Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, Rick Riordan does.
*This chapter has been completely re-written. I erased my mind of what it was before, except for the better parts. It was too undescriptive earlier.*
So look. I've finished rewriting this chapter on the day before school starts. (For me.) But I've started this a week ago. Distractions can do that to a person.
Percy's POV:
"Gather around, everyone! The water balloon fight is going to start now." Chiron announced.
Everyone headed for the newly built garden, which had two walls on either side of it, along with a white line in the middle. Two baskets were stationed on each side.
"The rules are that you can't cross the line and you can't dry yourself." Chiron stared at me for a second. "The team that took the least damage wins. You have one minute to gather your team up to win. Powers are allowed and the balloons are in the bins, which will never run out."
"Okay team!" I spoke up when everyone in our team had huddled up. "We're going to try and take the other team by surprise. Mostly when they're taking the balloons."
"Lady Demeter, if you see the balloons they're throwing, try and intercept using plants. Lord Zeus, if you can use the air to control where the balloons go, it would be greatly appreciated. Lord Apollo, can you make flashes of light to stop them from aiming at us? Nico, Try and use your undead warriors as a shield? Lady Iris, could you please use rainbows as a small curtain so that they can't see us? Lord Erebus, could you have darkness swallow them? And Lady Hestia, try to burn the balloons before they reach us. Lord Hephaestus, could you help Lady Hestia with her task? The rest of us will try to aim the balloons at them as fast as we can." Annabeth said, taking charge. Everyone nodded, agreeing.
Poseidon's POV:
"Athena, you take charge." I said, once our team gathered together.
"Thanks a lot, Poseidon." She said glaring at me. "Hades, can you maneuver the shadows to swallow the balloons and throw them into the middle of their team?"
"I'll try to." Hades said.
"Persephone, growing plants around the balloons would be appreciated." Athena hinted and Persephone nodded. "Artemis, you could probably shoot the water balloons the fastest. But if they throw too much balloons, we'll need you to try and shoot arrows at the balloons fast enough so that the balloons explode in front of them. Helios, they have Erebus on their side. If it's too dark, could you light up a bit? Piper, you can try and charm speak the other team into confusion." She paused and glanced around. Everyone was looking at her. Morpheus can try to make people start sleeping and Leo can burn the balloons. Nyx, you can also cover the other side with darkness. Hades, you can help Nyx with that one. Everyone who can control water, explode as many balloons on their side. Everyone else should just try and attack from near the wall, for a quick escape. Hermes, try and have your snakes swallow and spit out balloons. Understood? Oh and to prevent Piper from charm speaking you, here." She took out wax for the demigods and Grover, who took it, gratefully.
"Yes!" Everyone else chorused.
"Three...Two...One...Start!" Chiron yelled. "It will end after a while.
Immediately, I started throwing balloons non-stop. I saw Athena aim for between Apollo's eyes.
"Oi!" Apollo yelled, rubbing his eyes.
Artemis shot balloons out of the sky so fast, you could barely see them hitting the other team. Just a blur and then Splash! Hades made the balloons explode in the middle of a group, surprising and soaking them. Persephone grew oranges and then used them to deflect enemy balloons. Piper was making the other hit themselves with balloons. Hermes kept his promise, even though he was still grumbling over his outfit. Athena seemed to be mainly aiming for Apollo and Erebus. I wonder why. Annabeth threw a balloon at Hades, and Hades sidestepped, although missing to get rid of a balloon heading for Piper. Looks like that was from Drew. Luckily, Persephone got rid of that one.
"Look over there!" Piper yelled at the other team, pointing behind them.
Unfortunately, the other team seemed to have the same plan, because Demeter was also using plants to get rid of the balloons. Like Athena had guessed, Erebus was making it hard to see. Helios helped, though. Nyx and Hades managed to darken the other side, but Apollo lit it up, a little bit.
"Hey!" Ares yelled, as one of Athena's balloons caused Apollo to bump into him. "Watch where you're going!" He snapped.
"It wasn't my fault." Apollo frowned at him.
Oh! So Athena was trying to start an argument on the other side! I decided to force Ares into bumping into Zeus, by tossing balloons to make the path.
