WELL I'M BACK AND IT'S FINALLY DONE!
I am so, so, so, so, SO sorry that it's taken this long! I hit a major roadblock RIGHT AFTER I finished the first bit, and had like NO inspiration up until now. And the inspiration I did have totally took this in another direction than originally planned but... yeah.
LaLaLand I owe you a HUGE apology for not having this done sooner. Well, now it's at 40 pages and over 17,000 words, so I hope that makes up for it. And I hope you enjoy the rest of it. Actually, I hope you are still reading this, but if not, I can't really blame you.
School attempted to kill me, but I am DONE NOW AND OPEN FOR BUSINESS FOR THE REST OF THE SUMMER! In apology for being gone so long, requests are now OPEN (with certain guidelines that will be explained personally). So PM me or review to request a story. I will be frank, though, if your request doesn't fit into my fandoms, it probably won't be very good at all, or I may politely decline. And if I get swamped, then... requests will be closed. I will post more at a later date.
FOR EVERYONE ELSE: NEW CHAPTER OF FOREST OF THE DEAD COMING SOON.
Once again, LaLaLand, I am SO VERY SORRY IT HAS TAKEN THIS LONG, but I hope you are doing well, and I hope you enjoy the final installment of CONNECTIONS!
Disclaimer: It's taken me this long to finish one fic. I don't own PJO.
January
The monster attacks were becoming more frequent.
Reyna had put everyone on emergency guard duty. Usually, guard duty was pretty lax, considering the fortified borders, but with the monsters coming back when killed and the gods going silent, the chances of the magic holding wasn't looking good. Everyone's spirits were considerably down. The magic of the camp seemed to sense this, because it rained at least once everyday, like the heavens themselves were crying. Hazel wished for snow, something she had never seen before. It would be like a fairytale, but since they were in California, it all melted into rain and turned the world into a dripping painting, words of a story melting down the page with no one bothering to read it.
Training became more than just a thing to prepare for the outside world. The demigods who had lived through the Titan War became sullen and cold. There were too many cases of PTSD popping up, too many nightmares that left the camp awake at night. It was like they sensed that a war was coming, that a battle was going to need to be fought and won. Training became everything, because in the end, it was the only thing that could save you.
Hazel saw Nora exactly once. The girl was sitting on the steps of a temple to Mercury, in the pouring rain. Hazel had been sent up with Gwen to put the braziers out before they burned down the barracks or something, not that that was going to happen, considering how wet everything was. Nora had waved to Hazel slightly, giving her a mournful look before disappearing again.
Hazel was sure that this was the end of the world. Her world was flooding and there was nothing she could do about it. The camp was crumbling, their carefully built fortifications falling to pieces around their feet and they were merely surviving until it was time to die.
And their saving Grace was no where to be found.
Leo threw his hammer on the ground and cursed.
He had been working on the Argo II for a little over thirty six hours straight now. It was almost nine, maybe ten and everyone had already gone to bed. The forge was deserted, except for Leo and Jason and Piper. The two of them had insisted on helping and had, for the most part. Now they were dozing in a corner, heads resting on each other. Leo had been tempted to draw mustaches on them in motor oil, but had decided against it. He had work to do.
He stepped back over to the hull, looking a bunch of diagrams he had drawn on his arms in red Sharpie. There were scribbles on his arms, legs, hands, forehead, clothes, the walls, anywhere he could write when he couldn't find a piece of paper or parchment or was just to caught up in his work to bother. He was pretty sure it frustrated his siblings to no end, having to ask what to do since they only had the basic blueprints, not the things Leo wanted, that he was coming up with out of his own mind.
He snapped the goggles that had taken up a permanent place on his forehead over his eyes and picked up a blowtorch, then thought better of it and placed it down again. He lit his hand up and seared a piece of Celestial bronze over the wooden frame, connecting pieces of a puzzle. The hull of his ship would be virtually indestructible and deadly to monsters... well, if they were stupid enough to figure out how to get stabbed by the rounded bottom of a boat.
The Argo II was being built smoothly. Leo had just about finished the hull. The masts were being carved towards the sides of the bunker and sails, ropes, and electronic equipment was being stowed to the sides. Leo glanced around. They were going to have to move the ship before too long. It was getting too big, which was a good thing, but Leo still sighed. If only it could be bigger on the inside somehow. Then his job would be a lot easier.
He looked over at his notes and drawings, the line swimming before his eyes. He knew he should probably quit for the night, but this project was so big. It was the biggest thing Leo had ever seen and the one thing in his life that he felt he was doing right for a change, the one thing that was mainly his. He could read it like a book, even though he had never been good at reading books in the first place. He was running on little sleep, still recovering from the quest, little food and even less organic stimulus. Most of his siblings got the whole, "Distract me while I'm working and die," thing, which was good, but it also made it very lonely.
"Hey," a voice asked from behind Leo, making him drop a wrench to the ground and almost fall off of his ladder. "You're still up."
Annabeth was standing behind him. She wore sweatpants and a hoody, her blonde hair tied back. Her eyes were stormy and tired. She was holding a collection of scrolls in her hands and had a laptop bag slung over her shoulder.
"Yeah," Leo said, pulling his goggles up to the top of his head again and sitting down at his workbench. He flicked on the lamp that sat there and picked up a compass, going over some notes and diagrams he had on sheets of notebook paper.
Annabeth sat down beside him, dumping the scrolls in a pile at her feet. "Not bad, Leo."
"Thanks," he said, not looking at her, mind whirring, albeit slowly. "I'm just gonna finish these..."
"No, you're not," Annabeth said, taking the compass from his hand. "You're going to go to bed."
"Not tired," Leo muttered, picking up a ruler, his hands going in automatic.
"Yes you are," Annabeth said, plucking it from his hands.
He looked at her. She stared back. Gods. Why did Athena's genius kids have to be so... smart?
"I know how it is, Leo," Annabeth said. "Believe me, I've done it too. Staying up super late working on whatever project I was doing, not sleeping, not eating, depending on how wrapped up in it I was. Especially recently, with redesigning Olympus and everything. I'm pretty sure it would've killed me if..." She trailed off.
"If-" Leo bit back a yawn. "If what?"
