In honour of Season Two being confirmed by Disney Plus. Here is this little gem.
A reminder this series won't follow the book plot and may not follow the show plot since I don't know how soon it's going to be released yet.
Thanks 🫶🫶
Please check the book 2 cast
Book 2 - The Sea Of Monsters
Eight weeks into the school year
Ayden loved the rain. She loved the way it sounded as it hit the ground. Just like being underwater, it was the only thing she could hear at the moment. So every time it rained she would go outside the protective barrier. Cameron and Ki would follow her of course, but they decided to not leave each other alone. Not for the first week at least. After Ayden had told them everything that was happening or going to happen.
The other two had promised her they would keep her safe. Ayden insisted that she didn't need protection and that she could take care of her father herself. But Cameron and Ki explained that they would still be there even if she could do it on her own because that's what family was for. They always stood with one another knowing that they could handle it. To Ayden that meant everything.
She knew Annabeth, Grover, and Percy would do the same, but none of them were here. Grover was searching for Pan. Percy and Annabeth were back with their families. She was envious of them for having a family to go back to, but she was also happy. She wanted them to cherish their time with their family. She sat down in the mud and let the rain run down her cheeks. The sensation was close to crying.
"How do you do it?" Ayden asked. Ki and Cameron sat down on either side of her.
"Do what?" Ki asked. Ayden looked over to him.
"How do you have such dark magic, but still can be this amazing person?" She asked. "I know that sounds bad, but I have something in me and I don't know what to do to get rid of the weight."
"Well," Ki sighed. "Growing up, like all demigods. It was shit. My father thought I was a pest. He usually wasn't around always out with his friends or some girl, but when he did come home. He would get angry with me. You see," He looked over at Ayden. "I was afraid of the dark when I was little because in the dark I would feel my magic. Its presence lurking around me like some kind of monster. So I always tried to keep the lights on. That was until my father locked me in a closet after I wouldn't stop crying to him after a night terror. It was only for an hour before my grandmother found me, but in that hour I realized that maybe I didn't have to hide from it anymore."
"So you let the darkness in?"
"I didn't let it in, I just accepted that it was a part of me. There was nothing to let in. I was terrified, constantly speaking to myself in the darkness trying to comfort myself, but there wasn't anything I needed to fear. It became my friend." Ki reasoned as he ran his hand through his dark hair pushing it off his forehead.
"You weren't scared of what you could do," Ayden asked as she stared at her palms.
"Oh I was horrified, but after my grandmother opened the closet to let me out. She took me in and helped me learn. She told me that it was always a part of me, so there was no reason to fear my own power. She knew me and I knew myself. It took a few years but I did realize she was write, there wasn't anything hidden from me, it was just a part of myself that I tried to shut out because I was scared, but it's always been with me so why be afraid of it, does that make sense?" Ki looked at the girls next to him. Ayden nodded as she clenched her hands.
"Yeah," Cameron nodded. "I will always say this, but if I ever see your father anywhere I might kill him." Ayden turned to look at her. That was the first time she'd heard Cameron threaten to kill someone before. "Don't give me that. I would."
"You know I would do the same for you," Ki shook his head. "Why are parents so awful to their children?"
"I don't know," Cameron muttered. Ayden sat there for a moment. Her nightmares have been torturing her every night.
"I'm the reason my mother killed herself," Ayden finally blurted out. The other two were silent for a moment.
"I'm sure that's not—."
"My father is to blame as well, but I'm the reason she couldn't handle our life anymore. I was too much to handle. She even said that before she died."
"You were a child Ayden, children can misbehave, you weren't the one that killed her. She's the selfish one who decided to throw away her responsibilities of being a mother." Ki was disgusted. He knew small amounts of Ayden's past. She would say things that would hint at her death, but he didn't know for sure.
"She never wanted children. She never wanted kids. My mother was a night nurse, she had a whole vision board of things she had wanted to do," Ayden explained as she stared at her hands. "I was a mistake. The only reason she kept me was because Ares had promised he would pay her for it. That once I was of age, she would be able to live her life alone once more. That she would never have to see my face again, but he had lied. He wasn't going to come back for me and I think she realized that and decided to take matters into her own hands." Ayden looked up into the sky. "I don't mean to trauma dump like that, but that part of me scares me. If I'm able to drive someone to suicide, what does that make of me?"
"Nothing because you were a child." Cameron reasoned. "Ayden, you're mother had her issues from Ares just like you originally thought. Don't blame yourself for your parent's actions."
"But I am one of my parent's actions. I'm their mistake. My mother said it and Ares has said it. So I'm just here."
"I can't say it's going to be the same thing with you, Ayden, but you've always had a pretty good handle on your emotions. From the first day I met you, I realized that because Clarisse would have pummeled me into the ground for talking to her like I did." Ki joked. He was trying to cheer Ayden up, but she didn't even smile. She closed her eyes and let the rain drip down her face. "I know you might think you're past makes the thing inside of you deadly and dark, but it's a part of you and the more danger you give to it, the harder it will be to accept." Cameron leaned her head over onto Ayden's shoulder.
