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"Something isn't right, babe/ I keep catching little words but the meaning's thin
I'm somewhere outside my life, babe/ I keep scratching but somehow I can't get in "
- Sedated (Hozier)
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FIGHTING WITH FAMILY
AFTER A SHORT CHECK IN WITH CHARLES that included; filling the burly boy in on everything that happened, a little tiff between the two, and then a suggestion that Arya should ask for a quest to find Annabeth since she was allowed to do that now. The teenager made a light jog towards the Big House where she saw through the windows that Percy and Thalia were in the main room talking to both Mr. D and Chiron. It was the perfect opportunity. So Arya pushed open the door catching everyone's attention.
"I'd like to ask for a quest to find Annabeth."
"Join the line." Dionysus mumbled, his fingers pressed into his temple, clearly already annoyed with the conversation that was happening.
"From what you have told me," Mr. D said, "we have broken even on this escapade. We have, ah, regrettably lost Annie Bell—"
"Annabeth," Percy snapped, with the same threatening tone he had used after Arya tried to jump off the cliff.
"Yes, yes," he waved off. "And you procured a small annoying boy to replace her. So I see no point risking further half-bloods on a ridiculous rescue. The possibility is very great that this Annie girl is dead."
"She's not dead. Kronos is smarter than that, Artemis could feel that she was alive. Just not anywhere close to here." Arya explained, attempting to keep a level head, she knew she would never get a quest if she lost her temper.
"Annabeth may be alive," Chiron said, with a hint of grief in his tone. "She's very bright. If... if our enemies have her, she will try to play for time. She may even pretend to cooperate."
"That's right," Thalia said. "Luke would want her alive."
"Charles said that too." Arya agreed, refusing to look at Thalia who she knew was looking at her.
"In which case" said Mr. D, "I'm afraid she will have to be smart enough to escape on her own."
Then, Percy stood up from the table fast, anger flashing in his eyes, anger Arya knew all too well. Not only did the siblings look alike, they apparently were starting to act similar too.
"Percy." Chiron warned. Trying to remind Percy that Mr. D was a god.
"You're glad to lose another camper," He said. "You'd like it if we all disappeared!"
Arya's eyes widened at how much he sounded like her. Was this who he was becoming, or was it just because of his panic over Annabeth?
Mr. D stifled a yawn. "You have a point?"
"Yeah," Percy growled. "Just because you were sent here as a punishment doesn't mean you have to be a lazy jerk! This is your civilization,
too. Maybe you could try helping out a little!"
Then the two had a stare down, where no one dared spoke up, scared it would set either the god or the heated demigod up. If Percy was intimidated by Mr. D, no one would be able to tell, he was good at keeping his confidence on his face.
Arya didn't know how she felt about this. She never minded her own temper, but to see it on someone else's, to know what the consequences for Percy would be if he kept this up. She wasn't sure she liked it.
The tension came to a halt as two more bodies entered the room, Nico and Grover. Arya had no idea they were even in the building.
"SO COOL!" Nico yelled, holding his hands out to Chiron. "You're... you're a centaur!"
Chiron struggled to put a smile on his face, but knew he needed to welcome the new camper. "Yes, Mr. di Angelo, if you please. Though, I prefer to stay in human form in this wheelchair for, ah, first encounters."
"And, whoa!" He looked at Mr. D. "You're the wine dude? No way!"
"The wine dude?" Mr. D drawled with disdain as his glare was shifted from Percy to Nico.
"Dionysus, right? Oh, wow! I've got your figurine." Nico exclaimed not letting Mr. D's glare faze him.
"My figurine." He stated, knowing exactly what he was talking about, but Nico had thought it was a question.
"In my game, Mythomagic. And a holofoil card, too! And even though you've only got like five hundred attack points and everybody thinks you're the lamest god card, I totally think your powers are sweet!"
"Ah. Well, that's... gratifying." Mr. D said, his eyes switching over to Arya for a few seconds, memory of a laughing little girl dancing across his eyes.
