Patrophobia - fear of your father
Aza felt her blood run cold; her patron must've been deeply powerful in order to bring back someone from the dead. Medea spread her fingers, and steam hissed from her nails. "You have no idea what's happening, do you," she turned to Aza, her eyes glimmering. "My dear, you remember the Great Stirring from Tartarus. This will be so much worse; my patron knows that giants and monsters are not her greatest servants. I am mortal. I learn from my mistakes! And now that I have returned to the living, I will not be cheated again. Now, here is my price for what you ask."
Aza frowned; before today, before she had ever met Medea, she felt bad for the woman. Annabeth's rants and explanations had an effect on her before, and she felt sympathetic for the sorceress. But now that she had actually met the woman, that sympathy was slowly slipping away.
But her sympathy for the woman aside, Aza felt the familiar feeling of sickening anxiety in her stomach; something worse then the Great Stirring? Aza remembered even gods worrying over it, so something worse than that could only spell out disaster.
As if Medea could sense Aza's thoughts of sympathy for her, she turned to the girl. "You understand, my dear Aza-Everett, I know you do. The people of Corinth would have beaten my children, bloody and brutal until they were begging for death! I needed to protect them; it was far better to die at their mothers hands, painlessly and quickly then at the hand of the Corinthians. Jason did nothing to protect me; he robbed me of everything. I gave up everything for him, so yes, I snuck back into the palace and poisoned his new bride. It was only fair - a suitable price."
"You feel bad for her?" Piper questioned Aza, her eyes widening. She looked at Aza like she was crazy, but the girl shrugged lightly. "It's true - or, at least, I think. Stories get twisted over millennia; one can never know fully what to trust."
"You're insane!" Piper exclaimed to Medea, shaking her head and giving Aza a slightly disgusted look. The sorceress shook her head, wailing slightly. "You understand, Piper! Would you not do anything to keep him, to prevent him from choosing her?" She spared a quick look at Aza.
Piper frowned and shook her head, but Aza could see the slight hesitation before the girl said louder, "Jason, Leo, it's time to go. Now."
The fountain turned a bright red and Medea purred, "Before you've closed the deal? What of your quest, boys? And my price is so easy. Did you know this fountain is magic? If a dead man were to be thrown into it, even if he was chopped to pieces, he would pop back out fully formed - stronger and more powerful than ever."
"Seriously?" Leo asked, looking impressed. Aza shook her head and placed her hand on the shorter boy's shoulder, forcing him to look at her. "No, Leo. It's a trick - she did that before; tricked a king's daughters to cut him to pieces so he could come out of the fountain young and healthy, but it just killed him!"
"Lies," Medea scoffed, and Aza felt her mind grow fuzzy; maybe she was thinking of the wrong story. It didn't sound right, now that she thought about it. "Leo, Jason - my price is so simple. Why don't you two fight? If you get injured, or even killed, no problem. We'll just throw you into the fountain and you'll be better than ever. You do want to fight, don't you? You resent each other!"
"No!" Piper shouted, but Aza stared in horror as the boys began to glare at each other, as if they were just now realizing how much they hated each other. She felt hopeless; at least Piper could charmspeak and stand a chance against the woman, but Aza was useless - all she was really good for was bashing people with swords, and in this situation it wouldn't do anything.
"Jason's always the star. He always gets the attention and takes me for granted."
"You're annoying, Leo," Jason countered. "You never take anything seriously. You can't even fix a dragon."
"Stop!" Piper begged, and Aza began began to feel the girl's fear potently, raising the energy in the room and making Aza's breath begin to increase - she was already scared enough, and now that Piper began to truly panic didn't help.
"Please," Aza begged, her voice cracking. Her mind began to go haywire slightly as the two boys drew their weapons. She stepped closer to the boys hesitantly as Piper argued with Medea, forcing herself to focus fully on the two boys. Their weapons were held high, but neither boy moved to attack, like they were waiting for something. Their eyes were glazed over, but the two glared heavily at the other.
"Leo, you don't hate Jason," she hesitantly grabbed his shoulders, praying he wouldn't attack you. "You appreciate his leadership and how he always has your back! And Jason," Aza turned to the taller blond, looking up at him and grabbing his chin, forcing his eyes to leave Leo's and instead settle on hers. "You love Leo's humor. You like how he makes situations a bit more lighthearted." The boys blinked slightly, but didn't move. Aza turned to Piper and silently pleaded with her to use her charmspeak.
"Medea is charming you. It's part of her magic! You are best friends! Don't fight each other, fight her!" Aza felt the raw power in Piper's voice wash over her and she turned to the boys hopefully, hoping that the spell had broke. She saw the boys hesitate slightly, but the spell didn't shatter; they looked slightly more reluctant to fight each other, but Aza could tell that they would with a little urging from Medea.
