Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I’m going to be posting chapters soon, but a lot of things came up the past few Saturdays (the pride parade I was in got a bomb threat, I’m moving, money, etc) But, I promise, once I get stable, (hopefully in about a month) I will start posting chapters! I’m also writing a new fanfiction on the side, so if you want to check that out, you can. It’s just a little side project of mine so far, so I wouldn’t expect much from it, but I hope you like it, because I’m trying out a new writing style!
Love Y’all!
-Kokekein<3

Chapter Text

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Alex Pov

I sat still for once in my life. The fact that it had already been a year since my boyfriend Magnus had died in battle (an ‘honorable’ thing for Vikings) and hadn’t returned, made me tired and frustrated. The entire mess hall was abnormally silent in a quiet memorial, when there was the sudden sound of oddly familiar laughter from above. I looked towards where the sound was coming from and saw a figure in a dark green hooded cloak holding onto the edge of a large portal with one hand, with their other hand the figure took the largest battle axe I’ve ever seen and latched it to their back where a war beaten shield already sat.
~<*>~
The figure suddenly spoke, [-and tell Anubis that I’m still pissed he didn’t give me a proper burial twice, and I swear to Odin if he gives me that ‘You’re not an Egyptian!’ shit again I am drowning him in the river Phlegethon!] The stranger’s voice and subsequent laugh had an oddly calming effect that made me almost relax all my muscles.
~<*>~
Another voice said something muffled and the figure laughed sending yet another shockwave of warmth throughout the entire mess hall, [Fine! I’ll go, but I’m not dropping this again!] Then they then fell to the floor and the portal closed. I noticed that there was a sizable dent where they had landed, almost as if a human shaped bolder was dropped from the sky. Then the figure started pushing back his hood, and I almost felt the air around me drop. The figure was MAGNUS.
~<*>~
[What. The. FUCK.] Sam slammed her fist on the table, plates clattering around where it landed. His hand suddenly clenching, Magnus’ eyes widened, his pupils dilating with fear, making him look like a struck child. Magnus then put on a mask. His toothy smile that was devoid of emotion and care didn’t reach his eyes; emptying the picture of any warmth it may’ve clung to. [Hi, Sam!] He waved, ‘smiled’ deeper, then bursted out into the hallway before anyone could say or do anything.
~<*>~
After a couple seconds of confusion Mallory screamed, [GET HIM!] shaking everyone in the room out of their stupor and start chasing Magnus down the many hallways. We finally stopped at his room, the door left cracked a small amount. Halfborn then stepped forward, pushing it a little when there was a collective choke from everyone there; the smell of death was heavily flowing from the open door.
~<*>~
Then there was a gasp. [Is that-] someone started, [Ratatosk.] Odin finished, dread slowly creeping into his voice. The squirrel’s carcass was almost unrecognizable, and it was obviously tortured to death. It’s eyes had been burned out with acid and there were weapons throughout the beast’s hide, there was also a long slit that ran from the squirrel’s hind legs to it’s neck that seemed to be oozing a black and purple liquid. Odin was the first to step into the room, the rest of us following his lead. Magnus’ room was trashed, there were weapons and shields everywhere, clothes were folded, but thrown in seemingly random places, and one of the walls seem to be shifted.
~<*>~
I directed my attention to the wall, bringing along with me Halfborn just in case. We both pulled it backward, the stench of mold seeping into the already foul smelling room. I flipped a light switch on the wall and looked around the small closet-like space. The only thing that was there was a corkboard with the words: ‘How To KEEP friends thinking we’re dead!!! XD’ cut out from colorful magazine letters, the steps were torn to shreds, the corkboard was sopping wet and had jagged rips through it, (seemingly being the source of the mold.)
~<*>~
[The Hel?…] I heard Mallory say from behind Odin. The latter was holding open the slit in the beast, the gooey tar-like substance pooling around and on his fingers. [I-] the all-father started to speak, only to be cut off by a collective gasp.
~<*>~
Inside of the cut was a portal, that swirled and changed colors depending on where I stood. [What is that??] somebody questioned. Instead of answering Odin just stood there, with his hand through the portal, and muttered the nine realms repeatedly. When he stopped, a look of worry passed over him, like a father confronting his son. [Magnus is in deep shit.] TJ muttered, his eyes mimicking Odin’s. [Why? What is this? What does it mean?! and how is THE SQUIRREL DEAD?!?] Mallory shouted.
~<*>~
[Later.] Odin sighed, [How long has it been since he took off?] no one answered, so he looked at me, took a step back, and nodded towards the portal, [Mr.Fierro, you and Mrs.Al-Abbas look for Magnus. Hearthstone and Blitzen you may go as well, but I’d rather Hearthstone to stay here as we may need more than just my magic.]
~<*>~
Hearthstone nodded solemnly, but just ended up bowing and pointing towards the portal instead of following Odin. The all-father smiled tiredly and stepped out of the way allowing all of us to walk towards the opening in the squirrel and hop into it. Landing at the supposed place we needed to be, I studied our surroundings. In front of us was a broken down building that was in a seemingly deserted part of Brooklyn, or maybe New York.
~<*>~
I went to walk forward but Hearth stopped me, holding out his hand and pointing to his bag of runestones. He looked around and picked up a rock, and tossed it at the building where a dart shot out, stuck in the rock like it was butter, and somehow opened a portal right where the rock hit the ground.
~<*>~
The portal ended up sending the rock right back where Hearth picked it up from, alongside the dart, which Hearth pulled out, studied for a second, determined that it was not made of or from magic and handed it to Blitz.

