Olympian Heroes

AN: Have a nice day!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Percy Jackson series.

Chapter 3 | Mülleimer

Jayce

The door opened smoothly without restraint, curving inward to reveal the cluster of people inside. Instead of loud explosions of voices and laughter that always made his ears ring, he was hit with a deafening silence. Leaders of cabins sat around the wooden table, faces grim and lips pressed together. Suddenly, his breathing seemed too loud. Every heave of his chest seemed to draw unwanted attention to himself, so he quickly slid over to the first seat he saw, which was a ripped and dusty old office chair. He sat down quickly, and in return the chair creaked loudly, making him wince. A few glanced his way, but their eyes didn't linger on him long. He carefully leaned back, stretching out the groan the chair gave. He sighed. This didn't seem like a meeting amongst high school students, it seemed like a meeting amongst military men. He hated the stiffness of it all. It was like they were all playing a game of whoever-talks-last-wins. It was like they were trying to see who was the toughest, who could deal with the tension and pressure of the room the longest.

Jayce didn't dare shift in his seat, in fear of it creaking loudly again. Why did he have to choose a damn office chair out of all the available stools and plastic seats lying around? He couldn't move, he could only let his eyes flicker around the room in anticipation. He spotted Clarisse, leader of the Ares cabin, plunging her knife into the wooden table before extracting it and repeating it several times over. She had her eyes pinned on the door of the room though, seeming to glare bullets at the next late person to arrive. Thank the gods he didn't look her way went he sneaked in. He saw Drew, her dark hair tucked neatly behind her shoulders as she inspected her nails, as if trying to get everyone to notice that she's painted them a new colour. It's not like anyone brings it up anyways, she paints them a new colour possibly every hour. It was easy to believe that she was head of the Aphrodite cabin.

Next, his eyes latched onto the brothers of the Hermes cabin. They were both strangely quiet, not attempting to wrestle each other into the depths of the Underworld, or biting each other's ears out until one of them started a physical fight. They only sat side by side silently, not once ushering a word to each other. It was strangely eerie, Jayce could hear the quiet shuffling of feet and hands from others in the circle, but no one was talking. The urge to crack and pop his knuckles was almost overwhelming, and he had to firmly place his hands on his knees to stop himself. Why did they have to wait to start the meeting, couldn't they see the internal struggle that he's going through? Technically, he shouldn't even be here. He should've been in his cabin, humming along to songs in his head or playing with his fingers, not here, forced to remain silent and refrained, unable to talk because of this stupid invisible rule that everyone put up, but no. His brother, who he's never seen the face of, has disappeared, and in return, every meeting that Nico Di Angelo has to attend falls on his shoulders. His was pretty sure that Nico wasn't even aware of his existence, since they were never around each other. Whenever his brother was here, which was mostly during the holidays. Efrem and Brandon, the sons of Thanatos, liked to drag him along on quests, so he's never met him properly. Jayce was a new addition to camp-Half Blood, and he keeps hearing about this brother of his that he only knows the name of. Gods, he really didn't like thinking about his brother, and under this stressful atmosphere, it only made him more frustrated. He rubbed his hands together annoyingly, just to have something to do. It was so tempting to move, jump onto that table, and slap common sense into everyone, but that would get him into trouble, and Chiron didn't seem to be in a particularly good mood.

He was so buried in his own thoughts and resentment that he didn't notice that the door opened until it swung closed with a rattle. His head snapped up so quickly that the muscles in his neck burned, he quickly smothered down his curse and inhaled sharply. He went to rub at his nape but someone beat him to it. Cool, slender fingers massaged his neck for a few seconds before they threaded through his hair, ruffling up his already tangled locks. He shoved the hand away before the person could do anything else. Turning around, Jayce met the amused stare of someone he hoped to see, Brandon. Jayce felt the smile slipping on his face before he could control it. "Oh, hey Brandon, you're late." He couldn't help but keep his voice low, since the room was about as quiet as a graveyard.

