───────── ❝ an author's note ❞
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hey y'all sorry I haven't updated in the forever I was on a hiatus for my mental health among other things! I'm still on this hiatus but I figured I should post a chapter since it's been like almost three months! So yeah, here's chapter five! I don't know when the next one will be posted but it will be posted! I have a lot of pre-written chapters for my stories as I've been writing this entire time but I haven't posted them because I have been trying to stay offline until I get out of my funk! Sorry for the wait, I hope you enjoy the chapter, thanks for reading!
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SARAH: Question. When they shot Bambi's mother, did you find that a sad moment . . . At all?
DIONYSUS: I'm sure she's mounted on a nice wall in a fine home somewhere.
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️.ೃ࿐ CHAPTER FIVE .ೃ࿐ ?
( volume one ) the weight of living
v ️ Percy Tries To Fight The Wine Dude
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IT HAD BEEN YEARS SINCE SARAH HAD SEEN CAMP HALF-BLOOD DURING WINTER, SHE HAD ALMOST FORGOTTEN THAT IT COULD SNOW THERE. The camp had a Climate Control thing going on and only the weather that Mr. D allowed could cross camp borders, Mr. D never pegged Sarah as the snow-loving type but a thin layer of snow had been allowed to settle across the land. The Christmas lights violently blinking on several cabins and trees, aren't as surprising to Sarah, lots of campers loved to put up Christmas decorations even if only a select few celebrate.
"Whoa," Nico exclaims as he climbs off the bus alongside Sarah, he looks around the camp grounds, doing multiple takes as his dark eyes scour over it.
He tugs on Sarah's arm and points at the climbing wall "Is that a climbing wall with lava coming down it, like actual real life lava?!"
Sarah grins "It provides a little extra challenge, kid!"
"Wow," Nico gasps, looking awed as he kept looking over the camp grounds again and again.
Sarah beams at his enthusiasm, it was strange for a Demigod to be this excited to learn about this life and Sarah knew Nico's rose-coloured view of everything would soon wear off but she hoped that she could preserve his childlike awe and wonder for as long possible somehow.
She looks around at the camp to see if she could spot any familiar faces but there weren't many campers awake, which is understandable because of how early in the morning it is. She recognizes an Ares kid, Randall something, she remembers him from when herself, Annabeth, Luke, and Grover came to camp back then. He's much older now, he was a year or so younger than Luke, if she remembered correctly. He was having a very tense snowball fight with whom Sarah assumed were his siblings.
She spots an Apollo kid, scrambling out of his cabin. He was one of the younger Apollo kids, she recognizes him from the summer of the missing Masterbolt ⸺ Will something ⸺ Solace, Sarah thinks. He had been younger then too, maybe six or seven, Sarah remembers that it had only been his first summer there at the time. She remembers him because he followed Louisa May around like baby duck. He is struggling to get on his jacket, he's still in his slippers as she slips and slides against the snowy ground to come and see his dad. He seems to be the only Apollo kid to have noticed the Sun Chariot had crashed into the lake, perhaps he was the only Apollo kid awake at this time.
The Hermes cabin, as much as she hates to admit it, catches her eye. Looking at it is like a punch to Sarah's gut. The cabin had this uncharacteristically gloomy look about it and it looked more weathered down than Sarah had seen it in decades ⸺ Luke would never let it look like this. Sure, he was no neat freak and the insides of the cabin always looked like a hurricane had went through it on a good day but the outside was as neat as the beaten down cabin could get. Sarah's heart went into frenzied panic as it finally felt real. It was true and there was no room for argument as she looked at the cabin that Luke has always kept decent-looking, now a ghost of its' former self.
Before Sarah could start tearing up, she is startled as Nico's grasp around her arm tightens. She looked down and was met with Nico, leaning into her side and away from his sister, Bianca who had been trying to tell him something. She waited for his reply but is only met with a scowl, as he leans further into Sarah's side.
Bianca sighs "She has to go with them, Neeks . . . She is a Hunter."
Nico's grip tightens for moment then loosens and he lets out a grumpy sound of sorts.
"Actually, I'm going to the Big House as well . . . I have a feeling that Percy might attempt to fight Mr. D and I need to be there to stop it," Sarah says, her voice is wavering as she speaks and it's more high-pitched then she intended it to be. Don't cry, don't cry, do not cry!