Chapter Text

Hello! I am currently a student, and on summer vacation. I would like to create a schedule for this work so I do not disappoint any of ya’ll. I am free any day of the week but, according to my knowledge as of now I am fully free on most Fridays, Weekends, and Mondays these passing months. If you could please leave a comment telling me which days you would like me to post on. To be clear, your choices are: Friday, Saturday, Sunday, & Monday. Thank you for your time, and I hope ya’ll have a lovely day!

Kokekien<3

Chapter Text

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{me}

Thinking or Surprise

IMPORTANT

Secret Name

Whispering or enunciation

[Talking]

<Telepathy Sender> >Telepathy Reciever<

*Sign Language*

——————————————————————————

Alex Pov

I sat still for once in my life. The fact that it had already been a year since my boyfriend Magnus had died in battle (an ‘honorable’ thing for Vikings) and hadn’t returned, made me tired and frustrated. The entire mess hall was abnormally silent in a quiet memorial, when there was the sudden sound of oddly familiar laughter from above. I looked towards where the sound was coming from and saw a figure in a dark green hooded cloak holding onto the edge of a large portal with one hand, with their other hand the figure took the largest battle axe

I’ve ever seen and latched it to their back where a war beaten shield already sat.

~<*>~

The figure suddenly spoke, [-and tell Anubis that I’m still pissed he didn’t give me a proper burial twice , and I swear to Odin if he gives me that ‘You’re not an Egyptian!’ shit again I am drowning him in the river Phlegethon!] The stranger’s voice and subsequent laugh had an oddly calming effect that made me almost relax all my muscles.

~<*>~

Another voice said something muffled and the figure laughed sending yet another shockwave of warmth throughout the entire mess hall, [Fine! I’ll go, but I’m not dropping this again!] Then they then fell to the floor and the portal closed. I noticed that there was a sizable dent where they had landed, almost as if a human shaped bolder was dropped from the sky. Then the figure started pushing back his hood, and I almost felt the air around me drop. The figure was MAGNUS .

~<*>~

[What. The. FUCK. ] Sam slammed her fist on the table, plates clattering around where it landed. His hand suddenly clenching, Magnus’ eyes widened, his pupils dilating with fear, making him look like a struck child. Magnus then put on a mask. His toothy smile that was devoid of emotion and care didn’t reach his eyes; emptying the picture of any warmth it may’ve clung to. [Hi, Sam!] He waved, ‘smiled’ deeper, then bursted out into the hallway before anyone could say or do anything.

~<*>~

After a couple seconds of confusion Mallory screamed, [GET HIM!] shaking everyone in the room out of their stupor and start chasing Magnus down the many hallways. We finally stopped at his room, the door left cracked a small amount. Halfborn then stepped forward, pushing it a little when there was a collective choke from everyone there; the smell of death was heavily flowing from the open door.

~<*>~

Then there was a gasp. [Is that-] someone started, [Ratatosk.] Odin finished, dread slowly creeping into his voice. The squirrel’s carcass was almost unrecognizable, and it was obviously tortured to death. It’s eyes had been burned out with acid and there were weapons throughout the beast’s hide, there was also a long slit that ran from the squirrel’s hind legs to it’s neck that seemed to be oozing a black and purple liquid. Odin was the first to step into the room, the rest of us following his lead. Magnus’ room was trashed, there were weapons and shields everywhere, clothes were folded, but thrown in seemingly random places, and one of the walls seem to be shifted.

~<*>~

I directed my attention to the wall, bringing along with me Halfborn just in case. We both pulled it backward, the stench of mold seeping into the already foul smelling room. I flipped a light switch on the wall and looked around the small closet-like space. The only thing that was there was a corkboard with the words: ‘How To KEEP friends thinking we’re dead!!! XD’ cut out from colorful magazine letters, the steps were torn to shreds, the corkboard was sopping wet and had jagged rips through it, (seemingly being the source of the mold.)

