't press the red button."
He made no effort to move or to get anything.
But Leo, almost at the back of the group at the bridge, hearing this, grinned.
He whipped out a screwdriver and gave a battle cry, raising his weapon of choice in the air.
Only that screwdriver slipped out of his hand and flew straight at Octavian.
It hit him on the head, making him yelp and press one hand to the point of impact and clutching the remote by the other.
Clutching the remote hard.
And accidentally pressing the red button.
"Oops?"
The dubious exclamation was followed by an explosion in the middle of the bridge.
A heavy blanket of smoke and fog surrounded the bridge, earning some cries of confusion and surprise.
And then suddenly the bridge split in the middle, opening up like a trap door would fall downwards.
Frank choose that moment to turn into a grizzly bear and tackle everyone in a hug, making sure nobody even accidentally didn't not fall into the stream.
"Frank!"
"Sorry, I was just focusing on not turning into a koi."
"A giant koi."
The stream was deep enough that when the demigods fell it easily covered them up till their chest, the rest of the work done by splashes.
Percy frowned.
"Something's weird about this water. I can't dry myself."
Back with the gods, Poseidon whistled innocently.
"And why is it so sticky?" Hazel shook her hand, trying to get the liquid off.
"Oh boy," Connor exclaimed, trying not too excited. "Looks like that's glue. You should really hop into the showers before it dries."
Travis, stifling his chuckles, "Yes, definitely. It's a god-level glue. Don't want that to dry off on you."
They received glares in response.
"How the Hera did you two not fall?" Piper demanded.
"I never stepped on the bridge." Travis shrugged.
"I got off the bridge." Connor mirrored his brother.
"You two…" Annabeth growled.
"The glue! Can't let it dry!"
Stoll brothers laughed nervously.
An angry Annabeth is not a safe Annabeth.
"You should go to the showers." Hermes nodded sagely.
"If that is another prank, so help me, I will take away all your blue cookies."
Daughter of Athena glared at every single person not doused in glue.
For a moment, they contemplated coming clean with their plan, the price was too high, but before they could do anything, Connor pointed at Octavian and exclaimed.
"He did it!"
Travis pushed Octavian into the stream.
SPLASH!
Whenever in trouble, blame Octavian.
Clever.
And it wasn't exactly false either.
"You should really hurry. I'd imagine the glue would be starting to dry." Poseidon commented.
With grumbles and 'I'll deal with you later' looks towards the blond legacy, demigods rushed into the Quarters.
Without pausing to even look around the Quarters, they quickly found their respective rooms and jumped into the shower.
True to Poseidon's word, the glue was already starting to dry. Their clothes were already thoroughly stuck to their skin.
'I'm gonna get dad for this.' Percy thought darkly.
In his musing and retaliation planning, he turned on the shower faucet.
And jumped out of it just a second later.
Instead of pouring out water, the shower head was gushing out the glitter.
And the glitter sticks to the glue.
And the demigods were drenched in glue.
To make it worse, the glue seemed to have a mind of its own.
A very rude mind, it would seem.
Covered head to toes in glitter, it automatically arranged itself in patterns and designs depicting their worse and most embarrassing moments.
Like for Percy, it depicted him being turned into a genie pig and him reading the great prophecy for the first time, with how he had read 'gods' instead of 'dogs', among many others.
And the evil glitter would only know that if it had invaded their minds.
Without their permission.
Very rude evil glitter.
Percy stumbled out of his room and saw his friends were in the same state.
They met each other's eyes and an understanding passed between them.
It was terrifying.
In an armour of glitter, they marched out, flood gate of killer intent wide open and a calm smile that did not reach their eyes.
It was absolutely terrifying.
Seeing them approaching, Travis and Connor jumped into the glue stream of their own free will because they knew it was much better and safer than anything their friends would do to them.
Hera, they would probably make them go into the obstacle course over and over again. Drenched in glue, covered in glitter, and with added weight. While eating their share of blue cookies in front of them.
Come to think of it, they could still do that.
Stoll brothers shuddered.
'Maybe we pushed them too far.'
Annabeth was the first one to step outside.
She fixed the gods and Stolls with a chilling look.
"Your cookies are yours no longer."
Nico was not happy.
He was covered in glitter.
Colorful, shiny glitter.
He was furious. And he was planning retribution.
Oh yes, there will retribution.
And not just the immediate one he and his friends collected.
Oh no, they were also planning on getting the interest.
Annabeth, Reyna, Jason, Percy, Piper, Hazel, and him.
They will make them regret.
He chuckled a dark and (slightly) maniac laughter.
Revenge, sweet revenge.
Omake [Extra Scene]: Set during no particular time frame.
"Percy, you do realize you shouldn't have been the one to break the new, right?" Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "You're lucky Nico took it well."
