Frank's POV
Frank missed his bow. He wanted to stand on the porch and shoot the snakes from a distance. A few well-placed exploding arrows, a few craters in the hillside—problem solved. Unfortunately, a quiver full of arrows wouldn't do Frank much good if he couldn't shoot them.
Besides, he had no idea where the basilisks were. They'd stopped blowing fire as soon as he came outside. He stepped off the porch and leveled his golden spear. He didn't like fighting up close. He was too slow and bulky.
He'd done okay during the war games, but this was real. There were no giant eagles ready to snatch him up and take him to the medics if he made a mistake. 'You can be anything.' His mother's voice echoed in his mind.
"Great," he thought. "I want to be good with a spear. And immune to poison—and fire." Something told Frank his wish had not been granted. The spear felt just as awkward in his hands.
Patches of flame still smoldered on the hillside. The acrid smoke burned in Frank's nose. The withered grass crunched under his feet. He thought about those stories his mother used to tell—generations of heroes who had battled Hercules, fought dragons, and sailed monster-infested seas.
Frank didn't understand how he could have evolved from a line like that, or how his family had migrated from Greece through the Roman Empire all the way to China, but some unsettling ideas were starting to form.
For the first time, he started to wonder about this Prince of Pylos, and his great-grandfather Shen Lun's disgrace at Camp Jupiter, and what the family powers might be. 'The gift has never kept our family safe,' Grandmother had warned.
A reassuring thought as Frank hunted poisonous fire- breathing devil snakes. The night was quiet except for the crackle of brush fires. Every time a breeze made the grass rustle, Frank thought about the grain spirits who'd captured Hazel.
Hopefully they'd gone south with the giant Polybotes. Frank didn't need any more problems right now. He crept downhill, his eyes stinging from the smoke. Then, about twenty feet ahead, he saw a burst of flame.
He considered throwing his spear. Stupid idea. Then he'd be without a weapon. Instead he advanced toward the fire. He wished he had the gorgon's blood vials, but they were back at the boat.
He wondered if gorgon blood could cure basilisk poison....But even if he had the vials and managed to choose the right one, he doubted he'd have time to take it before he crumbled to dust like his bow.
He emerged in a clearing of burned grass and found himself face-to-face with a basilisk. The snake rose up on its tail. It hissed, and expanded the collar of white spikes around its neck. Little crown, Frank remembered.
That's what "basilisk" meant. He had thought basilisks were huge dragon like monsters that could petrify you with their eyes. Somehow the real basilisk was even more terrible. As tiny as it was, this extra-small package of fire, poison, and evil would be much harder to kill than a large, bulky lizard.
Frank had seen how fast it could move. The monster fixed its pale yellow eyes on Frank. Why wasn't it attacking? Frank's golden spear felt cold and heavy. The dragon-tooth point dipped toward the ground all on its own—like a dowsing rod searching for water.
"Stop that." Frank struggled to the lift the spear. He'd have enough trouble jabbing the monster without his spear fighting against him. Then he heard the grass rustle on either side of him. The other two basilisks slithered into the clearing. Frank had walked straight into an ambush.
Frank swept his spear back and forth. "Stay back!" His voice sounded squeaky. "I've got .. . um...amazing powers—and stuff." The basilisks hissed in three-part harmony. Maybe they were laughing. They didn't laugh for long.
(Y/N)'s POV
"Are you guys kidding me!" He said as he slammed his palms against the front window of the shop, feeling like Ebeneezer watching Tiny Tim. That was to say, like a muppet. He should have seen this coming, no wonder Fleecy was so giddy.
After a minute or so of trying to get into the shop with no positive results, and only the suspicious feeling that Fleecy was laughing at him, he decided it was best to just do what Iris had asked him too, and negotiate a pay rise later.
"I can't believe I'm doing this." (Y/N) grumbled as he walked off the porch with only his sword, still unable to locate Glimmer in the darkness, ironically, seeing as it's name was the only thing he needed it to do right now. He used the dull glow of Gleam to find his way through the dark.
The basilisks had made quite a mess. Like with most monsters, finding them was the easy part, he just followed the smell of poison. Essentially, the more it reeked, the closer he was to finding them. It took him less than a minute.
The hard part came next, notably because Frank had gone and got himself surrounded. (Y/N) understood now why Iris was worried, Frank did have good battle instincts, being a son of Mars, but he was too unsure of himself to act on them.