~<*>~

[The Hel?…] I heard Mallory say from behind Odin. The latter was holding open the slit in the beast, the gooey tar-like substance pooling around and on his fingers. [I-] the all-father started to speak, only to be cut off by a collective gasp.

~<*>~

Inside of the cut was a portal, that swirled and changed colors depending on where I stood. [What is that??] somebody questioned. Instead of answering Odin just stood there, with his hand through the portal, and muttered the nine realms repeatedly. When he stopped, a look of worry passed over him, like a father confronting his son. [Magnus is in deep shit.] TJ muttered, his eyes mimicking Odin’s. [Why? What is this? What does it mean?! and how is THE SQUIRREL DEAD?!?] Mallory shouted.

~<*>~

[Later.] Odin sighed, [How long has it been since he took off?] no one answered, so he looked at me, took a step back, and nodded towards the portal, [Mr.Fierro, you and Mrs.Al-Abbas look for Magnus. Hearthstone and Blitzen you may go as well, but I’d rather Hearthstone to stay here as we may need more than just my magic.]

~<*>~

Hearthstone nodded solemnly, but just ended up bowing and pointing towards the portal instead of following Odin. The all-father smiled tiredly and stepped out of the way allowing all of us to walk towards the opening in the squirrel and hop into it. Landing at the supposed place we needed to be, I studied our surroundings. In front of us was a broken down building that was in a seemingly deserted part of Brooklyn, or maybe New York.

~<*>~

I went to walk forward but Hearth stopped me, holding out his hand and pointing to his bag of runestones. He looked around and picked up a rock, and tossed it at the building where a dart shot out, stuck in the rock like it was butter, and somehow opened a portal right where the rock hit the ground.

~<*>~

The portal ended up sending the rock right back where Hearth picked it up from, alongside the dart, which Hearth pulled out, studied for a second, determined that it was not made of or from magic and handed it to Blitz.

——————————————————————————

TIME SKIP (still Alex’s POV) ——————————————————————————

Blitz and Hearth had somehow managed to use runestones and a knife to turn the dart into some type of magic wooden key, and now we were creeping around the building. We had been sneaking around for what seemed like hours, when Sam suddenly put her hand out and raised a finger to her lips.

~<*>~

[Listen.] She crouched a bit lower and cupped her ear, the rest of us following her lead. [There’s noth-] I started, [WELL HE NEEDS TO GET HIS DAM’D ACT TOGETHER BEFORE THEY CATCH ON-], {I tried dam lol} somebody started yelling, [HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT THEY DON’T ALREADY KNOW WE’RE ALIVE, PERCY?! HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT THEY DON’T? BECAUSE WE BOTH KNOW THAT NONE OF THEM WOULD COME LOOKING FOR US, HEL, WE ALL KNOW THAT THEY WOULDN’T GIVE A FUCK!]

~<*>~

I heard a rattling sound, like a fist connecting with a table. The second voice didn’t even sound sad at that, like he had already resigned to himself that it was ‘fact’. The first voice seemed to’ve resigned himself to the very same fact, and stayed silent. Another voice cut in then.

~<*>~

[Calm down, Carter! I’m sure they don’t know, or else Sadie would’ve either told me or confronted me.] The new voice seemed to be a mediator between the two, but also seemed inexperienced, which told me that these two didn’t get angry easily.

~<*>~

[You know what, both of you need to calm down, so I’ll go comfort Magnus while you two talk it out. Is he still in his room?]

I heard shuffling, and not-so-new voice said [No. I’m right here Anubis, and I’ve comforted myself.]

~<*>~

A shiver went down my spine and I felt grief ache my throat, I had never ever heard Magnus sound like this, even at his worst moments he was still a beacon of light and cheer for our whole team. I heard the sound of a message being sent, and I realized Sam had been recording their entire conversation.

~<*>~

Apparently the voices had heard her too because there was a shattering sound, and a panicked [HEL, THEY FOUND US.] The door closest to us suddenly burst open and a visibly angry Magnus stood in the doorway. [Don’t. Hurt. Them. Unless it’s Luke again. Then hurt him. Hurt him badly.]

There was a pang in my heart at the fact that he was joking about their situation, or at least I thought so. [I saved this location to my phone and sent it to everyone. Let’s see if we can kidnap at least one of them and teleport out of here.]

~<*>~

I heard the whispered sound of Sam’s voice from next to me, and I nodded slowly, still trying to process what I just heard. [Me and Blitz’ll try for Percy, you try for Carter, and Hearth’ll try for Magnus. When you have him, come to the entrance. Try to hurry up about it, I don’t trust this place’s structural integrity.]

~<*>~

I nodded again, heading in the direction I last heard the second voice. After searching for a couple seconds I came across the boy I suspected to be  the second voice (Carter), and attacked him from behind. He grunted and tried to roll and crush me. I knocked him out with a swift hit to his neck and dragged him to the entrance.