"If it hadn't been for Percy," Annabeth said softly. She smiled at her hands. "He'd always make me stop and go to sleep, or take me to get some food, or bring a bunch of stupid movies over and force me to watch them and take a break." She closed her eyes, like she was remembering a happier time. "There was this one time when he had the nerve to hide my laptop, so I couldn't access any of my files. He didn't give it back until I had baked and consumed about three dozen cookies with him and slept a solid twelve hours. When I woke up, he was sitting outside with my laptop and coffee." She frowned slightly. "I never did thank him for that."
Leo stared at her, his sleep-deprived brain trying to think of something nice and comforting to say, but that was more up Piper's alley.
Annabeth turned to look at Leo, an air of false cheerfulness in her eyes. "What I'm trying to say, Leo, is that you need someone. To do that for you. And I hope that you know that they're over there."
Leo turned to look at Jason and Piper, curled up into each other, snoring softly. He realized they hadn't left him for thirty-six hours and at that moment, he realized they weren't going to. It was a small gesture, but it left Leo with a warmth burning inside his chest that was almost as hot as the fire he conjured from his hands.
"Thanks Annabeth," he said, all the drive to work melting from his hands. He yawned hugely.
"You're welcome, Leo," she said, standing and gathering her things. "Now go to sleep."
He nodded. He heard Annabeth leave the forge as he looked down at his notes. The fires were dwindling behind him, leaving a nice warm glow around the room. He picked up a wrench, halfway intending to go back to work, no matter what Annabeth had said.
"Sleep."
Leo turned his head again. The girl he kept seeing was standing behind him. For some reason, she looked especially gorgeous in Leo's half-asleep, lamp-lit mind, like a queen or goddess or something. She placed a hand on his shoulder and began to sing, a soft, lilting melody that made Leo's eyes grow heavy within the first five seconds.
Maybe it wouldn't hurt to put his head down for a few minutes, just to close his eyes. It... couldn't possibly... hurt anything...
Jason and Piper found him like that in the morning, head on his desk, wrench held loosely in his hand, with a blanket tucked around his shoulders that they hadn't put there.
February
"You guys are depressing," Gwen said as she marched into the Fifth cohort's barracks. "Absolutely pathetic. I can't believe you're sitting around here moping."
Hazel glanced up at her friend. She was standing with her hands on her hips, glaring at all of them. Dakota was standing behind her, the same, quiet expression that had been on his face for the past three months still there. He looked at the ground when Hazel tried to catch his eye.
"In case you haven't noticed, Gwen," a son of Apollo said while flopped across the arms of a chair, "We aren't exactly the best in the legion. We've got one praetor, the augur is insane, there's a war coming and our other Centurion hasn't spoken a word since his best friend disappeared. Why shouldn't we be depressed?"
Gwen pursed her lips. "I'm going to ignore that last comment, because it was rather insensitive. Now come on. We are going to get into formation and we are going to go do something fun. GO!"
The cohort stood frantically and fell in line. Gwen nodded in satisfaction and led them out of the barracks. They marched down the streets to the mess hall, where Gwen pulled back a curtain and led them inside.
All the tables had been pushed to the back and sides of the room and the floor was clean. There was a bedsheet attached to the wall and a projector at the back of the room.
"Gwen, what...?" Hazel trailed off, not sure what was happening.
"It's movie night," Gwen announced. "Now, we can watch Harry Potter, Troy, or something out of a variety of Disney movies I managed to get my family to send me. Take your pick."
A lot of the boys scoffed at watching something about princesses, and most of the votes rolled in for the last two Harry Potter movies, half the people there not having seen them when they came out.
"What's Harry Potter?" Hazel asked. Immediately about ten people gasped, sat Hazel down and gave her a rapid summary of the plot while Gwen set up "The Deathly Hallows Part 1."
The lights dimmed and the movie started up. Everyone shut up and kept their eyes glued to the screen. There were a lot of tears when Ron left and when Dobby died and generally overall. When the final credits rolled in, everyone clapped.
"So..." Vanessa, a daughter of Vestia, nudged Hazel. "What did you think?"
"I can't believe it!" Hazel exclaimed. "Draco's dad has longer hair than Hermione does!"
Everyone laughed and Gwen went over to put in the second movie. Hazel looked over and started. Nora was sitting to Hazel's left, a bowl of popcorn in her lap. She glanced at Hazel and grinned.
"Harry Potter is awesome," she said.
"Yeah," Nora said. Her pretty eyes shown with delight as her dark hair cascaded down her shoulders. She offered the bowl of popcorn to Hazel. Hazel grabbed a handful and popped some in her mouth.
"Hey!" Joe, a fourteen year old son of Mercury fell in front of Hazel. "Where'd you get popcorn? I want some!"
Hazel laughed and shoved the rest of her handful into her mouth. She looked back over to her left and wasn't surprised to see that Nora had disappeared.
Gwen shouted from the back, "SETTLE DOWN UP THERE!"
"Popcorn!" The rest of the cohort took up the chant. "POPCORN! POPCORN!"
"Fine!" Gwen shouted in exasperation. She turned to Molly. "Can you...?"
Molly grinned and nodded. The daughter of Ceres waved her hand. A corn plant grew out of the air, bursting with ears of corn. She whispered something and suddenly the ears turned red-hot, white fluffy kernels of corn flying out of them. The demigods caught them in their hands or some buckets or their mouths.
"Now if we're all settled, I'm starting Part 2!" Gwen shouted, flicking off the lights.
Hazel settled back and watched the start of the movie, a recap of Voldemort blasting the marble tomb and stealing Dumbledore's wand.
The movie went by too quickly. Hazel had tears in her eyes when Harry sacrificed himself for his friends and during Snape's confession and basically for the last thirty minutes of the movie. When the lights came up most of the girls were wiping away tears and the boys were laughing and poking each other while yelling spells.
"And so concludes Harry Potter!" Gwen hollering while hugging Dakota's arm. When she realized this with the help of a few boys who whistled, she let go, blushing.
Dakota looked at her. "Dobby wishes that Harry Potter did not die, sir. But it was a happy ending, which is good, sir."
Everyone stopped talking, instead choosing to stare at Dakota in wide-eyed amazement. Hazel put her hands over her mouth, almost starting to cry again. The inside joke and reference to the last October was not lost on her, and she was pretty sure Gwen realized it too.