Nico's grip tightens again and he shoots his older sister some kind of look, one which Bianca returns.
Sarah's heart sinks in her chest as it's overcome with loneliness, she remembers her own mortal half-brother, if only vaguely, he was only five at the time she was accused. She didn't remember much of what he looked like or what his voiced sounded like but she remembered she fiercely loved him and that she also squabbled with him all the time about things she couldn't remember. She couldn't even remember his name.
Zoe stops in the trek to Cabin Eight and looks over her shoulder, the rest of the Hunters follow suit but Grover does not get this memo and he goes crashing into Cel. Which is lucky for him because any other Hunter would have beat him for that, instead Cel gives the Satyr an exasperated look as she steadies him.
Sarah stifles a giggle as she calls out to Zoe: "I'm just going to escort these two to Chiron and Mr. D! I'll catch up with you all later, okay!"
Zoe regards Sarah's little group then nods her head, they continue on their way to Cabin Eight, with Grover still following them like the lovesick Pepe Le Pew.
From Sarah's side Nico mutters a scathing remark to Bianca, something about her going with those stupid hunter girls. Bianca admonishes him for it and tells him to apologize to Sarah for basically calling her stupid.
"I'm sorry ⸺ sorry that you and your stupid friends think it's cool to steal sisters!" Nico grumbles, still holding onto Sarah's arm, which made the situation more amusing than it should be.
"Nico," Bianca scolds exasperated as pinches the bridge of her nose.
"He doesn't mean it, it's fine. He doesn't have to apologize," Sarah tells Bianca, giving her a reassuring smile.
"I do mean it," Nico disagrees, pouting.
Sarah raises her arm which he holds onto and gives him a pointed look "I'm sure you do, kiddo. You don't have to apologize, I can see why you're saying these things, but it would be nice if you'd be nicer to your sister."
"Why should I, she's going to leave me to go with you and your stupid friends!"
"She hasn't agreed to join us yet. Being asked to join the Hunt by Lady Artemis is an incredibly cool thing, and Bianca was asked by Lady Artemis herself, she was not referred by any of my friends. You know that means that your sister is really ⸺"
"Take care, Sweethearts," Apollo calls after the Hunters, interrupting Sarah and the Di Angelos' conversation.
Sarah jumps at his voice, momentarily forgetting that he was still here, she watches as he turns to Percy and winks at him.
"Watch out for those prophecies, Percy, I'll see you soon," Apollo says, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.
Sarah bites back a groan because, of course, Percy would find himself at the centre of yet another prophecy. Why couldn't the Fates switch it up and give to spotlight to anyone but one of her cousins?
Percy looks perplexed as he asks the sun God to elaborate which, naturally, Apollo does not. Instead the God turns to Thalia, who still looks shaken up from the car ride in the sky.
"Later, Thalia," Apollo says, sounding amused, giving her a wicked smile as though he knows something that no one else does, "And, uh, be good!"
He moves to get back in the Sun Chariot but Sarah clears her throat loudly. Apollo is so perplexed by Sarah drawing attention to herself that he doesn't even think to glare at her. She gestures to Will, who had stopped a few feet away from the group.
The poor kid looks too nervous to actually approach them, he stares at his dad with wide blue eyes and an even wider mouth. Sarah wonders if he had met Apollo before, she doubts it.
"Your son is saying hello," She says and she gets that Apollo doesn't have much time and probably didn't even notice Will but she can't help but sound irritated as she witnesses another Demigod vying for their parents' attention.
Apollo blinks at Sarah then turns to spot Will, he smiles and waves at the kid, who is stunned for a moment but then breaks out into a wide grin as he waves back.
With that, Apollo jumps into the bus, closing the door, and revving the engine. Sarah looks away, guiding Nico to do the same as the sun chariot takes off. When she looks back, the lake is steaming and chariot is longer in the shape of a bus but rather back to it's original state as a red Maserati. It soars over the woods, glowing brighter and climbing higher until it disappears in a ray of sunlight.
Sarah looks over to see Will, still smiling, retreating to the Apollo cabin, and she smiles as well. The interaction wasn't much but at least it made Will happy.
Nico had let go of Sarah's arm at this rate, crossing his arms over his chest and scowling deeply as he stared at the snowy ground. Sarah felt Percy and Thalia's eyes on her, they were probably looking at the siblings too.