He should have charged when he had the chance, or at least did something before the monsters got into position to disrupt them, but he was too nervous to. (Y/N) didn't blame him for that though, anyone would be, fighting monsters like that with an unfamiliar weapon.
While Frank got over his nerves, (Y/N) decided to take over, not to take the victory from Frank, which (Y/N) was sure would be great for the kid's confidence, but just to give the boy some breathing room.
Holding his breath and falling into the shadows, (Y/N) approached the basilisks, which would normally smell him, if it weren't for his dousing with water, and the collective effort of the smoke that they had caused, the poison they spewed and the fumes of all Iris's incense.
Once he saw one of the basilisks contort the back of their body like a worm, preparing to strike out at Frank, he intervened as best he could without being dissolved in the corrosive poison, while still holding his breath, he wrapped a shadow thinly around the beast, like a leash.
He always fell back on the shadows being his ace in the hole, the last thing that he knew he could always control, even from a young age, it was always his first instinct, it was second nature to him, and another plus side, it couldn't be burned by poison, or set on fire.
As it thrashed towards Frank, he pulled back with all his might, not easy to do without taking a breath, and as tempted as he was to attack the creature, he fought the urge. Realizing this wasn't his fight.
Reminded of the time he asked Annabeth why she wouldn't stab Medusa while invisible, he finally understood why, all these years later, he couldn't take this from Frank.
Once the demigod did make his move, (Y/N) was not only annoyed by the weapon he used, but enthralled by it's user. After a close call where he was almost skewered with a rib bone, he took breath and joined Frank's side.
Frank's POV
The spear tip was almost too heavy to lift now, as if the jagged white triangle of bone was trying to touch the earth. Then something clicked in the back of Frank's mind: Mars had said the tip was a dragon's tooth. Hadn't there been some story about dragon's teeth planted in the ground?
Something he'd read in monster class at camp...? The basilisks circled him, taking their time. Maybe they were hesitating because of the spear. Maybe they just couldn't believe how stupid Frank was.
It seemed like madness, but Frank let the spear tip drop. He drove it into the ground. Crack. When he lifted it out, the tip was gone—broken off in the dirt. Wonderful. Now he had a golden stick.
Some crazy part of him wanted to bring out his piece of firewood. If he was going to die anyway, maybe he could set off a massive blaze—incinerate the basilisks, so at least his friends could get away.
Before he could get up the courage, the ground rumbled at his feet. Dirt showered everywhere, and a skeletal hand clawed the air. The basilisks hissed and backed up. Frank couldn't blame them.
He watched in horror as a human skeleton crawled out of the ground. It took on flesh as if someone were pouring gelatin over its bones, covering them in glowing, transparent gray skin. Then ghostly clothes enveloped it—a muscle shirt, camo pants, and army boots.
Everything about the creature was gray: gray clothes on gray flesh on gray bones. It turned toward Frank. Its skull grinned beneath an expressionless gray face. Frank whimpered like a puppy.
His legs shook so badly he had to support himself with the spear shaft. The skeleton warrior was waiting, Frank realized—waiting for orders. "Kill the basilisks!" he yelped. "Not me!" The skeletal warrior leaped into action.
He grabbed the nearest snake, and though his gray flesh began to smoke on contact, he strangled the basilisk with one hand and flung down its limp body. The other two basilisks hissed with rage.
One sprang at Frank, but he knocked it aside with the butt of his spear. The other snake belched fire directly in the skeleton's face. The warrior marched forward and stomped the basilisk's head under his boot.
Frank turned toward the last basilisk, which was curled at the edge of the clearing studying them. Frank's Imperial gold spear shaft was steaming, but unlike his bow, it didn't seem to be crumbling from the basilisk's touch.
The skeleton warrior's right foot and hand were slowly dissolving from poison. His head was on fire, but otherwise he looked pretty good. The basilisk did the smart thing. It turned to flee. In a blur of motion, the skeleton pulled something from his shirt and flung it across the clearing, impaling the basilisk in the dirt.
Frank thought it was a knife. Then he realized it was one of the skeleton's own ribs. Frank was glad his stomach was empty. "That...that was gross." Suddenly, the skeleton began looking off at the distance.