Aza frowned; she didn't know what to do anymore, but she had an idea.
Aza had swore to herself long ago that she would never use her powers on someone who wasn't an enemy without their permission, but right now it seemed like the only option. There was one emotion that was more powerful than any other; one that could focus someone's mind - fear.
And so, Aza stepped forward and said, "I'm sorry, Leo." She grabbed the boy's cheeks tightly in her palms, forcing him to make eye contact with her and staring deeply into his brown eyes. She searched his mind, finding the deepest cracks of his fears; she saw flickering flames and a woman lost in them, crying out for help. Aza drew this to the surface and let go of Leo, who stood frozen in fear, his brown eyes wide.
On the outside, the boy looked totally still, but his brown eyes were crying out for help. In his mind, Aza had placed his fears to the forefront and had immersed him in them. His outside world had faded around him. She had created his biggest fear as a hallucination only he could see, so when Leo cried out and reached forward for someone who wasn't there, Piper and Medea looked cautiously, wondering what had upset the boy so much.
She then turned to Jason and grabbed his cheeks, pulling his head down to force eye contact. "I'm sorry," she murmured quietly, chewing on the inside of her cheek when she found his unknown fear - the swirling mist that he saw in her eyes and drawing it to the surface, letting go of him once the boy struggled in her arms, looking around dazedly. His helplessly whirled in circles, his eyes not focusing on anything in particular. To him, he was surrounded by a thick white mist.
"What," Medea seethed. "What did you do?!" Aza didn't pay attention to her; it took all of her energy to keep up the hallucinations. She let the boys drown in their fear for some thirty seconds, finally dropping the hallucination once she was sure the spell had broken. She could see the boy's eyes focus once more, no longer glazed over like their eyes were when they were trapped in their horrific scenes.
"What," Jason blinked, shaking his head. "Leo, was I just about to stab you?"
"Something about my mother...?" Leo frowned and turned towards Medea, hefting his hammer and slamming the butt end into his hand threateningly. "You're working for Dirt Woman. You sent her to the machine shop! Lady, I got a three-pound hammer with your name on it."
"Bah," Medea sneered. "I'll collect payment another way." She pressed one of the mosaic tiles on the floor, and the building shook. Aza cursed, stumbling lightly and grabbing onto one of the clothing racks. The giant bronze sundials at either end of the fountain swung open and two snarling golden dragons crawled from the pits below.
"So that's what's in the kennels." Leo whimpered. The dragon's spread their wings and hissed. Aza could feel the heat radiating from their skin, making her uncomfortably hot as one turned its orange eyes on her. She quickly looked away when Jason warned, "Don't look them in the eye! They'll paralyze you."
Aza didn't know how Jason knew this, but she appreciated that he did, quickly looking away from the dragon before it could make eye contact with her. "Indeed," Medea lazily leaned against the handrail of the escalator as she watched. "These two dears have been with me a long time - sun dragons, you know, gifts from my grandfather Helios. They pulled my chariot when I left Corinth, and now they will be your destruction. Ta-ta!"
Aza quickly ran her hand over the inscription on her bracelet, grasping the sword that appeared in her hands tightly as the dragons lunged. Jason went after the one closest to the anemoi thuellai, and Aza turned to help Leo with the one closest to Coach Hedge.
Aza had fought a lot of monsters, but the sun dragon was without a doubt the hardest she had ever faced. It was fast and strong, and she and Leo struggled to keep it at bay. It seemed more than able to handle both demigods at the same time, especially when Aza became distracted by its head. The dragon's tail whipped around and slammed into the girl's side, sending her flying into the wall with a crash. With one of its opponents gone, it pinned Leo to the floor, baring its fangs.
"Jason, help!" Leo called - but Jason was across the room, too far away to assist. CRASH! The stained glass ceiling splintered, and Festus dropped into the department store. Their dragon quickly snatched a sun dragon in each claw and flew halfways up the atrium, then hurled the dragons into the pits they'd come from. Aza stood up with a wheeze, struggling over to the fountain and quickly pressing the marble tile, closing the sundials.
Aza heard Medea curse loudly in ancient greek and looked up in surprise to see the entire fourth floor on fire, the heat beginning to fill the entire store.
"Aza!" Jason held out hand to her from atop Festus' back. She gratefully took it and let him swing her up, settling her onto the dragon behind him. Piper hurtled over the railing of the fourth floor and Aza leaned precariously over the side of Festus, managing to catch Piper's shirt and hauled her aboard the dragon.
Medea screamed in rage as they soared through the shattered roof and over Chicago; then the department store exploded behind them.
