「002. juno or hera (pick your poison) 」
CHERRY WONDERS whether your birthday counts whilst your dead. because if it does... she'd now be considered fifteen by society. she didn't know what was the difference between fourteen and fifteen that was so appealing. but for some reason it just had a nicer ring to it. it sounded less childish, and it was only five years until twenty (if she even got to the age of twenty, that is). however, that might have been the only... good thing about coming back to life.
nothing had drastically changed in the mortal wold, there weren't hoverboards everywhere and it didn't look like robots had taken over or anything. it felt normal. but what cherry was feeling was anything but normal. her body had grown a bit so she was maybe an inch taller and it was taking some getting used to. but that wasn't the biggest thing that had happened. what was probably the worst thing was... cherry was currently homeless.
perhaps america's child services needed to improve, because she'd been homeless and on the streets for about two months. and let me tell you something, new york winters suck. it's cold, and all hades had given her was one big puffy coat. she was grateful for it, don't get her wrong. but being homeless with only the clothes on your body and one sword and no ambrosia or nectar at all is like the worst thing possible. monsters seemed to just sense her. she'd walk into a convenience store and bam! monster. she'd walk around the block and bam! monster. she'd go-
well, you get the point.
and that, as bad as it seems, probably wasn't the worst thing to happen to her. you see, cherry wasn't dumb. she never had been, and although she sometimes was a bit clueless, she knew how to take initiative. she wasn't about to just sit around in new york for the rest of her life. she was going to save up money- maybe find a drachma or two if she was lucky- and she was going to find her way back to camp half-blood. there was no doubt about that.
she'd sing (she wasn't that great, but people seemed to like it), she'd tell stand up at places she could, and she'd sell plants on side walks (although it looked really sketchy). but she'd do anything (well... not anything) to get back home. and if that meant embarrassing herself, abusing her powers just a little, or singing as best as she could, she'd do it. the scene of barbie and her reuniting, of seeing annabeth, val and percy again... it kept her going. she didn't know exactly what had happened demigod-wise whilst she was gone, but by the looks of it- she guessed they won the war. because there didn't seem to be any... utter and complete chaos. so she guessed they weren't that bad.
but the funny (it wasn't funny. cherry's just an optimist) thing about cherry trying to get money was the fact everytime she did... it would mysteriously go missing. at first, cherry thought it was somebody stealing her money. so instead of keeping it in her side pocket of her coat, she kept it in a compartment on the inside. because no creep would go unnoticed if they tried to steal from her that way.
but when she woke up one morning to see all her hard-earned money had gone to waste again because it was stolen? cherry knew something was up. it had gone far past some mean and suckish person stealing her money- no, this was a gods doing. except... cherry didn't know exactly which god or goddess (or deity!) it was.
well, a week later and cherry had her anwer. hera. or... juno (but she only learns that later. shh! don't ruin it for her!). pick your poison. no offence to immortal beings such as her, but they're both as bad as each other, if not worse. she'd heard from barbie when she was previously alive how much she hated hera (maybe that was why the peacocks were extra ferocious. although cherry never knew before that how vicious peacocks could truly be). and usually, cherry tried to respect the gods. because she didn't always feel like getting turned into a random animal and being hunted to death. usually.
she sort of lost all respect for hera after she had a dream from her. which is probably when every single bad thing started to really happen.
you see, cherry only ever had dreams from her mom. and her mom was the best. demeter always warped the dream so they were in a lovely field of wheat, and they'd chat over dream-made tea that cherry could only imagine tasted devine. but this dream she had with hera... not so much. no wheat field. no nice tea. nothing.
although perhaps cherry should be sympathetic, the queen of the heavens was trapped inside a cage.
she'd blinked deliriously when she saw the woman in the cage. she was weak, terribly weak, and her skin looked worse than deathly pale. she looked tired, with black circles weighing under her eyes and chapped lips along with bloodshot eyes, like she hadn't slept in days.
"my dear," hera spoke with a corak, "at last... i have been able to speak with you."
"queen hera?" she stammered, looking around. did she curtsey? did she bow? what in hades was she meant to do? she had to show respect somehow!
so in the end, she did an awkward sort of bow. that looked like a cross between a spasm and maybe a courtesy if she'd twisted her ankle. it was awkward and painful for the both of them. at least, that's what cherry guesses.
"it is me, yes," confirmed hera, "i have come to you- to send you a message."