The shorter boy scoffed and slumped down on a chair next to him, his fall silent. "Yeah right, as if you have the right to say anything. I saw you sneaking in you prick." Brandon declared loudly, leaning back in his chair and folding his hands, a superior stance. He propped his ankle on his knee, a sign that he was already bored. All his little movements seemed to resound around the room, like a sharp sword cutting through the silence, which weighed a ton of bricks. Jayce was rather happy for this change of mood, but all this noise meant that everyone's eyes were on them, and he swore that if Clarisse kept glaring, she could actually pin holes straight through his body. Meanwhile, Brandon seemed unaware of everyone looking. Either that or he didn't care, the latter seemed more likely. Jayce wanted to sink into the cushions of the office chair and never resurface again, but sadly, a feat like that wasn't possible. He licked the piercing on his lip nervously.

Instead of feeding his mind poisonous thoughts, he decided to just roll with the current setting. He gently nudged Brandon with his elbow to catch his attention. The boy rolled his head backwards, blinking lazily, showing that he had his attention.

"Where's Efrem?" he asked, not spotting the small frame of the boy who tended to hang around Brandon like a koala. He also couldn't hear the clicking of fingers, a sound he didn't miss. Sure, he knew that Efrem needed to click his fingers in order to actually not trip over bundles of dirty clothes or chairs and tables, but it got somewhat annoying when he was studying for his tests at two a.m. in the morning and those annoying clicks just surfaced while he was learning math equations.

Brandon huffed and shook the hair out of his eyes, before he began to play with the chair. "Baby bro said that he didn't want to come, and that my voice gets annoying over time." His lips puckered into a pout as he said this. "Is my voice really that annoying?"

Jayce smirked as he heard the irritation in Brandon's statements, like a child whining for a toy he didn't get. "Of course not, you have a sexy baritone." He said, adding a wink for the extra effect.

The other boy scrunched up his face, before scoffing again and facing the front, signalling that conversation was done. Jayce chuckled quietly at his reaction. The meeting still hasn't started yet. Who else were they waiting for? Annabeth wasn't here, and that was reasonable considering the circumstances. Jayce silently counted the number of people present. It was usually only him and Brandon who arrived late; everyone else was usually very punctual.

He felt a rough shove on his elbow. Brandon, for once, respecting the silence of the meeting or only just noticing it, leaned in and whispered in his ear. "Dude, where's Cliff?"

At the mention of his name, on the opposite end of the table, Clarisse slammed her knife into the table, making everyone flinch. She growled menacingly, like a dog. "He's late, beyond late. Do you two know what he's doing at this hour?"

Jayce shook his head vigorously, while Brandon shrugged. She hissed, staring them down. Jayce wiggled uncomfortably under her gaze. Meanwhile, the other boy scoffed. "It's not like Chiron or Grover's here yet anyways, why are you so concerned about him being late?"

Clarisse removed her dagger with a hard tug, the blade scratching against the wooden table loudly. "I would actually want him to be present when Chiron makes his appearance." She grunted, before slipping the knife away.

Brandon leaned forward, challenging her with a glare of his own. "Him being late doesn't actually mean that he's not gonna show up."

Clarisse beared her teeth, and sparks flew. No one was brave enough to step in and stop them from their glare-down. Jayce tapped Brandon's shoulder cautiously, warning him not to take any unnecessary steps further unless if he wanted to loose his fingers.

Just as things were about to get physical, the door smacked open, tugging on its hinges. It slapped against the wall loudly, causing Brandon to fall out of his chair in surprise. "Darling, I'm home~!"

The devil himself twirled in the air and flashed a grin, rows of perfect teeth showing. He bowed, before tapping the door lightly, making it slam shut just as loudly as it had been thrown open. Dust flew in the air and Cliff coughed, waving an arm around. Jayce understood why the door was never creaky despite it being neglected for such long periods of time; this guy was constantly abusing it. He felt a sympathetic connection between himself and the door.

Clarisse was the first one to snap out of the shock, so of course she started nagging. "And just what the Hades do you think you're doing, coming so late and-" Her sentence was cut short as she stared at the thing in his arms, her eyes bludged comically and her jaw hit the dirt covered floor. Jayce was pretty sure he heard someone choking.

Cliff ignored her and grabbed an office chair, similar to Jayce's and rolled it between himself and Brandon, who was struggling to pull himself up. He slumped in it, and Jayce got to see in full detail what he had in his arms. In absolute honesty, he has never wanted to scream before, but he wanted to scream now. There was a loud clatter as Brandon fell again. "What the fuck is that?!" the Japanese boy yelled, pointing at the thing accusingly. He was on the floor again and didn't seem to have the strength to stand back up.