"What is it?" Frank asked, the undead soldier threw another bone in a random direction, then paused, and after a second of waiting, moved on, Frank didn't think it was in the mood for questions. The skeleton stumbled over to the basilisk.
It pulled out its rib and used it to cut off the creature's head. The basilisk dissolved into ashes. Then the skeleton decapitated the other two monster carcasses and kicked all the ashes to disperse them.
Frank remembered the two gorgons in the Tiber—the way the river had pulled apart their remains to keep them from re-forming. "You're making sure they don't come back," Frank realized.
"Or slowing them down, anyway." Said (Y/N) suddenly, appearing from the shadows. Giving Frank a mini heart attack. "You're welcome. By the way." He smiled, Frank didn't understand, once he didn't get a thank you, (Y/N) sighed.
"For the spear. This is the part where you say 'thank you for the spear. (Y/N)' or something nice at least." He clarified. Frank was now even more confused, he went to voice this confusion, but (Y/N) sighed. "Oh forget it. Nobody even notices when I do this stuff anyway..."
"Who's your...friend?" (Y/N) asked as the skeleton warrior stood at attention in front of Frank. Its poisoned foot and hand were mostly gone. Its head was still burning. "What—what are you?" Frank asked. He wanted to add, Please don't hurt me.
The skeleton looked at (Y/N), and then at Frank, as if it was saying, "Do you want me to destroy him too?" (Y/N) glared at the skeleton, but it just stared blankly at Frank, awaiting orders. "Impressive." (Y/N) said.
"He must have made it himself." (Y/N) said, regarding Frank's spear, "I meant that he could have let Hephaestus do it, but he's probably too stubborn. The necromancy's pretty crude, but this is Ares were talking about here, I expect nothing less."
Then the soldier's expression changed to one that meant 'please let me destroy him too' But Frank shook his head. The skeleton saluted with its stump of a hand. Then it began to crumble, sinking back into the ground. "Wait!" Frank said. "I don't even know what to call you! Tooth Man? Bones? Gray?"
"Bones...I like that name..." (Y/N) said happily, "Doesn't really suit him though. Something cuter maybe. Undead soldiers don't strike me as cutesy pets." As its face disappeared beneath the dirt, the warrior seemed to grin at the last name—or maybe that was just its skeletal teeth showing.
Then it was gone, leaving Frank alone with his pointless spear. "Gray," he muttered. "Okay ... but..." He examined the tip of his spear. Already, a new dragon tooth was starting to grow out of the golden shaft.
You get three charges out of it, Mars had said, so use it wisely. Frank heard footsteps behind him. Percy and Hazel ran into the clearing. Percy looked better, except he was carrying a-tie-dyed man satchel from R.O.F.L.—definitely not his style.
Riptide was in his hand. Hazel had drawn her spatha. "Are you okay?" she asked. Percy turned in a circle, looking for enemies. "Iris told us you were out here battling the basilisks by yourself, and we were like, What? We came as fast as we could. What happened?"
"I'm not sure," Frank admitted. Hazel crouched next to the dirt where Gray disappeared. "I sense death. Either my brother has been here or...the basilisks are dead?" Percy stared at him in awe. "You killed them all?"
"Hey I helped too...oh what's the point?" (Y/N) said as he walked away towards R.O.F.L. with his had in his hands like he wanted to take a nap. Muttering to himself as he did, "Nobody listens to me anyway."
(Y/N)'s POV
He walked into R.O.F.L. with satisfaction, as there was a little 'ding' from the bell, followed by the rattling of wind chimes. "Basilisks are no longer a threat." He reported to Iris, her and Fleecy seemed unbothered regardless.
Which was both an immense relief and a huge frustration, "Thanks for throwing me to the wolves." Iris just smiled like this was part of a grand plan only she knew about. "Method to the madness dear. But you were meant to head off from there." She said, confirming that entirely.
Fleecy smiled at him too, like she was excited about something, "What is it?" He asked, and they didn't answer, (Y/N) snapped. Frowning at the two of them, "I was almost melted by vicious snake creatures, still nothing?"
"For once. In my multiple lives. Can a god just tell me what's going on? Can you not, for one time. Just indulge me? And tell me what's coming." Iris laughed a melodic laugh that ended in a snort.
"So self centered (Y/N), weren't talking about you. Frank, he was so close to finding his answers, we hoped that putting you in danger would...give him the push he needed to take the leap. It didn't work out like that, but he's closer."