"Watch where you're-" Ares glanced up and paled. "Sorry dad." And scurried farther away from Zeus.
"What?" Zeus turned around, giving Thalia a nice shot at his chest and head. "Oh come on!" He started sparkling, a sure sign of annoyance.
"Don't be so dramatic!" Demeter said, rolling her eyes.
Zeus had turned to argue with Demeter, when Annabeth spoke up. "Lord Zeus, Lady Demeter. Try to focus. Their goal is to distract you!"
Oh great. At least we managed to hit them though.
"Nice try." Athena said, passing me. "But try to trap your son. He's the only one on their team that can control water."
"And you need to get your daughter. She's the brain of their team." I told her.
She ignored me. "I guess I'll try and get your son." She whipped a few balloons towards Percy. "I needed to throw the balloons that rapidly. If I was any slower, Artemis' balloon would have crashed into mine beside Hades. And if I had it higher, the balloon would crash into Nico's army. And they would catch it and throw it back. That would be a waste of balloons."
I sighed and grabbed a balloon, throwing it at Zeus. I knew that we were running out of time, and so far it looked like a draw, so I forced the water inside the balloon to make it move faster. It hit Zeus' leg before Chiron galloped on the field.
"Time's up!" He said, looking at both sides. "And it looks like Poseidon's team wins!"
Percy, Athena and I dried them up rather easily.
"So unfair." I heard Zeus mutter under his breath. "Athena is a granddaughter of Oceanus!"
"And you're the king of the gods." I said. "I think it is fair."
"It most definitely is not!" He said.
"I'm starving." I said, ignoring him.
"Of course you are. You always are." I jumped when someone said that.
"When will you ever learn to not pop up behind people, Hades?" Zeus asked, stifling laughter at my face.
"When you learn to stop having demigods." Hades retorted.
"Touché." Zeus said, grinning. "Or maybe when Poseidon gets over his fear of you."
"You're afraid of me?" Hades asked, walking beside me.
"Nope. Just startled when you start popping out of nowhere." I said.
"So you and Athena, huh?" Hades smirked at me. "I thought you just divorced."
"I did. But Zeus is worse!" I said.
"No, I'm not!" Zeus said. "Hades had to kidnap someone!"
"I didn't kidnap her! Or goddess-nap." Hades said. "Zeus liked Hera when he was with Themis!"
"You scoundrel." I said, nudging Zeus.
"Humph." Zeus crossed his arms. "Did you realize that we're walking in age order? Hades, you and me."
"I realized that. You do know that there's a problem with this arrangement, right? One is the fact that no one's looking after the Underworld right now. Except for maybe Thanatos. He still goes there to check. And take souls. I just go there at night." Hades said.
"And what about my Underwater kingdom? There's-" I was cut off by Zeus.
"I know, I know. And you think I don't have problems? But Hera said that we were too tensed. Cough. Hades. Cough. And strict, so she wanted us to bond with our demigod children. Seriously. I have no idea what to do." Zeus said.
"I can just imagine it." I joked. "The almighty king of the gods, ruler of the Heavens, has been defeated by his wife. Zeus has no idea what to do with an interesting and smart suggestion." I added, spreading my arms apart.
Hades smirked, but Zeus scowled at me. "Really Poseidon?"
"You really don't know what to do about that? It's easy. Just have the Olympians, me, Persephone and Hestia stay and go to school. The others can take care of our domains just fine." Hades said.
"You call that easy? The minor gods will be complaining non-stop." Zeus said.
"It is easy. But apparently you're too thick to understand." Hades rolled his eyes.
"I am not thick!" Zeus yelled.
"Oh look! We've arrived at 'Olympus'." I said, dragging them inside.
"You three are finally back!" Hestia said, crossing her arms. "It's already twelve thirty!"
"Oops?" I grinned sheepishly at my older sister.
"I lost track of time." Hades said, looking embarrassed.
"I told you to not lose track of time." Hestia sighed. "Oh well. Come in." She smiled, ushering them in.
"Now I'm starving!" Zeus whined.
"Is lunch ready, Hestia?" Hades ignored him.
