Chapter 17
MEG POV
When Meg woke, she was in an unfamiliar bed. She sat up and realised that Robin was sitting in a chair across the room, facing away from her. "Hey." Meg's throat felt rough, but it was worth it to see Robin almost fall off his seat. He turned around with a sheepish smile on his face. His hazel eyes conveyed an emotion Meg had trouble reading-sympathy? Guilt? Regret? A combination of all three?
"Hi, sorry, I didn't know you were awake." Meg smirked and sat up. She felt no pain from her left side, which surprised her.
"How did I heal so fast?" She questioned Robin.
He shrugged. "You were out for a few hours, so I guess the nectar and stuff did it's work then." Meg nodded, then patted the space next to her as an invitation. He looked surprised, but took it.
"So what's school like? For demigods, I mean. Are we allowed out of Camp, or do we just get there and stay there?" Meg considered the question.
"Depends on how powerful you are. A child of the Big Three-Zeus, Poseidon, Hades-they would have monsters running after them left, right and centre, because of how powerful they are. Basically, the more powerful you are, the more the monsters can smell you. But if you get really powerful, like Percy or Nico, you don't usually have to worry about monsters, because you can dispose of them easily. Mostly demigods who have less combat-oriented parents can scrape by in the mortal world without too much trouble, so like Aphrodite or Dionysus. You're fairly powerful though, so you'd probably be a year-round camper. Like me." Robin looked pleased at this, and for a second, Meg thought it was because she would be with him, but then she realised it was probably because of school.
"So why are you a year rounder?" The question didn't have any hint of condescendence, yet Meg still felt herself tensing, raising her psychological shields. Robin, noticing this, backtracked quickly. "It's not like I wouldn't want to be there with you"-Meg was getting more irritated by the second. Does this guy like me or not? "But I was wondering, you seemed powerful enough to take on monsters, so why are you a year-rounder?" Meg hesitated. She had only ever told Apollo, Piper and a friendly Pandos named Crest the full story. Piper and Crest were both dead-or the latter was reforming in Tartarus-and Apollo was back in Olympus with a binding oath never to speak of it.
"Swear on the Styx you'll never tell anyone." Robin repeated what she said. Meg sighed, and began recounting her story-from being driven out of her home of Aeithales by Caligula, to moving to New York and her father's assassination by Nero, growing up in his Imperial Household, then finding Apollo and helping to restore his immortality. Robin sat in silence for a while. Meg sat in the same silence, and felt herself begin to emotionally crumble. She hadn't told anyone this in four years, not even her siblings at camp, and now she was baring her soul to this kid from New Jersey who had known nothing about her. Robin stretched an arm out, and Meg leant into it. She began crying, tears dripping down her face and sobs wracking her body. Robin held her quietly, and when Meg had finished she did not pull away. Instead she moved closer and put an arm around Robin. He whispered into her ear.
"Why didn't you ever tell anyone about this?" She sighed.
"I did. One was a demigod, she got killed by a manticore last year. Another was a monster that's reforming in Tartarus, probably won't get out for years, decades maybe. The third is Apollo, and he's under the same conditions that you are. Don't tell anyone, not if you want to be cursed by Styx." Robin chuckled and gently moved her head onto his shoulder.
"I don't understand why you wouldn't. It seems that this kind of stuff happens often. You just got it worse, happening at a young age and the intensity of it all." Meg nodded.
"The demigod I told, she went through some of the same stuff. Done by the same people too." Robin nodded.
"There you go then. Try to find common ground with other demigods, and when you can't, go back and be with your friends." Meg laughed dryly.
"I assume that means you?" Robin looked at her with a confused expression.
"Why would you assume that? I've been aware of the mythical world for less than half a day, I barely know what we're doing, and you're a powerful demigod who can conjure up giant plants without breaking a sweat?" Meg pulled away and sat on the bed in front of him, arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.
"I don't know, maybe that fact that right now you are the only living person-who is not a god-that knows my life in it's entirety? The fact you were willing to lay down your life to protect me from monsters when you barely know how to fight? That makes me trust people pretty quickly, Human Torch." Robin chuckled at his nickname, then pulled out a box from under his bed.
"Speaking of fighting, mum gave me these for the journey." He opened the shoebox, and revealed two handguns. They were identical, from the grey carbon-and-steel body, to the rubber grip. The bullet casings were unusual, instead of the gold-yellow of normal bullets, these were more brownish, with a definite sheen to them. "Celestial Bronze, according to my mum. The guns are modified to shoot them, so it's no problem." Meg nodded questioningly.
"Where'd your mum get the bronze?" Robin shrugged.
"Either dad gave it to her or she's a demigod herself. I asked and she gave me one of those stares parents give you, like 'stop asking questions young man/woman'. Meg looked down, and Robin immediately put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking. Won't happen again, best friend's honour." Meg looked up with a wry smile.
"'Best friend's honour'? Sounds like something a four year old would say. And also, 'Best friend'? That's a thing now?" Robin chuckled.
"Figured I might as well give it a shot. Before this, pretty much my only friend was a quiet guy in the back that I met up with to do homework. Before that, I was friends with my neighbour. We were thick as thieves, all through elementary. Then when we got to middle school, he split. Found some friends who didn't particularly like me-" He coughed, and Meg could have sworn he said 'ice in the pants' "-and so logically, he went with the people he had known for two days over the guy he had known for two years. I won't be sad to see the back of Trenton. And yeah, best friend." Meg chuckled, stood up and stuck a hand out to him.
"Well then, bestie, we'd better get downstairs before your mum thinks some fishy business is happening." Enjoying the look of terror on her companion's face, Meg made her way out into the landing and down the stairs, back towards life.
(A/N Meg x Robin! What do you think? I'm trying to take it slowly, but it's actually a lot harder to write romance when the people you are writing aren't actually together. Go figure. Don't say 'Chris and Clarisse know her story' in reviews because I specifically wrote 'in its entirety'. They both know about her part in Apollo's journey and Chris knows the bare bones about Nero. Robin is currently, the only living mortal who knows about Meg's history in full.)
Vaya con Queso,
DamaSENDhimafriend
