Leo led him down into the ship. It was a marvel, that's all Ajax could say. He didn't bother wondering how it all worked, how it floated, how it looked bigger on the inside, or anything technical like that.
Leo wasn't giving him a tour, thankfully. He just took him to a mess hall, past most of the rooms. There were nine rooms in total, one for each of them, but that wouldn't explain the extra room. Two doors were open, which Ajax looked through, a little creepily. He was in an unfamiliar place okay? he's allowed to be a little skeptical.
He may have been looking for warning signs, something that told him these people were not to be trusted, but all he found was more reasons to stay.
Through the doors he could see a room with an unmade blue bed. Two pictures were taped hastily to a wall, and Ajax couldn't see who it was clearly, only seeing two people. Clothes were scattered across the floor, a small fake plant on the desk and a soft toy of what looked like a black mastiff with red shiny eyes.
Cute.
Ajax had never been one to fit it anywhere. Not feeling completely comfortable with the girls, and feeling disgusted when the boys looked at him like he was a girl. He wasn't popular, nor was a he a nerd. He was just.. There. Nothing special, though he tried to be, just so people would like him.
He had always wanted to be wanted.
Cold dread seeped over him when he thought of the boy with the scar again. Luke. Ajax had always admired Luke, from the first time he saw him. Maybe it was a childish crush. But it grew into desperation.
He didn't have many friends back at... he lost his train of thought. There were some things that he just couldn't remember, like they were put out of his reach on purpose.
Anyways, Luke had asked him to run away together. Ajax didn't remember the specifics. All he knew is that he said yes without hesitation.
He didn't fit in with Luke either. Here though, he could see himself with these people.
Heroes.
So maybe he wouldn't exactly "fit in" Ajax never considered himself a hero or a good person. Guilt burned inside him, for what? He didn't know.
All he knew was that everything just seemed so right here.
All this talk about demigods and gods, giants and prophecies, heroes and monsters. Ajax was constantly stuck in a sense of Deja vu. Like he was living his past life and this one simultaneously.
Yes, he now referred to anything he remembered as the past life, since it was obvious by now that he really had died. And come back to life.. Somehow.
"So basically. Greek gods are real, I found out like half a year ago. This god queen lady- Hera was kidnapped and Jason, Piper and I had to go save her. That's what kickstarted this whole end of the world prophecy business. Jason had memory loss when we started out. Which was weird cause Piper and I remembered him, but he said he didn't know who we were."
Leo was talking a mile a minute. Ajax liked that about him, how carefree he was, instantly making Ajax feel comfortable.
"Turns out Roman gods are real too. They're like the same thing, different fonts. And there's two camps- Camp Halfblood and Camp Jupiter.. which is technically not a camp now that I think about it"
The only reason he could keep up with what Leo was saying was because of his adhd.
"Its like a huge ass city. And the people may be old fashioned but its cool. I mean, I don't like to think about that place, cause I got possessed by a ghost and opened fire on them, but that's all in the past right?"
Ajax chuckled at how Leo was talking so animatedly. He didn't even notice sitting down at the table at the mess hall. There were ten places on it, and empty white plates at every place along with necessary cutlery.
"Oh right, you must be starving. Damn it, I should've called Nico down too. You guys deserve a proper meal. Hazel told us Nico slipped into some death trance? And he was surviving on pomegranate seeds from the underworld. What about you? How are you still alive and better looking than Nico?"
"Oh thank you" Ajax smiled slightly in a joking manner, "I know he isn't that good looking, but you can't just call people ugly"
Leo, who had been reaching for a glass, stopped midway and just sputtered for ten whole seconds before bursting out laughing.
The sound was warm and welcoming. Ajax decided he liked making people laugh. Or maybe he just liked making Leo laugh.
"Oh man, you're officially my favorite person on board" He finally said when he stopped laughing, "Don't tell coach" He added as an after thought.
"Coach is the.. Uh satyr?"
"Yep" Leo pointed at the plate in front of him, telling Ajax to observe what he was doing. "Deep dish pizza"
The sickeningly amazing looking dish materialized onto the plate, sending Ajax's eyebrows shooting up. What the fuck?
Forget gods and giants, magic camps and coming back from the dead. This was the shit.
"You really went all out on the ship, huh?"
Leo had mentioned how he and his siblings (Its complicated, he had said) had built the ship, along with help from other demigods.
"Ah, its nothing" Leo hung his head, trying to hide his growing smile. "We all tried our best. And we were on a time crunch, so we didn't get to put in everything we wanted to. I had this genius idea for-"
"Can't trust anyone to do their job right for fucks sake" Ajax hadn't noticed Piper walk in until she had opened her mouth. She moved to the seat opposite to Ajax and Leo, reaching out shamelessly to take a piece of Leo's pizza. "Leo, we all have adhd. Its easy to get distracted but the poor guy's so lost. Tell him about the quests"
"Right, yes. I was getting to that" Leo offered the pizza to Ajax as well, who took the biggest slice, barely paying attention to what Leo was saying, instead focusing on how good eating felt.
Ajax was pretty sure he actually moaned.
