(This is set after BoO, but does not recognize Trials of Apollo; I just slipped Leo and Calypso into camp, like why not? This is a crossover, I ain't explaining everything!)
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Before the explosion that led to the decimation of Cabin 20, Percy was in a good mood and was looking forward to a calm break at camp, just him and Annabeth, chilling before they'll eventually enroll into New Rome University by the end of summer. No monsters, no quests, no prophecies, no nosebleeds. Oh, what a pain it is, living a demigod life.
The day went by normally enough; by evening Percy and Annabeth were seen cuddling by the campfire, with Annabeth sleeping peacefully beside her boyfriend, whose arm's were wrapped protectively around her. Percy was simply content to spend time in this peace, basking in their warmth; then Leo jumped the gun. Literally.
A sound of a concentrated beam of light shooting out of a barrel echoed through the night, followed by the neighing of horses and a distant gasps and crying. Percy looked around with a sharp glare, wondering if there was trouble and was ready to throttle anyone if that noise had been enough to disturb his Wise Girl from her slumber.
"LEO!!" Piper yelled as she marched by waving a decapitated doll, the top still sizzling, "You just blew off my sister's doll! It took me awhile to make this!!"
"Sorry, Pipes!" Leo appeared, scratching his head in embarrassment, "My fault; wanted to try out this bad boy for a run, but I guess it ain't my style"
"What is that?" Piper asked, wary of just about anything Leo cooks up in his flat in Bunker 9; the weapon resembled the same structure as that of a handgun, but was clearly modified and plated with a intricate layer of Celestial bronze. "Ahh, this is a what I call the LEOZER, state-of-art handgun that shoots celestial bronze tainted lasers!!" He replied with a wicked grin, then grimaced, "Sadly, it has quite the kick, and my aim is just as bad"
"You're too much of a wimp to hold a gun, Leo" Piper ordered, tapping her foot impatiently, "And do fix this doll; this has been the third time, Alicia might just as well place a makeup-curse on you!" Leo paled at that, remembering an unfortunate Hermes kid being forced to wear a wig and a tutu for a week for messing with the Aphrodite cabin (it wouldn't come off!).
"I-I hear you, Miss McLean! I'll work on it right away!" He holstered the gun, gingerly took the doll and ran to his cabin in a hurry, calling out Calypso for sewing advice.
"Well, that was a show" Percy stated matter-of-factly. Piper just noticed the couple and with a sigh, sat opposite to them, "Sorry for making all that fuss; I hope I didn't mean to disturb" she spoke in a softer tone, but had the same hint of smugness and knowing she usually put on when she sees Percy and Annabeth together. He shrugged as his hands playfully twirl Annabeth's locks, her breathing still even, "It's fine, she's still sleeping"
"Nightmares again?"
"Yeah, she could only find peace near the hearth-"
"And in your arms" Piper teased, but her eyes held also a tiny emotion that fluttered by: envy. Jason had gone with Frank and Hazel to Camp Jupiter for a month, and he promised her he will return after; that was 5 weeks ago. Piper was worried something was up, especially since no Iris-message can seem to reach anyone from Camp Jupiter; but Katoptris didn't show anything to her as of late, and Rachel won't be at camp until three days from now, so she was uncertain.
Then Piper remembered why they had to be close together: Tartarus. Guilt swelled up on her chest, but she continued to flash her smile so Percy wouldn't notice. He simply blushed and couldn't reply, his attention elsewhere,
"I guess so"
"Sleeping together again tonight?"
"How'd you-"
"I can just tell, don't question it; a child of Aphrodite does not reveal her secrets in the arts of love" she winked and was secretly cooing inside.
Percy sighed, "I give; in my defense, we could hardly sleep without knowing we are beside each other...safe that our backs are covered, you know? And...well"
Percy struggled to explain, but Piper just laughed it off, "I get it, Percy. We all do. Don't be alarmed, we won't tell anyone else; just no funny business, you hear me?"
"...Wha, W-Why would I?!"
"And that's why this secret is kept under wraps–be grateful" Piper chuckled, amused at Percy's flushed face, "Just promise me that you'll properly look after her, I know she takes the nightmares harder than you"
"Do I even need a promise?" Percy replied resolutely, "Of course I will, I love her, and I'd gladly fight for her again and again if it meant keeping her smile..." he trailed off, his attention fixed again at his Wise Girl's face; calm and beautiful, his best friend since he was 12, the one who stuck with him to the end...
"Never again" he whispered, followed by the silence of the night and the crackling of fire. Piper just looked at the two with a gentle smile, admiring how pure their love was, one built from years of friendship and trust...
Percy then slowly grasped Annabeth into a bridal hold got up, making sure he didn't wake her.
"I'm feeling tired too, I'll see you tomorrow, Pipes"
"Yeah, night" Piper yawned, but she remained seated, content to be by the hearth a little while longer.
Percy headed towards his cabin, looking out for other campers; it was still forbidden for two campers from two different cabins to spend time alone in a bunk for obvious reasons, but Chiron had been up to speed to their trauma and might consider making an exemption at some point, but it has yet to be approved.
