Nico buried his face in his hands, desperately trying to calm his rapid breathing.
Mitabi Jarnach
Breathe.
Ian Dietrich
Breathe.
Eliza Rylen
Breathe.
Dayson Kenschwa
Amy Penski
Terrence Igniet
Breathe.
"Hey, you okay?" Jason asked, resting a hand on the boy's shoulder.
No, Nico wanted to scream. Everyone is dying. Dying dying dying. Dead dead dead. Gone. Gone. Gone.
Breathe.
Michael Fallig
Catherine Torben
Jay Vogel
Breathe.
"I-I-I-" He swallowed uneasily, his hands shaking like leaves in the wind. "T-t-t-there's j-j-just so m-m-much."
"Death?" Jason said, flinching like the idea physically hurt him.
Nico nodded shakily, not trusting himself to open his mouth out of fear that he would scream.
"Well we got yellow smoke." Jason sat down next to Nico. "So they didn't die for nothing. Eren's sealed the breach."
The news didn't even come close to lifting Nico's spirits.
Trau Rig
Ken Junge
Clay Dauren
Breathe.
Nico fixed his eyes on a single grit of loose concrete on the top of the wall, struggling to keep himself out of a panic attack. I can't take this.
Marco Bodt
His breath hitched in his throat. He'd trained with Marco. He'd sparred with Marco occasionally. Marco consoled him when he had a break down over missing Will. Marco was his friend.
"AUUUGHHH!" Nico screamed, his voice sounded like that of a pained animal. "WHY? WHY ARE WE STILL HERE? I AM SO SICK OF THIS!"
"Nico! Calm down!" Jason said hurriedly, grabbing the dark haired boy as he frantically shook and thrashed against some invisible force.
"NO!" Nico yelled, tears running down his face as he stared Jason in the eye. "MARCO'S DEAD! DEAD DEAD DEAD! WHY DOES THIS WORLD TAKE EVERYTHING? WHAT DOES THE UNIVERSE HAVE AGAINST ME? WHY CAN'T THIS JUST BE OVER AND DONE WITH? WHY CAN'T I JUST DIE?"
Jason tackled Nico in a tight embrace, rubbing circles on his back as the boy sobbed into his shoulder.
"I-I-I-I-I-" Nico gasped through his splitting sobs. "I want to see Will again."
This only made Jason tighten his grip on Nico. "I know. I know. I want to go home too. We only have to hold out for a little bit longer. We're almost done with this, we'll be fine."
"Liar." Nico choked. "I saw you. I saw you snap. You lost it. You killed everything in sight. I watched you. I watched you. Liar."
Jason stiffened, but refused to release Nico. "I just wanted to beat the titans."
"Beat the titans." Nico repeated as though the idea was a foreign concept. "Beat them. We can't."
"We can Nico." Jason insisted stubbornly.
"Do you believe that?" Nico asked. "Or are you just saying that to make me feel better?"
"I mean it." Jason barked. Nico flinched away at his harsh tone, and quickly scrambled back to his original position, slouched over with his back to a small ledge on top of the wall.
"I'm sorry." Jason said gently.
Nico didn't respond. He simply tucked himself into a ball and squeezed his eyes shut as the names of the dead continued to flash through his mind.
~:~
"Hey guys!" Leo waved, bouncing up and down.
"Leo! Check that out!" Piper exclaimed, waving back. "Your leg looks awesome!"
"Doesn't it?" He grinned, lifting his left leg in the air. Where there was originally just the stump of a leg was a metal replica of Leo's lost limb, made of multiple sheets of shining steel. It bent at the knee and spun a 360, making Piper feel a bit nauseous.
"Wow." Percy said. "That's cool."
"I know, isn't it!" A manic glint appeared in Leo's eyes. "I sliced open the edge of where I had been bitten, you know, where it was clotted, and hooked up some wires to my nerves! I can move my fake leg as easily as I could my real one."
Piper turned around, holding her stomach and looking green. Even Nico flinched away.
"That's gross." Frank decided.
"I think it's pretty cool." Leo planted his robotic foot then spun some 360s again.
"Please, stop doing that." Hazel grimaced. "It's unsettling."
"Okay okay." Leo stopped and stood normally. "So I'm hearing that the mission was a success?"
"Yeah." Jason nodded. "Eren sealed the hole, and the Scout Regiment showed up and helped clear all the titans out. They even captured two. They also took Eren to who knows where. Armin and Mikasa are asking around to see if anyone knows what they're planning to do with him, since that was never clarified."
"So…" Leo bit his lip. "What comes next?"
"No clue." Jason sighed. "Though I've been wanting to talk to Mikasa and Armin about, well, us. About how we got here. They're the closest friends we have here. They deserve to know after all they've seen."