"Percy," Chiron said quickly, "you and Thalia go down to the cabins. Inform the campers we'll be playing capture the flag tomorrow evening."
Arya then let out a groan and rolled her eyes, remembering the traditional game that she couldn't stand.
"Capture the flag?" Percy asked. "But we don't have enough—"
"It is a tradition," Chiron said. "A friendly match, whenever the Hunters visit."
"Yeah," Thalia muttered. "I bet it's real friendly."
"Oh it's the best." Arya replied with an eye roll.
"Run along now," Chiron told them.
"Oh, right," Thalia said. "Come on, Percy."
The two scampered out, but Arya held strong. She wasn't done with this conversation, for a number of reasons.
While Nico continued to chat away with Mr. D completely unaware of the gods hatred of demigods, Arya turned to Chiron where they continued their conversation in hushed tones.
"I need this quest, please."
"Why do I feel like your motives for wanting this quest fall under more than just saving Annabeth?"
Arya stumbled, not expecting that accusation.
"S-shes like family sir, we need her, and if not for me than for Percy. They're everything to each other. Whether they realize it or not."
Chiron hummed. "A lot like you and him were."
Arya flinched, being taken by surprise yet again. She was used to Chiron being blunt with her, he always had been. Since the betrayal a year and half ago he never talked about the subject of Luke as directly as he was right now.
"This has nothing to do with him" She lied through her teeth. They both knew that though, it was a pointless string of words.
"You want to go on this quest for two reasons Arya, one, so that Annabeth can come back and Percy can have the relationship that you never got, and two, so that you can see Luke in hopes that Thalia will convince him to come back."
He had never spoken to her like this before. Arya didn't know if it was his frustration at everything going on, or if he was finally done trying to help her be better. It wasn't often she got mad at Chiron anymore, this however, was putting her close to boiling over. "How did?.... What?"
Chrion sighed a disappointed sigh. "I thought you were a better strategist than this Arya. This plan is predictable, careless, and will cost you lives."
Arya clenched her fists as the heat of anger rose in her chest, she felt like everything he was saying was a backhanded insult.
"I know you want Annabeth back, for so many valid reasons, but she's not worth risking all of your lives."
"She's worth all of our lives!" Arya snapped, voice raising above a whisper.
"And I'm sure Thalia and Percy would agree, but I can't justify sending you all out. I'm sorry. Especially not with your other intentions in mind."
"It's a good plan." She argued. But when she opened her mouth to justify it Chrion held his hand up to stop her.
"Arya, I know you are going to continue to try anything to save him. But trust me when I say, if you haven't been able to stop him then she won't be able to either."
Arya and Chrion then stared each other down, similar to how Mr. D and Percy had a few minutes earlier, except this time with much less malice and much more respect. It was only broken when Mr. D cleared his throat.
"Arya, if you would show Nick here to Cabin eleven." He drew on, sneering as referred to Nico. "It would be much appreciated."
"My name is Nico." He corrected me. Mr. D just rolled his eyes.
"Of course, sir." Arya nodded. "Come on kid."
Nico practically bounced out the door and Arya was following along, making sure her breaths continued to remain deep so her anger could be contained. She was halfway out the door when she remembered one more thing she had to say.
"Oh. Mr. D, Chiron." Arya said, poking her head back inside. "Thalia turns 16 in a week."
Both mens brows furrowed and their poster stiffened.
"How do you-"
"Apollo confirmed it on the bus." Arya said solemnly. "Things might be happening much sooner than we expected."
"What things?" Nico asked from behind her on the porch. But no one answered him. The most he got was Chiron's eyes shifting to him.
"Well then we'll have to be as prepared as we can be."
Arya felt disappointment, she wasn't sure what she was expecting, she knew they didn't have near enough plans or numbers to put up much of a fight. But she had a little hope, anyway. At least until Chirons worry became so evident.
"Sir-"
"Go on Arya, we can talk about this later."