No, scratch that. He definitely moaned. Piper and Leo were shaking in their seats, laughing until three more people joined them in the mess hall, probably coming to see what all the commotion was.
"Oh man, you don't wanna know" Leo wheezed when the tall chinese dude from earlier stood in the doorway with crossed arms, looking at them like they had lost their minds.
"Finger lickin' good, am I right?" Ajax wiggled his eyebrows at Piper, making the two of them throw back their heads again.
The two other people that had just joined them were Percy and the Luke look-a-like who Leo had referred to as Jason.
In any case, Jason did not look pleased. Percy on the other hand, grinned back at Leo.
"You're gonna love this guy" Leo told him.
"I thought you guys were filling him in" Frank spoke up, also going for a piece of the pizza. Percy and Jason followed suit.
Now that Percy was out of the serious mood, he looked much better. Like a load had been lifted off his back. He still had dark circles under his eyes and looked dead on his feet. But he managed to shoot Ajax a grin.
Ajax would have swooned.
"Right so, where was I?"
"Uh... Pomegranate seeds?" Ajax provided.
"Yeah- I still have no idea how you survived for four days in the jar"
Four days? There's no way it had been that long. Leo didn't dwell on it for long. He simply launched into the story again. It was unreal, what this group of teenagers had been through. Everyone added points here and there when Leo forgot, and Frank and Percy described their quest.
Ajax was still not processing everything. He was absolutely drained, and while it had felt good laughing with Leo, everyone being there suffocated him a little. He also had a lot on his mind. But he tried to be polite and listen to everyone.
"There's two prophecies" Percy held up two fingers. Ajax could tell Percy was beloved by everyone. He was just that sort of a person. Charming and good looking with a good heart. He had put Ajax to ease with his jokes every now and then and funny anecdotes. "The great prophecy was made right after the Titan war. The one with Luke- you said you remembered Luke right?"
Ajax nodded, still unsure of what to think about the maddened boy from his dreams or memories.
"It was like the gods were playing a cruel joke on us" Ajax had heard the tone of malice in reference to the gods before, he hoped history wouldn't repeat itself. "We had just fought a fucking war. They didn't even give us enough time to honor the fallen. Not even a thank you, just a prophecy about another world ending event."
Percy trailed off, like he had realized what he had just said. His expression grew alarmed, like he was scared of the person he was turning into. He composed himself.
"The spirit of the oracle now lives inside my friend- Rachel Elizabeth Dare and it was the first prophecy she told."
He took a deep breath. Ajax was captivated by Percy. He could only nod his head to make him continue. Oh gods. Curse his bisexuality.
"Seven halfbloods shall answer the call,
To storm or fire the world must fall.
An oath to keep with final breath,
and foes bear arms to the doors of death"
Ajax let the words repeat in his mind. None of it made any sense to him, "Leo said I was mentioned in a prophecy. But seven half bloods? That's you guys-"
He let his eyes gloss over the seven in question. Percy. Piper. Jason. Hazel. Frank Leo. And Annabeth- the missing one.
In the back of his mind, Ajax thought about Nico di Angelo. Where did he fit into all this?
All of them nodded.
Ajax leaned back in his chair. They had summoned another pizza because fighting drains everyone and pizza had never tasted so good. Ajax was on his third slice by now. He knew it probably wasn't very healthy eating pizza to energize himself, but he couldn't help but go for more.
The thought of him being involved in something like this was ridiculous. He had nothing to offer to the quest. He had no talents, no skills, no powers. Surely this was a joke?
He smiled a little uncomfortably, as if to say okay we'll roll with it.
"You're in the second prophecy" Said Jason.
This time Frank spoke up. Unlike Percy, he didn't bother with any backstory, jumping directly into recounting the prophecy.
"Wisdom's daughter walks alone,
The mark of Athena burns through Rome.
Twins snuff out the angel's breath,
Who holds the key to endless death.
Son of Magic, joining late
Powers of mist, control their fate.
Giants' bane stands gold and pale,
Won through pain from a woven jail"
oh .
"That's.. Really long. Could you like write it down somewhere.. I'll forget it otherwise"
His brain had lagged at the word "Son". He didn't hear anything after that.
son. son. son.
Son... him.
He.
Oh wow that felt really good.
Ajax tried to hide his growing smile.
Son of magic... the words after that caught up to him quickly. Son of magic.. control their fates? Ajax didn't know shit about himself and now he was supposed to control the fates of these people? Were they sure the prophecy was about him?
They didn't have time for any more discussion after that though. The ship jerked violently. Ajax's stomach dropped, as if he was on a rollercoaster.
Ajax's brain seemed to rattle inside his skull because of the explosions. There were multiple consecutive explosions, and after the insane day Ajax had just had, this was the last thing he needed.
Like everyone else, he covered his ears,.
Finally when the loud booms stopped, the rest of the crew looked at one another. Without another word, Percy bolted out of the mess hall and up the stairs. This Annabeth person they had talked about- his girlfriend, he must be really in love with her.
The others followed him up. Leo, the last to go lay a hand on Ajax's shoulder before he left.
"Eat as much as you want and then rest. The spare room's in the corner-" he pointed to a closed door at the end of the hall. Ajax nodded and smiled at him in gratitude.