I was halfway through BoO before the 7th even arrived! xD That was hilarious!

But the book though D: Jeebus dat book! DAMN NICO U SCURRY! That part with Bryce made my imagination run wild and I thought, 'holy shizz we need to up the age on this series.'

Loved the ending! I thought it was great for Rick to end it like that, just so he could reuse the characters later if he wanted, instead of setting a future in stone like the end of HP. Plus, it was like saying, 'Here fanfiction authors! Have fun writing your stories!'

And I'm so proud of myself :) If Rick hadn't made Leo tell everyone about Calypso, that ending would have been PAPI's beginning to a tee (except, y'know, one month earlier)! :D *tears up* I think I mentally linked with Rick at some point and that's how that happened! :3

Anyway, here's a Mark chapter. Not much going on here, it seems. Kinda filler, but there is a point to it. You see into Mark's thoughts a bit and how he handles being Jason's son.

Plus, y'know, icky romantic Aphrodite strikes again! xD

Disclaimer: If I was Rick, I'd be throwing ships into Tartarus. Have I done that? No. Kids/Teens are mine, still.


VIII

MARK

Mark Grace sat in his room, reading an old Steve Berry book, The Alexandria Link. He had read it multiple times already. His mother had given it to him for his birthday a few years back, courtesy of Tristan McLean using his famous status to get a Latin version—which was very hard to do. Mark could read both Latin and Greek no problem, but he was still dyslexic in English. He preferred Latin, even though he was definitely a Greek legacy—no Roman stiffness in his blood, no sir.

He tried not to look out the window. Though the ship was docked, Mark didn't want to look outside, since his room was still pretty high up off the ground.

He had shut himself up in his room (which—fun fact—used to be his father's room) ever since the adventure began. He begged Leo not to get him to come on deck for any reason during their flight. When Leo had asked why, Mark had embarrassingly said he was afraid of heights.

Yes.

Mark Grace, the legacy of Jupiter and Aphrodite together.

And he was afraid of heights.

What a shocker.

He didn't know why he was afraid. It just seemed like a rational fear: y'know, you're way up high, falling to your death, then suddenly SPLAT! You become a human pancake.

Mark had confided in his father about it. Jason was understanding, saying that his sister Thalia suffered the same problem, and when the time arose, she could deal with it for a short while—albeit deal with it while acting like she was going to die. Jason had ruffled Mark's scruffy hair and told him that everyone has a fear, and as a demigod/legacy, eventually you had to face it, sometimes in ways you never imagined. He believed Mark could face that fear and conquer it.

Mark wasn't so sure. He could manipulate winds just as well as he could manipulate people with his charmspeak (which he hated to do with a passion). But when it came to flying—oh, Hades, just kill him now. Mark had actually tried to fly before. He rose up three feet off the ground, nearly peed his pants, and crashed back down.

Heights just wasn't his thing.

He read over the part in his book about Cotton Malone pushing his ex-wife out of an airplane. Glad that's not me, he conceded in his mind. I would probably die of a heart attack before the chute even opened…

It was still hilarious to read, though.

A knock at the door made him look up. Esperanza was standing there, giving a lopsided grin. "What up?" she said.

"Not much," Mark answered, closing his book. "Need something? The others in trouble?"

Espie shrugged. "Dunno. The Arch isn't smoking, so I guess that's a good sign. Just came to see if you were doin' okay in here. You haven't come out of this room since we took off."

Mark shrugged as well. "I'm as okay as I'll get on a flying boat, I suppose. I'd rather be afraid of heights than get seasick, though."

"Don't make fun of Hazel," Espie warned playfully.

Mark grinned. "I wasn't." Then, he looked around the cabin, his smile fading into a content thin line.

Espie seemed to understand. "Hard to believe this thing was in tatters once upon a time, huh?"

"Yeah," Mark said. "I can't believe how much work Leo and Tulio put into this thing. You almost can't tell Zeus slapped the tar out of it and made it crash like a comet, huh?"

Espie laughed. "Yeah. Whoever said this thing was a 'hunk of junk' should've been shot through. It's just as good as it used to be!"

"It's better than it used to be—kudos to Tulio on that. I just wish I had seen it when it was first introduced to the world."

"Bet'cha my Papi had the biggest grin on his face."

"He probably would've looked like a Latino Cheshire Cat!"

They laughed. Espie gave a tiny snort, which Mark thought was kinda cute.