"I know—." A loud explosion went off behind them. The three shot up.
"Thalia," Cameron muttered as she moved forward.
"What? What's wrong with the tree, I thought it was the explosion?" Ki asked as we moved back inside the barrier. Cameron touched the tree.
"That too, but," She moved around the trunk of the tree. "We have to get Chiron." Another explosion and then screams.
"We have to get to camp," Ayden muttered. She started teleporting toward the explosions. Ki and Cameron tried to keep up with her as they rushed toward the danger. Ayden paused as she saw the mechanical bull. "What in the Tartarus?"
"IS that one of Heasthetus's creations?" Cameron asked. It rammed its head into a tree knocking it over onto a cabin. It opened its mouth shooting out fire.
"Weapons!" Ki yelled as they got closer. Other campers were already arming themselves.
"How did it get past the barrier?!" Ayden grabbed a spear. It was made of wood so it wouldn't do good. "Metal! I need a metal spear!"
"Ayden!" Clarisse yelled from across the way. She was holding up a metal staff. Ayden teleported beside her. "Stay behind me."
"I got it," Ayden teleported up into the air. Her adrenaline flooded her body. It was in the center of the camp. She didn't understand how it got through and all the way to the center. It didn't make sense. She dropped down above the bull driving the metal spear through the top of its head. "Ki!" Ayden yelled. He appeared next to her.
"Got it," He grimaced and shoved his hands down the shadows obeying him as it held the bull down. Finally, the mechanical creature went limp under them.
"I had that!" Clarisse yelled.
"How did it get through the barrier?" Ayden asked as she looked at Cameron.
"The tree has been poisoned we have to tell Mr. D and Chiron," She took off running.
"Poisoned?" Clarisse asked. Other campers were running back and forth as they tried to stop the fires and help the injured. "Who would poison Thalia's tree?"
"I don't know, but this isn't good for the barrier," Ki muttered as he looked down at the bull. "It got to the center of camp."
"We have to set up a guard," Clarisse muttered. Ayden and she looked at one another.
"I know you don't like me, but we have to work together," Ayden added. Clarisse grimaced and then started ordering the other Ares campers around. These were going to be a fun few months.
***
Over the next few months, the barrier had only gotten worse. They were into the new year around the middle of February. The camp has had to make the guard 24/7 switching in and out of shifts. Mr. D and Chrion had no choice but to let Ayden get back to training.
Mr. D would never admit it, but Ayden was one of the most lethal demigods they had at camp at the moment and she was an efficient killing machine. They kept her alone most of the time, but she was paired with Ki and Cameron at other times since the three of them worked together like a well-oiled machine.
"Ayden!" Cameron shouted. Through the trees, Ayden and Ki moved back and forth with one another. One teleporting and the other throwing themselves from shadow to shadow.
"I'm on it!" She called back as they got to the hill. Ayden saw that it was empty. She came forward confused. "You heard it from here right?"
"Yeah," Ki moved forward. They were scratched up from a few harpies earlier in the day. Ki wasn't on guard duty 24/7 that was Ayden, but he'd promised to stay by her side and he kept his promises.
"What kind of echo is that?" Ayden looked back into the woods.
"Ayden!" She teleported back through the woods until her sight was lit up as fire was shot at her. She shoved Ki back as both of them moved back through the woods.
"Go away! I've got this!" Clarisse shouted at Ayden as her team struggled to reassemble.
"Get to Cameron," Ayden told Ki as she moved around to help Clarisse. The girl charged the bull, but it easily tossed her to the side. Ayden teleported to Clarisse's side trying to help her up. "Hey, we—."
"Haven't you done enough already!" Clarisse shoved her back. "Just stay away from me. You only make things worse!" She shoved Ayden again. The heat hit her before she had time to teleport away.
"Ayden!" Ki screamed as she teleported to the side. The fire seared up her back and her arm as she fell to her knees. "Ayden," He tried to pat the flames out on her body as he saw her stare at the ground. Behind the others screamed.
"What was that?!" Cameron screamed at Clarisse. "Are you serious?! That's your sister!" Cameron threw her arms up as she held the bull in place. She buried its head in the dirt, but she couldn't hold it for long. Clarisse was frozen. She didn't mean to hit Ayden into the line of fire. She still had the smell of her burnt flesh in her nose.
"Clarisse!" Cameron groaned as she struggled to hold the bull down. Ki was near an unconscious Ayden. Clarisse didn't know why she was this stunned by her actions, this is exactly what she'd wanted. She wanted to hurt Ayden the way, Ares punished her after Ayden's stupid mistakes, but this wasn't what she thought she'd feel.
"Clarisse!" Ki turned realizing that the girl wasn't going to do her job, so he went into action as the bull's head resurfaced.