"Yes, everyone's waiting for you." She linked arms with me and Hades, bringing us over to the dining room.
"Took you guys long enough." Athena said, when I sat down beside her.
"Zeus and Hades started arguing." I said. "And then we lost track of time."
"That makes sense." Athena said, leaning back in her seat. "And I think the demigods are wondering why we aren't 'interacting' with them."
"Technically, we can't. There's a rule preventing us from being around them." I pointed out.
"And a rule that we can't show our true personalities. I mean really. Why on Mount Olympus and Earth should we not be able to show our real personalities?" Athena said. "Hades and Demeter don't really hate each other. Artemis isn't so irked by the entire male population. Hades isn't so gloomy and malicious. All of that! Really, it's annoying!"
"I know it is. But it's mostly to keep more evil demigods from knowing our weaknesses." I said, hugging her.
"Are you two going to cuddle or eat?" Hades nudged me.
"Seriously! Can you stop popping out of nowhere?" I asked.
"I was sitting here the whole time." He said, raising an eyebrow. "So are you two going to eat or cuddle?"
Athena blushed and pulled away from me. "We were talking about something."
"What is it?" Hades asked.
"About how we keep an act on with the demigods." I said.
"It isn't just an act. Hera is right, we do need to bond. I can just barely control myself from attacking Zeus out of anger." Hades said.
"I am annoyed at him most of the time." I mused. "He's done a lot to me."
"And to me too. I get along better with you then with him, though." He frowned. "That isn't really saying much, is it?"
"Not really. But we don't get along half the time." I pointed out.
"I'm starting to wonder if this 'bonding experience' is a good idea. Really, it's probably going to end up with people getting annoyed at others." Hades said.
"Or with most of us at each other's throats?" Athena suggested. "If living in the mortal world doesn't bond us with the demigods, probably nothing will. But for that to happen, we have to get to know them. Not just our children but all the demigods."
"Some demigods are out in the mortal world for the summer because of their reasons. I'm not really sure if we can bond with every singled one of them." Hades pointed out.
"Are you suggesting that we should teleport the demigods that are out of camp into camp?" I asked him, a bit confused. "Because I think that would their schedules up."
"We can't do that. I think that we should try and make Hera get to know Thalia. No matter how much better she is now, she still doesn't really like Thalia." Hades picked up a sandwich.
"What do you think school is like?" I asked, shoving a spoonful of macaroni and cheese into my mouth.
"I have no idea. We never went to school. The closest thing Hestia, Demeter, you and Hera got was the lessons I gave you in father's stomach." Hades took a bite out of the sandwich.
"I don't really think school is going to be that disgusting." Athena said. "I mean, the mortals don't swallow their students, so school isn't going to be like that."
"That's for sure." I mumbled.
"Don't speak with your mouth full!" Hestia leaned over, scolding me.
"Sorry." I smiled innocently at her.
Hera's POV:
I observed my family, smiling. The bonding experience was a great idea, our family was closer because of the activities that the demigods chose. (A/N I actually paused here to draw Hera. ^_^) Poseidon, Hades and Athena were talking about school while Nyx and Hemera were talking about what they missed in the other's life. Demeter was teaching Despoine about planting, with Persephone adding onto her lesson. Meanwhile, Zeus looked at the others in disdain, not speaking.
"Why are you smiling so brightly, sister?" Hestia looked at me.
"I'm just glad that everyone is getting along. There aren't any arguments." I said. "Everything's peaceful for once."
"Watch your elbow, Hippie guy!" Ares yelled, elbowing Apollo.
Well... I guess I spoke too soon.
"Calm down dude, that was an accident!" Apollo raised his hands.
"Yeah right." Ares snorted.
"Ares, you shouldn't snort, it's not nice." I scolded him. Why did one of my only sons turn out so rude?
"Yes Mom." Ares sat up straighter.
Apollo chuckled. I pointed at the dishes, and made them disappear.
"Lunch is over." I said.
There were a few protests, but everyone listened and headed outside.
Annabeth's POV:
"I can't believe we lost!" I said.
"We won, Annie. Deal with it." Thalia said, smirking.
"Don't call me Annie!" I growled.
