Some TIme Before…
Marcus stared at his plate, unable to find an appetite.
"Careful Marcus," Aaron called out to him, "Hunter's been eyeing that rib on ya."
"Have not!" Hunter shot back, though he quickly averted his eyes from Marcus' plate.
Without a word, Marcus lifted his plate, sweeping what was there onto Hunter's. "It's alright. Not hungry."
Hunter and Aaron exchanged a look across the table they were sitting at, a moment of quiet in the sea of activity was the evening meal at Camp Half Blood. Kelly and Alicia joined them at their table, laughing at some joke that Marcus hadn't heard. The new girl was with them, and it was probably for her benefit that they were louder than normal. What was her name again… Mary? Abby?
"Maddie, better be careful!" Aaron said in a stage whisper, giving Hunter the side eye. "Hunter's already stolen Marcus' food. Wouldn't want him to steal yours too!"
"Stop telling the kid crazy things." Marcus said, cutting off the scared look that started to creep to Maddie's face.
"So he didn't take your food?" Maddie asked.
"I mean… I guess technically he did, but it was more accepting than taking…" Marcus shrugged, his mind wandering back down the paths it had taken before. It's getting worse…
"Hey, Earth to King Brood." Alicia poked him on his forehead, bringing him out of his reverie. "Cut it out will ya? You're scaring the children."
"Yeah, Hunter can't take when you're brooding." Kelly teased, causing Hunter to sputter around his drink and the rest of the table to burst into laughter.
Marcus rolled his eyes, swatting away Alicia's hand as she tried to poke him again. "Knock it off already. I'm not some stuffed Cyclops you can just poke and prod."
"First off, who'd want a stuffed Cyclops?" Alicia sniffed, "Second, I'll poke you till you stop looking like you wanna murder whatever you're staring at in the distance. What's got your toga in a twist?"
Kelly raised an eyebrow, an expression Marcus swore was becoming more and more prevalent among their friend group since he started doing it. "'Toga in a twist'?"
Alicia shrugged. "I heard Chiron say it to Mr. D. I figure if it's enough to aggravate a God, it might get something out of our resident brood boy."
Marcus was about to make some witty reply when Maddie piped up. "You are quiet tonight Marcus… More than usual anyway, and that's a lot."
Aaron burst out laughing. "Damn, only been around a few days and the new kids already got you pegged!"
Marcus rolled his eyes. She wouldn't understand. "It's nothing." He said shortly, though he couldn't help the tightening of his jaw as laughter from the Apollo cabin got particularly loud.
"Marcus… were you fighting with the Olympian kids again…?" Alicia's eyes were narrowed and her voice was full of suspicion.
"It wasn't much of a fight. Those pampered pricks wouldn't know real training if it bit them in their-"
"Fighting? Again?" Maddie's gaze jumped between the two, her confusion plain.
Hunter leaned forward, clapping Marcus on the shoulder. "Ya see Maddie, our boy here has a complex-"
"It's not a complex-" Marcus cut in.
"Is too." Alicia said.
"It is not!"
"What would you call it then?" Kelly asked, too innocently.
"I'd call it an unwillingness to deal with assholes." Marcus scoffed.
"Assholes?" Maddie asked.
"Whoa hey, don't follow Marcus' example." Alicia threw him a scolding look. "His… colorful vocabulary isn't really something you should aspire to."
"In fact it's to be avoided at all costs." Kelly added. "Lord knows how he expects to get a girlfriend with that sort of mouth."
"According to the Aphrodite Cabin, he's number three on their list of blind date suggestions, so I think he's good." Aaron shrugged.
"The fuck?!" Marcus practically exploded. "How do you know that?!"
"Because I'm number one, obviously." Aaron replied with a cheeky wink. "Of course, that's on their 'Minor Halfblood' list, so take it with a grain of salt."
There it was again. That distinction. Marcus couldn't help the scowl returning to his features. Earlier that day he'd had to deal with some newly claimed Olympians thinking they were better than him just because their parents were members of the Twelve, and now he had to find out that distinction even went so far as to be included in the dumb camper rating system the Aphrodite kids came up with.
"Do I wanna know where I rated?" Kelly asked sweetly, tossing Aaron a look that Marcus couldn't decipher.
"Higher than me, I'm sure." Alicia said with a shrug. "At least your mother is useful. Goddess of Rainbows and one all half bloods at least have some knowledge of."
"Who 's your godly parent Alicia?" Maddie asked. Marcus knew he wasn't the only one who felt the atmosphere of the table chill a few degrees, but Alicia put a brave face on it.
