The Senate Meeting that New Roma was having was a bit interesting. It was definitely more official than Camp Half-Blood's ping pong table. She especially liked the way that Livia commanded attention so easily to her, and the way the light from the hole in the ceiling beamed down like her own personal halo and spotlight. The girl explained knowing about the other camp and being forced to keep it a secret because of the gods. Look at that, she and Lea had another thing in common aside from their gorgeous looks.
Listening to the way that she insulted people; that Dodie boy for one, in the most nice-nastiest tone.
Lea smiled at the girl when she dismissed them because of some kind flying ship. "You know, I like you," Lea said as the girl and Percy both flanked her. "You remind me of my best friend, Drew. The kind of people that aren't sure that they are a good person and all that, but you know for a fact that you're hot as fuck."
"I didn't ask to be psychoanalyzed and how did you even get all of that from that little conversation?"
Lea shrugged.
"And that sounds more like Octavian than me."
She could see that too.
Lea followed after them, looking over Percy's new charity cases; and he was such a bleeding heart, and she looked over Livia's group of friends. They walked through the plaza together where her siblings kept placing food and drinks in her hand.
It was weird, but they also minded the boundaries that she kept around herself especially when she sent a bolt of mageia at some kool-aid drinking boy that called her Lea as if she gave him permission to speak to her so friendly. She made a mental note to work on the spell that she used that got her there. It let her keep her body for one thing so she wondered if it circumventing whatever spelled potion that Picky Peitho and her friends used on Lea.
Livia tensed beside her, and Lea quickly looked at her. The girl wasn't looking at Lea though. Her gaze was set firmly in front of her, and when Lea looked that way, she saw the blond boy—Alabastard's soulmate; and she needed stop calling him a Bastard because she vaguely remembered Drew telling her that the attack on him and Ethan had been because Lea snatched away his power. Lea saw the blond boy linking pinkies with, ugh... it was the new girl of the Tenth Cabin. The one that was talking shit about Drew like Lea wouldn't run her a fade.
There was hurt in Livia's eyes before her expression closed off as they met the group in the middle.
They sized each other up, and Lea got to watch Percy and Annabeth rush at each other like children. Lea felt somethin in her ache. She wondered if anyone would hug her like that when she returned to her world. If she returned at a time where the people that knew her still lived and hadn't forgotten about her.
They talked a bit more, something about burning teddy bears? before they sat on a bunch of couches in the middle of their city.
Lea was a bit disappointed because: "Where is Drew?"
She raised a brow at the double-take that Annabeth gave when she saw her, which made sense because Lea had been hiding behind Livia. Percy leaned over to whisper to her about what was going on while the Piper girl looked offended. "Why would she be here?"
"Because in my world, she's the one that rescued Aunt Hera and she's more skilled in fighting and diplomacy than you. Clearly. You just tried to used charm on Octavian. Drew wouldn't have done something as stupid as that."
"Drew uses her charmspeak more than anyone I know."
"You must not know many charmspeakers then because Drew can get whatever she want without using her powers."
"She couldn't keep her title as Cabin Leader."
"She never wanted it to begin with."
The people sitting with them watched them go back and forth. Lea wouldn't have cared, but the girl was talking shit about her best friend; her sister back in her own universe and now here in this world, she hurt Lea's sister by being with Blondie who Livia had told her that she was with just yesterday.
And Lea fixed her eyes onto him. Oh, she had something for that asshole. No one hurt Lea's people and got away with it even if it wasn't her counterpart in another universe. Her sister in simpler words.
"Hmm," Lea stated, leaning forward as she ran her eyes over Jason and Piper. "I can sense faint flickers of charmspeak around him. And you claim to be better than Drew?" Lea snorted. "If you were charming him to be your boyfriend, then you'd have to do it every other week or so depending on how strong your spoken charm is or every day depending on his mental fortitude which is probably very weak right now due to having his memories ripped out. I think I have something for that."
"Please make sure that he receives it," Octavian stated, looking towards her. Lea nodded, wondering why Livia didn't ask for it considering how the girl had slumped in relief. Then Lea remembered that Livia was the leader of all these people, and probably didn't want to seem weak.
"Medea can help me?" Lea stated, turning to look at the alternate version of her friend. The girl startled as if she was surprised, but Lea ignored that. Next Lea herself and Alabaster before Lea took his mageia, Medea was the strongest witch that she knew.
"Back to the charmspeak?" Livia murmured under her breath.