"Now he knows the alternative can't be trusted, it's only a matter of time before it happens." "Thrown into a deadly situation in order to make another more important demigod feel better about themselves. Is it Thursday already?"
Iris smiled at him once he was done pouting, placing her hand on his head and rubbing like he was a dog, if it wasn't so comforting, he would have been offended. "It'll all make sense one day (Y/N) that's a promise." Her voice was steady and calm, but there was a sort of twinkle in her eye.
He nodded and she added, "Thank you for helping us. Who knows where we'd be if you hadn't helped us." Fleecy nodded along, and for a moment, it felt disingenuous. Like she was trying to calm him down. Make him content with her so he wouldn't ask questions.
Then the cloud nymph couldn't take it anymore and raindrops began to swell over her head, "C'mon Fleecy not again. You just-" Iris began, but her complaint was cut short as Fleecy brought the two of them into a teary hug with her. "Thanks for being a part of R.O.F.L. With us (Y/N)" she said.
"Why does it feel like I'm saying goodbye?" He thought, but didn't voice as the three of them broke apart. Later that day, he would wish he had, he will have wished that he would have left the goddess and her cloud nymph employee alone, not put them in danger. Of course, he would only realize that once it was too late.
Iris let out a content sigh and winked, "Trust me kid. With a little luck, both you and Frank will do just fine." "How can you be sure?" (Y/N) said as she healed his wounds with a warm glowing rainbow.
"Well, I am a messenger god. I know these things." (Y/N) didn't question it, looking at Fleecy and smiling, the Nymph smiled back sweetly and wiped her tears, and said "You still owe me that Tristan McLean autograph."
"I'll remember it next time I visit." He promised, but Fleecy stifled a sob, "Sure, you should go see your friends now, before-before I make it storm again." (Y/N) was kind of weirded out by that, but nodded, saying his goodbyes and walking back to his friends.
He was about to ask them what came next, but then, as if the words were being driven into his skull by a hammer and nail, reality hit him in the face. Somnus's warnings sprang into his mind, not to remind him, to taunt him, to remind him that he could have avoided this, but didn't.
"...even now, in your dreams, it hunts you...it cannot be without you, and you cannot be without it. The army of your enemy will lead it to you, once it does, she will pursue you." Images flooded into his mind, he doubled over in pain
The others rushed to help him, "Is it the poison?" Frank asked, but (Y/N) knew it was something much worse. He was having a sort of vision. Just like his last nightmare, but this time not a memory.
He watched himself leave R.O.F.L. and saw a moment after, Iris got a sudden chill as if it were mid winter. Fleecy shrieked in horror and again, his behind the goddess, Iris summoned a blanket around the two of them.
"You ready Fleecy?" She asked, and the nymph nodded, trying to remain brave. Clutching onto the blanket as if it were a last line of defense against what was outside, and as the two of them stood there, shaking.
There was a loud noise from outside, and the whole building began to rumble as if someone had invited an earthquake to the party. As the door burst open. Iris only said one thing, cold and distant. But also a warning, like she saw through the dream. "Go."
He came to his senses with the others around him, Hazel looking down at him with worry, Frank hovering over him with the dragon tooth spear at the ready in case of attack, and Percy shaking him. (Y/N) shot up, breathless, "Something's wrong, something's coming and we have to-"
It was too late. He saw it before the others, because he knew what to look for, and Frank saw it next, with his keen eyes, developed from years of archery, Hazel stiffened up like someone had just traced an icicle down her back, and looked around, eventually sensing it. Percy followed the other's eye line.
Describing it was not too difficult in his dreams, or when he was protected in the past. But next to impossible in the light they were in, in fact even with his normal eyes, where he could see it clearly, he didn't want to. In the dim light that they had; it was nearly completely transparent.
To call it a shadow wasn't exactly incorrect, but didn't do the form justice either, the closest thing that (Y/N) could describe it as for reference to the uninitiated like Frank and Hazel was that it looked like the grim reaper.
A floating form of a skeletal creature, only with no bones, no organs or muscles, just an outline of a shape, wrapped in a cloak of darkness. The only thing it was missing, apart from a face, was a scythe, then it could easily be mistaken for the classic grim reaper.
Not the real one, not like his father, but like someone had tried to cover up something horrific like a skeleton in a long rag, that seemed to shift and move around it like roiling water. You couldn't see it's face but feel it's eyes.