"I know, I know," Percy said. "But even you noticed how quiet and withdrawn he had gotten when we were reading that last chapter, didn't you? It was killing him, not mentioning Will. I did him a favor."
"Besides, everyone from our time accepted it without batting an eye. There was nothing to fear to begin with!" He continued.
"While I agree with you there, are you telling me your pure and undiluted concern for Nico was the only reason you purposefully brought up Will?" Annabeth asked with a knowing smirk.
Percy looked at her with all the innocence of a newborn baby.
'What are you talking about?' His eyes seemed to say.
'You know just what I mean.'
After a minute of eye conversation, Percy gave in, "Oh fine! I didn't want to pass up on the perfect opportunity for that I'm not his type payback!"
Annabeth grinned. "You're never going to let that go, are you?"
"Never," Percy swore. "I mean, I spent years thinking he hated me, and then just he casually comes up to me and says that he actually had a crush on me since we were kids and 'You're not my type'. Confession and rejection in one go. I didn't get to confirm that he didn't hate me! And you just stood there while this happened, smiling with that playful sparkle in your eyes and looking pretty and Nico just walks away-"
Annabeth smiled fondly, tuning out the rest of her boyfriend's rant.
'Finally. Gods know you've had it bottled up for too long, Seaweed Brain.'
Starting with the first segment of the time travel talk, I left plenty of clues for the bigger plot I talked about. If you noticed any or have any theories, please do tell in the reviews! I'd love to hear them! In fact, I've been leaving subtle hints since the first chapter.
Moving on, the fight scenes. Ugh. They were a pain to write. Honestly, if I had skipped through all that, you would have gotten this chapter a week before May ended. But I don't regret taking the time to write them. It was my first time writing fight scenes so constructive criticism is much appreciated!
Haha. I bet none of you noticed how Frank vs Thalia and Annabeth vs Reyna fights were inspired by Naruto Shippuden.
The move Thalia pulled was from Itachi Uchiha filler arc- that scene when he was a kid and some kids were trying to bully him and he throws that rock, that was a much longer sequence but the basic idea's the same.
And Annabeth vs Reyna was inspired by that flashback in which the Hashirama Senju was talking about how the village was founded- the scene in which kid Hashirama and kid Madara were sparing and Madara throws the rock just as Hashirama kicks (or was it punch?) him away. I intended for it to be the finishing move but I couldn't place it right so I changed it to the scene you got.
The rest of the fight scenes, especially Percy vs Jason, came from my mind. Lol. I bet many of you were disappointed Percy and Jason didn't get a serious fight. Which is not true at all. Their 'pets' dies, it was extremely serious for them!
Now for the prank. *evil laughter* Did you honestly think it's over? Oh, no. It's just getting started. And I'm not even talking about the retaliation plan. Look forward to the next chapter to find out more. *manic laughter* Do you think all the Olympians get to go away scot-free just because they're gods?
Special thanks to supremefangirl18 and Believer1991 for the prank ideas!
sumremefangirl18: If you're still reading this I want to thank you for the prank idea. Sorry for changing it a bit but it was needed to make it go with the flow. Did you like the way it turned out?
And thank Omake was just to show the 'Not my type' joke is just a joke. Percy doesn't have any hard feelings towards Nico for that. And the reason is stated in the Omake.
Last but importantly, my update schedule. The updates might get even slower. Life is a complete mess right now. And not the fun or school kind of a mess. But you can keep the tabs on how much of the chapter is done from my profile. I regularly update the word count/progress for the next chapter.
Dam. That was long A/N
Thank you all for reading! Stay safe and leave a review!
Reply to reviews-
Dawn. justice: Ay!
Believer1991: Thank you! Glad you liked it! I had a lot of fun writing that particular scene! Sorry that I couldn't include your prank idea in this chapter. Look forward to it in the next one! I already left some clues and build-up for it in this one, at the start, and at the end. Pick up any clues for the plot?
Gabe1234: Thank you! It warms my heart to hear that! What did you think of this chapter?
Lilyemma: Thank you so much! Your review really made me tear up! And it still does every time I read it. I'm really glad your test went well! Those other unfortunate gods and demigods haven't had the chance to taste the magic that is blue cookies, and since ambrosia can only turn into comfort food a.k.a. food they've tasted, they can't taste Sally's blue cookies in ambrosia. Rachel finding out about their plans was a last-minute change, I hadn't planned it either. But now, it actually serves two purposes. The nice parallel to canon as you said is the first one. Any guess for the second? Hint- It's related to the larger plot I keep mentioning! Honestly, it's taking a lot of self-control to not punctuate every single sentence with a smiling or grinning emoji! And dam, that's a long reply! Next time, I'll just PM you. And the last thing, how were the fight scenes?
ZacksterMcaster: Thank you! How did you like this chapter?
surya25addanki: Thank you. What about this chapter?