"Calm down Annie." Thalia grinned. "Besides, it's your mom's team. Well more like your moms boyfriend's team. Along with you future-"
"Shut up!" I growled at her.
"I'm starving! Why can't we get to the dining pavilion fast enough?" Percy whined.
"Aren't you always hungry?" Nico popped up beside us.
"Don't you always eat a big Mac for lunch?" Percy retorted.
"Not always." Nico said.
"Finally! It's about time to get here." Percy sat over at the Poseidon table, with me on his heels.
He asked for macaroni and cheese and blue cherry coke. I asked for a bit of barbeque and vegetables. After we sacrificed some food, we sat back down. I laughed when Percy drank the coke in one gulp and started shoveling the macaroni in his mouth. I, on the other hand ate slowly, but finished before him so I started reading a book.
"Done!" Percy said, after a few more glasses of coke.
"Finally." I said, looking up from my book. "Why don't we go over to the beach to relax?"
"Sure!" Percy jumped up and ran outside. "Race you there!"
"Not fair!" I yelled, following him.
He beat me by a few seconds. "I won!" He smirked.
"Not fair! You had a head start." I frowned.
"Hey guys!" Piper waved from her beach towel, where she was playing on her phone.
"Hi Piper." I said.
"Hey guys!" Jason yelled.
I looked up and saw him floating over the water. "Hello Jason."
"Hey dude!" Percy ran out into the water and commanded it to bring him higher.
"Show off." Thalia grumbled, walking out from behind a tree.
"What were you doing behind the tree?" I asked.
"Looking for this." Thalia said, twirling an arrow around.
"Is this the reunion of the male members of the seven?" Piper mumbled.
I looked over and saw Leo standing there, fiddling with something. "Well Annabeth is also here." He said. "I just came to ask Percy something."
"What is it Leo?" Percy jumped off the wave. "What's up?"
"Jason, apparently." Leo said, smirking and pointing up at Jason.
"Very funny, Valdez." Jason called down.
"What does Blackjack eat?" Leo asked, sticking his tongue at Jason.
"He eats alot, but prefers donuts. Sugar cubes are fine as well." Percy replied.
"..." Jason and Thalia whipped their heads around to stare at Percy.
"I don't chose what he eats!" Percy said.
"Why do you need to know what Blackjack eats?" I asked Leo, glaring a bit, daring him to answer me.
"Calm the glare!" Leo said, backing up. "I wanted to see his wings, so I could improve an invention, but he wouldn't let me get close."
"So you wanted to feed him something to get him to come to you. Good choice." Percy said. "He's always asking for food."
"Just like Percy." Thalia muttered.
"...The skies are better than the sea!" I turned around and saw Zeus standing there, beside Poseidon and Hades.
"The seas are more powerful. It can swallow cities if you anger me." Poseidon frowned, crossing his arms.
"I think... we should get out of here before they blast us." I said, pulling Percy back towards the forest. The other demigods followed, Jason floated past us and landed in a tree.
"...can blast... if angered." Zeus yelled something, which was muffled because of the dense forest.
"And then the mortals will end up in the Underworld. No matter who kills them, they'll end up in my realm." Hades sounded annoyed as he yelled that, "Seriously. Hestia told us to fetch some sea grass from the beach for something Athena needs and you to end up fighting. And she gave the rule of NO FIGHTING!"
"I'll bet you five drachmas that Zeus is hiding from Hades." Percy whispered to Thalia.
"Poseidon will probably be doing the same. My father's the King of the gods!" Thalia said the last part with a lot of force.
"When are the Romans coming?" I asked, trying to stop their argument before it happened.
"In, like a week or two?" Piper replied, uncertain.
"Alright. Now why don't we get out of here and visit the Stolls? I want some soda." Percy said, inching towards the beach.
"Idiot!" Thalia hissed. "If our fathers get into a fight, they could destroy us! And besides, you always want food."
"What's to prevent that they destroy the forest?" Percy asked.
"True." I backed him up. Percy could have moments of brilliance.
The other demigods exchanged looks. "But if we go outside, they just might blast us." Jason said.
"Well then, we just go towards the dining pavilion and back to our cabins." Piper said, looking at us. "The forest isn't only connected to the beach."