"Are you sure that's the smartest course of action?" Annabeth asked. "Armin has seen Nico, Hazel, and Jason use their powers, right? And Mikasa saw Hazel and Jason's. They seem to be coping with the knowledge of us being out of the ordinary fairly well. Telling them that we're demigods from the past might be a bit more than they can take, and Zeus knows how they might react. We could end up imprisoned, our experimented on, or even killed. Besides, we don't even know if they'll believe us."
"I feel like it's only fair that we tell them." Hazel said. "After all this, they might be able to help us, or we could help them."
"At least we'd have someone to talk to about it." Frank muttered.
"Plus, it would give them some sense of clarity." Piper said.
"Okay, are we in agreement, we tell them?" Jason asked. Everyone, even Annabeth, nodded.
"So where are they?" Percy glanced around. "This may be the only calm moment we get for a long time."
"Last I saw them they were in there." Leo pointed to a larger building off to the right. "I haven't seen them come back out, so I'd say it's our best bet."
"Okay, be thinking over how you want to phrase this Jason." Annabeth said. "We want to get the news out as soon as possible in case there's another titan attack."
"Right." Jason nodded, a determined gleam in his blue eyes. The demigods strolled over to the building, attempting to look as casual as possible.
"Hey, Nico." Hazel lightly tapped her brother's shoulder. "You don't look too good. Are you feeling okay?"
"A lot of people died in that mission." Nico replied gruffly. "The amount of death is taking it's toll on me I guess."
"I've felt it too." Hazel shrugged. "But I guess not nearly as bad as you."
"Good. I had a mental breakdown earlier because of all this." He frowned. He noticed Hazel's concerned look and quickly said, "I'll be fine."
Jason tugged the door to the building open. There were tables scattered around, and people wearing the same outfit bustled around and delivered food.
"A restaurant." Frank observed. "I didn't know they still existed."
As if on cue, five of the demigods' stomachs rumbled shamelessly.
"We'll get food after we find-"
"Mikasa! Armin!" Annabeth waved frantically, completely cutting Jason off. He followed her gaze to see the blonde boy and dark haired girl standing on the other side of the room.
Armin waved a little and Mikasa nodded in their direction. Annabeth weaved between the tables and jogged over to them, the other demigods following close behind.
"Hey guys!" Annabeth tried for a smile. "How're you doing?"
"Pretty good I guess." Armin smiled back weakly. "I don't suppose you've gotten any word on Eren?"
"Oh, Eren. No, no I haven't seen him." She replied. "Anyhow, me and my friends need to talk to you right now."
"What about?" Armin said.
"Why Nico can summon the dead, why Jason can fly, and how Hazel managed to raise a barrier of crystals."
Armin's eyes widened. "Hazel did that? And Nico really was summoning the dead?"
"Yes. Is there a table we can all sit at to talk this over? I haven't eaten in awhile." Annabeth surveyed the restaurant.
"Yeah, they have a separate room for larger parties." Armin nodded towards an empty doorway leading to a different room. "We can get something to eat while we talk."
"Great." Annabeth grinned and led everyone into the room, where they all sat down. Armin watched her expectantly.
"Jason, do you want to-"
"I think you'd be better at explaining than me." Jason interrupted. "Go ahead."
Annabeth took a deep breath.
"Armin, Mikasa, are you religious?" She asked.
Armin seemed a bit surprised at the question. "No, I'm not. Hardly anyone here is."
Mikasa simply shook her head.
"Okay." Annabeth ran her fingers through her hair. "Well, a long long long long long time ago, gods existed. The gods of two separate...variations of humans, the Greeks and Romans, were real. These gods would sometimes leave the heavens, or wherever it was they were staying, and have affairs with mortal men and women. The children born from these affairs are called 'demigods', or 'half-bloods'. They possess some of the powers their godly parent has, but they're mortal. Well, that's what we are."
"Wait- so- hold on-" Armin pinched the bridge of his nose and knit his brows. "So gods are real?"
"Not anymore, no." Annabeth sighed. "If there's no one to believe in and worship the gods, they fade out of existence. That's why they're not here today."
"Then how are you-"
"I'm getting there. There are many different monsters and immortals that come in the whole package along with the gods. One of those immortals was named Kronos, and he was the master of time. He tried to take over the world once, but any army of demigods, including Percy, Nico, and myself, defeated him. Later on he possessed the form of another, much more powerful immortal, and he grew about twenty times more powerful. When all of us stumbled across him, he was all-powerful and still vengeful. He cursed us and threw us into the future, and he told us the only way to get back to the world we know is to solve the problem the future human race has found itself in. And now we're here."