Still.
Percy made it to the porch without getting spotted and slowly lowered Annabeth onto the middle bunk, where she'd been sleeping for the past couple days. He was about to make his way to his bunk when a hand grabbed and jumped him, only to realize it was Annabeth. She was looking up at him with hazy grey eyes, as if mostly asleep and had only reached out by instinct,
"Perce...y" she murmured, slowly drifting back under, yet her grip remained. Percy just sighed and decided to just lie with her, both in the end cuddled together contentedly. A radiant smile of satisfaction escaped from her, for sure due to feeling secure and at home. Percy just held her, breathing in the smell of the ocean and lemons, and slowly drifted off as well...
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BOOOOOOM!!!
"PERCY!!" Annabeth yelled out as she jolted awake, looking around in panic and confusion. Immediately after, Percy sat up by her side, soothing her with sweet nothings and assuring he is not leaving her. While she slowly pulled herself together, Percy was looking around, his gaze sharp and piercing. What happened?
The camp suddenly was in an uproar, with the campfire relit and shadows moved too and fro. A few minutes later, Percy and Annabeth were out, a hurriedly strapped-on bronze chestplate on each, looking around warily.
"Everyone is heading in that direction!"
Annabeth dashed forward, Percy right behind her. She realized they were heading towards Cabin 20, Hecate's cabin, and she cursed silently. If those runes exploded...I should've known better!
Being the head of the construction of the additional cabins, she dismissively allowed the Hecate kids to add those rune boulders so long as they can maintain it properly. Now, she was going to pay the price for her carelessness. Nearly half of the camp was already in the scene, but they seem to keep a distance; obviously watching out if another one would explode, the second time might not be as lucky as the first (being a tree is a terrible fate, Thalia can assure that).
"Annabeth!" Lou Ellen came forward, still wearing her pajamas and holding onto her staff, "I swear, it wasn't the runes!"
"Hold that thought" Annabeth replied, looking around, "Check for any injured, and someone call the satyrs and nymphs; everyone, please back away from every tree in the area, we might not know..." Everyone got the idea, and the group slowly dispersed, but not appeased; no one likes an explosive midnight wake-up call.
Annabeth slowly paced around for inspection, and it a mess; in the place of where Cabin 20 once stood was a massive crater, with the outer rim charred black in a 10 meter radius, and something strong made her nauseous and somewhat woozy.
"Magic" Lou answered the silent question, "Not ours though; the explosion had magic too dense for even us to accumulate in a year!"
"So you are saying, we are under attack?" Percy questioned, his ballpoint pen in his hand.
"I don't think so" Lou seem to concentrate, "The barriers would have hold, and no god would dare strike down a Cabin in fear of angering the patron, unless it's our own patron that did this–which of course, is absurd-"
"A weird guy popped out of nowhere though" a fellow child of Hecate recalled, "he and two others, telling us to get out before the explosion..."
"And where are they now?" Annabeth asked, bending down to look at the damaged ground. Before anyone could reply, a loud cry came out up ahead
"Help! Someone please!"
Annabeth and Percy instantly ran to the source, circling the crater and found a blonde girl limping towards them with a pale boy in goggles leaning on her for support; both were clad in black suits, albeit slightly roughed in the edges and covered in dirt.
Percy jogged ahead and easily scooped up the unconscious boy and headed to the infirmary, Annabeth trailing behind with the girl. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, but he–"
"It's alright, we will take care of him" Annabeth then narrowed her gaze, "Who are you?" The young girl hesitated, then shook her head, "I refuse to disclose any information without discussing it with my...colleague" she paused enough for Annabeth to read that it was more than that, but did not push any further, "A name couldn't hurt anyone"
"Names have power"
That...is a good point. This silenced Annabeth for awhile, then rebutted, "You don't have the choice; you intruded in our camp, destroyed one of our cabins, and nearly risked turning everyone in a half a mile radius into trees, so you've no obligation to withhold information from us, much less your name"
The young girl looked back at her curiously, but her attention went back at the limp boy in Percy's arms, worry and guilt evident.
"Minerva" she answered with a glance, then went to catch up with Percy, leaving Annabeth behind in shock.
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"Really?" Percy asked in disbelief, "She claims to be your Roman-version mom?"
"I think that is just her name" Annabeth shrugged, leaning by the wall, far enough from the two mysterious kids for them not to be overheard, "But let's just assume the worst; she may or may not be what we think she is, but all the same–play nice. Besides, we still need to know what happened that caused that explosion."
"Right" Percy agreed just as Will from the Apollo cabin appeared, "Sorry I'm late–no one was turned to a tree, if you are gonna ask" his attention then drew towards the pale boy in the stretcher, his charred back facing towards the ceiling. What got Will curious the most was the girl who was properly examining the boy; rough and clumsy as it was, she was inspecting like a medic would, bandaging and applying first aid. It was obvious that she had no skill nor experience, but was simply knowledgeable on it. Will glanced questioningly at Annabeth, who just nodded in response.