Sarah smiles softly at Nico "It's alright to be mad but Bianca was given a choice to do something that she might really like, she doesn't get to do things that she likes a lot, does she?"
Nico shakes his head slowly.
"She hasn't decided yet because she doesn't seem to know what to do, so try not to be too angry yet. She hasn't left yet and if she does join the hunt, it doesn't mean you'll forever be apart, Artemis lets the Hunters go where we please so long as we aren't on a Hunt. Sometimes you might not see Bianca in person for weeks at a time but I'm sure she'll visit you when she can and, of course, there's always Iris Messages so you could see each other with that almost everyday. Once you two are acquainted to Chiron and Mr. D, I'll show you two around camp and tell you more about Iris Messaging!"
"Who's Chiron and Mr. D? I don't have his figurine and Mr D, I don't think I have his either," Nico asks Sarah, he still looks grumpy, the the curious shine to his dark eyes had returned.
"You do have Mr. D's figurine, not Chiron's though . . . They've just recently added him to Mythomagic in the Mythical Creatures edition, that was released awhile back ⸺ I'll let you look at that later."
"Okay but who are they here," Bianca asks.
Sarah blinks, realizing she didn't technically answer the question and just started answering with something related, she blushes.
"Our activities directors," Percy replies, "They're . . . Well, you'll see."
"If those Hunter girls don't like 'em," Nico grumbles, "That's good enough for me. Let's go."
Sarah laughs at his resentful remark, "I'm one of those Hunter girls, Nico! And I do like him, you are going to love him! Mr. D, well that . . . That's a different story! Now come on, you two, we should get you introduced to Camp Half-Blood!"
The Big House had not changed since the last time she had seen it, she smiles at the sight of it, the only place that Sarah called home that was actually a house. For the winter months, the porch that circled the entire house was strung with little balls of fire, something the Hecate kids had done. She remembers when the Camp was just the Big House, twelve rooms for the children of the Olympians and two bedroom extra bedrooms for the unclaimed kids. That was a long time ago.
Inside, flames crackled on the hearth, and Sarah craned her neck to get a look at it but she found that Lady Hestia was not there this time. Not unsurprising but Sarah was hoping to get a glimpse of the only God outside of Poseidon, Artemis, and Persephone that Sarah claims as her family. She used to view Zeus as her uncle but that was before the Great Prophecy.
The air smells of hot chocolate, Nico and Bianca look around, both with wide eyes, Sarah guides them gently to the parlour, promising them both hot chocolate while they watch the the orientation film. Nico grins widely and Bianca smiles, both still shivering slightly from the cold outside.
Chiron and Mr. D, are playing a surprisingly quiet game of cards, Chiron's hair and beard were back to it's shaggy state as he no longer had to keep it short while playing Professor like he did two summers ago. Mr. D looked the same as he always did while he was at camp, an atrocious neon-orange leopard-skin warm-up suit with purple running shoes, the only thing new was a laurel wreath crown that lay titled amongst his black curls. It's just a guess but it must be what he gets on the rare occasions he wins a round.
Mr. D knows that they're in the room but he doesn't bother to look up from his deck of cards, Chiron, on the other hand, smiles brightly.
Although he looks confused, but not surprised to see Sarah "Percy! Thalia, and Sarah, you're here! And these must be ⸺"
"Bianca Di Angelo, sir, and this is my brother, Nico," Bianca supplies, standing up straighter, looking a little bit nervous to be speaking with an adult.
Chiron nods looking around the group, he obviously notes Annabeth's absence, his smile falters but he tries to remain positive as he continues on "Right, it's a pleasure to meet you both . . . I take it that everything went well?"
Percy and Thalia share some kind of look, Sarah pales as she remembers the blurry shape of Annabeth and the Manticore falling off the cliff. She's not dead, Sarah tells herself but it doesn't make her feel any better because who knows where she could be. If the Manticore wasn't dispelled to Tartarus then where could he have been dispelled to ⸺ it could be anywhere!
"Well," Percy says but falters immediately along with Chiron's smile
"What happened and where is Annabeth?"
"Oh, dear," Mr. D pipes up, not even bothering to look up as he replies in a very bored tone, "Not another one lost."