~<*>~

Soon after Hearth joined me, Magnus floating behind him. When he saw my confused expression Hearth quickly signed me, *He didn’t come willingly so I had knock him out.* she wore a pained expression on his face at his own hands and I looked at him with a sympathetic grimace as I understood how unnerved he felt.

~<*>~

I then almost jumped when I heard a loud thump beside me, and I turned to find another knocked out person beside me.

~<*>~

Sam smiled grimly, both she and Blitz were sopping wet and she had a cut down the edge of her cheek that seemed deep; Blitz had a gash the size of my palm across his shoulder and looked possibly the worst I’ve ever seen him. ~<*>~

[Y’all ready?] All of us nodded, ready to leave the uncomfortable building. A portal opened beside us, and we each stepped through it.

——————————————————————————

Still Alex’s POV——————————————————————————

I found myself in a NCIS {GIBS<333} style interrogation room. The one thing that broke my immersion though was the runes and hieroglyphs on each of the walls, like magical wallpaper that twisted and turned every time you blinked.

~<*>~

Sam instructed us to put Carter in a chair in the middle of the room because he would be the first person we interrogated, as ‘we just have to wait for everyone else to get here’.

~<*>~

That confused me. I still did as she said, but as I did, I started to question her behavior. Then I realized that she had managed to open a portal by herself, without any magical assistance, and the fact that everyone heard her instructions even though she seemed to have only whispered it in my ear.

~<*>~

But before I could voice my thoughts, I heard a whooshing sound. [WHAT ARE THESE, YOU INSENSITIVE HERA-SPAWN ?!?!] A voice suddenly boomed from the side of the room, the stench of rotten produce filling the before clean-smelling area.

~<*>~

I looked over to see a powerful looking satyr {groverrr. Also ‘Hera-spawn’ is a double entendre, 1-we hate Hera, 2-since she’s the goddess of marriage/motherhood she’s really not supposed to have kids because then it would go against her philosophies and godhood} clenching his fists in a corner along with a large group of people.

~<*>~

{the ‘7’ without Jason, also cabin leaders/Chiron} [I would also like to know what these vile recordings are about, and where we are.]

~<*>~

A blonde woman’s stern voice filled the air with its presence and commanded my attention so I spoke, [Percy Jackson or Carter Kane?]

~<*>~

Looking over my shoulder, I saw recognition flash across their faces at the first name. [Ah. Check the door to your right, and please don’t wake him up, he apparently, was a pain to knock out in the first place.]

~<*>~

There was a creak as they slowly opened the door, and saw who was inside. As they realized that he was really there and breathing, the smell of rotting produce faded, and there seemed to be electricity in the air.

~<*>~

Before I could say or do anything I was lifted up by my collar and staring into the face of the angry satyr. [I don’t know who you-] he was cut off by another whooshing sound and a somewhat familiar man being thrown across the floor. [What…is..this…?]

~<*>~

Her tone was menacing and I almost froze at it. Almost. The woman’s British accent made her words comical, so I answered easily [Carter Kane. Left Door.] She raised one eyebrow, but went into the door anyway.

~<*>~

[What..? He’s…no..] she turned to me and back to Carter [He’s dead.] Her voice was shaking, and she didn’t sound as sure of what she was saying.

~<*>~

[Person who is pretending to be my friend,] ‘Sam’ turned and put on a smile that immediately told me who he was.

~<*>~

[Loki then, ok. What did you do with Sam?] I glared at him until he turned into his actual form.

~<*>~

[Awww, I don’t get a ‘it’s been so long dad’ hug?] The others in the room looked stunned, but then familiarity {from also being demigods; also I think Annie, who is there, obviously, wouldn’t be surprised along with Reyna who probably had a theory about this already} seemed to wash over them.

~<*>~

I glared again and opened my mouth to repeat myself when he sighed and continued. [Samirah  be here soon, we exchanged places at that rundown little ‘house’.] He made a dad face and added, [Let’s hope they were safe in there.] Then he smiled. [No splinters on my watch!]

~<*>~

Another whooshing sound was heard and the rest of our friends walked in, along with Odin. [Odin! My man! How are you doing?]

~<*>~

Loki’s smile grew wider, and some of the older ehrijar instinctively reached for their weapons.

~<*>~

[Loki. I see you’ve escaped from your imprisonment yet again. Where have you taken us this time?] Odin’s face was stone cold, {I imagine it looked like a face off between two dad’s at a golf meet, upped to 300%. Although I have never seen/played golf XD} and Loki’s continued smirk seemed to make him aggrieved.

