Storm [LAMS demigod AU]

John

Trigger warning: Suicide attempt/suicidal thoughts, self-harm mention

This chapter is not intended to romanticize suicide or suicidal thoughts. If you are struggling with either of those things get help and know that it won't last forever. It might feel like things will never get better but they most certainly will. 

A/N: Sorry for the delayed update I had to take a chemistry placement test that was honestly the worst experience of my life 0/10 do not recommend. I didn't intend for this chapter to get this dark but this is me we're talking about what did we expect?  Nico and I will fight for the Lord of Darkness title. 

"Thomas is in trouble."

John raked his hand through his ruined hair, too upset to even be phased by all the strands that had broken off.

"What happened?" Alex asked, taking John's hand in his. "Did you have another nightmare?"

"The Voice is torturing Thomas." John said. "It's feeding off of his energy, slowly draining his life force as it grows stronger. That's how she was able to obtain a human form, by feeding off of Thomas' lifeforce. She's going to keep draining Thomas' energy until he dies and she is powerful enough to destroy the entire world. She was never really working with him, she's been using him to grow more powerful. She hasn't reached her full potential yet. Once she kills Thomas and reaches her full power, she'll be too powerful and we won't stand a chance against her."

John took a shaky breath.

"Thomas doesn't know what she's doing. She keeps wiping his memory so he'll forget everything and won't be aware of her plans. I saw her do it in a dream. Thomas has been growing weaker and weaker. The Voice is close to reaching her full power. We have to get to Virginia and stop the Voice before it's too late. We have to save Thomas. He's so weak now that I doubt he'll be able to survive much longer. Even if we defeat the Voice and she stops draining his life force, she's already had so much taken out of him he might not be strong enough to make it. "

Alex raised an annoyingly perfect eyebrow. "Okay, that makes sense. Once Thomas dies and the Voice becomes powerful enough to act on her own, she'll be too strong and we

won't be able to defeat her. So we have to stop her before she gets a chance to do that. But why on Earth would we save Thomas? Why on Earth do you care whether or not he survives? He's a fucking asshole. He got all pissy because Pluto didn't roll over and give him what he wanted so he decided to summon a literal demon to destroy the world and get revenge. If the Voice draining his lifeforce doesn't kill him, I'll do it myself."

John was horrified. "Even if he's made some bad choices, he's still a demigod. He's still one of us. We can't just leave him to die. That makes us just as bad as the monsters."

Alex rolled his eyes. "Oh, right, I forgot, you're the noble John Laurens. Always the sunshine-y one, always the nice one, always the selfless one. He doesn't care about putting the quest in jeopardy because he wanted to do the noble thing by saving someone who clearly doesn't fucking deserve to be saved."

"Why are you getting so angry?"

"I'm getting angry because you're being stupid. Why do you care about Thomas? He doesn't give a single fuck about you. He hates you, he said it himself. You hate him. Why do you suddenly care about his well-being?"

"It's not about whether I like him or not, Alex. It's about being a decent fucking human being. So what if he's fucked up? We've all fucked up. We can't just leave someone to die just because they've made a few decisions we don't agree with. Besides, I don't think Thomas is all bad. Yeah, he did some pretty awful things, but he did them because he thought that the gods are unfair to their children. And you know what, he's right! The gods are super unfair to their children. Do you know how many unclaimed demigods there are at Camp Half-Blood? Do you know how many demigods live and die without ever knowing who their godly parent is? I've never even met my father in real life. He came to me in a dream once to warn me about the impending end of the world! And what about Camp Jupiter? Have any of the children had any communication with their godly parents besides Octavian the crazy augur? The gods are unfair. They're corrupt and neglectful and don't talk to their children unless they want us to clean up their mess. Thomas has the right idea, but he chose to act on it in the worst way possible. In a way, this is just his sick, twisted version of justice. That's the difference between us and him, Alex. Everyone knows that the gods aren't perfect, but we have the common sense to know that destroying the gods and replacing them with an evil demonic overlord would be worse."