Bandages and Salt (PJO X BSD AU)

Chapter twenty-eight

"Big House," Clarisse said before leaving us for whatever commotion was happening at the Ares cabin.

Chuuya watched as the girl stomped away in a tired anger before turning to me, his eyebrow slightly raised in the way that it did when the other teen started to get impatient. He didn't really seem to like not being able to understand what was going on around him.

"Now what?" The smaller teen asked in a tone of annoyance, his hands shoved impossibly deep into his pockets as he looked around the camp.

I looked around with him, no one else seemed to have really noticed our presence just yet. I want to keep it that way for a little bit longer. Being noticed means questions, questions means explaining, and I've already done enough of that for one day, but here I was getting ready to do more.

Yay me.

"Now," I decided, turning towards the Big House, "we go meet Chiron."

The other teen seemed to be raking his memory at the name before hesitantly speaking.

"The centaur?" The other boy asked, finally landing on the term that he wanted to use.

I nodded at the older teen, privately pleased that he cared enough to listen to what I told him earlier.

That he remembered.

The shorter boy put himself back at his place by my side during our short walk to the Big House, his eyes aimlessly wandering around the camp and taking the scene in during the trek. I didn't blame him, this place really is different from that of any other place in the world.

"So," the teen started, his movements practically buzzing with a battle ready energy that will make him blend in well with all of the demigods here, "who here can we fight?"

I smiled falsely down at the smaller boy, knowing that the teen was ansty from all of the travel. "Why?" I asked, my voice all but dripping with a teasing tone, "that desperate to prove your strength, shortie?"

A faint red glow started to form around the other teen, dancing along the boy's skin like a live flame, but I only waved the annoyed redhead off.

"We're here," I told the other boy, waving vaguely at the building beside us, "pay attention, short mafioso."

The other teen reluctantly disabled his ability, but I knew he would try and get me back later for what I'd said the next time that we were alone. I just stuck my tongue out at the smaller boy and knocked on the door. The whole interaction was childish, but it was us, our dynamic that somehow still stood without the taint of secrets and lies.

There was a rustling behind the door as two muffled voices spoke to each other hurriedly, both steaming with impatience. I was close to knocking again just to cure my boredom when the door finally opened to reveal what I could only assume to be a grown up Charles Beckendorf.

The last time that I saw Beckendorf he was a tall fifteen year old that spent most of his time in the forages and was covered in soot and grime anytime that he came out of them. He wasn't scrawny, but could by no means be classified as muscular. Now the son of Hephaestus looked like someone that could make most monsters cry just at the sight of them as the eighteen year old had filled out from working relentlessly in the forages every summer for years.

There was still soot and grease on the young adult's heavily calloused hands. He looked like someone that would still be kind after the toll of the past two years. The only thing that really seemed to have changed with the older teen was the number of beads lining his neck and the much more prominent eyebags he was wearing.

"Percy?" The demigod asked breathlessly. There was shock in his voice and a wistfulness that sounded like he thought that this was nothing more than some kind of dream. We watched as Breckendorf's hand flew to one of the beads on his necklace, holding the trident there like some kind of lifeline.