Now, Sarah is usually very good at ignoring people, especially men, but maybe it's because she's been off kilter all night, it had been a wild ride, or maybe it's because he's talking about Annabeth, her Annie, but she scowls and can't let it go. She balls up her fist at her side, she tries to imagine her anger is a stupid, itchy feather down comforter that she needs to shove in a good will box but Mr. D's remark is enough to have her vision tinging red ⸺ didn't you say you were supposed to stop Percy from fighting Mr. D?
"What do you mean," Thalia asks, "Who else is lost?"
It's a good question. First is was Annabeth then Sarah finds out about Luke, who else is gone? Sarah's palms grow sweaty, she exhales softly.
Mr. D rolls his eyes in an over dramatic manner, glancing up from his cards. His red wine-coloured eyes look over the Demigods before him with a bored expression then looks back at his cards.
Remember, Sarah tells herself, you have to keep Percy from fighting Mr. D and subsequently getting killed by Mr. D, you cannot go and try to do the same to Mr. D.
Grover comes bursting in, providing the perfect distraction for Sarah. The poor guy, although grinning like crazy, is developing a black eye and had definitely been slapped by one of the Hunters ⸺ definitely Naomi, Sarah thinks, torn between wanting to laugh and feeling bad.
"The Hunters have moved in," Grover announces.
"The Hunters, eh, it seems we have much to discuss," Chiron says, "Grover, would you mind showing the Di Angelos the orientation film?"
"But . . . Oh, right! Yes, sir," Grover agrees, blinking repeatedly as the daze that Satyrs get from the Hunters wears off.
"Orientation film," Bianca asks warily and glances at Nico, "How long is it?"
"Not long," Grover replies.
"Get them some hot chocolate, please, Grover!" Sarah says, smiling at Grover who returns one, a similar smile to the one he gets when he thinks of Lady Artemis and the Hunters, but not quite as starstruck and so much softer.
"You got it, Sarah."
Mr. D's glare burns into the back of her neck for a moment then he briefly glances at Grover who flinches, however he says nothing. Neither does Chiron, who turns to ask if Percy, Thalia, and Sarah if they'd like a drink of hot chocolate.
Percy and Thalia shake their head, so Sarah follows suit even though she'd love a mug of the stuff. Grover disappears off with the Di Angelos and Chiron's expression turns more serious and forlorn.
"Now, perhaps the three of you should sit down and tell us the whole story," Chiron address them in a soft and tired voice, his eyes are glossy. He had raised Annabeth since she had showed up at Camp when she was just a little seven-year-old. He is fearing the worst, and while what they would tell him isn't that, it still isn't that far off.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
THE THREE OF THEM EXPLAIN THE SITUATION, THALIA AND PERCY PROVIDING BETTER INFORMATION THAN SARAH COULD ONCE THEY WERE DONE, CHIRON TURNED TO MR. D AND SAID "WE SHOULD LAUNCH A SEARCH PARTY FOR ANNABETH."
Sarah sighs, immediately thinking of those who would be the best equipped at finding her ⸺ a Hermes kid would be the best with directions, they'd be able to find the fastest way to get to Maine, a Hecate kid to help with the Mist and also maybe they'd know some magic to help locate Annabeth, and an Athena kid, preferably Malcolm Pace. Malcolm and Annabeth are the closest out of all her siblings.
Immediately both Thalia and Percy volunteer to go on this search party, Mr. D is quick to turn them down, and they are even quicker to complain. However, their complaints are cut short as Mr. D raises his hands, his eyes glowing a purplish, dangerous hue.
"From what you have told me," Mr. D says with disinterest, "We have broken even on this escapade. We have, ah, regrettably lost Annie Bell –"
Sarah's scowl deepens as her anger grows, becoming itchy and hot and uncomfortable, her skin crawls. She knows this is just how Mr. D acts to cover up the fact that he does care for the kids, it's a stupid and unfair act, but she knows he doesn't mean it. She's still angry, she's probably angrier at the fact that he is hiding his real emotions.
"Annabeth," Percy corrects snappily.
"Yes, yes," Mr. D continues on, waving off Percy's correction, "And you procured a small annoying boy and his mousy sister to replace her. So I see no point risking further half-bloods on a ridiculous rescue. The possibility is very great that this Annie girl is dead."
Sarah wants to yell at Mr. D to at least pretend to have some compassion rather than bottle up possible guilt he must feel after losing yet another child he has spent years looking after. The act he puts on is not fair for the kids, too young or too angry to look past.