"My mother is Angelos." She replied simply. Marcus could see the pain that she hid behind her eyes. All the stigma of Hades, with none of the respect…
"Isn't she a Goddess of the Underworld?" Maddie asked thoughtfully. Probably shuffling through her mental encyclopedia.
"That's the one." Alicia sighed.
"That's so cool!" Maddie was practically bouncing with excitement. "Do you have underworld powers, like how Marcus can move wind? Have you been to the underworld? Have you met Cereberus?!"
Marcus reached out, putting his hand on top of Maddie's head, more to stop her bouncing than anything. "Slow down Maddie. It's not as exciting as all that-"
But Alicia put a hand on his shoulder, stopping his words. Sharing a glance with him, she turned back to Maddie. "No sweetie, I haven't been to the Underworld. I honestly don't know what would happen if I did, but that would be one hell of an adventure don't you think? Maybe we'll go on a quest there someday."
"Yeah!" Maddie nodded enthusiastically.
"Yeah, imagine somebody telling you to go to hell then. You could say you've already been and back!" Hunter laughed, causing Marcus to roll his eyes.
"I can already do that. I've had to hear your snoring every night since we started sharing a cabin." Marcus said.
—-
Present…
The first thing that came back to him was his sense of feeling. The bed he was laying on was shaking. Vibrating? His thoughts tumbled over themselves as he tried to pull himself back from that place he had been, where he had sought solace from the pain in the memories of his friends laughter, before… Before.
He heard sounds that somehow made sense to his brain, though he couldn't remember why. A sort of rumbling? Hushed voices and… possibly soft snoring? His new friends. He was glad they were all okay. After all, after the N.O.s…
The N.O.s… Alicia… Maddie!
Marcus' eyes shot open. He realized the bed he was laying on wasn't a bed at all, it was one of the seats on the Greyhound. All the better it turned out, as it gave him just enough room to be laid out without his wound being pressed into the seat. He flinched as the pain came back to him, but it wasn't nearly as much as he had been expecting. Ambrosia… Or maybe Maddie…? The more he thought about it, the more the second seemed more likely. Ambrosia in the condition he had been in would have been suicide. Death from my wounds or death from Ambrosia Overdose… Pretty sure I know which I'd pick.
Marcus reached up, his arms heavier than they had felt since… He closed his eyes to blot out the thoughts. He had spent most of the past year trying to bury the memories of that quest but they kept coming back. It all ties back to that quest… to Eros. The name filled him with rage, giving him the strength he needed to grip the back of the bus seat and pull himself up, though it was a close one.
Looking around, Marcus took in the state of his team. It was night, but by the light of the passing streetlamps he was able to see the state of them. Phillip was sitting towards the front, speaking quietly with Jason. Joel was asleep in a seat behind them. Marcus let a small smile come to his face, hidden in the darkness. Those two… The unlikeliest of pairs, but a solid team nonetheless. Turning his attention to the seat across from him, he couldn't help a small chuckle escaping his lips. There sat Maddie and Chastity, leaning against each other, their faces scrunched with worry even in their sleep. I must have given them quite a scare… I'll make it up to them. Somehow. Standing with the smallest gasp of pain he reached forward. He gently fixed the silver clip in Maddie's hair, as it had started to come loose, and in the same motion brushed a strand of hair from Chastity's cheek, tucking it behind her ear. Marcus stood for a moment, leaning against the seat that had been his makeshift bed, and looked down upon the two sleeping figures in front of him. That applies here too, doesn't it…? He smiled softly.
"I see you've decided you're going to live." Phillip's voice came softly from behind him.
"Like I could choose to do anything else. These two would kill me if I died." Marcus replied just as quietly without turning.
"You can say that again." Jason said, sliding into the seat in front of the sleeping girls and leaning against it to look at Marcus' face. "The second they saw you they knew Ambrosia wasn't gonna cut it, so Maddie insisted on healing you and Chastity insisted on supporting her with her music. You should've seen them. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it."
"What do you mean?"
"Chastity's music… I could see it." Phillip replied. "The notes seemed to physically… Be there. They wove around Maddie, and her hands… shone."
"We know her hands glow when she heals." Marcus shook his head.
"Not like this man." Jason replied, leaning forward in his seat. "Like… Shone. Like sun levels of light. I'd seen her heal before, but nothing like this."
The three of them fell silent, as each became lost in their own thoughts.
