The Trial
Dixie and Lee stood across the room as the makeshift desk as they waited for either Pandora to wake or Chiron to call all of the councilors to discuss what they were to do with the girl from Hephaestus and the boy from Aphrodite. The girl and boy were in one of the second story rooms so they couldn't bother to try and make an escape, Lee's hand finally hit the desk before running his hands over his face. "Lee none of this was your fault" Dixie said softly as she tried to put her hand on his shoulder but he moved away to kick a chair over and pushed his papers off of the desk.
He went to throw something else but stopped when Dixie wrapped her arms around him from behind him, "It is my fault Dix! I should have known she was hurt! And then the boy! I should've killed them when I had the chance!" Lee spat with venom lacing his words as he tried to remove Dixie's arms.
The door slowly opened as Hadleigh walked in, she leaned on the door frame and waited for the half siblings to notice her. Once she realized they weren't going to notice her she decided to speak up, "is she awake yet?" Hadleigh asked softly which no one thought a child of Ares could do. Lee shook his head wordlessly as his eyes glistened, "Dixie's right you know. About you not being at fault, we couldn't have known what they were going to do. But now we know what to expect and we'll be ready if it happens again" Hadleigh explained as she looked towards Pandora and Naomi who was passed out in a chair next to her bed.
"You see but that's the thing! She doesn't have anyone to turn to like we do, she has no councilor or siblings to turn to and I highly doubt she's going to trust anybody after today. It's our job as councilors to protect the kids but how can we do that when everyone turns on each other?!" Lee questioned as he unwrapped Dixie's arms from around him to pick up the chair he had previously kicked over.
Once he placed the chair back on its legs he sat down on it, Hadleigh walked over and started to collect the fallen papers before looking back up at Lee who had his elbows on the desk and his head in his hands. She placed the pile beside him and took a seat on the other side of the desk, "your right" she stated making him poke his head up to see what she was getting at, "she doesn't have any siblings but she has us" she said as she motioned between the Apollo siblings, herself and Naomi. "And if she wants nothing to do with us then she'll just have to suck it up because she doesn't get a say in the matter" Hadleigh said matter-of-factly with a smile etched onto her usually angry face. "Chiron asked for the councilor's to meet by the way" she said as she pushed herself off of the desk and towards the door.
Hadleigh quickly walked out without another word, "you got them until I get back?" Lee asked softly as he looked to the two girls again.
Dixie nodded, "yeah I got them, make them pay" she said softly before she playfully pushed Lee away from the desk and towards the door. He rolled his eyes but continued out the door, Hadleigh stood out in the hallway waiting for him. She smiled sadly at him and motioned for him to follow her to the room with the ping pong table, where the councilors always met.
────── ∘◦ ⛤☽⛤ ◦∘ ──────
All of the cabin councilors stood around the ping pong table as Chiron stood in between Lee and Hadleigh, "you all know why we're here today, we have to discuss the fates of two campers who it would seem had this attack premeditated and ready to go by the time of capture the flag. If anyone has anything to add or any questions speak now before we get the two campers down here" Chiron stated as he crossed his arms over his chest.
Lee looked around the table in anticipation, ready for any moment to stick up for the girl. The head of Aphrodite cabin was the first to speak up, "what are the options of punishment?" She asked softly.
"Permanent expulsion from camp, send them to the gods seeing as she is a daughter of the big three, but other than those two options I don't know what is ethically expected" Chiron explained.
Some of the head councilors nodded while others rolled their eyes, "what if we have a trial by combat?" The daughter of Hermes asked aloud.
Hadleigh scoffed loudly, "yeah no way, at best that's a 50/50 shot at them getting off scot free. And quite frankly I don't like those odds because of what they did, but if you want to have a trial by combat don't bother looking to Ares cabin to fight for them" she spat as she looked out at the afternoon sun. She shook her head bitterly, "honestly I say we kick their asses out and send them to the gods because obviously her father cares for her, hell he personally brought her to camp! He's at least gotta care a little more than the rest of our parents do!" She stated as she dramatically moved her arms around.
Chiron opened his mouth to defend the gods but was stopped, "don't even try to dispute it Chiron, you know just as well as we do that none of our parents actually showed up to claim us, and I agree with Hadleigh. Count Apollo cabin out unless we get to fight those assholes personally" Lee stated as he looked around the rest of the councilors.