(Y/N)'s stomach turned just looking at it, he could already see the changes to the form that none of the others could, the long cloak it was wearing, the silent vindictiveness of it's gaze, he almost retched, it was just as much a part of Circe as it was him now. The worst of both worlds.
Only the two of them knew what hid behinds that cloak, only the two of them had looked into the face of evil incarnate. The thing that (Y/N) had kept shrouded from the world all this time, the creature only Circe was foolish enough to release it from it's constraints.
With her stolen power, she thought that she could control it, she was probably using it to keep an eye on the giant Polybotes while she stayed with his father on Alaska. He didn't know if running into it was intentional, or just bad luck.
What he did know was that the shiny rock that he had stolen earlier, that his friends had warned him was bad luck, whatever Hazel's curse had spawned as they fought the wheat spirits. Suddenly felt very heavy in his pocket. His secret nightmare had arrived.
This was something he didn't tell Annabeth about, it was what he hid from his friends for years, it had just finally become impossible to ignore, they had encountered it before, a few times, it had caused them trouble in the past, but he never would have told them about it. "What is it?" Percy asked.
(Y/N) knew the answer. It was his final graveyard secret, the final hidden feeling that he kept from them, and he knew just looking at it, that everyone here felt it, felt the sick feeling in their stomach that it could just get them killed.
Hazel instantly took two steps back, crouching low, as if she wanted to fall into the earth, he was sure it just looked to the creature like she was cowering, Frank looked like he was ready to run for his life.
His face suddenly looked much older, much more worn, like he had aged five years, (Y/N) saw Frank's jaw clench like he was trying to keep his teeth from chattering. Percy looked hesitant, but ready, reaching for Riptide again out of instinct.
(Y/N) stopped him from drawing the weapon. "Don't." He said out of the corner of his mouth, staying frozen like he was hiding from a T-Rex. As if he had just entered a staring contest with Medusa. "None of you raise a weapon, just keep eyes on it and slowly back up."
"And it'll leave us alone?" Hazel said in a whimper, "No," He said truthfully, despite wanting to calm her nerves, she needed to know what they were dealing with wasn't the ordinary spirit. "We just need to get closer to R.O.F.L."
The moment the name of his place of employment left his mouth, the creature above them looked up, across the grass towards the dwelling of Iris, and smiled, it didn't have a mouth, but he knew it was smiling.
He could feel it taunting him, as if to say "You think the hippie goddess can keep you safe forever, from me? Be my guest." (Y/N) shuddered, a cold chill forcefully invaded his body. The same feeling that had overcome his technicolour patron.
The harsh, taunting cold, that made his hands feel like blocks of ice, and his chest constrict as if it were in a vice. Colder then even Khione had made him. Once he finally managed to force a breath from his body, it was shallow, and shaking.
Once it passed his lips it turned into a cold mist. "If you raise a weapon to it, it will take it as permission to attack, until you do, it just has to sit there...I think." "You think!" Percy snapped, (Y/N) wanted to shut the son of Poseidon up, to tell him that even (Y/N) was grasping at straws here.
This was his worst nightmare come to life, he didn't know anything, as much as he knew everything about his enemy, Circe's intervention changed the rules of engagement, there was no more bargaining, no more holding it back.
(Y/N) felt a buzz in the back of his mind, almost like whispers, but so quiet and so low in tone that it could have just been mistaken for the drum of heartbeat, or tinnitus in your ear, it was well hidden, but there.
"It's trying to charmspeak us." "But it's not speaking." Percy said, (Y/N) just looked up at the monster, staring at them, into their souls. "Yes it is." (Y/N) said as he noticed the sly attack of their enemy.
It wouldn't go after Hazel, she was a daughter of Pluto, too strong against it, plus she was far from new to having voices in her head. Percy's memories were gone, it had very little to exploit there.
As much as it probably wanted to hurt (Y/N), he doubted it wanted to be anywhere near his mind anymore. He doubted it could spend another second in there, for any reason, besides, (Y/N) was the only one who could fight it off.
It was a clever attack, because it wasn't one. Nobody could hear it distinctly, but they all sensed it, that was the only reason (Y/N) could intervene. Out of the corner of his eye, (Y/N) saw Franks spear hand begin to shake, and the end of his spear dip towards the ground again.