~<*>~

[Ah. So…Is..Magnus?]  the stern voice came again, this time I recognized the speaker. [Are you…Annabeth?] I turned my head and raised one eyebrow at my boyfriend’s cousin. [Annie, you know this guy?] a soft, lilting voice came from behind her, along with the faint scent of roses. [Alex, right?] Annabeth ignored the owner of the voice and motioned for the satyr to back off. [Annie-] the soft voice started again. A cough cut the voice off [Don’t bother, when she’s focused she doesn’t hear anything else.] the voice was gruff and gravelly, but I could tell who it was though his throat was damaged. [Helloooo, sleeping beauty.] I turned to Percy and started walking towards him. [So, Percy, can I call you Percy?] he gave me a small smile and nodded. [Alrighty then, Percy, would you rather explain this to your little crew, or would you rather explain this to me?] As he glanced at the people he once knew, his smile turned into a scowl for a moment. Then he glanced back at me, smiled again, and nodded in my direction. [Can you use your voice? I just wanna know if I have to translate caveman language for the rest of this conversation.] he laughed, smiling a bit harder then before and replied [Yes and no, it’s a bit harder since that guy threw a table at my throat.] Percy nodded towards the trickster god [What about the ‘Yes’ part?] He didn’t reply for a second, making me wonder if the table hit his head too. <It’d be easier this way no?> he smirked at my perplexed expression and continued <I’d rather not air my dirty laundry to my childhood friend and ex girlfriend> he paused <Would you?> I stopped for a moment >Can you just send me your memories??? This is kind of exhausting.< he audibly sighed <Alright, anything to get me from talking to them .> he glared towards his old friends <Here we gooo> his eyes glazed over, and my vision got blurry, >What’d you..?< <Ah, I forgot to prepare you> my vision was slowly turning black as I realized I was about to pass out >Nah it’s fine< I smiled as my vision slowly went black. {we only said goodbye with words I died 100 times you go back to her and I go back to I go back to a cliffhanger.. lol anyway, sorry for all the grammatical errors, literally wrote this at 1am with no beta and I’m too tired to do shizz}

——————————————————————————

A very short Nico‘s POV

——————————————————————————

I was still watching Percy as the man with eye-straining hair seemingly passed out, and Percy winced. Annabeth glanced at me, raising her eyebrow. I shook my head No. No one had passed through. She nodded, and turned to the British girl. [How are you Sadie?] Annabeth smiled wearily [‘m good, good as ya’ can be,] Annabeth hollowly laughed and the girls moved somewhere secluded to continue their conversation. I felt like someone was watching me. So I turned around and there he was, my eternal Bernadette, Percy Jackson. I walked over, noticing that everyone who came with us was pairing off; waiting, as they always done and always would, for the gods to do something. [I waited for you, you know,] I smiled tiredly [I knew you weren’t dead,] he replicated my smile [Your soul didn’t pass through my radar.] I sat on the floor. Crossing my legs, I placed my back against the legs of the chair. [I got your letter though, you creep.] He smiled as he repeated verbatim the entire letter. Dramatically, of course.

~<*>~

[Nico, Stop being the dork I know you are for a couple minutes, and flirt with Will. Don’t be a gay loser, just be gay. -Percy/Pollo] I still remember the day it came. The one day I decide to come to camp, a seagull flies down at me, pulls my hair with one claw and drops a yellow bedazzled letter from its other claw. I was very confused, so I picked up the letter and decided to go to the one person I knew I could trust, Hazel, and we would read it together. It ended with Hazel swearing never to speak of this to anyone, except to tease me secretly. Percy spoke suddenly, interrupting my thoughts [Did I ever tell you how we ranked the gods?] his eyes were hazy, and he kept looking at the kneeling man in front of us [1. No 2. That sounds amazing 3. We?] he laughed softly [ah, well-] Percy’s smile faltered, shifting into a grimace, one of malice and pain. [I’m not here to talk to you Jackson.] Annabeth’s gaze shifted over to me. I then noticed Hazel standing someways behind her looking like a struck puppy, Leo, Frank, and Piper were standing around her protectively. [Why didn’t you inform us of this ‘letter’?] She asked, voice dripping with poison, reminding me of a black widow. [Well hello Arachne, if I’d realized you were coming, I’d have prepared some lovely wasps.] Percy cackled. Annabeth glared, her eyes burning. [Glad you’re having fun Di’Angelo.] A glimmer of malevolence flashed across her face. [You knew he was alive this entire time, yet you said nothing! What would Bianca say?] Annabeth smirked. I was pissed. [What would you know about Bianca? YOU didn’t even know your boyfriend was alive!] She looked to the side guiltily, and my eyes widened, smiling maniacally, I cackled. [YOU KNEW? YOU-] I died again in a burst of cackles. [ahhh- oh my Poseidon, sorry, one sec-] It took more than one second for me to calm down. [Ok, Ok, Ms.Hypocrite,-] I was interrupted by a whooshing noise. [PERCY AND CO!!!!] Annabeth, Chiron, and some of the older campers gasped as a taller blond man with a long bumpy scar across one of his eyes, popped through a portal on the wall.