"What about feeding them to the cleaner Harpy's?" Demeter's son asked making a few pull concerned faces, "what? I may be the son of Demeter but I don't condone violence and I definitely don't like it when someone deliberately plans and carries out an attack against someone who doesn't even know how to defend themselves yet!" He snapped angrily.
The son of Dionysus nodded in agreement, "especially when it was her first day! Like yeah we build our own personal vendettas but we never act on them. And I personally really think she didn't deserve this, she's one of the few people who have actively tried to get to know Naomi and she feels a lot safer knowing someone outside of our cabin has her back when we can't" he explained with a sad smile.
"Okay so where does everyone stand? Everyone for expulsion raise your hand" Chiron looked around at the councilors and saw the hands of Demeter cabin, Athena cabin and Hephaestus cabin. They all looked around at the others silently willing them to stand with them but the members from the other cabins weren't going to be easily swayed. Chiron nodded for a moment, "those for taking them to the gods now raise your hands" Aphrodite's head councilor rose her hand. Chiron hummed in acknowledgment, "and those for an alternative punishment" Apollo, Dionysus, Ares cabins hands shot up before he was even done with his sentence. "Alright we have a tie between expulsion and the alternative punishment, we will vote once more but first we will take a small break and we will reconvene in 30 minutes. By the end of the break I will have the alternative punishment" Chiron explained as he rubbed his temples with his index and middle fingers. Chiron was the first to leave the room as he made his way towards his office, Hadleigh and Lee took this chance to race back to the infirmary and check on the girls.
Lee was the first to come crashing through the door with Hadleigh hot on his trail, when they came to a stop they saw Naomi still sitting in her chair but now she was awake and had her knees pulled up to her chest, she looked tired but fear welled in her eyes as she watched Dixie and Pandora. Dixie was dabbing a wet wash cloth on Pandora's forehead, she looked almost defeated before Pandora started to speak softly. "D-Did we win?" She asked as her eyes stayed shut but her lips formed into a small playful smile.
Everyone's mood quickly improved when they heard her soft laugh, she opened her eyes for a moment before she started to cough and wheeze from the pain of laughing. Lee moved his chair over to the side of the bed, "hey little wave, you gave us quite a scare" he said softly as he lightly took her hand into his.
"Sorry about that" Pandora said with a smile.
"Why didn't you tell us you got stabbed?" Hadleigh asked as she sat next to Dixie at the foot of her bed.
"My mom always said my pain tolerance was better than the normal demigod but she never said it was practically nonexistent" Pandora explained with a soft sigh.
Dixie looked thoughtful at the floor for a moment, "if you didn't feel it when she stabbed you in your side, did you feel when he stabbed you in the abdomen?" Dixie asked looking back to the girl.
Pandora's free hand fiddled with the blanket, "not really, I mean I know I was supposed to feel something but I didn't" she explained as she finally looked to Dixie.
The blonde girl walked across the room and searched the bookcase near the desk before she came back with a thick medical book, she flipped a few pages but stopped on a certain page. "Ah ha! I found it!" Dixie exclaimed as she walked away once more and this time came back with a needle, "Pand, close your eyes for a moment" Pandora stared at her questionably but closed her eyes nonetheless. Dixie quickly stuck the needle into her finger but when Pandora didn't even flinch she smiled slightly to herself, "just as I thought" Dixie said with a proud smile.
"Well share with the class if you'd please" Lee said sarcastically.
Dixie pulled the needle out and placed a bandaid over where the needle was previously, "she has CIPA" she said as she passed the book to Lee.
"Can you dumb it down for the non Apollo kids?" Hadleigh said with a small smirk.
"CIPA, is Congenital insensitivity to pain and anhydrosis. CIPA is a very rare and extremely dangerous condition. People with CIPA cannot feel pain" Lee explained as he looked over the page in the book.
"It's when pain-sensing nerves in people are not properly connected in parts of brain that receive the pain messages" Dixie finished with a proud smile.
Hadleigh laughed softly, "don't look so proud Dix" she teased with a small smile.
Dixie playfully stuck out her tongue at the older girl, "I've got to ask now that your awake little wave" Lee said as he moved to brush some hair off her forehead, "what do you think should happen to the two campers who attacked you?" Lee asked softly.
Everyone looked to Pandora with soft expressions not expecting her to know what to do, she laid in silence for a moment when a deep distant voice spoke from all around her. "Send them to me" the male voice boomed making her jump slightly. The other campers stared at her in confusion but remained silent, "did you not hear me girl?! I said send them to me!" The voice boomed once more. Pandora looked around but her eyes stopped on a corner where the light seemingly avoided, she squinted slightly allowing her to see a man with a sinister smile and fire where his eyes were supposed to be.