With a nod, Arya was out the room and leading Nico away. Doing everything in her power to keep him from asking questions.
The walk to the Hermes cabin was less than five minutes. But in that time frame Nico managed to ask what seemed like a billion questions. Arya had introduced a lot of kids to camp over the years, but none of them have had the curiosity that Nico Di Angelo has. It was something new, and Arya enjoyed it. The innocence of him was something she hoped would never go away.
She explained to Nico where each cabin was, specifically where hers and Percy's was in case he needed anything.
Once they reached cabin 11 she knocked on the door and entered to see that Connor and Travis were cleaning the cabin. Arya rolled her eyes at the frantic sight, not understanding. It was just them in the cabin now that Sydney was gone, how it had gotten so messy was beyond her.
She stuck around and made introductions between Nico and the brothers who stopped cleaning to enthusiastically meet the young boy and make sure to give him a bed and a place to put his stuff. She tried to tell him about how meals and scheduling worked, putting more fuss to the boy than needed. She only stopped when the Stoll brothers practically kicked her out of the room saying that they needed to have faith in them to take care of Nico and show him the ropes.
"Don't mess him up! Don't get him in trouble!" She called as the door to the Hermes cabin shut and she was left alone outside.
Still feeling frustration, Arya made her way to the sparring arena and worked on taking down moving targets until the sun started to go down.
With a loud yell, Aryas spear pierced the head of a dummy so hard it was knocked off the stand and split into two pieces.
"Wow," Percy's voice spoke, laughter hiding behind his words. "What did the dummy ever do to you."
"Just needed to let out anger" She sighed, "i'm sorry you didn't get the quest."
"I'm sorry you didn't get it either." He said walking closer, tossing Arya a water that she quickly uncapped and started to chug. "But I assume we're on the same page, doesn't matter what they say."
"We'll find her." Percy and Arya finished in unison. Identical, short-lived, smiles growing on their faces.
Arya watched from a distance as the few campers around made their way to the dining pavilion. It seemed as if neither child of Poseidon planned on attending tonight.
"I talked to Tyson. He says hello, that he misses you."
"You talked to Tyson!? How?" Arya asked, eyes lighting up at the news. The first bit of hopeful news she had gotten all day.
"A message system in our room. It's new I guess." Percy shrugged. "Apparently Dad is preparing for war with the old ocean Gods."
Arya shrugged and rolled her eyes and she wiped off sweat from her face.
"I wish him luck I guess."
Truth was, she was still pissed off at him for the whole birth certificate revelation. She didn't really care at the moment what he was doing, or what excuses he had for ignoring his kids.
"I know. But I figured you had a right to know." He said coming and taking a seat in front of her. Putting his hands on his knees, fiddling with his pen.
"Aren't you going to dinner?" She asked.
"Are you?"
Arya shook her head, then dropped down and took a seat where she was standing, and the two started a nice long conversation about the differences between summer camp and year round camp. The two siblings enjoy the other's company, more than either of them were willing to admit. For a while, in their own little world, they were able to take each other's minds off the missing blonde hole in their hearts.
_____
Both Arya and Percy fell asleep quickly that night, both drained of both adrenalin and of energy. The girl got in a good few hours before she was woken up by the distress calls of Percy from a few beds over.
"He's a traitor! Don't trust him!"
Arya froze at his words. Her stomach dropping as she had a feeling she knew exactly who Percy was talking about. Arya slowly got out of her bed and walked across the cold cabin floor over to her brother's bed. Even in the climate controlled cabin, it felt like she was caught in a cold patch of water.
She reached up to wake him up but stopped dead as Percy yelled again.
"Let him Die!"
She felt herself grow cold, and she started shaking. The idea that Percy wanted Luke dead had rattled her to her core. She tried to convince herself that it was just a dream, that whatever was happening wasn't real.
But her conscience knew better. Demigod dreams were different, especially Percy's. She continued to watch petrified as Percy kept thrashing around on his bed. It was only when she saw a thick tear fall down his face that she snapped out of her trance and finished her reach, latching onto his arm.