---
Aza felt terrible about using her powers on Leo and Jason. She knew it was necessary; if she hadn't, Piper and she might not have managed to get the two boys out from under the spell of Medea's charmspeak. But still, she had sworn to herself years before that she wouldn't use her powers on an ally without their permission.
And not only that, she hadn't used the positive aspect of her powers, where she could take away someone's fear for a short time. She had used the worst aspect, the one that was only reserved for her worst enemies. And she had used it on the two people who deserved it the least in this world.
The thing that really killed her was that neither Leo nor Jason had spoken to her since they escaped Medea. Her guilt and anxiety would have been far less of a burden had the two acted like nothing was wrong, or had they reassured her that everything was okay. But both boys hadn't even acknowledged her existence.
Aza stayed silent until the suburbs of Chicago faded in the distance and the sun began to set. She felt guilt tearing at her, eating her alive. Intrusive thoughts began to creep into her mind - she didn't deserve to be there with them, not after what she did. She didn't deserve to keep their friendship, or to have them trust her.
She remained in her head whilst her friends discussed the plan, only partially listening - she heard Jason say something about Piper's mom, and something about Coach Hedge.
"The Bay Area," she tuned in to Leo once he said that, snapping to attention.
"No!" Aza shook her head fiercely, her russet eyes widening. Her companions turned to her in shock, and she got the feeling that they had almost forgotten she was there throughout their conversation. "No, we can't go to the Bay Area."
"Why not?" Piper snapped, lips parting and her eyebrows furrowing in an annoyed expression. Aza didn't know how or why, but she got the feeling that she wound up on the girl's bad side.
"For us, it's bad. It's almost like walking straight into Hades itself - well, actually its remarkably close to the Underworld. But more importantly, it's where Mount Orthys was during the second Titanomachy. Chiron's always told us not to go there."
Jason frowned, shaking his head slightly. "It might just be something we have to risk, Aza-Everett." Aza frowned at the use of her full name, feeling herself recede slightly. It made her feel... subpar, for some reason - it made her feel like she didn't belong there. Was he angry with her? She wouldn't blame him, of course, not after what she did, but the confirmation didn't help her self-hatred at all.
"Even if we went there," Piper said. "the Bay Area is huge! We might not need to go near Mount Orthys at all. But first, we need to find Aeolus and drop off the storm spirits. Boreas said Aeolus was the only one who could tell us exactly where to go."
Aza tuned out again, staring at the sunset as her companions spoke about a vapor trail that Jason assumed Festus had been following, hoping it would lead them to Aeolus.
Piper and Leo soon fell asleep. Jason held the reins, directing Festus along whatever trail he was able to see that the others couldn't, whilst Aza fiddled with her bracelet, lost deep in her self-hatred. She felt all alone with the group, like she had suddenly become an outcast. Jason seemed angry with her, Piper had suddenly decided that she disliked Aza, and Leo... well, he seemed ambivalent. But only one of your three companions not outright disliking you wasn't a good situation.
She missed Percy and Annabeth; she had never felt this way with them. Of course, she had felt slightly out-of-place when they would flirt and kiss, but overall she had never felt like she didn't belong, or like she had become the outcast of the group. She missed the way Annabeth would braid her hair and would hum under her breath, and the way she and Percy would play cards and would tell each other stupid jokes to annoy Annabeth.
She closed her eyes, a small, sad smile gracing her lips when she thought of her adventures with them - the lightening bolt, traversing the sea of monsters to save her half-aunt, saving Annabeth and Artemis, winding through the Labyrinth and defeating Kronos. There had been hard times with them - there had been times where none of them thought they would make it to the end. But never had she had such a hard time on a quest; never had she felt so alone.
Aza found herself hoping that Jason would turn around and grace her with a smile, or that he would say something kind to the girl, or honestly, just say anything at all. But as the time passed by, Aza realized it wouldn't happen - she was waiting for something that would never come. So the girl put her head forward, resting her cheek on the back of their dragon, and slowly drifted off to sleep.
Aza was in the family room of her childhood home. She almost didn't recognize it; it took her several moments of looking around to realize the familiarity of the room, and it was only when she saw the small framed photograph of her mother and her that she realized where she was.
She was sat on the old blue couch that she just barely remembered, sitting on a large coffee stain that had been there for as long as she could remember. The old tv that her mother refused to replace flickered weakly in front of her, playing the Princess Bride - the movie that she and her mother watched together often before Aza was sent away.
"I never understood why you watched this movie so much," Aza jumped when she heard the voice, whirling in her seat to see a shadowy figure standing in the doorway of the family room. The shadow stepped closer, growing more detailed as the light from the tv shone on him. It was a tall young man dressed in tattered black jeans, a black v-neck and a leather jacket. He had dark hair that was messily wrapped in a bandana, but still managed to flop partially in his eyes and messily hung near his ears and neck. His eyes were covered by dark wrap-around shades that hung slightly low on his hooked nose that reminded Aza of her own. "Whenever I would check in on you, you were always watching it. It infuriated me."