She blinked hesitantly a few times as if to clear her vision, "the—" Pandora started but was cut off when the door opened spreading light into the dim room. The shadow that held the man disappeared as the light flooded the room, Chiron was stood before the demigods with a grim expression.
"The verdict is in, we need to finish our meeting" the two councilors looked back to Pandora but nodded and rose to their feet.
"We'll be back in a little while" Lee said softly as Chiron motioned for them to exit the room.
Four of the Ares kids held onto the two campers as they walked past the stairs and back into the meeting room. Hadleigh and Lee were stood on the opposite side of Chiron this time as the two attackers took their previous spots next to the man, "alright, the alternative punishment is permanent exile from camp and they will see the gods to what their 12 trials. One from each god" he explained.
"Like the 12 Labours of Hercules?" The head of Athena cabin asked to which Chiron nodded.
"Each god has decided on a punishment they seem suitable for this crime, this is to set an example that if your allegations isn't with the gods then you have been led astray and you will have to repent for your actions" Chiron explained with dark eyes. He looked nothing like his usual chipper self in this moment, he looked almost like a hollow shell of himself as he spoke someone else's words. The two campers opened their mouths to argue but stoped before anything could come out, the councilors watched questioningly but their questions were quickly answered when they heard a small gasp of pain from the doorway. Everyone looked at Pandora in shock as she stood leaned against the doorway with a plain expression, her eyes were their blueish green letting everyone know she was behind the campers silence. Chiron gave a small smile before he continued to talk, "the gods considered this attack an attack against one of their own and given their stance on the gods they have taken personal offense to this premeditated attack. But they have one question, where does your allegiance lie if not with them?" He asked with furrowed brows as he watched the two kids.
Chiron motioned for Pandora to release her hold on the two, Pandora blinking slightly and let her eyes trail away from them as just a precision. Dixie came up behind Pandora and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, she went to pull the younger girl away but was stoped by Chiron. "She is still needed miss Dalvado" Chiron said with a cold tone. Dixie looked hesitantly towards Lee whose eyebrows were furrowed in confusion but gave a subtle nod towards his sister, "who do you swear fealty to?" Chiron demanded as another man walked into the room.
Pandora watched him with hazy eyes as she leaned further into the door, "you should know him well sir, the Titan God of Time" the boy said with a sinister smile.
Everyone watched in bewilderment and the girls and boys faces twisted into pure amusement, "is that what you expected sir?" The girl asked as she pouted slightly before letting her face fall back to her smirk, "none of our parents ever walked us into camp and then this bitch comes and suddenly one of the big three have a child they care about?! Last summer we were told about the great prophecy and Kronos told us every time a demigod renounces the gods to follow him, a piece of the Titan King appears in the sarcophagus. In addition, our change of sides make the Titans stronger and the Olympians weaker" the girl stated with a wide smile as Chirons face fell.
There was a sudden flash of light and Zeus was stood outside with his brothers, Chiron looked from the teens to Pandora. "Councilor's out now" all of the councilors heads rapidly turned from the windows towards Chiron. When no one had moved Chiron gave everyone a deadly look as warning before he turned to Pandora, he motioned for her to follow him but was stoped by Lee who protectively moved in front of her.
"Sir I mean no disrespect but she still needs to recover and using her gift right now is only hurting her" Lee pleaded as Chiron got near him.
Chiron held his gaze for a moment before looking down at Pandora, his face fell slightly and nodded silently. Lee quickly picked up the girl and quickly led him and everyone out of the room, the other councilor's followed Lee back to the infirmary. They heard shouts from the campers as they were dragged outside to meet the gods, the four Ares campers came running back inside and ran right into the infirmary.
Everyone sat around the room in silence before the Athena cabin councilor opened her mouth, "is it just me or was Chiron using her as a weapon just a moment ago?" They asked softly. Everyone else nodded in agreement as Lee laid Pandora down on her bed.
"If that's why the gods care so much about her then we have to do something about it, I mean look at them. They are the future heroes of Olympus and we cant just start turning on each other. No matter what we need to keep her out of the Gods and Titans hands if all they're going to do is use her" Lee said as he looked down at the girl passed out on the bed.
Dixie and Naomi shared a look before they nodded along with the councilors words, but little did they know that the shadow was back and eavesdropping on their conversation and planning his next course of action.