"Ki?!" Cameron was exhausted she'd been trying to restrain the bull. The child of Demeter hasn't had it easy either over the past few months. Mr. D told Cameron to heal the tree or figure out a way to heal the tree. Ki pulled the shadows from all around severing the bull's head. It took him at least half a minute to get through the metals with his magic, but when the bull's body relaxed. He and Cameron both fell to their needs.
Around them, the other campers screamed still as they tried to put out the flames. A few others were on fire as well. Ayden had passed out from her burns, they covered almost her entire back, the back of her right arm, and her calf. Ki stood up and moved toward the stunned Ares child.
"What is wrong with you?" He asked as he grabbed her armor. She snapped back into reality and shoved him off.
"Don't touch me!"
"You threw her into the flames! All she was trying to do was help you?!" Ki moved closer to her. Clarisse had never been scared of Ki before, the stupid kid also had some joke to make, but in the darkness, she could see the way his eyes were entirely black. "She's one of us! What if I threw you into the fire?" Clarisse wanted to yell at him, but she couldn't move. Her eyes widened when she realized Ki had her restrained with his magic. He moved her closer to a tree that was on fire.
"Let me go," She muttered.
"You feeling helpless," Ki tilted his head as his hand tightened. Clarisse grimaced as she felt the heat of the fire get closer and closer to her face. "Don't ever hurt my family ever again."
"She's—."
"I swear to the gods Clarisse, I don't care whose child you are, if you ever do something like that to her ever again, I will make sure to throw you into Tartarus myself." Ki threatened. He moved her closer to the tree. Clarisse gasped as a piece of her hair lit on fire.
"Ki! We have to get her to camp!" Cameron yelled. Ki let go of Clarisse as the girl quickly hit her hair putting out the flames. She looked back at Ki ready to fight him, but when she as they struggled to find a way to get her back to camp.
"Guard!" Clarisse yelled. "Reassemble near the barrier!" Around her only one or two people reassembled. The others were more worried about the fires around them.
When they finally got Ayden back to camp it was morning. They went to get the Apollo children, but they had specific orders from Mr. D to not provide Ayden with any medical help. Cameron and Ki had been up all night. They had been using their magic nonstop, they were tired and aggravated. If it wasn't daylight out Ki would have torn apart their cabin. Instead, Cameron ran to the Big House. She ran to find Chiron. She knew that if anyone would help Ayden it would be him. Ki went back to the infirmary where other people were starting to come in. They all took a long look at Ayden as she started to wake up. She was never one to cry, but that's all she could muster was a few soft murmurs and tears as she lay on the bed. Her back up and her body aching. Ki sat down beside her.
"Hey, hey, hey," He spoke to her in a soft voice.
"Ki. I can't do this anymore."
"I know it's painful right now, but we're getting you some help, I promise," He gripped her good hand in his own. He looked at the door praying that Chiron would come in at any moment.
"No," Ayden squeezed his hand. "I don't want to do this anymore."
"You don't mean that Ayden, it's just this year. I promise you it will get better," He brushed her hair away from her face. "I'm so sorry." He shook his head as he fought the tear. Ayden looked so helpless and broken.
"I didn't ask for this."
"I know, you didn't." Ki gently brushed one of her tears away.
"None of us asked to be here. To go through this," She breathed. "I didn't ask to be a demigod. Why am I getting punished?"
"I don't know, Ayden. All I can say is for now you have the shitty end of the deal, but it won't always be that way, I promise and I am a man of my word." He wiped one of his own tears away.
"I'm so tired." Ayden closed her eyes for a moment. Ki looked around the infirmary as others were being taken care of. "Ki, I'm so so tired of this already." Ki tightened his grip because he didn't know what to tell her. She had just turned thirteen a few weeks ago. He leaned forward pressing a kiss to her forehead. She was sweaty and her body shivered a little.
"Hey." She didn't open her eyes. "Ayden, I know you don't want to, but you have to keep your eyes open until Chiron can get here?" He reasoned, but she didn't answer. "Hey!" A few Apollo children looked over. "One of you better get over here now before—." Ki didn't get to threaten anyone since Chiron came in.
"Oh my gods," Chiron came forward. He handed Ki some Nectar and Ambrosia. He slowly tried to feet it to Ayden. Chiron wanted to ask how it happened because he knew Ayden was more careful than this. He also knew that there were a lot of children of Ares who would do anything to get into their father's good graces.
"She's gonna be okay, right?" Cameron asked. She had her hand on Ki's shoulders.
"Yes, and I advise both of you to take this small intermission to get yourselves something to eat and freshen up," Chiron added.
"I'm not using Ayden's wounds as a timeout," Ki shook his head.
"You should, she would want you to and I have relieved you three from guard duty at least for the next few days. So use them to your advantage please." Chiron added as he finished up trying to heal her. "The scars will stay and it will hurt for a while, but it shouldn't be as painful as before."
"Thank Chiron," Ki muttered. "How much trouble are you going to get into?"
"I'll be alright, just rest."