I see no ones figured out what one of the big events of the minific is gonna be yet- that's entertaining- because I have mentioned something that woukd be happening around April so it is possible for you guys to figure it out. Anyway- here have this chapter- I love the end Leo's just there like 'Fucking really? How are you guys even alive right now'
Also guys- opinion on this- it's not a part of the poll, but, Hera is a meddling bitch, we all know that right? And she's bound to have kept an eye on Jason right? So, she'd probably find out about Percy either way right? And she does want to unite the two camps eventually so- since she seems to have had a rough idea of who the seven were anyway she wouldn't do anything to risk Percy- but she would want to make sure that Percy was tied very tightly to her Champion... Hera blackmailing Poseidon into setting up an arranged marriage. Thoughts? Anyway, please please keep the reviews coming they make me so so happy.
Replies:
Desdemona: Your vote has been counted.
SF: Your votes been counted!
Undeath9087: Yeah, believe me you will come to hate Hera even more, like, so so much more. Like what she's done so far is bad but she does something just so cruel at one point and you guys may kill me for it. And that's something that happens after this fic- though you'll all love Leo and her interaction towards the end of the fic I'm sure. As for the minific- go on, guess. I kinda love the idea of people figuring it out this time. Since it be adorable.
Ghast: She is a lil bit of a bitch though, she does what she believes is necessary. And your vote is counted.
The Official Clarisse: Yep, even if I make myself cry while writing I love it. Then again I also am meaner than Rick in some senses- like, the guy really should go more into the characters trauma's- Percy was literally suicidal at certain points and it gets ignored. I mean fuck but give them all a boatload of therapy please. Deal with those thoughts don't just forget them. And nope, nope Rachel is not, she's gonna be there like 'Fuck sake first Percy now Annabeth?! Why do my girlfriends keep having stupid prophecies?!' and yeah, no way would she let Annabeth go without her. But then I also believe it was stupid for them to only take the seven on the Argo II. I mean, you have a giant warship, you can take others as back up and medics and things right?
Lori234: Your vote has been counted.
Guest: With the AU, there's so much to consider and I've started rough planning but I still need to sort a lot out so I really can't answer a lot of the questions I am figuring it all out though. As for Bianca- more will be revealed later I promise, and the pain thing- an easier childhood maybe but also like- so so much pain from a crazy ass evil stalker who traumatized her massively by being a huge POS. As for the last three- again, you shall see what I do- will I try to stick close to cannon, will it differ massively? You must wait to see.
Drizzle: Hera's got no intentions of bringing Percy back I'm afraid, that would be too far, Zeus would be utterly furious at that, after all even if Percy saved them he still hated her. And the Minific will be based after this- and think about the timing, I mentioned something that would happen in April at the start of this fic.
Diavolos: Your vote's been counted.
Frostie: Your vote's been counted.
Loki the necrogod: Your vote's been counted- and I try to avoid bashing too much if I can. Though I admit I don't like cannon Octavian.
Black' Victor Cachat: Your vote's been counted!
Poll:
Option 1: 7
Option 2: 9
It didn't take them too long to reach Chicago- and when they did Leo was very grateful that they had Jason, Roman or not. And he had to admit that Chicago was kinda cool looking from above, when they dove through the clouds they were greeted to the sight of a city at the edge of a massive lake, glittering in the winter sun. A crescent of skyscrapers lined the shore. Behind them, stretching out to the western horizon, was a vast grid of snow-covered neighborhoods and roads.
"Chicago." Jason's voice was low, and Leo nodded.
"Awesome. One problem down," Leo said. "We got here alive. Now, how do we find the storm spirits?"
Leo shifted- and then he saw Jason jerking slightly, looking below them and Leo followed his gaze. At first he thought it was a small plane that Jason had spotted, but it was too small, too dark and fast. The thing spiraled toward the skyscrapers, weaving and changing shape—and, just for a moment it became the smoky figure of a horse.
"How about we follow that one," Jason suggested, "and see where it goes?"
"You my friend, have very sharp eyes." Leo grinned and twisted to give his friend a thumbs up.
Of course that didn't make things easy. The Storm spirit was fast- it moved like the wind- a fact Leo would have made a joke about if it wasn't so stressful.
"Leo we need to go faster!" Jason hissed the words, and Leo gritted his teeth.
"Bro," Leo said as calmly as he could, "if I get any closer, he'll spot us. Bronze dragon ain't exactly a stealth plane. "
"Slow down!" Piper yelped.