Mark paused again. "It's so weird that we're on the same ship our parents were on when they went to Greece…"

"Yeah." Espie shifted on her feet. "I'm staying in my dad's old room and it's just so strange; To think they defeated Gaea in this bad boy."

"They didn't," Mark corrected. "They defeated the Giants in this. Leo defeated Gaea on Festus."

"Your parents helped, too."

Mark drew circles on his sheets with his fingers. "I guess they did," he conceded.

Suddenly Esperanza was on the bed, sitting next to him. "What's with the face?"

Mark sighed. "I guess…I just feel pressured…"

"How?"

"Just about this quest. I'm feeling immense pressure because I'm expected to rescue my parents in the most glorious fashion possible, because gods forbid I do anything imperfectly!"

Espie scrunched up her nose. That was cute, too. "Why would people want you to do things so perfectly?"

"Well," he began. "My dad is a son of Jupiter. He was elected pontifex maximus by the Roman Senate and roamed between the camps to make sure every god or goddess got a shrine. My mom's possibly the greatest and prettiest child of Aphrodite to ever live. She permanently activated Festus with her charmspeak and managed to put Gaea to sleep so Leo could incinerate her. My parents were a big part of the Seven…then there's me."

Espie cocked an eyebrow. "What's wrong with you?"

"What isn't? I'm a legacy of Jupiter that can't fly because I'm afraid of heights; I'm a legacy of Aphrodite who hates his charmspeak and chooses to dress in tattered clothes because I hate all that attention; I'm always being compared to the greatness that is my parents and can't even come close to their awesomeness…" He put his face in his palms, his brown bangs tickling the back of his hands.

Espie snorted. "Seriously? Let me list off the things about you in my perspective. You're a legacy of Jupiter that can't fly but can still manipulate winds and conjure up mini-storms; you're a legacy of Aphrodite who can charmspeak anyone (including your parents) that dresses grungy and still manages to be the hottest guy in Camp Half-Blood; you're the child of Jason Grace and Piper McLean. You're Mark Grace. Why are you trying to be your father and mother combined when you're great at being you?"

Mark looked up at her. "You mean that?"

"Totally," she said. "And we're all pretty much in the same boat. Take me and Tulio: Because we're demititans, everyone always expects us to excel at everything. Then, because we're Leo's reflections, they start comparing us to him! Everyone looks at Papi and says, 'Wow, Leo's so great! He defeated Gaea on his own! He came back to life! He rescued Calypso from Ogygia! His kids must be super awesome!'"

She gave him a withered look. "You see what I'm gettin' at? I handle the pressure from others well because I choose to ignore it. I prove to the world that I'm not the 'firstborn daughter of Leo Valdez'. I prove to them that I'm Esperanza Grace Valdez! Tulio can't handle that pressure and hides himself away so he won't be judged. But I know for a fact that even though he's my twin, he's got way more power than I'll ever get. But, he got Papi's fatal flaw of inferiority. He thinks he's the worst demi whatever in the world. He's not, and neither are you."

Mark looked at Espie in awe. The fire user had always struck him as rash and super hyper. A disaster waiting to happen, just like her father. He never really knew she had such a soft side. Did that come from comforting her brother all the time?

He tried to beat down the blush rising in his cheeks when the sunlight from the window rested on her curls, making her look absolutely stunning! He never actually noticed how beautiful she was, either. She dressed like Mark: baggy clothes, loose ponytail, old worn sneakers. She tried very hard to not look like a girl.

And that made her so much more…beautiful!

Stop that, Grandmother! he scolded Aphrodite in his head.

Suddenly, the intercom buzzed and Tulio's voice rang out: "They're back guys. Annabeth's with them. Everyone on deck immediately. Especially Mark."

Mark exchanged a glance with Espie—were her eyes always so deep chocolate? He shook the traitorous Aphrodite thoughts away and ran out of the room with the legacy of Hephaestus.


A/N: Oh? What have we here? Aphrodite seems to have something in store for our little Esperanza, doesn't she? :3

And you thought I would make it easy and just say, "Here, have some Saspie!" (Sammy x Espie ship name copyright: me)

Do I ever make things that easy?

Btw, like how I made it so the Argo II still kinda exists in this world? Here's my explanation: When Leo returned after Papi (whichever version, doesn't matter) he decided to fix the Argo in his spare time. When Tulio grew up and went to camp, he took on the job. See? Easy to correlate to canon, isn't it?