Instead, Gwen punched Dakota in the arm. "Did you just call me sir?"
Dakota laughed. Hazel couldn't contain herself any longer and launched herself on her two friends, half-laughing, half-crying. They went down, wrapping their arms around Hazel too. Eventually, the rest of the cohort joined them, one giant hug spread across the floor as they all fell into a large, laughing group of happiness, all negative thoughts gone until another time.
Leo had never liked Valentine's Day.
Sure, it was a holiday entirely devoted to chocolate. And Zeus knew Leo liked chocolate. Who didn't? But it had always been an awkward holiday. After his mother had died, he'd never actually had enough valentines to give to the kids in his class or any, period. And as he'd gotten older, he'd had to deal with the situation where everyone else seemed to be in some sort of relationship. Except for him. Which was cool. He'd just end up filling everyone's sneakers with chocolate pudding and their lockers with confetti and watch as that just made everyone shriek or giggle or curse and end up kissing while the dumber ones ate the pudding out of their shoes.
But, you know, that was all okay. He was Leo Valdez. He didn't need that.
He thought Camp would be different. They would have a pink campfire or eat cupcakes for all three meals or maybe not even celebrate the freaking thing at all.
Yeah. Turns out he was wrong.
If anything, it was celebrated even more, considering they did have a cabin full of Valentine babies around. Arrows showed up everywhere, though for the life of him, Leo couldn't figure out whether or not Eros had been shooting them or if it was a trick by the Apollo cabin. There was an unnatural amount of red and pink and white everywhere and the campers who had boyfriends or girlfriends were walking around holding hands and the ones who didn't where either flirting or ignoring each other all together.
Piper and Jason weren't much better. They had been sneaking each other smiles throughout breakfast and had disappeared very soon after to go do whatever couples did alone on Valentines Day. Leo didn't really pay much attention, because he was looking for someone. One person who he hadn't seen at all and who everyone should probably have been concerned about, but wasn't.
Annabeth Chase.
So that's why Leo found himself wandering around camp looking for a certain blonde daughter of Athena. He'd gone to the forges, to the arena, peeked in her cabin and had even dared to look in Cabin Three, just in case she had gone there. But she was no where to be found.
Leo was about ready to give up. It had been two hours of looking and he couldn't think of anyplace else she would be. Annabeth was smart. She could figure things out herself, right? Right. Besides, he had work to do.
Or he would've, if one of his sisters hadn't been sitting in the almost-completed mast of the Argo II, giggling with some boy from the Hecate cabin. They didn't seem inclined to leave, so Leo left them there.
The camp was pretty much full of sickening mushy hearts and stuff. Leo figured that the only two places he'd be safe from all of this was either in the woods (with the monsters), outside the borders (again, monsters) or down at the cold, windy, unromantic-in-February beach. So since Leo really didn't want to get eaten in the near future, he decided that the beach would be the best place to camp out for a while.
Of course, that's where he found Annabeth.
He probably would've missed her. She was sitting with her arms wrapped around her knees, wearing a hoodie that was too big for her, blonde hair blowing freely in the wind. She was staring out at the ocean, gray eyes stormy.
Leo wondered for a minute if he should just leave her. If it was me, would that be a good idea? He sighed and went over to Annabeth.
"Mind if I sit?"
She looked up. Her eyes were red and she quickly swiped a sleeve across them and sniffed. "No. That's fine."
Leo plopped down into the slightly damp sand. He ran a hand through his wild hair that was getting tangled even more by the wind. "So... what's up?"
"Nothing much."
Leo nodded. "Me neither. I guess we're both sort of loners, huh? At least today."
Annabeth bit her lip and placed her head in her arms, so Leo could just see her eyes and forehead protruding. "Yes. I suppose we are."
Leo winced. He was just going to bumble through this, wasn't he? Yes, his mind said. "Are you okay?"
"Do I look okay, Leo? Really?"
Leo smiled a little. "No. Sorry. Dumb question. We aren't all geniuses."
"I've noticed," Annabeth said coldly. Leo's face must've fell, because she looked guilty. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay." Leo waved a hand. "What can you give if you can't take it once in a while?"
"It's just..." Annabeth swallowed. "This is the first time that this day has actually meant something to me. And that thing is across the country with no memories and in danger and he might never-" She stopped abruptly, putting a hand over her mouth, her eyes filling with tears. "I... I just..."
"Hey," Leo said. He grimaced inwardly, knowing that he was probably going to make this worse, but he wrapped a tentative arm around Annabeth's shoulders anyway. "It's going to be okay. We'll find him and then we'll save the world and by the time Valentine's Day rolls around next year, you'll both be here together and you'll be making out all the time and grossing me out and making everyone else smile sappily or dump you in a lake or yell at you to get a room. It'll be fine. I promise."
Annabeth sort of shuddered. "Don't make those kinds of promises Leo. Don't, please." She relaxed a bit and looked up at him. "But thank you. It's a nice thing to hear."
Leo smiled down at her. "No problem Annabeth. That's what I'm here for."
She nodded and broke free from his half-hug. "I'm going to go see if there's anything left to eat. I'm starving." She stood up and brushed the sand from her jeans. "Coming?"
"Nah," Leo said, leaning back on his elbows. "I think I'll just stay here."
Annabeth nodded and left.
Leo looked out at the ocean. Percy Jackson, whoever you are, you'd better be alive. Because if you leave Annabeth, I don't think you'll survive it. And I don't think she will either.
Someone sat down next to Leo. "Happy Valentine's Day."
He looked. The girl whose name he still didn't know was sitting next to him, her hair blowing around her face. She looked even prettier than he had remembered, sitting there in the salty sea air.
"And you," Leo said. "Hey." The girl looked at him. "Do you have a name or is that just for mainstream people?"
The girl laughed. "I'm Nora."
"Nice to meet you, Nora," Leo said. "Are you here for a reason, or just because?"
"Just because," Nora said, resting her head on Leo's shoulder and wrapping an arm around his waist. And even though Leo had known this girl on a first-name basis for all of ten seconds, she had kissed him in the middle of a desert, and she was pretty, and it did feel rather nice to have someone with him.
"Happy Valentine's Day," he whispered. "I'm glad you're here."
