Song: アンノウン・マザーグース

Chapters referenced: 26, 38

Cabin 5 — Gods

OC (12) — Travis (7) — Connor (7)

Late May 2001

Luke is the first person he sees at the peak of Camp Half Hill. Annabeth is the next he sees. Then there's two others he doesn't recognize but they're young, just as young as Annabeth. Trudging up to Thalia's pine with his duffel bag, he almost shouts to get Luke's attention.

But the laugh stops him.

In the short few months they spent together last summer, Rowling always thought Luke to be incapable of relaxing, much less having fun. Living on the streets, surviving who knows what, Rowling never pried into Luke's history. Just accepted the fact that the guy has issues.

But Luke is grinning wide at the three little kids surrounding him, smiling in a way that he didn't before last year.

Luke looks genuinely happy, Rowling muses on as he takes an alternative route into camp.


"What are the gods to you?"

Travis and Connor Stoll ask him with curious tilts of their heads. They're so small. They're so tiny. Literally half his size. He could punt them if he wanted. And they look so deceptively fragile but a taser to the side yesterday proved maybe not. Luke's littlest half-brothers. Apparently, these two are not twins. One is older by almost a year. Hard to believe that when they are the same height. But he guesses malnutrition does that to you.

He bends to their level, his sword sheath scraping against the ground as he does so.

"Why do you want to know?" he asks with a similar curious tilt.

"Just because," one of them says.

"Why not?" the other shrugs.

' Just because. Why not .' Huh. That's a good enough reason, Rowling supposes.

"The gods…" he muses. What are they to him? He doesn't think about his dad, Ares, all that much. He doesn't feel pride like Clarisse does. He doesn't feel the animosity Luke has for his own dad. He doesn't feel the need to defend his name whenever Ares is bad-mouthed, especially if they're true. He doesn't feel the need to rant about his dad either and how he's never here. Ares is just… a nobody to him, a concept, an idea that never expects anything from him so he won't expect anything either.

"They're nothing to me," he admits. "I don't care about them."

"Even though he's your dad?"

Rowling stands, frowning and running a hand through his hair. "My mom remarried a few months after I was born. I considered my step dad my real dad. Even so, just because he's my bio-dad, I don't have to love him. He never did anything for me other than giving me half his genes and a bajillion half-siblings and cousins. Loving your parents just because they're your mom or dad isn't right. They have to love you back, you know?" Twin eyes stare up at him with a blank look. He lost them. Ah… how does he explain this in a way little kids like them will understand? Should he even be doing this? He won't get in trouble will he?

"Like, for example, your mom probably did things your dad didn't, right? Tuck you in bed. Read you bedtime stories. Make you breakfast."

"We don't know our mom," they say in unison. "She left the country to do a heist."

Rowling scratches his head in befuddlement. "Oh. Uh… Then who took care of you guys? Your grandparents?"

One of them brightens. "Dad did! And his snakes, Martha and George."

The other scowls and crosses his arms. "Then he got bored of us and —" the first sags, hurt settling on his face, and the second is quickly revising his statement with a deeper scowl, "He got busy. He got super busy and dropped us off at the orphanage."

That's — really weird. Unheard of actually. To have a God play parent? Rowling frowns. "Are you guys sure it was really the messenger god?"

They didn't get time to answer. Annabeth comes running up to them, yelling about a competition or something. All three of them running off to who knows where. They're weird, Rowling thinks and their conversation fades from his mind.

His dad is a deadbeat.

Why should he care about him?

Ares never did anything for him.

So he won't either.

That is all their relationship is and Rowling is fine with that.

So when Luke wants a revolution five years later, Rowling wants nothing to do with it. That's strictly Ares's problem. But Luke makes it all their business by dragging all of them into it. Even the youngest of the campers and fuck. Fuck. Luke's always been resentful to the point where he could seriously face repercussions, but Rowling always thought he had the decency to not include children in fights.

He has to be manipulated by the titan, right ? He thinks to himself. There's no way Luke would ever — That Luke would even think of bringing danger to — he can't stop seeing Luke all those years ago, happy, laughing and smiling, and that's not a lie, right? Luke's not in control, otherwise he wouldn't be doing this. This all has to be a big misunderstanding.

"Wrong. I'm doing this out of my own violation," Luke tells him later in a dream and Rowling wants to throw up.

"You're lying," he still tries anyway. He refuses to believe, he won't believe Luke is capable of this all by himself.

Luke sighs and runs a hand through his hair, eyes bleak and dark, hopeless and scornful. "You're too soft, Rowling. You and Karen both. Always thinking of the next generation. Give it a rest already. If this generation doesn't make it, then what hope does the next one have?"

"So your idea of a solution is a war?!" he rebukes, "There won't be a next generation if you succeed, Luke!"

"I'm taking it you're not interested in joining me?"

"Stop fucking around. People can seriously die! Annabeth can really—"

"Then goodbye, Rowling," Luke says with a wave of a hand and he wakes up in his cabin gasping for air.

Luke calls him soft.

And he's not wrong. He hates fighting. It's a scorn to his dad, but he hates fighting. He hates how much it hurts when he punches someone. He hates how much his muscles ache swinging his sword. He hates the heavy weight in his gut when he draws blood.

But if it means protecting the camp he calls home, then he'll give it his all. Besides, out of all the counselors, only him, Lillith, and Mikaela are decent fighters. Lee with his bow and Karen with her crossbow are more suited to be in the backline.

He'll give it his all.

But he knows when it comes down to it.

When it really comes down to it.