Eventually Randy pulled the bus to the side of the road, declaring softly when asked that he needed some rest, otherwise they'd risk getting into another accident. Marcus wasn't quite sure what he meant, but he assumed that that's how his group had explained away his injuries to the Misted mortal. Without another word, Randy pulled his cap down over his face and seemed to almost immediately fall asleep, astounding even Marcus. The girls, drained from their exertions, continued to sleep, and Phillip and Jason were content to join them, but Marcus insisted on staying awake. He'd slept, and dreamt, long enough. Now wasn't the time for him to be wandering down his memories. He had too much on his mind.
He quietly slipped off the bus, slipping into the surrounding woods that seemed to constantly surround stretches of highway whenever Randy stopped. Perhaps it was the Mist, guiding the bus driver to places where the half bloods could easily hide, but whatever the reason, this time Marcus was happy for it. He walked silently between the trees, going only so far before he stopped and leaned against one, the bark rough against his back.
He thought back to the battle in the cabin. Those final moments… He had lost himself. Truly lost himself in his rage. He had been wrathful before, he was known for it even, but never before had he given in so completely that he had gone against his own wishes… Maybe even that wasn't against my wishes… He didn't want to kill anyone… He wasn't a murderer… But he did want to protect Maddie… Chastity… his whole team.. But was he really willing to go that far to do it…?
Marcus shook his head. No. Alicia was still somebody he cared about. They all were. They were being deceived by some Minor Gods… Used in some plan… They were pawns. He wouldn't, couldn't, just think of them as just another obstacle. Another monster.
But isn't that what you are to the Olympians? He couldn't stop the thought from rearing its head in his mind. The Olympians… Were they just using his team? It seemed they only appeared when they wanted something, or when one of them starts to wander down paths that don't agree with their plans. Marcus' jaw clenched. He realized he half expected Aphrodite to show up, even now, to either berate him or gently tease him. Even now, a part of me is relying on them for guidance and support… He hated it. He hated how every time he came to a crossroads, a part of him waited for a God or Goddess to show up and show him the correct path. Or close a path to me forever. Aphrodite. Eros. Ares. Even Artemis, in her own way. And now…
Lyssa.
The moment her name came to his mind, he remembered. He had been lost in his rage, but he had been spurred on by those emerald eyes. That laughter. She forced me to almost- But he knew that wasn't quite true either. A Goddess couldn't interfere with his free will. He'd learned that lesson the hard way. But she can unlock what's already there…
He remembered what Aaron and Lyssa had discussed at Fenway Park, what seemed like years ago. Champions… my blind rage made me the perfect Champion… Marcus closed his eyes, pressing the heels of his palms to his forehead. Champion… At least Marcus now understood Lyssa's seeming obsession with him. He understood what she had meant by "blind rage". Somebody had threatened one he loved, and he had almost killed them. It didn't matter who it was. Allie…
Lost in his musings, he hadn't even realized until it was almost too late that there were footsteps nearby. Slipping around the tree he had leaned against, Marcus hid in the shadows purely on instinct, but was shocked to see Joel walking through the forest. Guess I wasn't the only one who needed some space to think…
"Okay… So uh… Geez… I don't… really know how to go about this." Joel was saying, louder than a mutter, but still softly into the night air. "But uh… Mom? Or… Dad? Somebody? Look… I'm not much of one to be believin' in things like Gods and such but… Even I found myself praying today and…" Joel paused and shuffled his feet. "Look, I don' know if y'all can even hear me, or even if ya do if y'all had anything to do with what happened but.. If ya did… Thanks. Thanks for helping the girls save Marcus." Joel looked up at the sky, seeming to not notice as a small bird landed on a branch above his head. Is that… a Blue Jay…? Marcus had never seen one fly at night, let alone in the middle of a forest near two humans.
Joel sighed and turned back in the direction of the bus, starting to truly mutter to himself as he went. "This is stupid… What God would answer a prayer and then not claim it? Not any of the ones we've met, that's for sure. Ain't the sorta thing an Olympian would do at least. Not that I care. I don't care…" His voice faded in the distance as he walked back towards the bus, but Marcus was still watching the bird, as the bird was watching Joel. Of that he was certain. Suddenly, the blue jay turned its head, its eyes meeting Marcus'. Marcus was sure if a bird could wink, this one would have, before it took off and flew into the night, making its first cry of the night, though Marcus had never heard a blue jay make a cry that sounded quite like the one that quietly wafted on the night air. Clear and light, Marcus would have compared the sound as more to that of a syrinx than that of a bird.