March
Octavian was probably the most annoying camper in existence.
Right now he was standing up in front of the Senate, ranting and raving about stuff that Hazel wasn't listening to. She sighed and placed her head on her hand, rolling her eyes as Octavian dramatically slashed a stuffed dinosaur.
She really was only there because Gwen had chosen her as a substitute. Gwen had gone into New Rome with the other senior centurions to give some new legacies information about Camp Jupiter and it's merits and an orientation that half of them had already heard. So Hazel was sent to sit at the Senate meeting with Dakota, who was currently half-asleep in his seat.
"But why is it such a bad idea to leave Camp?" Reyna said, glaring daggers at Octavian. Her dogs growled at her feet.
"The gods do not tell us why they choose what they do!" Octavian proclaimed, holding up the severed dinosaur fluff in a way that Hazel assumed was supposed to be majestic. "They merely tell us what we are supposed to do! And we must do it!"
"But we need a quest!" Reyna said, eyes flashing.
"We are perfectly safe here! There is no need to go running about on some foolish journey to get ourselves killed!"
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't leave. Why do we need the gods to tell us when and where we can go? Why can't you give me a quest!"
"To search for Jason Grace?" Octavian challenged, pulling out his wild card. The Senate immediately went silent. Reyna fell back in her seat, looking like she had gotten the wind knocked out of her. Octavian grinned, knowing he had won this round. Reyna couldn't say no, because everyone would know that was a lie. And she couldn't say yes, because that would imply that she was putting the safety of her legionnaires after one boy who they hadn't had word of in five months.
"Fine," Reyna said, her voice dark. "Senate adjourned." She stood up, glanced at the empty praetor's chair to her right and swept out of the hall, Aurgentum and Aurum following at her heels.
Everyone else got up to move. Dakota snorted and sat up fully. "What happened?"
"No quest," Hazel muttered, leaning forwards and placing her chin on her hand, sighing.
Dakota swore and kicked the chair in front of him. "Screw Octavian. Screw him and his stupid prophecies and his stupid ego and his stupid... self." He kicked the chair again, and growled.
"Pretty much," Hazel agreed. She stood. "Well, let's go. Training starts in five."
Dakota glumly followed her out of the Senate.
"Dakota, I'll meet you there. I forgot my helmet," Hazel said, heading towards the armory. Dakota broke off to go to the arena.
Hazel made it there and stepped inside. Lars milled about, but didn't pay any mind to her. She walked towards her cubby and grabbed her helmet. When she turned to leave, she found Nora standing in front of her, trying on a breastplate.
"Oh," Hazel said. "Hello."
"Hello," Nora replied.
"What are you doing here?"
"I've come to tell you not to worry," Nora said, gazing at Hazel straight on. "He is coming."
Hazel rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know that. But who?"
"You'll see," Nora said. She grinned, and vanished.
Hazel kicked the locker in front of her.
Leo was actually having a remarkably good day.
There were waffles for breakfast, he didn't set anything on fire by accident, and the Argo II just needed the inside redone from when he had set it on fire by accident. They were almost done with that, so he decided to take a break. The next few months would be spent loading up the ship and making plans for whatever quest they were going to have to go on next, and they'd be out of Camp Half-Blood by the solstice. At least, that's what Annabeth said, and Leo had learned to listen to her.
Anyway, instead of getting underfoot, he and Jason and Piper had decided to explore the camp a little bit. And by explore, they meant go to the few places they hadn't already been. And by the few places they hadn't already been, they meant the strawberry fields. And by the strawberry fields, they meant Leo had gotten in trouble for blowing up the campfire (again) whilst trying to turn it into a disco fire, and Jason and Piper were helping him out with his punishment.
"Tell me again, Leo, why we're doing this?" It was the third time in so many hours that Piper was asking. Jason grinned at her side.
Leo huffed and rolled his eyes. "It's because you two are the best friends in the whole wide world that I would do anything for because you're so wonderful. And you are helping me because that's what kind, good, fabulous people do. And also because you want me to fix your iPod. The end."
Piper giggled and nudged him playfully. "Good job, Valdez. Nice to see that you've got a good head on your shoulders."
"Whatever," Leo mumbled, bumping her back.
"At least the weather's nice," Jason offered. And it was. For March, Leo was relatively surprised that it was sunny, with a warm breeze and blue sky. As far as being forced to plant strawberries went, it wasn't too bad.
"Hey, guys!" Katie, a bubbly daughter of Demeter, greeted them at the edge of the fields. "We're just finishing up with the planting." She gave them a once-over and nodded. "Piper, you can come help us with finishing marking the rows and doing the actual planting of the seeds. Jason and Leo, start pulling weeds."
Leo and Jason groaned, while Piper smiled. "Have fun, boys!" She skipped off to go help Katie.
"Figures," Leo grumbled. "We're stuck with the intense labor while Pipes is probably going to go paint her nails or something."
Jason shrugged. "It isn't so bad. In Rome, they used to throw us into bags of weasels as punishment-" He cut himself off, wincing.
Leo quickly dropped to his hands and knees, knowing Jason was uncomfortable with him flitting about whenever his memory ached. He scrambled in the dirt for a bit, before Jason knelt beside him and began pulling up evil-looking plants.
"How's the memory, anyway?" Leo asked after a few moments of silence.
Jason glanced at him sideways. "Eh. It comes and goes. Sometimes it's okay... it's like as long as I don't try, it doesn't hurt, if that makes any sense."
"Uh huh," Leo nodded. "How much is coming back?"
Jason growled. "Less that I would like. Some names, some faces, some random things that I don't really care about. Nothing really useful. Like right now, all I've got is weasels, some dude named Octavian, and a recipe for ambrosia-chip ice cream."
"Oooh, that actually sounds pretty good!" Leo exclaimed. "What'd ya mean, 'nothing useful.' Ice cream is always useful!"
Jason laughed. "Thanks."
"Anytime," Leo said. They kept pulling up weeds diligently for a while. At one point, Leo looked up, and was surprised to see that girl, Nora, digging around across from him.
"Hey," he said.
She looked up and smiled, making her face glow, even with dirt around the edges. "Hey, yourself."
"What're you doing here?"
"Helping."
"What?" Leo was going to ask some more questions, but right at that moment, Katie came up to them.
