The days continue to bleed into each other, and Hermês began to teach her how-to walk-through worlds.
The very first thing that they had done was cast the spell that allowed her to enter the marvel verse. He had to explain to her that just because the movies had not premiered did not mean the world was not continuing on. It was a consequence that all writers feel when the characters take over their own stories. for example, they appeared in the middle of some battle in New York and he had barely been able to stop her PTSD from triggering, but the two of them joined it quick enough. She was the one to realize that Loki—and of course she found him—was brainwashed and knocked him out of it. Painfully. He had just thrown Tony Stark from his own window which reminded her of Ethan being nearly thrown from Olympos though she only remembered that in flashes. The spell to drain the touch on his mind had been staggering and the Prince of Asgard had been bleeding from his mouth, nose, eyes, and ears by the time that she was through.
He had thanked her graciously and offered her the ugly staff that he held which Hermês confiscated when he sensed the power in it. Of course, by then the portal was opened and the ugly monsters were spilling in, and she just had to protect Tony Stark who she named her godfather. A comic book character! And had nearly thrown a fit when he went through said portal.
With a slight of hand, they managed to trick the mortals of that world that they were keeping the sceptre while they were offered the chance to go to Asgard with the actual sceptre and Tesseract.
And even that was after that world's Olympians had come down to visit drawn by the sight of another Hermês and a child with the sea in her blood. By her own crafty words, Anthony Edward Stark, Man of Iron, Anthony of York, The Mechanic and Engineer whose existence was integral for the stability of the universe, was announced as the ambassador between Olympos and then between Asgard and then between Jotunheim and giving diplomatic immunity. They were all going to pitch in to him them recover from the invasion and get rid of any alien matter left behind.
That version of Apóllōn had also fixed his chest, taking those shards out and fixing his lungs and ribs and helping him maneuver the arc reactor into something less invasive but still able to protect him from mind control.
She wasn't dazzled by the sight of the other heroes, but he had to pull her away when she started flirting with the Black Widow and Hawkeye though not before she got a hug from Hulk.
When they went to Asgard, they spoke in Loki's defense, keeping him away from the prisons where she revealed that while she was in his head, Loki's entire plan had hinged on Asgard intervention so that they can capture him and he'd be safe from The Mad Titan which had pissed the Olympians off because all of them were descended from titans and how dare he claimed kin to them. Odin All-Father had been incredibly pissed that someone would touch his son, but Frigg All-Mother had looked as if she was going to go to war with this Thanos and win all by her lonesome.
And apparently, Loki had a sibling upon Jotunheim that was skilled in seidr as they called magic. He was declared a crown prince of the realm, through him they hoped to achieve peace, he will never see the throne, but they'd love to have him, and if they saw whoever had the audacity to harm a prince of Jotunheim to please call for them because they'd go to Hel just to kill them again and thanked him for getting rid of Laufey. A very confusing time when they appeared and disappeared right in the halls of the palace showing off their skill in seidr.
All in a day's work, Hermês mused as Lea was soon drowning in traditional dresses of both Olympos and Asgard and somehow managed to convince Asgard and that version of Hḗphaistos to create her own little superheroine armor that looked very similar to a Star Sapphire from the DC Comics except in green because of course it was. It was also more covered because even that version of Poseidón was protective of his daughter.
He felt only the slightest bit of bad about messing with the movies but then something called the TVA came and attacked his Leaneíras and he had to show them why that was a bad idea. Once that was done and they were back in their own world—without Loki and Tony Stark no matter how hard she tried to kidnap them—he showed her how to make that specific world her own. The movies then became a living comic book as the pages were filled according to the new world they accidentally created while allowing the actual movies to proceed how the film directors were planning.
She had crashed for a full twenty-four hours following the ordeal and he was so smitten that he stayed at her side just to watch her sleep.