"Annabeth may still be alive," Chiron interjected, "She's very bright. If . . . If our enemies have her, she will try to play for time. She may even pretend to cooperate."
"That's right," Thalia says. "Luke would want her alive."
Of course, Sarah thinks, Luke would protect her, whether or not he was on Kronos' side.
"In which case, I'm afraid she will have to be smart enough to escape on her own." Mr. D surmises with an infuriatingly disinterested tone.
Sarah grits her teeth so loudly that Thalia gives her a look of alarm.
Percy shoots up from the table, a dangerously angry look on his face. Sarah is glad they had said no to the hot chocolates because they would surely have blown up in their faces now if they had.
"Percy." Chiron says softly, but his tone is full of warning.
"You're glad to lose another camper," Percy snaps "You'd like it if we all disappeared!"
Mr. D stifles a yawn "You have a point?"
Sarah reaches out and grabs Percy's arm, trying to tug him back into his seat. The air grows hot around her, Percy squirms in her grasp, uncomfortable with how hot her touch is, but his anger is far stronger than her little parlour trick. He quickly straightens back up and continues on being a reckless idiot.
"Yeah, just because you were sent here as a punishment doesn't mean you have to be a lazy jerk! This is your civilization, too. Maybe you could try helping out a little!" Percy exclaims, breathing heavily as he stares down a God.
Sarah signs, dropping the illusion of the underworld, the hot air cools back down to its' normal temperature as she pinches the bridge of her nose. For a second, there's no sound except the crackle of the fire. The light reflects in Mr D's eyes, giving him a truly sinister look.
He opens his mouth to say something ⸺ probably a curse that would blast all three of them, given how deadly angry the disgraced God looks, to smithereens ⸺ when Nico bursts into the room, followed by Grover and a shell-shocked Bianca.
"SO COOL!" Nico yells, holding his hands out to Chiron, "You're . . . You're a centaur!"
Chiron manages a nervous smile and says "Yes, Mr. Di Angelo, if you please. Though, I prefer to stay in human form in this wheelchair for, ah, first encounters."
"And, whoa!" Nico gasps as he rounds on Mr. D, "You're the wine dude? No way!"
Mr D turns his eyes away from Percy and gives Nico a look of loathing, "The wine dude?"
"Dionysus, right? Oh, wow! I've got your figurine."
"My figurine."
"In my game, Mythomagic. And a holofoil card, too! And even though you've only got like five hundred attack points and everybody thinks you're the lamest God card, I totally think your powers are sweet!"
"Ah . . . Well, that's . . . Gratifying" Mr. D says slowly, looking truly perplexed, which probably saved Percy's life.
"Percy," Chiron says quickly, "You and Thalia go down to the cabins. Inform the campers we'll be playing capture the flag tomorrow evening."
"Capture the flag?" Percy echoes looking confused, "But we don't have enough ⸺"
"It is a tradition," Chiron cuts him off, "A friendly match, whenever the Hunters visit."
"Yeah," Thalia mutters dryly as she rolls her blue eyes, "I bet it's real friendly."
"Oh, it's the friendliest," Sarah tells her, sarcasm dripping from her tongue which gets a grin from Thalia ⸺ Gods, how Sarah had longed to see that smile again just one more time and now she'd see it for as long as the Hunters resided at Camp because Thalia was alive.
Chiron jerks his head towards Mr D, who's still frowning as Nico talked on and on about how many defence points all the G ods had in his game.
"Run along now," Chiron tells the two of them.
"Oh, right," Thalia says suddenly as she gets his hint and then she hauls Percy out of the Big House before Mr. D could remember he was going to kill Percy. She tells Sarah that they'll catch up later and with that she's out the door, dragging Percy behind her.
"You should get to the Hunters, Sarah, I'm sure they're wondering if you've managed to lose your way back to their cabin," Chiron says jokingly, the smile on his face doesn't quite reach his eyes.
Normally Sarah would pretend to laugh at his quip but as she just says "Annabeth is alive, I didn't feel her die, she's out there somewhere."
"I see," Chiron says evenly and when Sarah tries to listen she can hear his heartbeat start to slow down, he's relieved and he believes her.
"Maybe Lord Dionysus is right, camp can't afford to send out a search party but I can go. I can find her." Sarah says, verging on pleading.