"Looks great, guys!" she said, admiring their work. "Well, it's time for lunch, so you're free to go! See you next time, Leo!" When he looked back, Nora was gone.
"Who says there'll be a next time?" Leo pretended to look insulted at the implication.
"There's always a next time with you, Valdez," Piper said, sidling up behind them.
"Oh, ye of little faith," Leo said, waggling a finger in her face. Piper shoved his hand away, rolling her eyes.
The trio headed off to eat. Piper slung her arms around Leo and Jason, who were on either side of her. "You know, this is nice."
"What, being with two sweaty guys who are starving and covered in dirt?" Jason asked.
"No, you doofus," Piper teased, before growing serious. "Having friends."
Jason nodded. "Yeah. It is nice," he said quietly. Worry lines grew between his eyes, something that only Leo noticed. He promptly decided to change the subject.
"Hey, how much do you guys wanna bet I can fit an entire slice of pizza into my mouth?"
"Ew, Leo, that's gross!" Piper made a face at him.
"Not as gross as your face!" Leo shot back, smirking.
"Hey, that was uncalled for!"
"Your face is uncalled for!"
"That's it, Valdez!" Piper shrieked. Leo whooped and took off across the grass, Piper running after him while yelling obscenities. Leo looked back, grinning, and was relieved to see Jason laughing while striding after them. Yes, Leo had done his job.
It was almost worth getting a mouthful of grass when Piper finally tackled him.
April
Hazel loved springtime.
The grass growing green, the scent of wildflowers filling the air, birds coming back, and oh-the warmth. It almost made her feel like she had never been dead, like life was returning to her bones, flooding through her with the first springtime that she had had in a long while.
She stepped out of the barracks and took a long breath in through her nose, enjoying the way her hair blew with the light breeze. Training was going to be starting soon, but Hazel didn't really want to go. Mainly, she just wanted to enjoy the outdoors for a while.
"Hey, Hazey-Haze!" Dakota said cheerfully, passing her and ruffling her hair.
"Hi, Dakota," Hazel replied, giving him a grin. She followed him as they went to breakfast, which was barely a meal at all, more like scarf-down-whatever-you-can-get-your-hands-on-and-go-to-training.
The warm weather had put everyone in a good mood that Friday morning as they prepared for the war games. Gwen and Dakota led the Fifth Cohort in a few basic battle strategies and helped the younger kids practice blocking and parrying, while the older ones did some work with Hannibal the elephant.
During one particularly tricky combination, Hazel saw her brother standing in the shadows. Her eyes widened, and she fell off the elephant.
"Hazel!" Gwen exclaimed, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah." Hazel winced. "Um, can I take a minute?" Gwen nodded and Hazel hobbled over to the side of the arena.
Nico looked concerned, and slightly amused. "That looked like it hurt."
"Yeah, thanks for distracting me." Hazel made an attempt to glare at him, but she was pretty sure she failed abysmally.
Nico couldn't hide his smirk. "Sorry." His face suddenly turned serious. "As much as I love my impromptu visits, Hazel, I'm actually here to ask you something."
"Alright..." Hazel was beginning to get a bit nervous. Nico never came for a reason, he just sort of... showed up.
"Do you know anything about a girl named Nora?"
Hazel's face must have given her away, because Nico cursed in a strange language. "I knew it." His face hardened. "This is not good."
"What do you mean, 'not good?'" Hazel asked. "Why do you care?"
"If she's gotten out..." Nico didn't even seem to hear Hazel. "I've got to find Thanatos." He turned his eyes to Hazel's. "Hazel, listen to me. You cannot tell her who I am, or about the prophecy, or anything. Do not speak to her." He paused for a moment. "How long have you seen her?"
"Since the Underworld," Hazel answered. Nico's eyes widened and he backed away.
"No... no, no, no, no..." He began to pace. Hazel glanced over to her cohort. Gwen and Dakota were looking at her in concern. Nora was standing behind them, her head cocked and a shiny dagger in her hand as she glared at Hazel's brother. Hazel suddenly felt cold, shivers ricocheting up her spine. Her gaze was wrenched away by Nico's hands on her shoulders. "What has she told you?"
"N-nothing much," Hazel stammered. "Just, 'He is coming.' I thought it was you at first, but-"
All the breath seemed to leave Nico's body in a shuddering gasp and his knees buckled slightly. "Oh gods."
"What?" Hazel asked, desperately groping for answers. "What is it?"
"Nothing." Nico raked his hands through his hair, eyes wild. "Nothing you should worry about. Just..." He stopped to look Hazel dead in the face. "Remember what I said. Please."
"Nico, you're scaring me."
"Do it, Hazel!" Nico was already turning towards the shadows. He stopped in his tracks. "Oh, and one more thing-"
"What?" Hazel cried, becoming slightly exasperated.
Nico let out a hollow laugh. "Look after him for me, will you?"
He was gone before Hazel had a chance to ask him what he meant.
Leo did not appreciate the creepy Italian dude falling out of nowhere and practically into his lap while he was building a generator.
"Whoa, dude!" Leo said in surprise, holding his hands out and dropping the monkey wrench he was holding. "I think you're in the wrong place!"
"Annabeth," the guy muttered, his eyes looking desperate. "Need to find Annabeth."
"Okay, okay..." Leo placed down the generator, moving slowly in case the rogue Italian decided to attack him. "She's in her cabin-" I think "-but I'll go with you, just in case."
The boy nodded, not even really hearing him. A crazy thought struck Leo. "You... you're not Percy Jackson, are you?"
The boy looked at him sharply, hair falling into a frenzy around his face. "Why would you ask me something like that?"
Leo stepped back. "Whoa, sorry, I was just checking my bases..." It really had been a stupid question though. This new kid was all angles, dark hair, and cheekbones, with pale olive-toned skin and dark circles under his eyes, like he hadn't slept in forever. Nothing like the Percy Jackson Leo was picturing in his mind's eye... though he didn't know anyone who would so flippantly look for Annabeth. "It's okay. I'll help you find Annabeth."
The guy nodded again, staggering forwards drunkenly, like he was practically dead on his feet. Leo debated on whether or not to give him a hand, but when he made it to the Bunker door without collapsing, Leo decided to just follow at a respectful distance.