"NO!" (Y/N) shouted, snatching the spear from Frank. Who only seemed to realize what he had done in that moment. "We need to do it. It's the only way we can survive!" Frank said, his voice was shaking, he was terrified.
"Ignore whatever you're thinking, it's trying to test us. See which one of us is the weakest. Whatever it's telling you to do, ignore it, that's what it wants. It makes it sound like a good idea, but it's not."
"If you summon a spartoi here, you'll only make things worse, that thing's no tooth fairy, and it knows it can pick us off if we're divided. If you raise that thing again, you're just end up giving it more ways to kill us."
"More?" Hazel caught. (Y/N) nodded, "What do we do?" Percy asked, and for the first time, (Y/N) took his eyes off the creature. Making a decision in the moment.
He turned back to R.O.F.L. and broke into a sprint, "RUN!" The three others caught on fast, taking off towards the goddess of rainbow's domain, it was hot on their tail, or cold on their tail really.
It flew above them, haunted them as they ran. "How do we get it to leave us alone?" Frank asked as he ran, covering his head with his backpack, like he expected it to start raining monsters. (Y/N) couldn't bring himself to tell Frank that there was very little they could do, so he said "I don't know!"
"What is it!" Hazel asked, (Y/N) was too out of breath for an in depth discussion, so he said "It's after us!" He kept running, he felt his blood go cold and stopped in his tracks, the creature slipped past him in the darkness, narrowly avoiding crashing into him.
Without missing a beat, both Percy and (Y/N) drew and swung their swords at the flying creature, both blades slipped through it fruitlessly. Well maybe not entirely, they did no damage but definitely ticked it off.
It shrieked soundlessly, flailing it's body at them, long spectral arms revealing themselves from under the cloak, sinister looking claws at the end of them, to took a swing at Percy, who luckily dodged.
(Y/N) tried to think of something to stop the creature, but couldn't, luckily, Percy was no novice, and was always good at thinking on his feet, so when he tumbled to the ground after dodging, he collected something from the ground.
Lifting it up like it was The Phial of Galadriel, he shouted "Glimmer, SHINE!" And for the umpteenth time, Beckendorf's amazing craftsmanship saved his friends life. Because the dagger that (Y/N) had fumbled with earlier erupted with light.
A voiceless shriek contorted onto the faceless creature, as the light pushed it back into the sky, (Y/N) helped Percy up and the two of them kept running, they warded the creature off with (Y/N)'s weapons, but it wasn't enough.
Maybe Frank was right, (Y/N) would have taken anything to cover himself now, even a backpack. He began sprinting again. They continued to sprint from the crater, over the mounds of former monster that Gray had made, and towards R.O.F.L.
He didn't know what he was hoping for, that the goddess would give them some protection. Or maybe some anti-evil entity gluten free bars or something, but there was a simple problem with this plan. The shadow beat them there.
Silent as the dead. It swept past them, over them like a vulture circling overhead, once it realized their destination (Y/N) hoped it would retreat, that it would cut it's losses, knowing it couldn't enter the shop.
He was wrong, terribly wrong, instead it did the opposite, battering it's body against the barrier that Iris had used to shield the shop from the basilisks, (Y/N) let out half smile until everything went wrong, until it's eyes sprouted on it's face and began to glow the sinister color of molten gold.
Just like that, the barrier of magic that had held back Cyclopi, basilisks and a giant back, was shattered in an instant, a rainbow barrier shattering like glass as the flew through it like a speeding bullet.
The moment it happened, he realized this was all his fault. If he hadn't have insisted on checking up on the goddess, he wouldn't have had to watch as her store was torn apart. There were sudden sounds, crashes, shattering of pottery, then a flash of light. But it was only the beginning.
Shadows wrapped the structure like tendrils from a great beast, first the windows all shattered, that sound alone made (Y/N) flinch, the familiar sting of fear hitting him in the chest like a battering ram. He knew that part was just for him to make sure he was paying attention.
Then as that passed, he could only watch in disbelief as the door flew off it's hinges. "NO!" (Y/N) shouted like he could have changed the outcome. The four demigods realized what they had done at the same time, they all stopped in their tracks, frozen in place by the destruction in front of them.
Darkness swept through the store, crushing parts of the building, (Y/N) was reminded of the Queen Anne's Revenge, he thought Circe was the one to cause that destruction, this was proof he was wrong.