Cliff grinned, completely oblivious to the stares he was getting. "Why, a baby of course."

Jayce choked on his own spit and turned around to avoid ruining his eyesight. Unfortunately, looking away did nothing, as the image was already burned into his head. He was pretty sure that one eyeball was missing from that 'baby'. Its clothes were covered in mud, and what seemed to be like bird poo. The head was dented to the side, and its face wasn't even recognisable, since it looked burned off. Maybe it was, this was Cliff, after all.

"That abnormally sharped worm isn't a 'baby'." Brandon stressed, climbing onto his seat with evident struggle. He stupidly stole one glance at it and gagged. Jayce, on the other hand, was making sure to carefully avoid looking at the thing directly. He was scared that, even with its single eye, it could punch holes into his stomach and leave him vomiting for a week.

Cliff looked mildly offended, and he pouted, his cheeks puffing. "How could you call our beautiful child that, how rude." He covered the ears of the 'baby', as if it was living and could hear them all. The new father turned to look at Jayce, eyes pleading. "It's not ugly, right Jayce?"

He found his eyes straying to the baby as Cliff said this, and he quickly made himself to look away before he was forced to bleach his brain. "Of course not, he's…she's…it's," he tried to find the right word in his range of vocabulary, "nice."

Cliff laughed triumphantly, and shoved the baby into Brandon's face, who screamed and leaped from his chair, trying to get as far away from the thing as possible. Jayce could feel the shorter boy's pain even from where he was sitting.

"See, Denny, Red said that the baby's nice." The brown-haired boy, either oblivious to Brandon's horror or just teasing him, edged on his seat to fully display his child. Clarisse did not scare Brandon, yet a mutilated, fake baby doll did.

"It's not real! Get that thing away from me!" the boy screamed, thrashing as Cliff brought it closer.

"It is very much real." The other boy argued. He pressed a button on its stomach and it released a series gross grunting sounds, while its arms flapped around uselessly, grinding on something possibly wedged inside its shoulder blades.

Brandon paled, and his hand flew up to his mouth. "I think I'm gonna puke."

Before the boy sprawled on the ground could projectile vomit everywhere, Jayce took hold of Cliff's arm gently, tugging him away from his victim. "What's his...? Is it a she? What's its name?" He asked softly, as Brandon took the opportunity to slip into his chair, where he will remain seated and hopefully not fall off for the fourth time.

Cliff took a moment to think, scratching his chin. "Hmm, actually, I don't know. Edd said that we have to choose something of a different language, like Japanese or German. He said it sounds cooler that way, but I don't know anyone who speaks those languages."

It finally hit Jayce why he was lugging that toy around. "Oh, is this like, that parenting project at school? You have it with Edd?" Ok, it made sense why the baby was in such bad shape then.

"Yeah, we're taking turns in handling the kid." Cliff nodded.

Brandon interjected, cutting off what the taller boy was going to say next. "I know Japanese, why didn't you ask me?" He crossed his arms.

Cliff rolled his eyes, as if the reason why was obvious. "It's 'cause you'd probably choose something stupid, like maggot, and I'd be calling our child maggot until the end of the assignment."

The Japanese boy frowned, his eyebrows crossing. "No, if its for picking names there's no way in Hades that I'm gonna choose something like that. Why not name him something cool, like Ryuu, which means 'dragon', or-"

"I think I'll call him something German then." Cliff said, cutting him off and ignoring him. He cradled the baby in his arms. "Yeah, something German fits, Jayce, do you happen to know any German?" He frowned when said boy shook his head. "Well, after this meeting, let's find someone who does."

There was a casual 'oops' and the baby fell from Cliff's hands, landing with a loud smack on the ground. "Sorry honey." The boy said, without any emotion, and he picked the child up by its head.

After it was deemed safe that Cliff had fully shut his mouth, Brandon settled comfortably in his chair, exhaling tiredly. Jayce shook his head, and pressed his lips together, waiting for Chiron and Grover to arrive.

Clarisse shot him a glare he wished he'd missed, and folded her arms on the table. Drew snorted, disgusted at their rowdy behaviour and twirled her hair.

Even though he couldn't see it, Jayce could feel the baby boring holes into his head with its single eye. He shivered as he remembered the clatter it made when Cliff pressed a button on its stomach.