They made it outside, the light causing Leo to squint. He followed the kid towards the Athena cabin, trying to ignore the looks the both of them were getting.
Luckily, Malcolm and Annabeth were both walking there to, in the opposite direction. As soon as he caught sight of blonde hair, the kid was off like an extremely crooked rocket.
"Nico?" Annabeth said as she saw who was barreling towards her. "What's wrong?" Her face paled and she almost dropped the armload of books she was carrying. "Is it Percy?"
Nico gasped. "Percy... danger... Underworld... Romans... war..." He stopped to catch his breath and then hissed the word, "Helen." Annabeth gaped at him in semi-horror. Once Nico had gotten enough air, he took her forearm and led her into her cabin, whispering, with Leo outside, feeling rather insulted and mildly interested.
"Well, that was weird," Leo muttered, turning around to go back to his generator, instead coming face to face with Nora.
The mystery girl was standing right behind him, her eyes wide and her eyebrows knitted. She looked upset, and more than slightly mad. Leo's breath caught in his throat. She reminded him a little bit of Piper, right before she fought the giant.
"Nora..." Leo asked cautiously. She glared at him.
"What?" There was a certain bite to her words, causing Leo to step back unconsciously.
"Are you alright?"
Nora growled, and disappeared into a swirl of cold wind, leaving Leo shivering and confused.
May
Hazel was dreading guard duty.
Usually, it was okay. She didn't really talk to anyone in her cohort and no one in her cohort really talked to her. Guard duty was typically by choice. Friends paired up with friends usually, or at least requested people they could stand more than anyone else. Now that Gwen and Dakota were both Centurions, they were either paired together or, more often than not, training the other members of the cohort. Hazel and whoever was her partner would stand guard in silence, leaving Hazel to her thoughts. Or her blackouts. Luckily, that had only ever happened with Dakota and he never asked her about it.
But this time... this time, she was paired with Frank Zhang.
Honestly, the guy was probably the worst Roman she had ever seen. Unclaimed, untalented, and a complete and total oaf. He was big, clumsy and couldn't walk into a room without making someone want to punch him or breaking something, usually the latter. It wasn't surprising that he had been placed in the fifth cohort, considering their track record of collecting misfits. Hazel didn't tease him mercilessly like most of the other campers, but she didn't make any attempt to be friends with him either.
They met up outside of camp, relieving the other guards from their posts. They took a look at Frank and Hazel, a scrawny thirteen-year-old girl and a football-built teenage boy, and started laughing behind their hands and disappeared through the tunnel. Hazel ignored them and took her post.
She tried to stare straight ahead and just get their three hours of duty over with as painlessly as possible, but Frank kept fidgeting beside her.
"Hi," he said.
Hazel gave him a look and then returned to staring straight ahead. His helmet was falling over his eyes and his armor looked either too big or too small, depending on the piece.
"Um..." Frank said, playing with a strap on his armor. He wasn't ADHD, that much Hazel knew. "You're Hazel, right?"
"Yes." Hazel's answer was short and clipped. She felt a twinge of guilt, but she didn't really want to talk.
"It's nice to meet you." Frank stuck out his hand. Hazel didn't take it. She saw Frank's shoulders slump from the corner of her eye.
They watched in silence for about ten minutes before Frank spoke again.
"Why do you all hate me?"
"What?" The question took Hazel by surprise. She turned her head and looked up at Frank, who was staring dejectedly at the ground.
He glanced over at her, his eyebrows knit. There was something in his eyes that Hazel saw in Jason's and Reyna's and the other highly trained soldiers, a kind of cold calculating anger that Hazel knew meant he was trying to figure something out that couldn't be directly observed. She swallowed and looked at the ground.
"I... I don't hate you," Hazel said. Frank snorted, a scoffing laugh that meant he didn't believe it for a minute. "I don't."
"Uh huh," Frank said, disbelieving. "You've never talked to me, never volunteered to be my partner in sparring, heck, if I try and catch your eye you immediately look the other way! If you don't hate me, you sure have a funny way of showing it."
Hazel stared at him. She hadn't actually thought about it like that. Something in Frank's eyes seemed to snap and he looked over at Hazel, swallowing hard.
Hazel pursed her lips, unsure of what to do at that moment. She hesitated, then placed a hand on Frank's shoulder. "It's... hey, it's okay."
Frank closed his eyes for a moment as Hazel came around to face him. He looked over her shoulder. Hazel saw his eyes widen and a split second later, she was lying in the dirt, her knees stinging from where she had landed on them. She looked over to the side, trying to find Frank and gasped. He was lying on his back, straining upwards, grappling with a fully-grown hellhound that had an arrow sticking out of it's side.
"Frank!" Hazel yelled. The demigod looked back at her. The hellhound took it's opening and lunged, catching Frank's shoulder between it's teeth. He cried out. Hazel drew her sword and advanced.
The pain must have shot an extra adrenaline burst through Frank because he threw the hellhound off of him, scrambling to his knees and nocking an arrow. He let it fly just as the hellhound pounced again. It knocked Frank to the ground and Hazel heard the resounding crack as his head hit a rock.
The hellhound, dissatisfied with it's now unmoving target, looked up at Hazel. She held her sword out in front of her and the hellhound lunged for her, hackles raised and snarling.
Hazel was pretty sure they were both going to die, when out of nowhere, someone stepped in front of her, hands out, palms facing forwards. It was Nora. She yelled something in a language Hazel didn't understand, but sounded vaguely familiar. The hellhound stopped short. It growled, but backed away, slowing it's advance. Hazel let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.
Nora turned to her, her face deadly serious, filled with a burning beauty, and for a moment, Hazel could've sworn she was wearing full battle armor... but not of Rome. "He is coming."
"I know!" Hazel cried, letting her sword drop to her side, completely forgetting Nico's warning. "You've told me that every single time I've seen you! Why can't you just explain what you mean?"
Nora sighed and Hazel suddenly saw her as a normal teenager. "I can't, Hazel. My time here is limited. I'm trying to help you out, but I honestly..." She brushed her hair behind her ear. "I honestly can't."
"Then why are you here?" Hazel shouted.
Nora glared at her momentarily. "He is coming." And she vanished into thin air.