The storm spirit dove into the grid of downtown streets. Festus tried to follow, but his wingspan was way too wide. His left wing clipped the edge of a building, slicing off a stone gargoyle before Leo pulled up.
"Get above the buildings," Jason suggested. "We'll track him from there. "
"Do you wanna drive?" Leo grumbled the words but he made Festus pull up- "You keep an eye out for the spirits okay you two? I'll focus on not crashing Festus."
"Sounds like a plan." Piper said quickly, joining Jason in peering down and looking for the spirits. After a few minutes, Jason spotted the storm spirit again, zipping through the streets with no apparent purpose—blowing over pedestrians, ruffling flags, making cars swerve.
"Oh great," Piper said. "There're two. "
She was right Leo realized when he glanced down. A second storm spirit blasted around the corner of the Renaissance Hotel and linked up with the first. They wove together in a chaotic dance, shooting to the top of a skyscraper, bending a radio tower, and diving back down toward the street.
"Those guys do not need any more caffeine," Leo muttered the words, "And I say that as a kid who once drank three red bulls and four espressos-"
"You- why would you do that?" Piper's voice was incredulous.
"Percy and I lost a bet to Nico. We could see sounds for like, a week after, mom nearly murdered us."
"Can we focus please." Jason's tone was very clearly that of someone trying not to laugh.
"Right, right, focus on the wind spirits that are more ADHD than me."
"I guess Chicago's a good place to hang out," Piper said. "Nobody's going to question a couple more evil winds. "
"More than a couple," Jason said. "Look. "
The dragon circled over a wide avenue next to a lake-side park. Storm spirits were converging—at least a dozen of them, whirling around a big public art installation.
"Which one do you think is Dylan?" Leo asked. "I wanna throw something at him. That asshole tossed me off the skywalk he's gonna pay."
Piper snorted, but Jason didn't respond, he seemed distracted- and Leo followed his gaze to the art installation that had caught Leo's attention. It was just a public fountain.
Two five-story monoliths rose from either end of a long granite reflecting pool. The monoliths seemed to be built of video screens, flashing the combined image of a giant face that spewed water into the pool.
Leo's eyes narrowed, and his face paled as the image on the screens changed to a woman's face with her eyes closed.
"Leo-" Jason's voice was nervous- "Are you- is that-"
"I see her," Leo said. "I don't like her, but I see her. "
Then the screens went dark. The storm spirits swirled together into a single funnel cloud and skittered across the fountain, kicking up a waterspout almost as high as the monoliths. They got to its center, popped off a drain cover, and disappeared underground.
"Did they just go down a drain?" Piper asked. "How are we supposed to follow them?"
Leo pressed his lips together, glaring at the drain, "I wish I could say we don't because I'm getting real bad vibes from like, all of this right now and I mean- the earth is not
our friend so going beneath it sounds incredibly stupid but-"
"Bur we have to find Hera and this is our main lead. Maybe put us down in the park? We'll have to check it out on foot."
"Have I ever mentioned that I hate underground spaces-"
"No, you haven't." Piper shot Leo a weak smile, "Any specific reason-"
"I once travelled through the Labyrinth- one of the worst underground spaces you could imagine- not fun." as he spoke Leo scanned the area below them and he spotted an open area between the lake and the skyline. The signs said Grant Park, and Leo imagined it would've been a nice place in the summer; but now it was a field of ice, snow, and salted walkways. The dragon's hot metal feet hissed as they touched down. Festus flapped his wings unhappily and shot fire into the sky, but there was no one around to notice. The wind coming off the lake was bitter cold. Anyone with sense would be inside. Jason's eyes stung so badly, he could barely see.
They dismounted, and Festus the dragon stomped his feet. One of his ruby eyes flickered, so it looked like he was blinking.
Leo winced slightly, a pained look on his face, because yeah, Festus' control disk definitely wasn't entirely fixed. It was useable for now but- it could easily get a lot worse if things went badly. "You're okay buddy." he muttered the words, bashing the heel of his palm against the eye- and it flickered before returning back to normal.
"Is he going to be okay?" Piper's voice was soft- careful. Clearly she'd realised just how much Leo cared for his dragon- even if she probably wouldn't understand it.
"He'll be fine." Leo frowned. "Festus can't hang around here, though, in the middle of the park. They'll arrest him for loitering. Maybe if I had a dog whistle …"
He rummaged in his tool belt, but came up with nothing.
"Too specialized?" he guessed. "Okay, give me a safety whistle. They got that in lots of machine shops."