Armin's eyes were wide with shock. Even Mikasa looked surprised. The silence awkwardly stretched on for a couple of seconds, then a man in a waiter's outfit set down ten cups of water. Mikasa took hers and drank it all in one gulp. Armin didn't even move.
"So who are you the children of?" Mikasa asked, surveying them closely.
"Oh, I am a daughter of the Greek goddess Athena. She's the goddess of wisdom, wit, and crafts." Annabeth answered.
"I'm the son of the Roman god Jupiter, god of the sky." Jason said.
"That explains the flying." Mikasa remarked. She turned her gaze to Leo.
"I'm the son of Hephaestus, Greek god of fire, blacksmithing, and totally awesome children." Leo wiggled his eyebrows.
Hazel elbowed him. "I am the daughter of the Roman god of the Underworld and precious metals, Pluto."
"What's the Underworld?" Mikasa asked.
"It's where the spirits of the dead go when they die." Hazel darted her eyes. Mikasa opened her mouth as though to say something, but decided against it.
"I'm the son of the Roman war god Mars." Frank said. "Also, I have a family gift that allows me to shapeshift into animals."
"I am the son of the Greek god Poseidon, the god of the ocean." Percy said.
Armin snapped out of his trance. "The ocean?" He repeated.
"Yeah." Percy soon came to a realization. "Oh, you've never seen the ocean, have you? Gah. I'm sorry, I'm an idiot."
"You've seen the ocean?" Armin said in disbelief.
"Yes. In fact, I can be considered the prince of the ocean."
"What does it look like? Is it really endless? How deep is it? Is it actually salty? Is ocean water drinkable? Can you sail on it?" Armin slammed his hands against the table and stared Percy in the face.
"Uhhh...it's...I dunno-"
"Armin, calm down." Mikasa set a hand on Armin's shoulder and pulled him back into his chair and looked at the demigod next to Percy. "Now, Piper."
"I'm the daughter of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of beauty and love." Piper said, turning a bit red. "I have the ability to charmspeak, which basically means I can convince nearly anyone to do anything just with my voice."
"Son of Hades, Greek god of the Underworld and the dead." Nico said gruffly, glaring at the floor.
"Wow. That's- I can't- I need to-" Armin splashed a bit of water on his face, then proceeded to drink all of it in a single swig. "You're serious?"
Annabeth nodded and awkwardly picked at the straps on her legs.
"So you all have powers?" Armin said, his eyes wide.
"Yeah." Percy said. "Well, Annabeth is really smart, but no...mythological powers."
She glared at him sourly, and he held his hands up in a surrender.
"I have to see them in action!" Armin exclaimed. "How well can you control your powers? How often do you use them? Do they require certain conditions to function properly? Do they have any limits? Are you able to-"
"So there's no titans where you're from." Mikasa said, cutting Armin off.
"Well...yes and no." Annabeth answered. "Kronos, the guy that cursed us here, is a titan. He has family that are titans, but not this type of titan. They were smart, had clothing, immortal, kind of like the gods. The titans here though? They don't exist where we're from."
"This is so much to take in," Armin whimpered. "I don't know what to think anymore."
"You'll be fine Armin." Piper said gently. "Everyone's a bit freaked out at first. The feeling's only natural."
Armin shakily looked back up at her, his eyes wide and scared.
"You guys grew up in this world." Jason looked between Armin and Mikasa. "Do you think this information will pose a threat to our lives if it were to reach the public ear?"
"Hard to say." Mikasa frowned. "People would be wary of you, obviously. Some might even be more comfortable with you dead."
Frank swallowed nervously.
"However, certain branches of the military may see you all as an asset for, again, obvious reasons." She continued. "I'd say keep it on the down low until we have more information."
Jason nodded earnestly.
"Well then!" Leo said loudly. "What's a demigod gotta do to get a bite to eat around here?"
~:~
"Okay, Jason, what is everything you can do? Please include details such as limits and ideal conditions." Armin instructed.
Jason felt blood rush to his face. "Uh, Armin, is this completely necessa-"
"Yes." Armin said quickly.
"If you say so." Jason sighed. "I can fly. I can carry two people max while flying or using the wind, and I can do it everywhere except underwater. I can summon lightning, thunder, and storms. However, it's very tiring and I can't keep it up for long."
"Demonstrate?" Armin smiled weakly.
Jason floated above the ground for a second, then touched back down. He tugged his sword out, held it up, and a bolt of lightning from a dark single cloud shot downwards and connected with the tip of it. The second the fork of vivid white electricity disappeared, a huge clap of thunder sounded.
Armin's eyes widened. "Incredible…" He breathed.
Jason stumbled over to the where the other demigods were sitting and dropped down next to Frank, his limbs feeling sapped and heavy.