And well, they practiced more and more usually in the little universe that she created, but they took a trip over to the DC comics also where she met Jason Todd and Talia al Ghul and Hermês had to keep her from kidnapping them though he didn't stop her at all from cursing the three Jokers to kill themselves. It's not murder she had said because there were specific components to meet, and they could stop themselves at any time. Which was a lie, but he wasn't going to tell Batman that. Not that the furry scared him, but he didn't want the man to try to get rid of the spell.
They met those versions of the gods also and she was extremely disappointed and suddenly, it turned into a bootcamp. And she refused to acknowledge Diana as a goddess of war. At best, she would be a minor goddess. Not an Olympian as she paraded herself as. The girl had opinions and when she met Aquaman, she ranted at him also because as far as she was concerned, none of them were worthy to hold her Father's trident.
Again, she changed up their world, placing the gods back in their respective seats of power even Háidēs because seriously, how was he evil simply because he was the god of the underworld. It was stereotypical and she too would want to destroy the world if everyone kept cursing at her for doing her job. Either way, everything was much more functional once she finished, and she even allowed Aquaman to keep his title as King except he was only king of his territory and not of the entire seas. Granted, that was similar to the comics, but she really pounded that information into his head.
He managed to drag her away after she told Jason Todd to stay away from the Bat Family in the permanent sense that she went to Gotham and used her mageia to carve the entirety of East Gotham away creating two separate cities, placed spells to keep the other bats that were not Stephanie and Duke out of it and moved the Lazarus Pit that was on the outskirts of Batman's Gotham to Jason's Gotham which she named Gothame and where Jason was now its Mayor and told him he could do whatever.
Hermês may not have mentioned to her that her title as Mother of Witchcraft and World Walker meant that her powers lingered even after they left so that no sorcerer from these worlds could undo what she did. And it didn't hurt that they were comic book characters either not that he told them that.
She did the same thing to them by making it a living book which she routinely checked on because she did not trust the Bat Family around Jason only to see that he and Thalia had fixed Gothame up all nice and pretty and they were doing a much better job than Batman with their city and the rehabilitation of those in Arkham. They gave them real help and they offered their services to Bruce Wayne to help his mental issues that would make a psychiatrist need a psychiatrist, but the man declined.
Outside of those moments though, the days continued on.
Lea found herself receiving almost daily letters from him, filled with romantic poetry. She learned that he received help from Apóllōn and Aphrodite and Erato, one of the Nine Mousai, to write them. He went all out, spraying the letters with cologne and sealing the envelope with green wax mixed with dried pink hyacinth flowers because they were her favorite.
The smile never seemed to leave her face even when Huákinthos came to them regrettably with people from something called the Bouquet which Drew called the Plant Gang attempting to warn her against Hermês. She only furrowed her brow as she looked at them: "Most of you fell in love with a god and it's my fault? You saw the red flags, right?"
"They probably thought it was a carnival," Medea had snickered while Drew said that they were who Peitho should really be harassing.
Lea spent a day with her extended family within the Heights and watched as Vanessa tricked Usnavi and Benny into trying a period cramp simulator. She howled with laughter watching the two of them try to keep themselves from cursing at the pain.
Hermês winced at the loud shrill of pain that echoed around the mountain. His feet carried him over to where his sister, Aletheia, had fallen to her knees. She was being helped by Akesó, who turned her about, desperate to find what garnished such pain filled screams from her, loud with the power to shake the many-folded peak of Olympos. The young goddess clutched at her heart; desperate pleas befallen her tongue as the Olympioi surrounded her in worry.
"My daughter," Father asked anxiously, his fingers twitching with the need to tear apart any that cause her harm.
Aletheia screeched, flickering to her roman form and such Veritas pressed her forehead.
It was over soon enough, and as she sank into the comforting arms of their Father as she relaxed back into her grecian form... Hermes had his suspicions of exactly what happened. It was proven true as she clawed desperately at her dress until her thigh was bare for them all to see. Her mark-in the shape of a mirror- bore two names, Alabaster Torrington and Jason Grace. Her hand pressed against Jason's name in desperation. She could not feel him, Hermês realized, and he knew that it was true. As he gazed down the mountain into the roman camp, he found his mortal brother nowhere to be seen.