——————————————————————————

Percy’s POV——————————————————————————

Annabeth was the first to speak, as I was too annoyed to answer at first. [Luke? Is that-] she began. I sighed loudly and stood up, letting the shoddily tied rope binding me fall to the floor. [What the hel man, you said you would stop showing up randomly, bursting down doors and yelling my name!] I grumbled exasperatedly. Luke at least had the decency to look ashamed. [Anubis didn’t accidentally summon you just so you could walk around trying to annoy people into replacing the gods-] just as I began to berate Luke, I was interrupted by the former. [It’s not my fault the gods have tried to kill ya’ll one too many times;] he began his speech which I continued with perfect accuracy. [Even the Medusa triplets think it’s unfair, blah blah blah anarchy.] Luke looked a mix of pleased, proud and offended. Then realization and worry flashed across his face. He squinted, grabbing my cheeks in his hands and turning my head back and forth. Once he was satisfied with that, he patted me on the cheeks and slapped the back of my head. [Leave a note next time, ya’ ass, I spent like 3 hours looking for you and the Helbounds!] he wrapped an arm around my shoulder, smirking as he put one hand on his hip and finally looked up to see all the stunned speechless faces around us. [What in Hera’s tits is going on here?] asked a tall, tan woman with frizzy blonde hair and muscles so pronounced they seemed like they were fighting against her equally aggressive camouflage gear. [Dam, Clarisse! You got buff as hel!] announced Luke and I at the same time. [Jinx, you owe me Apollo’s Porsche!] I smirked, he pouted. [You are literally Hera-spawn. You know I can’t get into Olympussy.] then a familiar smile cracked his face in two. [Unlesss, you help me overthrow the gods! Then I could give you anything you’ve ever wanted!] he wiggled his eyebrows at me, smiling like a con-man. I thought of Gabe, smirking at me while he held a broken beer bottle in his left hand and a lighter in his right. The blood slowly pooling down my forehead and into my eyes. He knew I wouldn’t tell, knew that I had some way of healing myself. Even if he didn’t understand it and didn’t really care, either way, he knew I would never throw my mom in- Oh. Mom. What has she been doing this whole time? How is she doing? Where is she? Is she dead? Is Estelle safe? What about Paul? Or Tyson? Is anyone safe? Did everyone die? Am..I..Safe?

No one’s safe I must protect them.

No one’s safe I must protect them. No one’s safe I must protect them. No one’s safe I must protect them. No one’s safe I must protect them. No one’s safe I must protect them. No one’s safe I must protect them. No one’s safe I must protect them .

No one’s safe.

[-ercy, Percy wake up! PERCY, wake up, wake up wake up wake up wake up-] I heard Luke’s strained voice, but I couldn’t see him from the haze of blue clouding my vision. I was cold. Why was I cold? I was sweaty too. Wait. Not sweat, sweat is sticky, this was clear, refreshing even. Was this? No. I couldn’t be doing that again. I turned my dwindling attention back to Luke. He looked frazzled. I felt bad. What happened? Was it me again? Did I hurt someone again? That’s all I do isn’t it- [Percy! Percy buddy, listen to me, I need you to drop the bubbles, and let go of everyone, they’re safe, we’re all safe, everyone is good, no one is in danger, we don’t need to be protected.]  What? The bubbles? I looked around. Oh. I had done it again. I was endangering my friends all because of my silly little worries. How stupid of me… [Percy, Percy, PERCY, buddy I need you to drop the bubbles, they can’t breathe underwater like you can, and there’s nobody here you need to protect them from.] That’s right. Luke is always right. Except for when he wasn’t. Well, yes, but it’s not the same. He’s changed now, he’s on my side!        Are you sure? How do you know this isn’t just a ruse to get you to drop your guard?   Stop. Stop it. We’ve already done this before. How do you know he isn’t trying to kill you again?   No, no he’s not, he wouldn’t do that. Not again. He said he wouldn’t. He said he was sorry. Is that all it takes? To gain your affection? Your trust? If he told you he was sorry would you protect him? Well no but- It’s not the same? It’s not the same, because he wasn’t an adult? He was the same age you are now. Would you do that to your friends? Would you expect to be forgiven? Would you even protect yourself?