Chiron gives her a look, one of disbelief which he tries to mask with a soft smiles but Sarah knows and she understands his disbelief, it doesn't hurt. She's known for getting lost super easy but it usually happens when they're in between hunts, no targets for Sarah to set her sights on. She's relatively decent at hunting, she can find her targets fairly well, maybe not as well as the other Hunters but she can still do it.
"I understand why you want to find Annabeth, believe me there is nothing more that I want than to find her too but we don't have the people we normally send on search parties . . . And to send you on your own, well I'm sure that I'd have several Gods on my case if I were to do so, namely your father."
"Lady Persephone is with him, he won't anger so easily," Sarah replies, grinning at Chiron desperate to win her case.
"She would just as angry with me, and if anything happened to you, even if I wasn't punished in some way by your father, well, I would never forgive myself. However, I will consider your offer but first you must let Mr. D and myself decide what we can do first. I will let you know more the day after tomorrow, Sarah."
Sarah frowns but it's better than nothing so she nods her head.
"Now, run along, I have to give the Di Angelos a tour of the camp."
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
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SARAH DOESN'T GO RUNNING BACK TO THE HUNTERS, ALTHOUGH SHE PROBABLY SHOULD, HOWEVER SHE CAN'T BRING HERSELF TO BE SURROUNDED BY PEOPLE AT THE MOMENT. Especially not people who will ask her questions, Sarah loves Cel but Cel will ask so many questions and she is so not in the mood. Sarah sighs to herself and sits down on the porch steps.
She watches as a disgruntled Percy leaves the Ares cabin and stomps his way over to the Poseidon cabin. His sister swings open the door before he can grab the doorknob, Sarah can't see from all the way on the porch but she was sure that Charybdis Jackson looked like someone who had been up all night. There's a few minutes where they look at each other, probably having a conversation, and then Charybdis is wrapping him in the biggest hug.
When she lets go, she leads Percy inside, one arm slung around his shoulder. Once again that loneliness returns, she misses her half-siblings, all of them long since gone. Her last half-brother had died fighting in World War Two, killed in the Battle Of Midway, just as the last living generation of Big Three kids had, they had fought bravely along side Mortal soldiers, against the Nazi Army.
She hadn't be close to her cousins but she was still devastated by their deaths, she was close with her half-brother, and she had mourned his death for a long time. She had escorted him to camp when he was five years old. Steve Buchanan had been his name but Sarah had always called him little Stevie, even when he got older than her. He lived to be twenty-two years old before he was killed in action.
Stevie had been very affectionate, out of all her half siblings, Stevie had been her favourite. He was more of a son than a brother to her. It was his affection that she missed the most, the way he hugged with ease, the way he would ruffle her hair when he grew taller. She loved the Hunters but they weren't like that, besides Cel. They loved her, they loved each other but they weren't good at expressing it clearly and they were even worse at accepting affection which lead to Sarah often feeling lonely as she had to refrain from expressing herself.
Sarah lets out a groan and scolds herself for wallowing in her thoughts when she had other things to worry about, she's about to get up when someone taps her shoulder. She lets out a yelp because she hadn't heard anyone approach her, and when she turns to see who it was, it turns out to be Grover ⸺ she must have really been deep in thought if she didn't hear him approach.
In his hands are two mugs of hot chocolate, he gives her a sheepish smile, his cheeks flushed "Hey, I know how you love your hot chocolate, thought I'd bring you some! I have an hour or so before I have return to my lessons, mind if I join you."
Sarah gives him a smile, telling him thanks and patting the seat beside her. As she looks at him, she realizes that Grover had changed a lot, Satyrs grew at a slower pace than Humans, and for as long as she had known him, he had been around her age but now he looked like he was a few years older. His horns had grown, the points of them are sticking out of his thick, curly brown hair. He was starting to grow a goatee, he looked wiser, looked more like the protector that Sarah knew he could be.
Grover takes a seat next to her. She remembers the last time they had sat on these steps together. It had been the afternoon after Grover brought Percy to camp, he was stressing out on these steps watching over a group of Hermes kids who were picking the Strawberry. Luke had been in charge and was trying his best to cheer up Grover by having the Stoll brothers launch strawberries into mouth from ridiculous distances.