"Great idea!" Thalia jumped up and ran off. Jason flew after her, picking Piper up. Leo ran after them. Percy just pulled me after him and bulldozed through the trees.
"Ow!" I yelped as a branch hit my arm.
"Oops?" Percy grinned sheepishly.
I just swatted his arm. He grabbed me and kissed me. We probably made out for one minute. How do I know, you ask? Thalia was the only one that was there when we got out of the forest.
"Took you long enough." She grumbled, pulling us over to the Poseidon cabin.
"Why are we heading to my cabin?" Percy asked.
"The Zeus cabin is creepy, Lady Artemis hates boys and the Athena cabin is full." Thalia replied.
"And we need a cabin because...?" I looked at her questionly.
"Percy has a secret stash of blue cookies." She replied. "Besides, I want to relax for a while. The beach is currently off limits, and it's probably going to start raining soon." She tugged us inside the cabin.
Zeus' POV:
"Mother Rhea liked me best!" I yelled into Poseidon's face.
"She liked you best? She used a rock because it was the only thing that resembled you!" Poseidon yelled back.
"Stop fighting!" Hades yelled.
I ignored him, advancing on Poseidon. "You're just jealous." I taunted. "You'd always gotten the shorter end between us."
"You want to play that way then?" That Kelp Head materialized his trident, pointing it at my chest.
Soon, it was all out fight. Thunder clouds gathered over Camp and it was raining heavily. What I didn't look at, was Hades glaring at me.
"STOP FIGHTING!" He yelled, grabbing the two of us and tossing the two of us onto different sides of the beach. "Hestia told us to not fight. And then you start fighting when we get here. You especially, Zeus. Stop taunting Poseidon. And Poseidon. You need to stop falling for it."
Poseidon started backing into the sea, but I grabbed his arm. If I had to face this, he did too. Poseidon just glared at me.
"Hera was right when she said we needed to get along. Not just with our children, but with each other too. Before lunch, we were talking normally. After lunch? Disaster strikes." Hades crossed his arms, somehow managing to look creepier with a thunderbolt flashing behind him. And I thought thunder was my domain...
"You fight us too!" I protested.
Hades looked taken aback at that.
"Exactly! You were trying to attack Demeter last winter solstice." Poseidon agreed.
"And then you're always lecturing us..." I trailed off when Hades frowned.
"I did that in the throne room, didn't I? The place where there where only immortal gods. This is Camp. Alot of people are powerful, but not immortal. Can Perseus die from voltage? Yes. Can Thalia and Jason drown? Yes. If you got your emotions out of control, your children would feel it the most. And what of my Nico." Hades sighed, pulling them up and dragging them over to 'Olympus', gaining curious looks as they passed demigods.
"Let go of me!" Poseidon thrashed around.
"When we reach 'Olympus'." Hades answered.
Poseidon continued squirming, but his attempts were in vain. "Hmph." He said, crossing his arms. I leaned back and sulked, kicking the dirt.
"What are you doing to your brothers, Hades?" Hestia asked, looking at us.
"Didn't you see the storm? They were arguing." Hades sighed. "Don't assign me to any more tasks with them." He walked upstairs slowly.
"What were you arguing over?" Hestia pulled us inside, grabbing a plate of cookies from the counter.
Me and Poseidon exchanged looks. We both knew that it was a childish argument in the eyes of our siblings, so we lied. "Zeus accidentally shocked me." Poseidon started.
"Which made Poseidon drop some sea grass into the water." I added.
"So then we started blaming each other." Poseidon finished. Apparently, he came to the conclusion that Hades would murder us in our sleep if we brought him in this.
"So you didn't get the sea grass?" Athena sat down beside Poseidon. "Such a shame. It was for a spell that Hecate and I was making."
"What spell?" Poseidon asked.
"It's for when we go to school. It'll take away enough of our powers so that we're kind of like demigods. Except more powerful." Athena leaned back.
"That's...interesting?" Poseidon trailed off, obviously not getting it.
"It means that we can't flash ourselves to other places. Except Hades, he'll still be able to shadow-travel." Athena explained. "And there's also another spell, one that hides our 'scent' from mortals."