Lea blinked. "Oh, right! Well, hmm... so you're not charming him down. Points to you for that, I guess. Which means..." Lea scoffed, turning her nose up at Piper and Jason with cruel amusement in her eyes. "You're a cheating bastard and you're a good old-fashioned home wrecker? I can't imagine being the side chick to my own boyfriend."
"Didn't you say that Hermes was married in your world," Annabeth defended, brows furrowed.
Lea raised a brow. "Again, I can't imagine being the side chick to my boyfriend." She hummed as she tilted her head to the side. "Though, I suppose husband would be a better word to use considering that we've technically been married since I was twelve in accordance with Olympian Laws."
"You're married," Percy wheezed. Lea blinked at him before pursing her lips. Oh, look at that. He had the same look on his face that her actual twin wore when he learned that tidbit.
"I am," Lea shrugged before turning back to Piper and Jason. "Technically speaking. In actuality, we've only recently began dating after the Titan War. We knew each other for four years before we got together, and the two of you knew each other for like what? Three days and immediately jump into a relationship? Do you even know each other's middle names?"
"Jason doesn't have one," Livia stated blandly though her eyes sparkled with malicious intent.
Lea hummed, turning to look at Piper when the girl didn't say anything in her defense. Lea felt a bit disappointed and a lot irritated. The stupid empathy and relationship crap that Drew and Eliza did was rubbing off on her. She should have known that Drew becoming the Protector of Ill-Fated Lovers was going to have repercussions. Her best friend would lose her damn mind if she had been there with Lea. "Okay, so that's established. Are you sure that Aphrodite is your mother?"
"I am very sure," the girl stated through gritted teeth. "I know her better than Drew could."
Fear locked them in place when Lea's mageia abruptly manifested. It washed over them all, curling safely around Percy and Annabeth and Medea alongside Livia and Octavian and Jason sensing the familial connection that she felt towards them and that they felt towards each other, circuiting through her like a never-ending loop. "Watch your words, Peter Piper. I put your counterpart in her place once for speaking on things that she didn't know. I'm not afraid to do it to you also."
"I—Lea..." Percy said hesitantly; her name still sounded strange coming from him. She had to remind herself that while he was Percy... he was not her Percy. Her brother wouldn't have even said anything because he was just as protective of Drew also, coming to see the girl as a younger sister.
Lea scoffed, rolling her eyes. "I'm just saying. How is she supposed to be progressive and problematic? You haven't stopped scowling at Livia since Jason started looking at her as she was his missing rib. And you're what? You're worried that he'd leave you for her? You should. I mean look at us. Sally Jackson made pretty children." She reached out to absently pat Livia's arm in comfort, sensing the way that the girl tensed. It felt like being around Ariadnê all over again.
"And you're going on a quest to stop the goddess of earth, herself." Lea pursed her lips. "It's a quest with huge stakes, and you're worried about his actual girlfriend. Your priorities are fucked considering the only girlfriend that you knew of before was the one that existed only in your memories."
Piper, Jason, and Leo flinched while Livia laughed lightly under her breath.
She snorted softly. "You're seriously who they chose to be on this quest? Like what's your talent other than charmspeak because you don't have any callouses on your hands and I don't smell any of the Tenth Cabin's callouses remover gel on you, so I take it you're not a fighter? I suspect that when you pissed Drew off because there is absolutely no doubt that you did then she made sure that you'd never be able to use her hairline that, so I suppose that's why I don't smell any of their scent neutralizers. You don't even smell like the neutralizers that they use in their perfumes. The ones that smell like mixture of roses and tear gas. "
"I'm the Cabin Leader," Piper stated. "I can use—"
"There's a difference between being the cabin leader and the leader of the cabin. You might can tell them what their activities for the day are but are you in control of the intelligence squadron? Do you oversee the products stock? Are you in charge of the dating pool? Do you know what the cabin is really about? It's a front for the damn mafia no matter how much they make it seem like it's just cute clothes and relationships. Heck, I have an outfit for them where the skirt that is bulletproof and their heels have hidden daggers within them. They all carry hidden weapons. You ever see a piece of jewelry that they just cannot go anywhere without? Aliens' above, Valentina's purse turns into a gun. So, no, you can't use shit without being the Leader of the Cabin which means your only talent is being pretty and being able to talk." And clearly not that well since she hadn't gotten control over the conversation yet. Drew wouldn't have let her get that far even without using her charm just by turning the conversation around and Renae who didn't even have charmspeak probably would have showed her what she could do by like ripping Lea's vocal cords out. Besides their crew already had a diplomat in the form of Annabeth when she was being pissed off, and Percy thought quick on his feet if he wasn't trying to annoy people, and if Jason was good enough to be with Livia and friends with that Octavian boy and the champion of Juno; though Lea remembered that being some movie, then he should reasonably be skilled in diplomacy. "Are you—do you plan on beating the earth by being a damsel in distress?