Twas a worser feeling when her hand paused and stuttered over Alabaster's name and when he turned his gaze over to that traitorous mortal, Hermês was not surprised to see that Leaneíras and Drew had made a visit to see he and Ethan who had been banished and exiled to that city.
He watched as Drew and Lea walked around, listening to Dr. Claymore's lecture before going off to find and more than likely confront the boys. He heard his blessing tell Drew: "The gods are seriously up there in their dimension creating the smallest, sluttiest waist, softest hair and most kissable lips and giving it to a guy? I'd be insulted if I didn't love myself."
And he turned away from that conversation instead looking to their Father for further instructions. Though he ultimately deemed to wait as he wanted to break the news to his Queen before they made any plans.
Lea still didn't understand why they needed to speak to the traitors, but she understood the need for closure. She, however, wished that it happened when the two of them were not in the midst of some battle.
The freaky monster-zoid goddess, Lamia, had tried to attack Drew for some strange reason. As such, Lea could only shake her head as she saved the people from the cafe fire. "You want to go against Drew? Aw man, you have a better chance of surviving scratching a bear on the nuts with porcupine quills."
While Drew took offense and decided to help Alabaster though not before Lea heard Alabaster tell Ethan: "I told her to fight her demons, you know the ones Lamia sent after her and she punched me instead?"
And when Ethan asked if the speaker of charm asked about him, Alabaster could only reply: "She said that hurt people hurt people and that to comment any further does not align with her wellness plan".
Against her better judgement, she spoke with Ethan as Alabaster and Lamia and Drew battled it out. "How is she," he had asked and at first, she did not want to answer, but well... "She was offered the chance to get rid of your mark on her skin, but she kept it instead." Lea shook her head. "She's getting some time to herself. Learning who she is outside of what you and Silena tried to get her to become."
"Do you think... do you think things will ever go back to normal?"
"Considering that you were working with the titan lord who got beat up by a sixteen-year-old that doesn't even have a driver license might I add, then no it will not."
"That's not what I meant."
"I know," she smiled sharply. "Truthfully though, I hope the two of you could find some sort of equilibrium or else, I will kill you both for bothering me with this." She paused with a small frown, "Except I will kill you twice."
"I don't know how to fix my relationship with Drew."
"Be nice to her."
"You're not even nice to her."
"I am too! Besides, she doesn't expect me to be nice and she doesn't have feelings for me and I'm not her soulmate. And I didn't join the enemy that wanted to kill not only her but her siblings and her mother and is partially the reason that her favorite sister is dead."
"Okay."
"That was fucked up."
"I realized."
"Drew deserves better."
"I get it, thank you."
"And you better understand it," Lea suddenly threatened. "Drew's too good for all of us. If you fuck this up again, I'll kill you, drag your soul back for the underworld and kill you again, and I'll drag you back a third time so her mom can have go. And I swear they'll be finding parts of your body for at least six months, and you'll still be alive for five and a half of them."
Ethan was quiet for a moment before the barest whispers of his voice made its way to her. "I'm sorry, Lea. I really am."
"You're sorry? Yeah, you're right. You're sorry. Damn near the sorriest motherfucker I've ever met. But you know what... I was told that you can forgive people without welcoming them back into your life. Apology accepted; access denied. Hurt my sister again and I'll yeet you into the sun and then we'll see how sorry you really are."
Drew's heart hardened as the days go on and laughed so bitterly as she questioned Apollon one day while the god was visiting their dorm: Why does no one want to take accountability for the things that they did to me? Why am I wrong simply for my reaction?" The god had no answer, but he condemned her he did not. She was his champion regardless of what new position she held, and he would not have her speak ill of what he deemed as his own.
Still, they surrounded her with love as the pain and grief in her soul threatens to take her from them and she overcomes it day by day.