Hazel gawked for a moment, realizing too slowly that with Nora gone, the hellhound was preparing to pounce once more. Hazel swung her sword, but realized that she was too slow. The hellhound leaped and Hazel closed her eyes, waiting for the pain of failure and death.
It never came. Instead, Hazel heard the thump of a body hitting the dirt. She opened her eyes. Frank was standing, his bow in his hands. The hellhound was lying in between them, an arrow sticking out of the center of his chest. Frank had blood running down his cheek from the side of his head and his shirt was torn and bloody at the shoulder.
"Are you okay?" he asked Hazel.
"Me?" She ran over to him, taking the bow from his hands and forcing him to sit on a rock. "I'm not the one who just killed a hellhound after being knocked out! I'm perfectly fine. Are you..." She trailed off.
"Stupid question," Frank said, wincing. "Um... how much longer do we have to be out here?"
Hazel looked at the sky. The sun hadn't moved very far since they had started. "Never mind, I'll call for reinforcement." She put two fingers to her mouth and whistled. Hopefully, Terminus would hear that and alert someone to their predicament. In the meantime, she sat down next to Frank. "That was really brave."
"No, it wasn't."
"Yes it was." Hazel looked at the bow in her hands. "How did you learn to shoot like that?"
Frank shrugged. "I don't know, I just can. Always have been able to, since I was little."
"Maybe your dad is Apollo, then," Haze suggested, trying to distract him.
Frank smiled a little. "Yeah."
Hazel smiled back. "Thanks Frank. You saved my life."
He blushed. "No problem."
Leo was slightly freaking out.
The Argo II was preparing to leave in two weeks, and he had to do final flight checks, and make sure all the supplies were on board, and oil Buford, and check Festus's neck join,t and do a test fire on the ballista, and not set anything on fire, and guarantee that the Hypnos kids, who were trying to be helpful, hadn't accidentally stowed away on the ship and fallen asleep there, and load up vegetarian stuff for Piper, and fix Annabeth's magic shield and reboot her laptop for the second times in as many days, and repair the tear an Ares kid had made in the sail with a sword, and make an attempt to contact his dad, and-
"Leo, calm down!"
Leo was stopped in his mad rush by Jason, who was standing in front of him, an eyebrow cocked and trying not to smile.
"Can't." Leo explained briskly. "Too much to do. Bye." He tried to rush off again, but Jason grabbed his elbow.
"Leo, seriously. It'll be okay. You've done everything. I promise. You made me check it three times. In the past four hours."
"Yeah, but I could've missed something..." Leo protested weakly.
"You didn't," Jason said, looking him square in the eyes. "I swear Leo, if you had, I'd let you know. But you didn't, man. I have full confidence, this is going to go fantastically, because you designed it to."
Well, if Superman believed in him that much, that meant a lot, considering Jason didn't even have that much faith in himself.
"Okay," Leo muttered. He let his hands fall to his sides. "Um... what should I do, then?"
"Go get dinner, hit the showers, and go to bed," Jason told him. "Seriously, Leo... how long has it been since you've left this place and actually cleaned up? Never mind, I'm not sure I actually want to know." He made a face that soon cracked into his supermodel grin again.
Leo chuckled. "Fine. You're the boss. Our courageous leader. The fearless Jason who lords over all shipmates and monsters and-"
"Okay, now you're just getting ridiculous, Valdez," Jason said, steering him towards the door. "I'll kick everyone out, make sure they're away from your precious ship."
"Yeah, okay," Leo murmured, the idea of food and his bed sounding really good. He stumbled out the door and towards Cabin Nine, yawning. He opened the door and, hearing no sounds of siblings inside, stepped in, fully intending to simply collapse on his bed. He stopped short when he realized there was someone sitting on it.
Nora was dressed in full Greek armor, her eyes cold and murderous-looking. She was muttering under her breath, "Caused a war, want a war, make a war. Caused a war, want a war, make a war."
"What?" Leo mumbled, his voice thick with exhaustion.
Nora looked up, a dagger suddenly in her hand. It looked suspiciously like Piper's, and Leo felt his muddled mind scrunch up in confusion.
Something snapped in Nora's expression and she softened, her battle armor melting into her usual colorful jeans and t-shirt. "Leo."
"Nora?" Leo asked, surprised. "What was that?"
"Nothing," Nora muttered.
"No... you were... war?" Leo shook his head, finding a hammer in his hand from his toolbelt. "You aren't... you're not right."
Nora growled, her form flickering into the Greek battle dress Leo had seen her in earlier. "I want..." She choked, like something was cutting her off, and her eyes suddenly filled with pain. "Leo... help..."
"Who are you?" Leo asked, hefting the hammer higher. "The real you." A lump buried itself in his stomach. She had been... well, nice. And pretty.
"My name is Hel-" Her voice was cut off again. "Hel-" Instead of finishing the thought, Nora's expression grew horribly cold. "I WANT MY WAR."
Leo's hammer left his hand, but it simply passed right through the girl, as if she were just a spirit or a mirage. She growled and lunged at him, hands out towards his throat. Leo felt himself falling backwards, luckily onto his bed.
Darkness constricted his vision, and the last thing he saw was Nora sweeping out of his cabin, red war cape billowing behind her.
June
Sitting in a boat with Percy, Frank, and a girl dressed for war was actually rather awkward for Hazel.
Frank wasn't sure what Hazel kept glancing at out of the corner of her eyes, and asked her about it on numerous occasions. Hazel didn't tell him. Percy just looked at both of them nervously, eyes skirting towards the empty space between him and Hazel, like he could almost make out something there.
Finally, Frank seemed to loose it. "What are you guys staring at?"
Hazel jumped. "Nothing... why, what-"
"Greek," Percy muttered.
"What?" Hazel and Frank both said at the same time.
"Greek," Percy repeated. "She... she's Greek... I'm... why...?" He cut himself off, wincing and pressing a hand to his head. The little boat pitched a bit, causing Hazel to almost fall off the seat.
"Percy?" Frank asked. "Are you okay? Is that giant back?"
Percy shook his head like he was trying to clear it. "No, not that... something else. It's like... hollow."
"What is?" Hazel asked, scooting over and resting her hand on his arm.