"Let me handle the rest from here on out, miss" Will called out, approaching the stretcher with a jar of salve. He was about to apply when Minerva suddenly grabbed his hand, saying, "Wait!"
She pulled out some sort of device, similar to that of a scanner. She insisted in checking the contents of the salve, suspicious of what it contained.
"I promise you, it's just healing salve; I'm the head doctor in these parts, do not question me" Will assured with annoyance, but let her do it anyway. She frowned at the results, but apparently it was adequate as she gestured for him to continue. After the cleaning and bandaging were done, the boy's breathing seem to have even out, a little color returning to his naturally pale face. "He'll be awake in the morning," Will declared, pulling out a square of ambrosia, "This will help him recover in no time" It seemed at this point, Minerva was less doubtful of his medical skills for she didn't come forward to examine the food. But before Will could place it to his lips, a strong grip seem to squeeze his arm, so much so that he had to let go of the ambrosia.
"Don't feed him that!"
What confused Will was that there was no hand on where the grip was, nor seen anyone from where the voice came from. Suddenly, another girl with an auburn hair appeared out of thin air, wearing the same black suit as the other two but seem to be in good condition, and had a backpack and briefcase in person.
"Ms. Short, where have you been?" Minerva questioned with a glare. 'Ms. Short' simply snorted and faced Will, "You'll kill him feeding such powerful magic directly; I'll take it from here"
She pushed and let go of Will, then she turned around and faced the pale boy, her left hand outstretched towards him. She took a deep breath and muttered, "Heal"
At first, nothing happened. Then, green light seem to envelop and entice her fingers, then it curled into tendrils and twirled towards the body of the boy, the smell of nature hung in the air. The bruises slowly faded, a small sigh escaping the boy's lips. Ms. Short withdrew her hand then and sat beside the boy, her piercing gaze landing on Minerva first, then at Will, Percy and Annabeth. "We will talk in the morning"
"What? After all th-" Annabeth began to protest but Percy stopped her and Will spoke up, "Certainly, get some rest" The three demigods exit the infirmary, leaving the three mysterious kids to themselves.
"What the hell, Will?" Annabeth glared daggers at the Apollo kid, "They must be interrogated-"
"In the morning" Will finished, glaring back, "Doctor's orders. Besides, they treat the boy as the head of concern at the moment, I doubt they are willing to answer your questions until he wakes up, and since they didn't seem to attack anything else at camp, we can assume they won't do so later on" seeing Annabeth still enraged, Will sighed and added, "Alright, I'll call Argus to watch them. I'll inform Chiron in the morning, he'd have returned from his short trip from his cousins by then."
Annabeth looked at Will for a moment longer, then sighed, "I'm sorry, it's just...thank you, Will. And no, I'll inform Chiron in the morning. I do hope Argus isn't in a bad mood to do more babysitting." Will nodded and jogged away, leaving Annabeth to her thoughts and Percy to his sass.
"Sooo...the Minerva business, what'd you think now? She seems really smart"
"Except my mother wouldn't use devices to scan what ambrosia was, nor would she question Will's medical knowledge as a child of Apollo" Annabeth retorted.
"Well, Minerva isn't exactly your mother, remember?"
"Seaweed Brain-"
"Yeah, I know, not helping"
"No, you have a point" she sighed, "Gods are unpredictable that way; just when we thought we've seen them all, they surprise us with their eccentricity"
"How is electricity related?" Percy asked, feigning confusion.
"Really?!"
"I'm joking, Wise Girl. What I'm saying is, let's get some sleep; Will is right, and as if they are gonna go somewhere else. We'll learn more about the explosion in the morning"
"I almost forgot!" Annabeth stopped and was about to head back, but Percy scooped her up, heading to back to Poseidon's cabin, "Don't worry, the Hermes cabin volunteered to take in the Hecate children, and the Demeter cabin will work on filling the hole in the morning; I've also asked the Athena cabin to begin drafting for a reconstruction of the Hecate cabin, and sacrifices will be made at dawn by the Apollo cabin and Hecate's children to appease the goddess of magic"
Annabeth stared at Percy, "Who are you and what have you done to my boyfriend?"
He just laughed and kissed her forehead, "Look, this is my home too, and your my girl; I'm not letting you carry all the work simply because your the brains in our unbeatable duo; I have a brain too"
"A kelp for brains, to be exact" Annabeth corrected but gave a peck on the cheek, "But not bad; I'll give you a 7 for effort and consideration"
"Only 7?" Percy groaned, "I whacked my head on what I could do to lift your burdens, and all I get is a score and a kiss"
Annabeth laughed at that, "I'm never going to make things easier for you, Seaweed Brain"
The couple laughed all the way to the cabin, the worries of what is to come tomorrow placed aside, just for tonight...
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And there you go, Chapter 3!
The next two chapters will be in Eoin Colfer style again (because I prefer it;
I'm a intellectual that way)
And as always, thanks for reading! 🦉