He can never hurt another human.


"Karen is dead," Lillith says as she twirls her gardener hat on a finger, dirty shoes propped on top of his desk. He wishes he has the energy to tell her to knock it off.

"And Mikaela is leaving," Rowling says numbly flat on his bed.

"Now it's just you, me, and Lee."

"What about Rose?"

"Rose is going to leave too. She was just too much of a coward to be the first to go. Not that she was doing much to begin with."

"Ah." HIs clock ticks-tocks for 10 seconds. Then he flips onto his stomach and screams into his pillow. His parents might not be home, off to some orchestra performance, but the apartment walls are thin and they already have complaints from their neighbors.

"So… I guess Silena, Annabeth, and Beckendorf are going to be counselors?" he groans dejectedly, voice muffled by the pillow. "I don't want them there. It's going to be so awkward. Do they even know anything about fighting and strategizing?"

Lillith didn't say anything for a moment, but he doesn't need to look to know she's staring at him. He hears a sigh before Lillith stands and walks over to the bed to lean over him, arms on her hips.

"I think you should quit too. You're not cut out for war."

He begins to protest but Lillith cuts in, "Clarisse is not as mentally fragile as you. She'll bounce back."

"She's 13!" he argues.

"And you're also a minor. I'm an adult. Do as I say," Lillith bosses and he kicks her lightly.

"Shut up. I'm only a year younger than you."

"Still a minor," Lillith retorts and Rowling is revving his leg for another kick when the doorbell rings.

"You think that's Lee?" Lillith asks. "He was supposed to be here an hour ago for our counselor meeting."

"Probably. I can't believe how late this guy is."

And Rowling bounces off the bed to answer the door.

It's not Lee.

Silena Beauregard stands on the other side of the door with a shaky smile, twiddling her thumbs in front of her.

"H-Hey," she squeaks out.

"What are you doing here?" Rowling asks blankly.

"Um, uh." Silena's eyes shift left and right and she's rocking back and forth on her heels. "Lee told me to tell you guys, he can't make it. Something about his mom being sick. He has to take care of her. Also can you guys drive me back to camp?"

Bullshit. Lee's mom never lets him see her. And Lee would never send someone to deliver a message for him. She's lying. But Silena just lost her sister and Rowling is willing to cut all slack.

"Alright then. Come on in. We can drive you back to Camp in a little bit."

"...Thanks," Silena mumbles, head lowering and crap . He can hear her sniffling. Rowling can't help the panic. He's not good at comforting people. It's probably the worst thing he's at. Good thing Lillith is decent enough.

"Go ahead and get anything you want in the fridge," he says to Silena, pulling a chair for her and making sure she's comfortable before heading to his room.

"Who was it?" Lillith says while rummaging through his belongings, his middle school yearbooks specifically, even somehow flipping exactly to the page of his picture, even laughing and pointing at it. "Look! You had a mohawk? That's so funny. It kinda suits you too." He balks at her boldness.

"It's Silena. And put that away. I don't want your gross hands getting dirt all over—"

A rush of air behind him. Lillith's eyes widening, her hand reaching for her spear resting on the wall is all the warning he gets before a drakon is slithering into his room and tears Lillith's arm off.

Time slows down.

Blood, too much blood, life-endangering amount of blood, spews from Lillith's open wound and coats his bedroom. The drakon is spinning to face him, left leg poised to kick Lillith's fallen spear under the bed. Small, light footsteps come from behind and it could only be Silena's. They're too steady to be injured. So Silena is the spy. Silena killed Karen. Lillith is probably going to die because of her too.

Everything is still moving so slowly.

The drakon is opening its mouth. He can see acid forming.

He's too close. There's no way he can dodge this.

And even if you can, Silena is stupidly walking in the line of fire. Kids are fucking stupid.

If he's going to die, then he might as well kill Silena too.

He grabs his sword propped against the wall behind him and flicks the sheath buckle off.

Don't waste time. He doesn't have time. Finish the job.

What? Kill Silena? Him?

He spins and swings the sword as hard as he can, momentum and gravity taking the sheath off.

Yes. Him.

Silena's eyes widen in surprise, stepping back, and he ups his speed.

You can't. That's not right.

She's not fast enough. He can take her out with a stab through the throat.

Nothing is right in the world. Silena brought this on herself.

He rears his arm back for a thrust.

It'll be painless.

He steadies his shaky hands.

She won't feel a thing.

He shoves down the reluctancy, the hesitancy.

It'll be over fast.

And thrusts the sword forward.

You can't though. Can you?

The blade stops inches short from unmarred skin. His hand trembles but he can't will it forward. Silena hiccups in fear, tripping over her own shoes and toppling over onto her back. She literally can't be an easier target but his arm refuses to move.

Ah…

Luke was right. He really is soft.


Author's Note:

Thank you for reading! I don't really have a set schedule. It's more of write and upload if I have the idea and motivation but! A separate story of mine had a lot of engagement and all of that is spurring ideas for this work. (Kinda wish it'll help me think of ideas for said fic tho 😭)

If my work life/school-life goes according to plan, it'll be released in the order of: Cabin 4 (Gods), Cabin 6 (Gods), Cabin 11 (Gods), Annabeth (Fight), Jason (Future), then Annabeth (Soccer). The last five actually has more Travis and Connor rather than the measly bits I had here. The next two are written surprisingly enough! I kinda started with cabin 6 then worked my way back to cabin 5, then finished up cabin 4.

The next update should be in a week or two max... hopefully haha ^^;