This time, Leo pulled out a big plastic orange whistle. "Coach Hedge would be jealous! Okay, Festus, listen. " Leo blew the whistle. The shrill sound probably rolled all the way across Lake Michigan. "You hear that, come find me, okay? Until then, you fly wherever you want. Just try not to barbecue any pedestrians. "
The dragon snorted—hopefully in agreement. Then he spread his wings and launched into the air.
Leo watched him go, a sad look on his face before he turned his gaze to his friends, taking in the way they were both shivering- Leo didn't blame them- at least he could heat himself up- and he could warm them up as long as they were close enough, but it was awkward for three people to huddle together like that, still he did what he could, gesturing for them to come closer and heating himself so that the air around him was almost hot, which earned him a weak grateful smile from Piper as they reached the fountain.
According to the plaque, it was called Crown Fountain. All the water had emptied out except for a few patches that were starting to freeze. It didn't seem right that the
fountain would have water in it in the winter anyway. Then again, those big monitors had flashed the face of Gaea. Nothing about this place was right.
They stepped to the center of the pool. No spirits tried to stop them. The giant monitor walls stayed dark. The drain hole was easily big enough for a person, and a maintenance ladder led down into the gloom.
Leo eyed it worriedly, "This is not going to be fun- do you guys want me to go down there first?"
"No." Jason shook his head, "I can go first- if the ladder stops part way down or anything I'm the one who can fly the rest of the way down safely." the blond pointed out before he quickly lowered himself into the hole.
Leo exchanged a look with Piper before patting her on the back comfortingly. "It's not so bad-"
"I swear to the gods-" Piper gave Leo a sharp look, "If you say something about how this is what quests are I will stab you-"
"I'd like to see you try Barbie-" Leo yelped, backing away when Piper suddenly had her very pointy dagger out and pointed at him, "Okay okay! It was a joke-"
"It better be hothead-"
"That's barely an insult and you know it." Leo grinned and winked before he almost jumped down into the hole, catching onto the ladder with his left hand and scrambling down it, calling up, "Bet you can't catch me Beauty Queen!" and that was a fair call honestly- he was good at climbing even one handed- partially because after his brother had lost his arm he'd spent a lot of time training with one arm tied to his side so he couldn't use it so he had an idea of what it would be like for his big brother- and so he could figure out how best to go about making him a new arm.
And above him Leo saw Piper following him quickly- just like he'd known that she would. The annoyance and amusement at the thought of murdering Leo would distract her from whatever fear she might be feeling.
When Leo dropped down from the ladder to join Jason he had to grit his teeth at how the movement jarred his shoulder, but once he was down he looked around curiously- noting that it didn't smell nearly as bad as he'd expected- sewers usually smelled gross.
It was a brickwork tunnel running north to south. The air was warm and dry, with only a trickle of water on the floor.
Leo heard Piper dropping down a few seconds after him and he heard her asking, "Are all sewers this nice?" Piper wondered.
"No," Leo said. "Trust me. "
Jason frowned. "How do you know—"
"Hey, man, I ran away four times before I was adopted- the foster families sucked so I've slept in some weird places, okay? Now, which way do we go?" Leo glanced at Jason,
"Any ideas or should we just take a wild guess."
Jason tilted his head, listening, then pointed south. "That way. "
"How can you be sure?" Piper asked.
"There's a draft blowing south," Jason said. "Maybe the venti went with the flow. "
It wasn't much of a lead, but nobody offered anything better so Leo gave a determined little nod, "Right, south it is then. Let's get going." he took a deep breath, "The less time we spend down here the better as far as I'm concerned." the drop down had jarred his shoulder slightly and it was aching- he wanted to get this over with as soon as possible.
Unfortunately for him Jason must have caught his wince when he'd dropped down because the blond boy gave him a disapproving look, "No way. I think we need to take a break anyway- maybe have some food- do you think you can get food from that toolbelt of yours-"
"I mean I can-" Leo faltered, feeling his friends eyes glued to him, "But-"
"Leo." Piper's voice was sharp, "How is your shoulder feeling?"
"Would you believe me if I said fine?"
"No." Jason's lips twitched, he looked almost amused, "We could take a short break to eat right?"
"Can either of you even cook-"
"I-" Jason paused, "Do not know."
"Uh," Piper tried not to look sheepish, "Not that well."
And Leo couldn't help but smile himself, "How about this. I cook and I teach you two losers to cook while I do it okay? Seriously, it's a very important skill to have if you want to avoid, y'know, starving to death."
"Why do you sound kind of like a parent?" Jason's voice was amused and Leo shot him a look.
"Because I feel like a parent- seriously you're both fifteen and you can't even cook for yourselves. For shame you guys. For shame."