Aza gulped heavily, her lips parting slightly in shock and her brows furrowing - she felt like she recognized the man, but she wasn't quite sure. He reminded her sort of like the man who had snuck her forbidden snacks in the hospital, and he looked almost exactly like the doctor who gave her a sly wink as he 'accidentally' left her door open and unlocked, allowing the young girl to escape the hospital she had been confined to. He looked like the man who tapped the alarm near the door, signalling for Aza to leave and giving her a small smirk that assured the girl that no alarm nor camera would signal to the doctors that she had managed to leave.
The man hopped over the back of the couch, settling down a healthy distance away from Aza, like he wasn't particularly inclined to hug her or show any affection towards her, but he wasn't actively repulsed by her presence. "But your mother did always love this movie, I suppose, so she might've rubbed off on you - that bitch."
Aza pulled back, her brows furrowing deeper and her face crunching slightly in confusion - who was this guy? It was only when the man took off his sunglasses that Aza recognized him - as she stared into his russet-colored eyes that resembled hers oh-so closely.
"Father?" She questioned, peering closer. His eyes flickered with scenes of disgusted people; she could recognize the blonde daughter of Aphrodite that screamed and dry-heaved when she had first looked into Aza's eyes, and the son of Hermes that fainted as well. She saw people turning their backs, casting nasty looks over their shoulders and turning their noses at the girl. Aza then understood why people had such an intense reaction when they stared at her eyes, because she was having the same one.
"Kid," Her father nodded absentmindedly, taking a knife from his belt and beginning to pick at his nails. He didn't seem particularly interested in her - but Aza knew that he must have been, since he had taken the time to visit her in her dreams. The two sat in an awkward silence for several moments; Aza, frankly, didn't really know what to say. Before now, she had never thought her father had any interest in her. The only thing he had ever done was claim her. He hadn't even wanted to meet her after the second Titanomachy; he hadn't asked Percy or Clarisse about her when the three had met.
"Listen, kid," Her father began once more, his eyes flickering up to look at her. "I've been waiting for you to realize this on your own, but you haven't, and it's seriously pissing me off. Your powers? They're a gift! They shouldn't be hidden or pushed away. "
Aza didn't quite know what to say, so all she managed to squeak out was, "Oh," before her father continued.
"Listen, I'll give you this ultimatum: either you start actually appreciating your powers and using them, or I'll smite you down and find some other mortal woman to give me a kid that actually appreciates them. Capiche?"
Aza nodded quickly, eyes widening slightly at the threat. She hadn't quite expected her father to ever threaten her, but she also hadn't not expected him to threaten her - after all, she had seen Ares threaten Clarisse in a multitude of ways. Like father, like son, Aza supposed.
"Good," Phobos' lips flickered and he looked much more calm once she appeased him. "Cause I like you, Aza-Everett. You're a good kid. You're a fighter, like me. I'm proud of all you've gone through - what your bitch of a mother put you through."
Aza let out a mirthless laugh at that, and Phobos side-eyed her, his lips tugging slightly into a half-smirk.
"There's nothing wrong with your powers. Don't let anyone tell you there is, and if they do, crush them like a bug under your boot. You got that?"
"Yes, father," Aza nodded dutifully, tucking a strand of her dark hair behind her ear shyly. Phobos nodded in appreciation, turning to look at her again. "Good."
The two fell into a silence once more. Aza wanted to question him, to ask him if it actually was him who helped her escape the hospital, but she was too scared - she felt too intimidated to speak without him prompting her.
"Kid, stop staring at me," Phobos said, looking at her oddly. "Just ask whatever you wanna ask."
"Was it you," She hesitated, licking her lips slightly. "that left my door unlocked and that disabled the alarms?"
Phobos smirked and nodded. "All me, yes. 'T was the least I could do. I thought your idiot mother would understand your powers and would support you, but I guess I was wrong, and I had to fix that issue. Otherwise right now you'd be trying to scribble with a shitty, dull golf-pencil."
Aza laughed lightly, and she nodded. "Thank you, Father. I - I'm sorry for not appreciating the gifts you've given me. I'll fix that. I'll make you proud." Her voice turned serious towards the end, and she looked up at her father like a child looks at a superhero.
Phobos nodded. "Make me proud. I like that, kid. Good luck. Don't die, cause I don't wanna have to deal with a whole 'nother kid from scratch."
He disappeared with a hint of yellow smoke.
Then, Aza woke to screams.
A/N: me wanting to punch Jason for being mad at Aza and then remembering I made it that way LMAO