Percy looked up at her, his eyes riddled with pain and confusion and loneliness. "My memories. It's... I don't know." He adverted his gaze to the floor and gripped the rudder again, so hard his knuckles turned white.
Hazel brushed her thumb over the tan skin of his forearm in sympathy. Next to her, Nora grinned toothily.
"He came."
Leo was not having a fun time with Octavian.
Give him a tour, they said. Be on your best behavior, they said. Don't blow anything up, they said. Yeah, well, they weren't the one to be ambushed by a girl-who-had-kissed-you-in-the-desert-but-was-now-completely-insane and two golden demons, one of whom had forced itself down Leo's throat and filled his mind with thoughts of war and bad and Greeks and Romans and Gaea, while Octavian jumped around, screaming and generally not doing anything helpful.
It wasn't Leo's fault. It really wasn't.
He was running out of time to explain that, though.
July
"LEO!" Nico bellowed from below the helm. Leo winced. For a scrawny Italian kid, Nico could scream like no one else.
"What?" Leo called back, watching as Nico came around the corner, dragging Hazel with him.
"Come on, we don't have much time!"
"Until what?" Leo swung himself down from the helm. Festus creaked at the front of the ship.
"Until she arrives," Nico said. Leo glanced at Hazel, who shrugged, but her expression was worried. "I want answers." The son of Hades turned on his heel and marched towards the prow. Leo and Hazel followed.
Nico stopped near Festus and looked Leo and Hazel over. "Alright, stand together." They obeyed. Nico glanced around and shook his head. "The connection isn't strong enough." He pursed his lips and muttered something in Italian. "Hold hands."
"Excuse me?" Leo said. Nico glared at him, so he hesitantly reached out and took Hazel's hand. It was cool and shaking slightly. He gave it a squeeze, partly to reassure himself.
The air grew thicker around them. Nico grinned. "Here we go."
Nora appeared, still in her golden Greek armor and cape, and Hazel gasped. The girl glared at them. "What is it?"
Nico stepped forward. "Helen. I seek answers."
Nora tipped her head to the side and smiled. Her form shimmered and she suddenly was dressed in a flowing white chiton, with gold overlay. Her hair was curled and done up in fancy pins, and she wore golden sandals on her feet. "A son of Hades. How interesting."
"You are looking beautiful, my lady," Nico said, dropping into a bow.
"Enough to die for?" Nora-Helen-asked, squinting slightly.
Nico nodded eagerly, wide eyed. "Oh yes. Definitely."
Helen smiled, and turned her back. "It is a beautiful night."
"Of course, my lady," Nico said. "Now, I want to know; what did Gaea offer you?"
Helen turned, her eyes growing dark. "Gaea? You think that the Earth Mother offered me something? For what?"
"For your grace upon this world," Nico continued, trying to calm the ghost woman. "To live here again. She must have wanted something from you. What was it?"
Apparently, Helen found this funny, because she tipped her head back and laughed. "You doubt me, demigod."
"No."
"Yes, you do." The dazzling smile turned into a cold frown. "You think that, just because I am no hero, I could not make my own way out of the Underworld. I have my tricks, di Angelo, and unlike you, I'm not afraid to use them."
Nico didn't ask how she knew his name, or what she meant. "But you came back for a reason. What was it?"
"I want my war." Helen's form shimmered, and her dress was replaced with ornamented battle armor. "Oh, you don't know how glorious it was, to have two nations fighting over me. All that chaos, that I could do with as I willed. Two sides, so desperate for one mortal woman, that they would kill and die and fight to the end." She began to pace, circling the three of them. Hazel gripped Leo's hand tighter. "I unintentionally created Rome, you know. And now look what I have-two sides, Greek and Roman, fighting each other. And it's all. Because. Of me."
"You don't have to do this," Nico said, shaking his head.
"I know. I want to." Helen grinned, her teeth baring themselves into a shape that was anything but friendly. "And your friends there let me. I dug myself into their lives without them even realizing what I was doing. And now look at it-the gods are dueling with themselves, the demigods are killing each other-even the monsters can't seem to get along... not that that's much of a surprise. And it is all your fault." Helen giggled. "I win."
"No," Hazel said, stepping forwards.
Helen's eyes widened. "What?"
"I said no," Hazel said. "I don't want you here. You're only here because of me, and I don't want you anymore."
"But... I did help you."
Hazel laughed. "As if." She looked across at Leo. "Leo?"
Leo stepped forwards with her. "Hazel may not be that good with a computer, but she's pretty smart. And she's right. I don't want you here either. So go away. Vamoose. See ya."
Helen's form flickered, and for a moment, they could see Nora again. "You can't do that."
Leo laughed. "Can, will, and did, lady. You want chaos? Let's see what happens to you back in the Underworld."
Helen began to shimmer, turning wildly into dark static. "No! I command you, fear me! Give me my war!"
"The only war around here," Hazel said, "Is ours."
Leo shrugged. "Winners take all."
Helen screamed. Her figure rushed at them. Leo and Hazel squeezed their eyes shut, just as the ghost exploded into a flash of darkness, leaving chills up Leo's arms and down Hazel's spine.
"Well," Nico said. "That was impressive."
"How... how'd you know that was Helen?" Leo panted, trying to get over the shock that he had kissed the ghost of Helen of Troy.
Nico shrugged. "I had been listening in on the ghost wire for awhile... trying to find Percy. And I heard about this... 'not-girl' called Nora who'd been going to two demigods, giving them glimpses of the future. Just took some internet research to realize that 'Nora'-derived from both light and the name Helen-was Helen of Troy, giving you some insight. A little further poking around to sort of piece together what she was up to."
"And how to banish her, right?" Hazel asked.
Nico grinned sheepishly. "Um, that part I was hoping to work out on the job. I actually had no clue." Their faces must have dropped, because Nico quickly backpedaled. "I had full faith in you guys, though. Great work."
"Thanks," Leo muttered.
At that moment, Jason came staggering up the stairs, sword drawn. "What's going on up here? Leo? Did you set Coach on fire again?"
Leo rolled his eyes. "No, Superman. Go back to sleep."
Hazel nodded, squeezing Leo's shoulder and smiling. "We were just breaking some connections."
Anyway, hope y'all enjoyed it! Please review! And have a great summer!
(LaLaLand, I am so sorry).