"The moon is proud," Medea tells Drew.
"So are the stars," Eliza assures.
Lea snorted softly, brushing the hair from her best friend's face. "The aliens watching are a little confused of your life choices but they're proud of you too."
"Oh my gosh, Lea. For the last time, the gods are not aliens," Percy stressed.
"Thats what they want you to believe."
Hermes visited her dorm more and more often, spending his nights curled upon the bed with she. It was a testament of his patient and will that he held himself back from ravishing her, but he enjoyed it very much. Every morning, he would bestow a kiss upon her forehead, whispering: "beunos dias, mi alma" to her. He would summon breakfast for she and Drew too when the girl awaken unsurprised to see him. And before he left, he would place a kiss upon her cheek and speak magic as he said: "annask þík. elskan mín."
He winced in pain when Father recalled all gods back to Olympos, closing the gates to the mountain and forbidding all contact with demigods and mortals alike. His work piled up as he was forbidden from leaving, kept under the close eye of his Father for the God of gods knew that he would escape to see his Leaneíras if given half the chance.
And as such, the two of them both heard and felt her anger as the days continued on by and the rage and hurt manifested into a storm.
"About Hermes, I will put someone on T-shirt including him if I have to," she growled once and she looked to the heavens, snarling in anger as she continued her day.
In the Land of Dreams, she stood alone as she sneered at the oneiri that surrounded her, yet her Hermes was nowhere to be seen. "If you miss me," she sneered, hands clenching tight enough to draw blood. "You'd show up. Does this mark mean anything to you?"
She spent her time going on trips to Boston where Magnus and Medea spent time together when not in school or their nifty little camp that Lea was not supposed to know about. It was there that they met Sadie and Carter who were actually children of Kirke. Placing them under the custody of her Uncle, the two of them were quickly signed up to attend Brooklyn Academy though somehow Carter had been convinced to go to Yancy Academy.
It took but a simple book to realize just how different the two were for Carter was the son of Kírkē yet Sadie was the daughter of her more Roman form, Aiaia.
They attend more and more of Drew's archery tournaments and with all the cockiness in the world, Drew shrugged uncaringly. "I'm not saying that I'm the best at what I do. I'm just saying that it's me versus whoever wants to lose."
And in the face of so many bible thumpers, Drew always gives her praise to the Divine Twin Archers as she wins again and again.
Though there were days where Drew's dreams turned against her, bags gathering under her eyes, and she begs Lea for something to help her gain peaceful sleep. They talk about her upcoming tournament, the last of the season and a sponsored tour of the Grand Canyon.
And on the fourteenth of December, Perseus Jackson went missing within the dead of the night.
That morn found Leaneíras, who was usually calm and unbothered in the early hours, had panicked. She'd let loose a wail that had summoned half the camp to her cabin. She was tearing the place apart, her mageia seeping deep into the earth itself as she searched frantically for any sign of her Brother. A feeling that was only nurtured when Annabeth and Eliza admitted to not being able to feel him. Lea's search was in vain, the tracking spells giving static, and there was no hint of her brother anywhere. She fell to her knees, hands pulling at her hair and mageia sparking from her skin.
Where was her brother? WHERE WAS HER TWIN?
Time became a haze for her then and she was guided through the camp like a ghost as she attended to by the children of Hermes. Her worry was so strong that she was blind to all that happened around her.
Her hand curled around a chalice, one that was supposedly help with her shock though it tasted horrible, and she could almost name every herb used in it, but none of that mattered because her brother was missing, and she swore to find him.
And that was an oath she planned to keep until her final breath.
But what none of them know was that there was the heat of Love, the pulsing rush of Longing, the lover's whisper, irresistible—magic to make the sanest man go mad. There's magic, like Disney godmother magic, and then there's magic — the magic of blood and bone and tears shed. There's gentle going to the ball and sleeping a hundred years — and there's world domination in the blink of an eye.