"Great job, Athena!" Hestia smiled warmly.
"Why is Hades the only one that's able to teleport?" I asked.
"Stop whining." Poseidon muttered.
"Because demigod children of Hades can shadow-travel. I really think that we should start letting the minor gods back on Olympus. The sun is starting to rise later than normal." Hestia said. "Be nice Poseidon." She added, looking at him.
"I think I'm going to go get some sea grass myself." Athena said, heading over to the door.
I waited until she and Hestia had left to celebrate. "Hah!" I stuck my tongue out at Poseidon.
"Drama king." He rolled his eyes.
"I'm not dramatic!"
"Erm...yes you are. You proved that by thundering your sentences. So, HA!" Poseidon stuck his tongue out at me.
"You're childish." I said.
"You're idiotic."
"I think that you're the idiot." I crossed my arms, glaring at him.
"Dramatic!" Poseidon sang out.
"You're both a pair of toddlers." I turned and saw Hades grabbing something out of the fridge. "Here's an example. Want a cookie? Who ever reaches me first will have their face printed on it." He took out a tray of cookies.
"I don't want to eat my face!" Poseidon pouted. "But I want the cookies!" He burst into fake tears.
"I think I'll pass." I said, wrinkling my nose.
"Test one: failed." I heard Hades say. "They are not exactly mature." He put the tray back into the fridge, not before he ate a cookie.
"Hades? What's going on? Why is Poseidon crying? Why does Zeus look so...disgusted?" Hera walked into the room. {A/N: They're in the dining room, and the kitchen is right beside them. Just clearing things up.}
"I'm trying to test their maturity. Poseidon's at a three. Zeus is at six." Hades replied.
"I just came here because I thought that we should try and come up with some... mortal names. Oh, and Hecate's going to have us drink the potions soon. She wants us to have a normal year. And that includes amusement parks and trips. Athena wants us to have a cover. Actually, Athena's coming up with the names, we can think about trips. The demigods are joining us too." Hera said.
"Hooray." Hades clapped his hands in sarcastic excitement.
"The more the merrier." Poseidon quipped.
"For you." Hades rolled his eyes. "And Zeus. He get to boss more people around."
"Oh right." Poseidon dimmed a bit. "I just can't wait to get bossed around by Zeus." He said, sarcastically.
"Hey!" I protested.
"I think we should announce that at dinner." Hera said. "Like the minor gods going back to Olympus, us turning into people that are slightly more powerful than demigods. So on and so on." She trailed off.
"Great idea honey buns." I said, kissing her cheek. I vaguely heard Poseidon and Hades snickering, so I glared at them.
"Honey buns?" Hades mouthed at Poseidon. "That's an...interesting nickname."
If anything, Poseidon only laughed harder.
"I saw that." I nudged Hades, who waved me off.
"What time is it?" He asked, looking outside the window.
"Three o'clock." Hera replied, with a quick glance at the clock.
"Looks like Zeus is angry." Hades said, closing the window. "There's a storm brewing outside."
"What? I'm not angry! The storm isn't me!" I crossed my arms.
"Well you should try and control it. It shouldn't be hard. Storms shouldn't be able to enter Camp." Poseidon said.
"Alright." I closed my eyes and focused for a few minutes, but nothing happened. "I can't control it..." I admitted.
"What?" Poseidon whipped his head around.
"We're back!" Athena's voice carried over from the entrance.
She and Hestia just entered the room when Poseidon tackled her into a hug. "Oh us! There's a storm brewing outside and then Zeus can't control it and-"
"Hold on, Fish brains, I don't understand you." Athena teased him.
"What he meant to say, is that I didn't create the storm outside, and I can't control it." I rolled my eyes at my brother's actions.
"Oh no!" Hestia gasped.
"Why don't the two of you try and stop the storm? Isn't Poseidon the Storm Bringer?" Hades suggested.
Poseidon and I faced each other, nodded and tried to stop the storm. Surprisingly, it worked.
"We should go to the dining pavilion and tell the others." I said.
The others nodded, and we headed over.
Author's note: Phew! Finally! After a week! A WEEK! Hope you like it.