Thankfully, to distract his thoughts, he heard hooves clicking on the ground, followed by small, light shuffling and faint sniffling. On cue, the door opened gently, and in stepped Annabeth, her hair pulled up roughly into a ponytail, and her eyes puffy. She has been in that distraught condition all morning. Almost upon instinct, she went to sit next to Clarisse, who patted her shoulder.

If possible, the room just went more silent, and as Chiron and Grover walked in, the silence dropped like anchors, weighed by the heavy atmosphere. Chiron was in his wheelchair, and it hummed along the ground until it reached an empty spot at the head of the table. Grover went to stand beside him.

All amusement and fear from the earlier scene vanished as Jayce looked at everyone's grim faces.

"I know that you're all aware of what's happened this morning." Chiron began, as Grover shuffled uncomfortably. "Jackson is missing."

At his words, Annabeth whimpered, and Clarisse put a hand on her head comfortingly.

"I know that you're all despaired by this, but I don't want anyone to make any unnecessary moves trying to find Percy without my permission." Chiron looked around at everyone one, to make sure that they got the message clearly. "As head of your cabins, I want you to pass this message down to your siblings. I don't want anyone hurting themselves." He made eye contact with Jayce, and he swallowed, trying to move away from his gaze. "Worry not, we will find Percy Jackson soon."

Jayce found himself nodding involuntarily. Satisfied, Chiron placed his hands on the table, showing his authority. "Any questions?"

No hands were raised. Chiron nodded. "Alright, well, Capture The Flag is still on tomorrow, so get ready. And also-"

Before the centaur could continue, there was a loud fart that seemed to also be a mix of obnoxious vomiting sounds coming from Jayce's left. Bewildered, he whipped around and saw Cliff cradling the baby, a sheepish look on his face. "Sorry, you know, babies, they fart, it's natural." He said, before flashing his smile. Brandon groaned and smacked his head on the table. Jayce rolled away gently on his office chair, as if creating a distance from the taller boy would make it seem like they didn't know each other.

"WHY DID YOU EVEN BRING THAT THING HERE?" Brandon yelled, attempting to smack the thing away from his hands.

"Well, I'm taking care of it so it makes sense to." Cliff quipped, as he dodged around Brandon's flailing hands.

"YOU COULD HAVE JUST LEFT IT AT HOME!"

"What kind of parent would leave their newborn baby at home?"

"WHAT KIND OF PARENT DROPS THEIR BABY THEN PICKS IT UP BY ITS HEAD?!"

There was a loud thump, and both of them recoiled. Clarisse had slammed her hands on the table for what seemed like the hundredth time. "Boys." Chiron stressed, rubbing at his head. "Have this argument after the meeting." They both silenced, snapping their lips shut.

"As I was saying," Chiron began again, clearing his throat, "stay safe. If there is any news it will be discussed immediately, you are all dismissed."

Brandon was first to stand, and he practically ran out of the room. Everyone else got out in a neat and orderly fashion, Jayce being second to leave, then Cliff. Before leaving though, Jayce heard Drew mutter in a dark tone. "Geez, those boys are so disrespectful, they don't care about Percy at all."

It didn't matter what others thought of him. He was just glad to be out of the heavy and suffocating atmosphere. Once they were in the open air, Cliff leaped in joy and his baby nearly spilled out of his arms. "Whoop! Freedom!"

"Freedom at the expense of being scolded later." Brandon grumbled, before shoving his hands into his pockets. "What now?"

Jayce shrugged, and considered heading towards his cabin, where he was almost sure that his brother wouldn't be present at. But of course, Cliff was here, and his train of thought would be demolished within seconds.

"I say we meet the new kid, let's welcome him, and after that we can look for my husband." The taller boy said, right on cue.

Brandon scrunched his nose in disgust. "Why Edd, out of all people. I have no issues with you being gay or whatever-"

"Bisexual." Cliff corrected, waving a finger in the air.

"Yeah, that, but Edd is a…special case." Brandon trailed off, frowning at whatever memory his mind was lapsing through.

"What are you talking about? He's an amazing kid." Cliff said, before skipping down the hill, baby hanging dangerously on the nook of his elbow.

"I feel sorry for that kid now…" Brandon began, before he shuffled after him. When Jayce didn't follow, he whipped around.

"There is no way in Hades that you're leaving me with that moron." Brandon deadpanned.

If killing were legal, Cliff would be dead by now.