I stopped fighting back, even I knew the answer to that question. But, I knew at least that my friends were in danger either way, and I couldn’t protect them like this. So, I dropped the bubbles. Then, all hell broke loose. I should’ve cared more. But, I removed the water from their lungs, assessed the situation for danger, saw none, and walked into the bathroom which had appeared right next to me. I locked the door behind me, making sure that none of the walls were see-through, then looked around for the only thing that could help in this moment. A celestial bronze razor. I know I was being a bit over the top, and I could’ve used a dagger or a knife or just a regular razor. But, I’ve found that celestial bronze cuts better than average razor, and the bronze also reminds me of riptide in a way that grounds me at least 92% of the time! I don’t like to think about the other percent. But, moving back to my consciousness, I realized I had already found the thing I was looking for. I had found bandages as well, score! I lowered the right side of my waistband, simultaneously pulling down that side of my boxers as well. Gabe flashed before me once more, and I shook my head to rid myself of his image. That was not what we were doing right now. We would not be doing that again. That would not be happening again. I focused back on the task at hand. Pushing lightly at first, I started slowly delving deeper, just deep enough to ground and punish me. I placed a bit of disinfectant on the wound, wanting to keep it for a bit longer, and bandaged it. Then I wiped my hands on my pants, unlocked the door and stepped out into the room I had previously found myself in. The first to notice my re-arrival into the mess of a room was Luke, who was currently sitting stiffly alongside Grover and Thalia on a couple of threadbare leather couches . [Hey there Bud. You doin’ alright?] he smiled wearily and cautiously. I realized that was my fault. I freaked out when he smiled, he probably thinks it was his fault. But it was, wasn’t it? Shut up. I don’t need this right now. I pressed the wound on my hip. [Yep! All good friend’o!] I smiled brightly. I hope it didn’t come off as fake as it was. [Just a little episode, you know how it is.] I put my hands on my hips, for easy access to my ripped skin, trying to seemed as relaxed as possible. Unhunching my shoulders. Keeping my foot still. Breathing evenly. Smiling just a bit brighter. [A little episode? Percy, you were suffocating them!] my smile faltered. See. They agree, you should go deeper next time, pull out the red, use your father’s powers, they’ve never fully helped you before. Your father was too selfish to give you what he knew you wanted. I ignored the suffocating pressure I felt to go do what I knew would relive my pain. I turned to Grover. [Everyone is fine now, everyone is safe now. All I need to do is get out of here so I won’t ever hurt or interact with any of you ever again.] I flashed a grin. He looked astonished but, as he was about to voice his concerns, Luke grimaced and spoke. [Percy…I thought we agreed we wouldn’t be doing this again?] he grabbed my arm and held up my hand. There were still smudges of blood left on my palms and fingertips. He looked disappointed, yet more so worried, concerned and scared. I had seen Luke scared before. This was a bit different. [Did you at least heal it?] I shook my head, I felt no need to lie to Luke, at least about this. So trusting. So vulnerable, so easy to manipulate, maybe that’s why all your friends are dead.   Shut your mouth, if you even have one. [Would you be willing to do that now? Or am I going to have to have one of your friends do it for you?] he’s done this before. Had one of my friends use healing magic on me because I wouldn’t do it myself. They would always ambush me. It was always terrible. And scary, and defeated the whole purpose because it would give me another episode and the cycle would continue, it got to the point where they placed a protection spell on me so that..I… What? That doesn’t make sense. Why wouldn’t it work? It worked all the other times. It only stops working if the casters- No. No, no, no, no. They were in the next room. Magnus’ ex said they were ok. He said. He promised . Did he now? I seem to remember someone being a coward and not allowing himself to talk in front of people he has no reason to fear or hate. My actions weren’t cowardly. To leave your friends just because of petty grievances? Mm. Yeah, whatever doesn’t keep you up at night. Ok, you know what, shut up, I am tired of your bullshit and I have enough to deal with right now. Will you at least consider my solution? Fine. Ok? Fine. As long as you leave me alone for now. Oh soo scary. Do you agree or not? Sureee. Thank you. Now all I need to do is check on my friends and it’ll all be ok. I walked past the small group I was in and towards the doors on the other side of the couches. They seemed like the only permanent fixtures in the ever changing interrogation style room. One was labeled Carter Kane in English, Greek, Latin, what I assumed to be Hieroglyphs, and whatever the Norse language was called.  While the other was the labelled same way but the name was switched to Magnus Chase. The Greek and Latin on both was shoddy at best and seemed to be written by someone with a different primary language. I walked into the first one I saw, which so happened to be Carter’s. Walking in I noticed that the rooms were decorated differently, with his walls being sand and peach colored, with a iron trim. I recalled that mine were blue, green and bronze, meaning that these were personalized, I wonder what color Magnus’ would be; probably something stupid like yellow. Looking closer I realized that the walls weren’t colored like sand they were sand, or maybe a more accurate description would be that the walls were a transport to a literal desert. Were my walls then a transport to a body of water? Is that why I woke up outside the room? And if I woke up outside the room how did I remember what color the room was? I distanced myself from those thoughts as I didn’t have time for them right then, I had to make sure that my friends were still…No! No, don’t jinx yourself. Walking closer to the center of the room I noticed Carter’s chest slowly rising and falling, which at least answered one question, but added a dozen more. I went around to the back of the wooden chair, pulling out yet another set of shoddily tied knots. I then put my hands on the back of the chair, and flipped Carter onto the floor. [Afwckj- Ow.] Carter’s eyes shot open, and he let out a series of groans before he put on his glasses and stood up. Still straightening his glasses he addressed me [What the fuck man; where are we?] I shrugged. [Dunno, woke up a while ago, think it’s an interrogation room.] he glared at me, flipped me off and headed out the open door. I followed him out and repeated the process, only changing how I woke Magnus up. [Hey bud, buddy, pal, Maggie, Magpie, Magorino, Magarine, Mags, Magnus, wake up wake up wake up] He slowly opened his eyes. [What- Where are we? Why am I in the middle of a field?] He seemed to be getting increasingly panicked, so I put both my hands on his shoulders and forced him to look at me. [Mags, we’re in some interrogation room thingy, and a bunch of people we know are out there, and I need you to come with me.] I smiled, cupping his face and putting our foreheads together. We stayed like that for a while before he broke the silence. [What do you mean people we know?] He raised one eyebrow and squinted at me incredulously. [Well you know….like…your boyfriend…and my ex, who is kinda your cousin….and Carter’s sister…] His eyes widened, and he stop breathing for a moment. [Fuck.] He pinched the bridge of his nose and stood up. [Alright, let’s do this.] He stretched and held out a hand for me to take. I took it, and we walked out the door together.

