Age of the Heroes
A/N: Ah, the response was bad. Really, really bad. Some responses and a general round of thank-yous and blue cookies all around to those who read and didn't bother to review!
ButterLover2345: Thank you for being, once again, the first person to review! I am honored to have your support once again!
Disclaimer: I think I did one last chapter. Ah well, can't hurt to do it again. Y'all already know I'm not a dude, but a dudette and Mr. Riordan back in the US of A is a guy, so you do the math.
Percy exclaimed, "What the Hades?"
There stood ten figures, one of them glancing around sheepishly. "Who are you?" Percy demanded. One of them stepped out of the shadows surrounding them, her hair falling in waves and her purple shirt standing out against the beige walls. "Forgot us Seaweed Brain?"
"Reyna? What are you doing here?" Another stepped out from the shadows. "Not just her Perce, all of us."
"Leo? Gods, this is too much." Everybody else surrounded him: Jason, Piper, Frank, Hazel, Thalia, and Nico and… "Is that me?" Jayda expostulated. The figure tossed her hair happily, "Yes, Jayda, I'm you and you're me." The two Jaydas stared at each other and as one, threw their arms around each other as the two Percys shook hands.
"Why are you guys here?" Jayda asked.
Frank looked around confused. "Shouldn't you be a little more surprised? I mean we did step out from the shadows and interrupt your make-out session." The future Jayda and Percy flushed and Hazel slapped Frank's arm. "Frank!" she hissed. "What? It's true." He took on a defensive face. Reyna rolled her eyes and said, "We need your help. A ne-"
"I'm hungry," Leo interrupted. All eyes turned to stare at him disbelievingly. "I am! Time travel tends to do that to people you know!"
"Only you, Leo, only you." The Jaydas shook their head and glared at the Percys who had opened their mouths to comment on how creepy that was. "Of course, there is only one Hot-Stuff Valdez!"
(Line break-)
Percy and Jayda flipped blueberry and chocolate-chip pancakes in the kitchenette in Jayda's cabin as the group slowly freshened up and sat down for their meal. Hazel and Reyna picked up the platters and put them in the middle of the mahogany table with bottles of maple syrup, jam and chocolate sauce. Leo happily piled a huge stack on his plate and drowned them in syrup, earning looks of disgust from everybody else. Then, the immortal demigods dug in and ate till they felt comfortable. The present Percy spoke up, "So, why are you guys here?"
"As I was saying before someone interrupted me," she sent a glare to Leo, who shrugged and kissed her, "we need your help. A new threat has arisen, and… and we can't fight it alone."
Percy shook his head. "Still the same Reyna. Never can admit that she needs help," he teased. Reyna sent him a dirty look and he just shrugged. "Like I was saying, there's a new threat for us. This time, it's from home territory, the Gods."
"What?" New voices expostulated. They turned around to see Thalia, Nico, Leo and Piper at the door. Thalia exploded, "PERCY! Did you manage to clone us without telling us? Jayda, who are these people? What are they doing here? And what is this bull-"
"Thalia, calm down," Jayda soothed her. "These people are… well, us. From the future," she hastily added after taking a look at Thalia's face, "not clones! They need our help. There's a new threat and they can't do it without us."
The new additions came in and pulled up chairs. "We're all ears."
Jason cleared his throat and started speaking. "About a year ago, we had a minor clash with Gaea again. Because of our experience, and better-trained campers, we were able to squelch it without the Gods. Now, Zeus thinks that we demigods are getting too powerful. He wants to imprison all of us: the mortal and the immortal. What he doesn't realize is that demigods can never die down. Greek and Roman civilization depends on us. We act as the champions of the Gods, carrying out their will down here on Earth. If we go, it's inevitable that they'll crash too. We need to make the Olympians realize that."
Leo paled. "Oh Gods, that's bad." Everybody's mood darkened. If it could make Leo serious, it was obviously a pretty big threat. Jayda cleared her throat to draw everybody's attention. "Guys, there has to be a bright side to all this. I'm sure there are at least some Gods, minor or major, who think that we aren't a threat. We just need to talk to them and make them see reason. If war can't be avoided, we need to make sure we're powerful enough to bowl them over. Not squelch them, obviously, but enough to make them know that we will hurt them if they do anything harmful to our family." Their eyes softened. "Our demigod family."
A pause followed. Thalia spoke up, "Let's get cracking. We can't let anyone know about this for now, not until we've talked to the Gods we think can help us." Nico added, "They'll have to be from the future obviously, we can't have the present ones going up in arms against us just because we told them about this."
Leo put on a mock expression of surprise and chortled, "My, my, isn't somebody taking their smart pills in the mornings." The Nicos glared at him and said simultaneously, "Shut up!" Leo swallowed while his future self just cracked up. Jayda gave a very unladylike snort, "With people like you," she pointed at the Leo clutching his stomach and doubled over with laughter and the Leo who looked like he wanted to spontaneously combust, "it's a wonder I don't go crazy."
She considered something for a second and then said, "Actually scratch that, I'm wondering why I'm not running around in circles, waving a chair and yelling 'Die!'. Because I've already gone quite mad."
A/N: Ugh, not happy with this chappie. Wait, that rhymed! Anyway, I'm sorry for the terrible chapter but I just needed that for filler till the next one when they'll… I'll let you figure that out yourself. Closest guess gets a sneakie! Review or PM the answer!