WORD COUNT: 3619
TRANSLATIONS:
1) beunos dias, mi alma - good morning, my soul
2) annask þík. elskan mín - take care, my love
THINGS TO KNOW:
1) Alatheia is the daimona goddess of truth in greek mythology and is named a daughter of Zeus.
1A) In roman myths however, she is named Veritas and the daughter of Saturnus. She's usually depicted as naked (naked truth) and holding a handmirror.
2) Akesó is the daughter of Asklēpiós and Êpionê Goddess of the healing process and curing of sickness
3) "Aeaean" was an epithet of Kírkē and her paternal niece Mḗdeia, who were the sister and daughter of Aeëtes. Kírkē's son Telegonus is likewise given this epithet.
3A) I decided to repurpose it as her latin name also.
COMMENTS FROM THE AUTHOR:
1) Well, tbh... you already know 2 members of the Seven. Jason and Leo were unnegotiable.
1A) Percy is Number Three which means Lea is about to have her own adventure and we'll learn what it means to be a world walker, but no worries!
1B) The Prophecy of Seven will still be happening and be viewed from Hermes end because I am still only writing in their POV except for unnamed thirds.
1C) And we're really about to get into this and understand just what that last line means.
2) Lea's faith in Drew is unshakeable just as Percy's faith in Annabeth and just like I'm writing Jason's faith in Octavian.
3) The Serpent's Shadow was after the Giant's War and let me just say that I do not know why Rick had Drew, a 16 yr old, beefing with Sadie who was like 12. Like seriously, it makes no sense. She's in middle school and Drew's in high school? I do not know. I adopted Drew so it doesn't even matter anymore.
4) Drew is the equivalent of Orissa, the queen of archery except better. You know the lady that shoots arrows on handstands and with her feet. Her videos be going viral.
QUOTES:
1) There's magic, like Disney godmother magic, and then there's magic — the magic of blood and bone and tears shed. There's gentle going to the ball and sleeping a hundred years — and there's world domination in the blink of an eye. - I saw this on a CHARMED fanfic description some time back. I don't think I read it, but I did make note of this.
2) "...There is the heat of Love, the pulsing rush of Longing, the lover's whisper, irresistible—magic to make the sanest man go mad." — Homer, The Iliad Book 14, Lines 259-261
A Small Skillset for Children of Aphrodítē | Venus:
1) Silena had the power of empathy with a touch of psychic reflection which allowed her the ability to reflect emotions back onto another person or onto another being. (See: Beckendorf's death scene)
2) Drew has the power of charmspeak, but she also has an ingrain ability for archery more so that whatever arrow she used be infused with love, lust, or apathy. She does not know about that power and it has since been overpowered by the abilities that she gain from being Apollon's champion.
3) Piper has the power of charmspeak and beauty enhancement. You know that scene in TLH where she saves Leo during the battle with Enceladus and the giants are so distracted by her looks, it's like that. An ingrained power that draws attention to her to the point of distraction.
4) Eliza has the power to inflict the madness of love and lust with a minor war manipulation gift.
5) Gwendolyn has the power of war manipulation and shapeshifting, but the downside to this is that Gwen can only shift into other females or female-presenting. If they are androgynous, genderfluid, or nonbinary, she cannot change into them.
6) Lacey has the power of war manipulation, but unlock Eliza and Gwen that can ignite peace or take it away, Lacey can only ignite peace. This makes her very favored by the goddesses Ëirene and Harmonia.
7) Mitchell can cry pearl tears. Since it was said that pearls were the tears of Aphrodite and they are also one of her symbols of power.
8) A few others have powers of shapeshifting, romance omniscience, fertility manipulation, beauty related curses/blessings, cloud and wave manipulation though that is limited, and a limited gift of prophecy but only in the sense of love. They can all naturally speak any of the 5 romance languages, well technically six since those languages are descended from Latin. It can be debated that Drew and Piper also have the gift of inflicting the madness of love and lust by the strength of their charmspeak.
I'm bringing this up now because I still debating on how I want this go in the HoO arc.