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A short Percy’s POV——————————————————————————

The first thing I noticed was the fight. Carter and his sister tumbled around on the carpet behind the couches that had held Grover, Thalia, and Luke before. They kept shouting obscenities at each other, Carter was winning the fight. They both had busted lips and at least one black eye. Luke strolled over to me nonchalantly and put his arm around my shoulder again. [Fucks going on here?] Luke rolled his eyes. [Carter bitch slapped her after she insulted Anubis and called him ungrateful.] I laughed. [Thats it??? I bet you Apollo’s Lyre that he wasn’t even that mad, and he just wanted an excuse to slap her and fight somebody.] I smirked. [Alright Bug, but if I win you have to promise not to go on a date with anyone for two years.] He grinned mischievously. [Ok then, no one would wanna go out with me anyway, so you’re just wasting one. What’s your bet?] I raised an eyebrow. [I think he’s gay for Anubis.] I busted out laughing. [Carter- Gay? ANUBIS?- What shit are you taking, cause I need some of that!] I wiped a tear from my eye.  [Well, I don’t know man..] He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. I glanced over at the fight that seemed it would go on forever. [Think I should stop that?] I gestured over to Carter and Sadie. [I don’t know man do what you want, but I kinda wanna see who wins.] I scoff. [You would.] He pouts. [Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?] I smirked mischievously, and started walking towards the fight, cracking my knuckles. [I think you can figure it out yourself big guy.] Luke made a sound of indignation. As I walked closer I got a hang of the two siblings fighting styles. Carter’s  fighting style I already knew relatively well, he had a good right hook, he used his feet a lot and he liked jabbing people in the ribs with his elbows. Sadie’s fighting style was more like a dance, and it seemed that she was more accustomed to magic, she had a strong kick and bony knuckles both of which she liked aiming anywhere without much thought to it. I suddenly pounced on the pair, startling them both and giving me the upper hand. I grabbed Carter by the scruff of his neck and tossed him across the room, I then turned to Sadie picked her up by her shoulders and pulled her into a standing position. I pat her back lightly. I then walked over to Carter picked him up by his wrist and dragged him over to where Magnus, Luke, Anubis and Nico were standing. I lectured him about starting fights while we were on our way to them. I then sat him down by Anubis and turned to Nico. [Hey there Loverboy, is your boyfriend around?] He turned a bright, cherry red. [I don’t know who you’re talking about.] I raised an eyebrow. [Now is no time to be obtuse Angle O’s, now go get the healer boy for my friend here.] I gestured to Carter. Nico’s blush deepened as he ran off to get the object of his affections. He soon came back much more relaxed and much less red in the face; NOT. Nico actually returned stuttering and tripping over himself while leading the smiley blond healer over. The aforementioned blond slipped past me and headed over to give Carter a check up. While he was doing this he managed to start a conversation with Luke of all people. I spaced out, leaning against a wall. I’ baaackk! Did ya’ miss me? Admit it you missed me! Ugh. Fuck you. Now, Now what would Triton think of that poor language of yours, sourpuss? I don’t really fucking care. Wow! What an asshole you are Perseus Jackson! If your gong to be living in my head, could you at least call me Percy? Nooope, that’s not a part of my job description!

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Percy’s POV——————————————————————————