He'd dragged them around the campus possibly four times, in hopes of finding his 'husband' and the new kid. Brandon looked just about ready to pounce on the taller boy and rip his throat out. They walked and ran for possibly three hours, Cliff making cooing noises and soft whispers, saying ridiculous things like 'honey, dear~' or 'hubby, where are you~?'

If Cliff spoke another word, Jayce was going to smack him right across his face. Hearing one of your best friends scream for their husband by using pet names for hours on end without stop is enough to make you want to rip all your hair out, no matter how tolerable your personality is. Cliff had his ears tucked behind headphones right now, and Jayce couldn't have been more jealous. He wanted music, something to sooth his ears and muscles after such a tiring day.

"YOU CRAZY FUCK, IT'S NIGHT NOW! STOP CALLING FOR EDD!" Brandon screamed, having already snapped. He let out a yawp and lunged at Cliff, tackling him to the ground, as if that would knock common sense into him. Cliff, in vain, tried to keep his baby out of harm.

Jayce sighed, not bothered to stop his friends from giving each other black eyes, but he relented, seeing that they could be at it for hours.

It didn't take much effort for Jayce to pull Brandon off Cliff, since the shorter boy no longer hand any energy left. "Calm down, Brandon. Cliff, we should be heading for the dining pavilion now, I think you'll find Edd there." Jayce reasoned, while holding up the deflated boy by his upper arms, as he gave up trying to even stand.

Cliff glanced at the sky, as if unconvinced that it was really night, and looked down with a sigh. "Yeah, I guess we should. It was fun looking for him though, right?"

Jayce shot him a poisonous glare. The other boy got the message quickly. "Alright, off we go!" He pointed to the central area of the campus, and marched towards it, arms by his side.

With an agitated groan, Brandon heaved himself up, stumbling a few steps before he dragged on Jayce's shoulder, supporting himself as they shuffled after Cliff, who still had more than enough energy.

After a while, it got awkward trying to support Brandon, since he was shorter than him, so he resorted to carrying the boy on his back. "Why are we even friends with him?" the boy complained as he flailed his legs in annoyance. Jayce shifted uneasily and almost dropped Brandon. "Because we just are." He replied back, attempting to steady the both of them.

"I can hear you idiots, you know that?" Cliff said, while wrapping his arms around the baby's legs, which was now sitting on his head. "Oh sorry, Papa said a bad word, don't listen to him, or to Uncle Denny, ok? Sorry."

"I don't want to be that little shit's uncle." Brandon grunted.

"Stop cursing in front of the baby!"

"It's NOT REAL!"

Jayce shuddered as Brandon screamed too loudly. The only person that made the shorter loose his chill this easily was Cliff, and he knew that Brandon hated him for that reason. Yet, it was always Cliff, whom Brandon went to for advice. He was the person most trusted to him, after Jayce. It was a very stable love-hate relationship.

As the light of the dining pavilion drew close, and the noise was evident from afar, Jayce let go of Brandon, and Cliff began running. "Eddy!" He shouted, to catch the attention of a passer-by. Brandon grumbled and brushed off his pants. "Fuck, the both of them are together. Kill me now."

If he could, Jayce could slip away now. He wouldn't have to deal with two hyperactive idiots who could only scream, jump, and make his small headache turn into a migraine. Unfortunately, he couldn't, since he'd be leaving Brandon alone to deal with them. Brandon looked too exhausted to do anything, much less run.

As if heading towards their deaths, the both of them slowly stalked closer to the pavilion, where many people were already waiting, and where Edd and Cliff were standing.

"My son!" Edd cried, as he swooped the child out of Cliff's held out arms. "What a beautiful baby you are! I've missed you!" Jayce didn't know how the both of them found that baby to be 'beautiful' but he kept his comment to himself. Brandon wasn't in the right mind to start a fight, so he just walked over to his table and slumped on the edge, cracking his neck before his hands slumped to his sides uselessly. Jayce went to stand next to the parents.

They were cooing over the baby, stroking its head and fiddling with its clothes, like actual parents. That knowledge was scary. Jayce interrupted them in the middle of their tender care, before their cooing could permanently damage his eardrums. "How's parenting so far, Edd?" He asked to be polite, even though he had absolutely no interest in the demon child currently in his hands.