"Gods I'm out of practice with the lightning thing." Jason groaned, stretching his arms.
"You did fine." Frank smiled.
Armin had wanted to see for himself what all of the demigods were capable of so he could generate possible military strategies with them, and, if needed, come up with an argument to defend them in case something happened. So after a meal of bread and stew (Hazel summoned some payment), the demigods, Armin, and Mikasa made their way over to a tucked away area of Wall Rose. Barely anyone was there, and it was roomy enough for the half-bloods to show off their powers.
"Okay, Piper. Make me do something out of the ordinary with your charmspeak. Mikasa, stand witness." Armin said. Piper got to her feet, a sly smile on her face. Armin noticed and quickly whimpered, "Uh, something harmless, mind you."
Piper laughed. "Well duh! Okay." She cleared her throat. "Armin Arlert."
Armin immediately tensed like a soldier awaiting orders.
"Imitate a chicken." Piper grinned.
He looked a bit confused, then he bent over and folded his hands under his arms and stuck his head out.
"BOCK! BOCK BOCK BOCK!" Armin screamed as he took long strides across the clearing, his eyes wide and dazed.
Piper grabbed her stomach laughing. "Oh my gods! This is awesome!"
"Piper, be nice." Jason said lightly. Chicken-Armin began slamming his nose into Mikasa's boot.
"Okay okay." Piper wiped a tear away and straightened. "Armin, go back to normal."
Armin froze, then he blinked back to reality to find his face on Mikasa's foot.
"Ahhh!" Armin squeaked and threw himself back. "What the heck?"
"You were a chicken." Mikasa said simply.
"Sorry." Piper shrugged playfully.
Armin hurried to his feet and dusted himself. "Alright. Er- Hazel, let's see what you can do."
The curly haired girl stood up and stared at the ground, her brow furrowed in concentration. The earth rumbled, and a two meter spire of splendid, shimmering gold tore through the ground, sending up sprays of crumbling dirt and stone.
Armin's jaw dropped as he stared at the beautiful tower of gold.
"H-h-h-h-how…?" He breathed, his eyes widening in shock.
"You've got a lot of precious metals around here." Hazel shrugged. "It's pretty easy."
"E-e-e-e-easy?" Armin whispered. "M-M-M-Mikasa, come here, I-I-I-I think I need to sit down."
Mikasa helped Armin to the ground and patted his head for good measure.
"Is that hard to do?" Mikasa asked.
"No." Hazel blushed. "That wasn't, but the taller the order the harder it is to comply."
"Naturally." Mikasa nodded. "So there has to be precious metals nearby in order for you to do it?"
"Yes. I can't just make natural resources appear." Hazel replied. "Just summon them when they're nearby. Sometimes smaller ones pop up around my feet when I'm experiencing certain emotions, I've got no control over that."
"Hm." Mikasa rested a hand on the gold. "This is really valuable. Some people would kill for it."
Hazel looked a bit uncomfortable. "I can send it back down." She said hurriedly.
"Yes." Mikasa shook her head as if she was just waking up. "That would be the best course of action."
The gold trembled and sank back into the depths of the earth, leaving a gaping hole in the ground.
Hazel kicked a few rocks into the hole as though she were hoping that they would fill it back up.
"T-t-t-t-this is the m-m-most insane th-th-th-thing…" Armin breathed, staring down at the pit.
"So we top Eren becoming a titan?" Leo grinned.
Armin paled.
"Okay, I'm guessing it's my turn." Frank sighed as he got to his feet. "Name an animal."
"Uhh..hh..hh..uh…" Armin said helpfully.
"Cat." Mikasa said.
Frank sighed deeply. His nose and mouth elongated together into a small, rounded muzzle. Fur sprouted from his skin as his body shrunk to be only a foot tall.
Frank the cat meowed and lashed his tail through the air, his eyes unusually dark for a cat.
"Wow." Mikasa knelt down and extended a hand towards the white and black cat. Frank sniffed it and rubbed his head against her palm. "This is really Frank?"
The cat looked up at Mikasa and nodded before rearing onto his hind legs and growing back into a human.
"How was that?" Frank asked.
"How many animals can you become?" Mikasa asked.
"It works better if I'm familiar with the species, but practically any animal." Frank shrugged.
"Can you become a titan?" Armin questioned suddenly.
Frank blinked, looking mildly surprised. "I...I don't know. I've never tried."
"Try." Armin commanded fearlessly.
"Armin, I don't think he should." Jason said. "If Frank can do it he might be seen, and he'll be taken away from us as well. It's too risky."
Armin sighed, then turned to another demigod. "Percy, come on and show us what you got."