(Y/N) remembered his dream, the threat he received after Blackbeard's death, "See, we aren't just going to kill you, oh no. We're going to kill everything you love. Starting with your friends, then your family...and finally, when you finally feel like you did back then, I'm going to kill you."
It only took half a minute, but it felt like half a decade. Once it was over, all that was left was a pile of rubble. Where R.O.F.L. used to be, no sign of Iris, or Fleecy. (Y/N) couldn't move, he couldn't breathe.
Frank's POV
Frank was in shock, as were the others, he wanted to rush forward, to help, but Percy was the first to realize that was a bad idea. He pulled Frank by the arm, "We have to go! Before it comes back."
Frank knew he was right, but there was still a part of him that wanted to go digging in the rubble, searching for Iris, who reminded him so much of his mother. "But-" He started, but the thought died on the tip of his tongue.
But what? What could they do now but what Percy was asking of them? Frank couldn't see what had attacked them under the rubble, nor did he know what it was, but he knew they couldn't stop it now.
"We have to do something, we have to help them!" (Y/N) shouted, and Hazel seemed to agree, but there was no time, Frank could feel something stirring under the rubble. "(Y/N), please, look at me." Percy said.
Once he had, Percy stared into his eyes and said "We have to go. Now. Otherwise we're next." (Y/N) grit his teeth, "But-" "(Y/N)!" Percy shouted, as they saw some of the shadow from before become clear in the destruction.
(Y/N) drew his sword and looked ready to fight the thing, but Percy was clearly against it, "Frank, it's your quest, what do we do?" He asked in a tone that made one thing clear, whatever happened, they were with him.
Frank weighed his options, which currently boiled down to this, stay here and die, or go to Portland and try their luck with Phineus. It was a clear choice. "We're leaving, move out." He tried to say to act commanding.
"Hell no. I'm ending this right-" (Y/N) took one step before Percy cracked him over the head with the pommel of Riptide and he slumped over. Then picked (Y/N) up in an impressive fireman's carry. "He'll forgive me later, let's go!" Percy said, Frank began dragging Hazel away.
Once they had made it a good distance away, Hazel dared to ask what they were all thinking. "They're not...dead. Are they?" Frank wished he knew the answer for a fact, but he didn't,
Instead all he could think to say was "Rainbows always mean hope. So I think they made it." He tried his best to smile, it didn't seem to make Hazel feel any better, but she nodded, "Yeah, me too." She said with conviction.
Percy was much less optimistic, or at least if he was, he didn't say it. "Do you know what that thing was back there?" Frank asked Hazel thinking that the daughter of Pluto might have a better idea then he would.
She shook her head, and wiped a tear from her eye, "I've never seen anything like that before. And I hope I never have to again." That was something Frank wholeheartedly agreed with. He looked to Percy.
"Want me to carry him?" He asked, watching Percy shuffle around (Y/N) on his back. "No, it's fine," Frank realized that maybe Percy was trying to make up for all the time he was out of it after seeing the giant.
Knowing how it felt to feel like he was useless, Frank didn't question it, and nodded, but a moment later Percy said "Let's figure out what we're doing, as for...whatever that thing was. Can you do anything to slow it down?"
He looked at Hazel, "Maybe, but that's more Nico's thing, and from the looks of it, that thing didn't seem friendly enough to command." Percy nodded, "Just wondered." They quickly dropped the conversation. But Frank immediately thought about Gray.
He wondered if maybe his new skeletal commando could hold up against whatever that was, if it was as unstoppable as it's battle against the basilisks had made it seem. The similarities between the two weren't lost on him.
Frank swallowed. He already felt like enough of a misfit without trying to explain his new undead minion. Three charges. Frank could call on Gray twice more. But he'd sensed malevolence in the skeleton.
Like (Y/N) had warned. It was no pet. It was a vicious, undead killing force, barely controlled by the power of Mars. Frank got the feeling it would do what he said—but if his friends happened to be in the line of fire, oh well.
If Frank was a little slow giving it directions, it might start killing whatever was in its path, including its master. Mars had told him the spear would give him breathing room until he learned to use his mother's talents.
Which meant Frank needed to learn those talents—fast. "Thanks a lot, Dad," he grumbled. "What?" Hazel asked. "Frank, are you okay?" "I'll explain later," he said. "Right now, there's a blind man in Portland we've got to see."