Said child of Hermes stopped, and hooked his arm around Jayce's neck. "It works wonders, Jayce." He held out his hand to the sky. "I think we're doing good. We've only scratched him a little, but he's a tough kid, got those genes from the both of us!"

Having your child covered in animal shit and punctured with a dent to its head didn't sustain as 'scratches' but Jayce nodded anyways. "How did he get those scratches?"

Cliff answered this time. "Well, this one time, where I was cooking, I accidently left baby near the stove, so as I was grabbing a pan, baby burnt his poor head off."

Brandon perked up from where he was sitting. "WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU PUT A BABY NEXT TO A STOVE ANYWAYS?"

Edd put a finger to his own mouth, shushing, silencing him from complaining further. "At least Cliff leant to not do that again, he's wiser now, right?"

Said boy nodded vigorously, brown hair flying. "Yes! Edd, you're the best husband ever!"

Edd's hand flew to his cheek, as he waved the compliment away, flustered. "Oh, no, you are!"

Jayce honestly couldn't tell if they were both pretending anymore. Brandon groaned and smacked his head on the table, as he lay on it without any once of soul left in his body.

Jayce went to sit at his table, which was right across from Brandon's. He watched as the shorter boy's mop of dark hair felt to the table, looking just as tired as how he probably felt. Suddenly, a body knocked into him, nearly pushing him off his seat. A hand felt at his face, gently rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Brandon?"

The tone was so innocent, so heart lifting, but the bearer of it was not as nice. "Not Brandon, it's Jayce. Please stop touching my hair." He said, as the boy had started running his fingers through his hair.

Gently, he grabbed Efrem's wrists and pulled them off his head, directing his arms to the direction where his brother's table was, while Brandon still had his head buried in his arms, energy drained. Almost like a newborn trying to walk, Efrem made his way over to the table, not stopping to apologise if he's stepped on anyone's feet. Jayce thinks he does that on purpose, since he's seen Efrem manoeuvre around with more elegance than gymnasts.

He propped his head on his hand as he watched the smaller boy slap the back of Brandon's head and pull on his ears tightly, not letting go until his brother finally gave a cry of pain and told him to stop.

After (painfully) confirming that, yes, it was Brandon, Efrem sat across him, showing Jayce only his back and specks of Brandon's hair.

Bored out of his mind, Jayce stifled a yawn and looked around the pavilion. Annabeth's siblings were hustled around her as they tried to comfort her. Meanwhile, Edd and Cliff were making their presence known by sharing a teary goodbye as they parted ways, the former going to the Hermes table and the latter making his lonely path down towards the Bia table. Immediately as Edd sat down though, his siblings swarmed him and they all started chatting nonchalantly, as if the exchange never happened. Jayce rolled his eyes and watched as the last of the people make their way towards their tables. As soon as everyone was settled, food arrived, and Jayce carried his steak over to the offerings, cutting it clean in half easily and tossing it to the fire. He wished his father well in the Underworld, and made his way back to the table, dodging past people as they too walked towards the fire.

After eating, Jayce met up with Brandon and Efrem, listening silently as they argued about potatoes. Suddenly, the power couple join in, Edd and Cliff being as loud as they could get without completely destroying their vocal cords. He could feel a headache sprouting like an unwanted weed on his head as the four suddenly got into a heated argument, as they always did when around each other. These four were the reason why Jayce matured way too quickly.

His father must've been looking after him today because thank the gods Maddy and Royce made their way over, dragging along a boy he's never seen before. As soon as the both of them were close enough, the other four adolescents silenced quickly, since they last time they messed around those two, they ended up with a very, very angry child of Apollo.

"Maddy! Bae! What's up?" Edd said, smiling brightly. Surprisingly, Cliff did not comment on that.

Maddy rolled her eyes and shook the kid whom she was holding tightly by the elbow. Jayce feared that he was going to loose circulation in his arm. Edd seemed to recognise him and smiled even wider, if possible. "Oh hey Ollie, is Maddy giving you a tour?"

The boy swallowed and nodded subtly, but everything in his eyes screamed otherwise. "She's dragging me around and forcing me to-"

His sentence ended abruptly as Maddy bent his arm back to an impossible position. Royce panicked and forced her to calm down, eventually prying the other boy's arm out of her grip and patting her shoulder gently. Everyone was unfazed by everything going on. It was a normal occurrence after all. Jayce was ashamed to know that he was used to these kinds of things happening.