It had been the first time Sarah had seen Luke in years and she remembers thinking, completely shocked, that Luke had gotten hot. Sarah wasn't one to admire someone's beauty, it was allowed within the Hunt to do so, but Sarah never found herself looking at people and noting their attractiveness but Luke had took her by surprise or rather, his scars had. But she knew he wouldn't appreciate her staring at that. The scar on his face, and the scars peeking out from the tank top he wore, she wondered how he had got them. Sarah remembers trying hard not to stare too long, but she was sure that Luke had caught her staring. He never said anything, too concerned with trying to cheer up Grover.
Sarah remembers he had plopped next to him and said the only thing that came to mind and that was "How could you not tell me that Luke got hot!" and she remembers that Grover had been momentarily shocked by her remark before he slowly started to smile and laugh.
"Sarah," He had laughed as he shook his head, "Are you allowed to say that?"
"Yeah, we can admire people's beauty, we just cannot act on romantic or intimate impulses. So, when were you going to warn me that Luke got hot?"
Grover laughs and nudges her shoulder as he cheekily says "When I got over it myself. I swear one day he just got stupidly hot, just woke up like that! The criminal part is he doesn't even acknowledge it!"
"The audacity," Sarah gasps as she nudges his shoulder back "At least no one has to humble him though."
Grover nods as he looks at Luke, who grins at him and waves only to be hit in the eye with a strawberry. Both Grover and Sarah had burst into laughter as Luke yelled at Connor for hitting him, Connor is quick to say that he was actually Travis but that trick doesn't fool Luke.
Sarah frowns at the memory, how could Luke have been the Lightning Thief, he had been so normal, if not a tired and wary looking.
"I'm sorry for telling you like that, I thought you would've known by now," Grover says quietly, a guilty look in his warm brown eyes.
"It's okay, I would've found out in worse way if it weren't for you," Sarah replies evenly.
There's a pause, they both sip on their hot chocolate, Sarah looks around the camp to see that more kids had joined the snowball fight, and Thalia seemed to be breaking up a fight between the Hunters and another group of kids by the Basketball court.
"Do you think that Luke . . . Do you think that he's in control of what he's doing . . . Do you ⸺ Gods, I don't know how to say ⸺" Sarah cuts herself off as she growls frustrated, "Do you . . . Do you think he's doing this with bad intentions?"
Grover's frown deepens and his eyes become glossy "I don't want to believe that, I want to believe that Luke is doing this because he's been mislead to believe that this would be what's best for the likes of his fellow Demigods but . . . Well, he's tried to kill us, he's tried to kill Percy twice."
Sarah inhales shakily, nearly dropping her mug "Kill?"
Grover nods solemnly "I don't know everything but I can fill you in the best that I can, if you'd like to know, that is?"
Sarah nods, tears starting to burn her eyes "Please, tell me everything!"
And so Grover does.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
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( nulla ) The Sword Of Damocles Is Swinging
───────── ❝ the author's commentary ❞
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PLEASE NOTE when i first started this chapter i forgot when/how exactly Will became a Camper! It turns out it was when he was ten which means his first year would be in the titan's curse HOWEVER so i don't have to rewrite the beginning of this chapter, he's gonna start Camp at a much younger age! Everything in his story is the same except for him being ten when he first comes to Camp. He was much younger and first came to Camp for summer holidays in the Lightning Thief just for the sake of this story!
also in the original canon it is said that the kids of the big three started world war two which subsequently lead to them taking the oath however that was pretty fucked up on rick's part and i believe he did apologize for that so i changed it to be a little bit better and thus the kids didn't start the war,,, hitler was not a hades kid, he was not a demigod he was just a horrible human that slaughtered thousands kinda real fucked up of rick to do that so we're not taking that path in this fic.
i didn't really explain it that well in this chapter so i'll explain it better down here. During the war, each of the big three had young adult sons, they joined the war to fight against hitler and the nazis and were subsequently killed like many other soldiers in the war. they did not play a crucial part in the war but they fought together to try to stop the war like so many other brave soldiers.
the prophecy didn't have anything to do with the war, it came out around the time of the war and with zeus and poseidon's only living kids dead, as far as they were aware, Hades' only living kid outside of Sarah dead, they decide to take an oath to not have any more kids, encouraging Hades to agree as well. They tried to get Demeter to take the oath as she is also one of the Eldest Gods with children but since her kids, despite having power, are more docile and better at controlling their abilities, they don't really pest her to join!
Anyways that's all I have to say for this chapter! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it, please don't be shy, let me know what you thought of it in the comments!
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WORD COUNT ⸺ 6,482 words