Lea looked at Annabeth then Percy then Jason and the Frank boy. Annabeth and Percy, she knew were strategists. The Frank boy was the son of Mars?— the son of a planet, come on, now the alien joke was supposed to be a joke!—so he'd be a decent strategist also. Lea knew for a fact that Clarisse was the best one after Annabeth, and the times that they teamed up, usually meant that Lea was whirling around with three different mageia shields. And Drew had told her from her quest that Jason was a strategic, a bit empty minded but that could be blamed on his missing memories and that he was the leader of this camp, so he had to have some type of strategic mind especially if he was supposed to be Percy's counterpart.
"You're just as bad as Drew," Piper stated, voice thick as if she was going to cry. Oh aliens. Please don't cry. Lea could not do tears. "I see why you're friends."
"Mm. No." The daughter of Poseidon waved her hand through air. "I guarantee that I am worse, and also... she's my sister. She had needed a better one than the traitor."
Percy and Annabeth recoiled.
"Silena was not— she was being manipulated!"
"Funny how I didn't name anyone, but you still knew who I was talking about," Lea mused, head tilted to the side. Her eyes caught on to the something pretty interesting with the group. She wondered if Medea could tell since it was her that taught Lea a few tricks. "Anyway, she was actively helping the titans try to take over the world. Just because she sacrificed herself does not make her a hero. That's like calling Luke a hero and he started the damn war."
Annabeth flinched and Percy reached out to comfort her.
"Clearly, she's a terrible person if she did it in more than one world," Lea pointed out. "You can claim manipulation all that you want but that doesn't change that she knowingly led kids to their deaths which includes a few of your siblings, Annabeth. Not to mention, her own siblings at that. Did you know Dove was pregnant? She had just told Silena and the others. Not even a day later, Silena sent her into ambush on a simple mission to retrieve a few supplies. A supply mission that went from ten empousa and five humans to being over 100 dracaena and hellhounds. What did she say? Luke promised that she was saving lives. Fewer people would get hurt. Ha!" She nodded to the beads around both of their necks that matched the ones that she summoned from her pocket dimension. "Oh, yeah. This is definitely a few amount. Gee whiz, she sure saved a lot of them."
Scoffing, she banished the beads back to where she kept them, and focused back on Annabeth and Percy as they curled into themselves like they were baring for a physical blow. "You cannot use manipulation as justification for her treachery just because of the consequences she faced. I can understand easily that she manipulated though truthfully, I call bullshit on that, but it also doesn't change the fact that her treason was unacceptable. Life isn't a damn fairytale where everything gets swept under the rug so sacrificing herself doesn't excuse anything because all it means is that she gets to escape the consequences of her actions while everyone else has to live with the repercussions."
"You're... you're talking about Drew," Piper said.
The look that Lea gave her was bland. "Well, duh. I'm damn sure not talking about you anymore. How would you feel if everyone thought that it would make sense for you to be a traitor simply because you have charmspeak? It certainly didn't help that Ethan was a traitor and then her favorite sister. The one person that knew her better than she knew herself, who she was raised with as the only two kids under ten in that cabin for a few years. They were the Stolls of the Tenth Cabin, the Annabeth and Malcolm, the Clarisse and Sherman, the Beckendorf and Jake, the Katie and Miranda, the Percy and Lea." Percy and Annabeth looked down at their hands while Piper's face shuddered. "And Silena betrayed her anyway. So, no. I won't hear any slander about her. I tolerate no type of defamation of character when it comes to Drew Tanaka."
Her eyes sparked with mageia as she balled her fists. "Like we can get active. She'll lay you out flat. She wants to be a makeup mogul, but she'd do better work in the CIA! All of you think she's weak. I know that she's the type to have all these stupid giants give her the keys to the heavens and they'll thank her for it. Got that? She's the strongest person, I know and while I usually don't feel connected to a damn thing that ain't got nothing to do with me, but Drew has everything to do with me. She and Medea are my best friends. Annabeth's my friend. Percy's my brother. Livia, here, is my sister, and the Octavian boy is her brother so that makes him mine also. I guess Jason's my brother-in-law? I don't know. He's the soulmate to one of my friends back home so either way, he's one of mine. And if you got a problem with them, you have a problem with me and I can tell you now, you don't want one with me."
The world was silent around them before Livia's shoulders shook as she laughed and giggled and straight out cackled. "Oh, my." She turned to the one that she introduced as Lilith. "Is this…malignant self-love? Like is this considered self-cest because wow… I think I'm in love."