"Oh yeah, Oliver, you know German, right?" Before anyone could warn him, Edd grabbed the child from Cliff, which remained hidden in his arms until now and held it in front of him, as if he was proudly showing of a trophy. Brandon screamed and fell to the ground, burying his head in his arms. Efrem only smirked and crouched down next to him, unable to see the doll, as he patted his brother's back.

Maddy choked on seemingly nothing, stepping backwards rapidly as if someone was after her with a knife. Royce tried to remain polite, but the thing was far too hideous for someone with pure eyes like him, so he turned around and excused himself with a cough. Unfortunately, the boy that Jayce didn't know was forced to keep staring, a slight grimace on his face, since Edd had directed a question at him.

"Yes, why…?" the boy questioned, somehow keeping headstrong. Jayce had to keep him credit for that. If he were in that position, he'd grab a baseball bat and smack the hideous thing to the other side of the world.

Edd grinned, seeing nothing wrong with everyone's reactions. It was almost like they were praising the baby rather than saving their eyes from a future encounter with bleach. Jayce wondered if Edd was still sane after all this time spent in camp. "I was wondering if you could give a name for," he turned around to Cliff and flashed him a toothy grin, "our child in German."

Somewhere, far, far away, Maddy screamed. "THAT THING IS A BABY?!" Royce at this point was sitting on the ground and was probably being philosophical or going over his life choices as he stared blankly at the grass.

Hastily, Oliver gave an answer, the word rolling off his tongue fluidly. "Mülleimer?" He offered, before he finally looked at his soiled shoes. The boy deserved a pat on the back, so Jayce walked over and gave him one. He managed to look away as soon as he knew what was happening, so his eyes weren't in need of medical care unlike the other unfortunate victims.

"Mülleimer! Wow that sounds great! Doesn't it, Cliff?" Edd asked, and held the baby between them both. Cliff nodded albeit too eagerly, making it seem as if his head was going to snap off any second.

"YOU MONSTERS!" Maddy shouted from a distance. She's gone so far from them that she was no longer in sight, but she was still loud enough for them to all hear.

Edd ignored her and pressed its stomach, making it do the gurgling sound again. Unfortunately, Jayce couldn't defend himself and Efrem didn't see it coming, so while he staggered and put his hands to his ears, the other boy gave a loud yell and joined his brother in a miserable heap on the floor.

Edd and Cliff could've very well killed six people, but they didn't seem to notice, and they continued fawning over the baby while everyone else around them writhed in agony.

Suddenly, Edd stopped cooing with an annoying tone and waved somewhere behind Cliff. "Hey Kai! Gale!" He waved them over wildly. Jayce saw Gale groan in frustration, and Kai roll her eyes, but nevertheless they both made their way over. The air instantly turned colder as they neared, but everyone's learned to deal with it. As soon as they were in clean view, Gale smirked at everyone on the ground, unaware of the reason why they looked like they were dying. Kai only raised a brow as she made eye contact with Jayce. He tried to open his mouth and talk, but he couldn't. He could only watch in silent horror as Edd asked Kai if she wanted to see something cute. Kai was still looking over at Jayce, and he managed to shake his head vigorously, eyes wide.

However, he wasn't fast enough to warn them, and Edd pulled out the monstrosity that killed six people. "Meet Mülleimer!" He said, shoving the thing in her face. Cliff clapped with joy and smiled widely. Silence settled over them like a blanket, and this very day, Edd has managed to destroy eight people's lives. The ugliness of the thing was even enough to freeze even Gale (ha, puns, Jayce was appalled at the fact that he could still think straight), and Kai started crying, sobbing, in fact.

Edd got the wrong idea out of her reaction. "I know right? He's so precious."

"MY EYE!"

"I know, you must be feeling blessed."

"HELP ME!"

"Yes, the sheer beauty of Mülleimer is enough to render even Gale silent. I'm so proud of our accomplishments, Cliff."

AN: I think I missed a few things…I haven't read the series in a while so if I'm missing out some sort of schedule please tell me :) And, as you can or can't tell, I'm not from the USA so if I get something wrong, like spell Mum instead of Mom I'm sorry ;;;

Oh, I remember the campfire songs, but that's going to be in the next chapter. Also, if you want to know what the name of the baby means, slap it on Google Translate or ask me personally.