"Percy! Come on. Wake up. Percy!"
It took her a little bit but eventually she got her little brother awake. He immediately sat up, gasping for air, eyes frantically searching the room attempting to figure out where he was. Hand immediately going to his face to wipe off the tear that had fallen.
"Luke. Annabeth." He panted, closing his eyes and attempting to slow his heart rate. Arya climbed onto Percy's bed and put her arm around his shoulders and pulled him close so she could comfort him.
"What happened?"
Percy shook his head, breathing starting to return to normal.
"Luke set up a trap for Annabeth. She fell for it."
Arya shook her head in disbelief.
"What trap?"
"I'm not sure." Percy shook his head in confusion. "He looked hurt, broken. Like he was fighting something invisible, struggling... Then Annabeth, feeling his cries for help, went to help him. Then the force trapped her and Luke got up. He was fine and just walked away."
"Percy are you sure it was Luke?"
Percy pulled out of Arya's arms and he looked at her with both hurt and disbelief.
"I know what Luke looks like, I know I wasn't around as long as everyone else. But he was my friend once too."
"I know. But Luke wouldn't hurt Annabeth." Arya spoke calmly.
"Yeah, and yet he just did." Percy countered.
"No, Percy. Luke would never hurt Annabeth, she means too much too him." Arya said firmly, confidently.
Percy's brow furrowed in disbelief.
"It wasn't Luke." Arya whispered out.
She had heard the stories. How Annabeth, Thalia, and Luke were a family. He admitted to her multiple times that he wouldn't let harm come to her, especially after Thalia. Annabeth was all he had for so long. It wouldn't have been Luke who trapped her. It couldn't have been.
Percy jumped out of his bed, needing to pace around the room. He rarely got annoyed at Arya because she was his family. But right now she sounded crazy and he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"I know what I saw Arya. It was Luke."
But Arya continued to stay in denial, unable to wrap her head around what she was being told.
"You don't know him like I do. I swear he wouldn't hurt Annabeth, they're like family. Maybe whoever made you have the dream just wanted you to believe it was Luke."
Percy's anger was growing, he could barely look at her.
"I'm tired of hearing that you knew him so well! Clearly you didn't!"
This time, it was Arya's time to jump off the bed. Her own anger grew stronger.
"Percy! Trust me! It couldn't have been him! How do we even know your dream was real?" She accused before thinking.
"I know my dreams Arya. I know what's real and what's not! I can't believe you're so far in denial that you don't even trust me!" Percy exclaimed.
Arya just shook her head. "You don't trust me either! It wouldn't have been him!"
Percy paced a few more steps, hands pulling at the roots of his hair. "I can't believe you! After everything he's done and you're still defending that traitor!? Why?"
Arya opened her mouth, trying to come up with an answer before Percy continued. She struggled, then failed.
"Stop trying to find the good in him! There is none. You need to stop trying to save him! There's nothing to save! Stop choosing him over everything else, it's going to get you killed! It's unbelievable how deep he has his claws in you!" He spat with venom. The truth of the last year and a half finally coming to light.
The room fell silence. Arya was trying to process the blow his words felt like they landed in her chest. Percy realizing what he had said, how he had said it. But both were still far to mad to admit anything in the moment. In the three years they had known each other, this was there first fight. Arya knew it would come at some point. She didn't think it would be over something so big.
"What if it was Annabeth?" Arya spoke softly, equal parts pain and infuriation in her voice.
"What?" Percy asked.
"What if tomorrow we got Annabeth back. Everything was back to normal, and then she walked out on you randomly to create an army to take down everything you've ever known?" Arya continued.
Percy met Arya's eyes with a hard glare. Knowing what game she was playing at. Percy knew Annabeth though, better then he knew anyone.
"She wouldn't do that." He stated confidently.
Arya then let out a sigh, her hard glare dropping to one of sorrow and hurt. Her shield came down to show her the truth that she worked so hard everyday to hide.
"Exactly."