"Of course, your type would be with yourself with contacts," Octavian stated dryly, eyeing Lea in contemplation since she declared him her brother.
Lea turned to Leo. "Hey, did you know that you're being possessed right now?"
"WHAT?!"
Recoiling, Lea furrowed her brows. "Oh... so you didn't know? Yeah. You, Percy, and Jason all have a shade in you." She raised her hand, and the three spirits flew at her while everyone stared at her. "I can do this because of Hermes, but like... it's not exactly a stable thing so, um, Medea? Can you handle this? Your mom is Trivia, right? The counterpart to Hekate? She's the leader of ghosts, I think?" Or was that the Melody person that attacked Lea in the Underworld? The girl nodded absently, conjuring a crystal into her hand and the shades flew from Lea's weak hold—which good because they were about to break free, Lea was not a necromancer, thank you very much—and were siphoned into the crystal that she then crushed.
Livia raised a brow before turning to Percy. "I like her better than you. This one is mine."
Lea snorted, shaking her head while Percy looked offended. She held her hands out to her siblings. "I think... I believe that you have more pressing matters to deal with in regards to the quest, but I think that this may be easier on the two... well three of us."
"What?" they both asked, placing their hands in her own. "I'm going to share our memories. We'll be seeing each other's lives. It should hopefully make this alliance that easier." The other Jackson twins shared looks before nodding at her. "Okay, well, here we go." She pretended that she didn't see Octavian and Jason and Annabeth reaching for Livia and Percy's other hands. "I pray to Mnēmosúnē with the beautiful hair, the fair-robed child of Ouranós, the consort I invoke of Ζεύς divine; source of the holy, sweetly speaking Moûsai nine; free from the oblivion of the fallen mind, Come, blessed power, thy mystics' memory wake to holy rites, and Lḗthē's fetters break; three lives come together and animosity disappear into the aether."
You were twelve years old, and you learn that you're a demigod. Your Father name is Poseidon, god of the seas.
You were twelve years old, and you learn that you have a twin brother. His name is Percy Jackson, son of Sally Jackson.
You were twelve years old, and you learn that you, unfortunately, have a soulmate. His name is Hermes, god of boundaries.
You were thirteen years old, and you've located the Golden Fleece.
You were thirteen years old, and you're fighting the Cadborosaurus.
You were thirteen years old, and you were fighting pirates of all things.
You were fourteen years old, and you are holding the sky on your back.
You were fourteen years old, and you are holding the sky on your back.
You were fourteen years old, and you are holding the sky on your back.
You were fifteen years old, meeting the titan goddess of Ogygia.
You were fifteen years old, joining the Divine Trickster of the Dii Consentes in a sweet union of love.
You were fifteen years old, meeting the Olympian god of the Seas; your Father.
You were sixteen years old, and you were the Child of the Prophecy standing over an enemy with the face of a friend.
You were sixteen years old, and you watch as the Champion of Juno took his seat upon the toppled black throne.
You were sixteen years old, and you emblaze Lævateinn into divine essence centering yourself as the Mother of Witchcraft.
You were sixteen years old.
You were sixteen years old.
You were sixteen years old.
Leaneíras jerked, falling back into her own body in a horrible case of vertigo. She really needed to do something about that while the others rushed to help her siblings and the interlopers up. The sky darkened above them as the ground rumbled beneath; both of her siblings glared at nothing. Octavian and Jason and Annabeth were heaving though their eyes also blazed with anger.
"Eliza?" the girl murmured, looking at Percy. Her eyes were closed as Octavian and Jason and some other people reached out to touch her as if they were grounding. Lea remembered flashes of something called a "feral" episode so maybe that was it.
"I see why you're so protective of this Drew," Livia stated after a moment. "Very well. I will take her under my wing."
Percy shook as he wrapped his arms around himself. "Mom... she...Ariadne."
"So, that's what you meant about stalker with delusions of grandeur," Octavian murmured while Jason stared at Livia as if she had placed every star in the sky.
"Should I get her a vial of my blood," he murmured to himself.
That would probably be a marriage proposal because Livia's weird fondness for blood. Gross.
Livia turned towards Medea. "Come over here, Medea. You are now under my protection. I forgive you for everything that Trenton has done for his treason in response for your dedication to my little sister."
"Wait," Lea argued. "Who said that I was the youngest?"
"You do give off little sister vibes," Percy agreed, tightening his hold on Annabeth and absolutely refusing to look in Octavian's direction. Not that it mattered since the boy refused to look at him also. Good. Lea wasn't going to be only one suffering from the things that Percy and Annabeth said! Eliza was the only one with braincells out of them if Livia's memories of Octavian was any indication.
"That is not true!"
"My universe. My rules," Livia plainly stated before eyeing her up and down. "You found out that you were in love in the midst of a battle?"
"I'm sorry but who found out that the person that they went claiming as 'theirs' had a crush on them only because they kissed them?"
"Both of you—"
"Percy, I swear to the aliens, if you say anything... you kissed Annabeth and Rachel and that island girl and didn't realize either girl had a crush on you until the little raft came and Annabeth plainly admitted to it. And that's just here in your world."
Percy closed his mouth while Annabeth laughed.
"I, for, one never needed to know that much about Livia's sex life," Octavian said only to wheeze when Livia punched him in the stomach.
"Don't they have a quest that the Senate needs to be voting for," Livia hissed. "Because I am sustaining my vote."
"Wait, Livia," Jason protested, but the girl raised her hand. "I cannot in good conscience make an unbiased vote on this. Not only because of you and Perseus, but also because of the onslaught of memories that I just received."
Lea whistled innocently especially at the hurt look in Piper's face as Jason turned fully into Livia's direction and crowded in her space.
"Your jealousy was a bit funny from your point view," Octavian snickered. "Considering that you didn't even recognize why you were so jealous over Jason."
"He's mine," Livia insisted.
"In more ways than one," Annabeth snickered before guilt filled her expression as she looked at Piper.
"Okay," Reyna cut in, looking between the siblings and their closest friends. Lea ignored her though holding her hand to Medea. She will make this version as strong as Lea's friend. "We shall break for half-hour then reconvene"
Her voice trailed off, and Lea looked to her only for Hermes; this universe's Hermes to appear before her.
"Hermes," she stated.
"Hermes?" Percy and Annabeth repeated bemused. Lea wondered why for a moment then remembered that weird old man with the goatee from Percy's memories. Please. Lea would have went screaming for the hills if that was her soulmate, and Lea didn't believe in them.
The god nodded at Percy and Annabeth while the other demigods and legacies stared open-mouthed at the sight of him.
"You have been requested to stand before the gods," Hermes told her and Lea heaved a sigh as she stood to her feet. Her siblings scrambled out of their seats after her, pulling her desperately into hugs.
"Let us know before you leave," Percy stated while Livia avoided the eyes of Hermes, a small blush on her cheeks. Lea and Octavian stared at her judgedly while Jason reached out to hold her hand.
"Cross my heart and hope you die," Lea stated.
"That is not how that goes," Hermes murmured as she placed her hands in his. She gave them a wave, smiling at her siblings as he lifted her up and away.
WORD COUNT: 4572
COMMENTS FROM AUTHOR:
1) A lot of ppl question why the unclaimed went to the cabin of Hērmês. Well Hērmês is the god of travelers and in Ancient Greece, it was customary to allow strangers to stay your home. It was also bad luck to kill said visitor/guest and or mistreat them. But he was also like the deliverer of fostered infants: Diónusos, the Dioskouroi, Helénē, Astraîos, Arkás, Asklēpiós.
2) And he played games with the children of other gods such as in:
Callimachus, Hymn 3 to Artemis 46 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) :
"When any of the maidens [the Okeanides] doth disobedience to her mother [Tethys], the mother calls the Kyklopes to her child-Arges or Steropes; and from within the house comes Hermes stained with burnt ashes [playfully pretending to be one of the frightful Kyklopes]. And straightway he plays bogey to the child and she runs into her mother's lap, with her hands upon her eyes."
This comes after Homer and Hesiod's time, and you all know how I am about timeline accuracy.
3) Now Lea is the one Piper should be thinking about when she faces off with Khiónē about being called useless.
3A) Drew was never jealous. The only time that she feared Piper was when she put a knife to her throat.
3B) Like seriously, what the hell was she doing during the six months between TLH and SON? She's "not like other aphrodite girls" but she didnt train at all? Gleeson was right there when she went back to stay with her dad, and if she stayed at camp then hello... the training fields were there too. Why did it take until HOH for her to learn how to fight?
4) Yall, I think I dislike Piper the most out of all of the characters. I thought it was Annabeth, but no. It's Piper. Hell, at this point, I'm thinking about replacing her with her cousin as the daughter of Aphrodítē shoo.
5) I find it amusing how the Livia arc is longer than Ari arc but that may be just because of the route I took with them. 6) Also, I warned you all at the beginning of the HoO arc that Lea was going to be downright mean in this arc.