"a message?" asked cherry, tilted her head slightly.
"yes," nodded hera in a grave tone, "i have been trying to keep you here in new yor-"
"wait-" frowned cherry, "are you the who keeps stealing my money?"
"not stealing, dear, trying to help you achieve great-"
"how is stealing my money helping me 'achieve greatness'?" asked cherry, trying to remain calm, "explain me that, queen hera. and why are you trying to keep me away from camp half-blood? my home? why are you-"
"please," coughed hera, "let me finish, you were never meant to die. you are apart of something big. you must know that. you must free me."
"look miss queen of the heavens," spoke cherry politely, "i know i'm part of a prophecy- but pardon me for benign rude, but i don't think a great prophecy revolves around freeing one goddess."
"you must free me," repeated hera.
cherry looked at hera, her eyes squinting. her form flickered slightly ans she seemed to be wincing. she looked weak and covered in ichor. she seemed weak and fragile, which was very different to what cherry expected from the immortal beings who basically ruled the world. of course, she'd never seen too many gods before, so she didn't exactly have a very clear image of what they were meant to look like.
"free you?" she asked, "what happened to you?"
"many things have happened, young one," hera rasped, "but you must help me. you will travel to find me. along with four others."
"others?" she asked, confusion spread clearly across her face, "what do you mean? i'm not-"
"i shall take you to three of them," spoke hera, "you'll meet the final one soon. although it shall be... a familiar face."
cherry frowned, very confused with what exactly was happening. she walked closer to queen hera, but it seemed she couldn't. figures, you cant talk to a goddess but can't walk around in a dream. made total sense. hera let out a shaky breath before she started to wince. soon, she started to look different. very different. she wore a goat skinned cloak and looked more agitated. and a hell of a lot more warlike.
"wait... you're not hera," cherry spoke uneasily, "who...?"
"i am juno," spoke the woman.
"i... i recognise that name," cherry mumbled, "it's roman, isn't it? you're hera's roman aspect- you're-"
"we do not have much time for such trivial matters," wheezed juno in pain, "you must free me with the help of your companions."
"companions?" questioned cherry, "hera-juno- whoever you are- please explain-"
"we do not have much time!" gasped juno again before she started to stagger, "i shall take you to them!"
"how can you do that- miss juno lady i don't know if you realised but your greek side has been stealing all my money!"
"the gods are in your favour for now," rasped juno, "good luck, little demigod."
cherry woke up from her dream to feel her head resting on somebodies shoulder. last time she checked, she didn't sleep on random peoples shoulders, and also; new york's winter wasn't this comfortable. that... and she was pretty sure that new york streets didn't hum. so, safe to conclude, cherry adams wasn't in new york. which... yes, did cause a brief moment of panic. her mind was racing, because oh my gods did i get kidnapped? however the brief state of panic passed when she remembered what hera had said. something about taking her to who she needed?
wait... but i don't trust hera!
nevermind, she was panicking again.
"you ok there?" called an unfamiliar voice which she figured was the person who she'd been using as a personal pillow. she didn't respond, because stranger danger. "awe c'mon cherry- you mad at me or somethin'? look i told you i never meant to use the plant pot as a base of the launcher it just happened-"
she opened her eyes wide. she heard murmuring behind her from the very back of the bus and she nearly knocked heads with the person beside her. she turned her head from side to side, looking through the window of the bus before she turned and came face to face with... a guy.
just so we're all one hundred percent clear, cherry adams doesn't speak to guys. she's scared of mos people in general- and gets terribly shy at times. that, and cherry adams didn't trust guys all the time. last time she did, the guy (see kenji ito) betrayed her family for kronos (and although hades didn't tell her, she had a sneaking suspicion he was the one who killed her).
"man d'you know i listened to this real old song on the radio yesterday- and it had your name in it! what was the song again?" in the next few moments, whoever this chaotic looking lanky elf-boy was began to pitch his voice higher than it probably should and sang badly the words, "cheerryyy, cherry baby!"
"those are the wrong lyrics," she mumbled on instinct, "it's sherry baby, don't offend the four seasons like that-"
the guy next to her let out a loud laugh and probably would've spoken had somebody not interrupted him.
"leo leave her alone," pestered a voice from behind her, "you know she didn't sleep much last night- she was staying up watering the plants. i- jason, you okay? "
"i still don't get how they haven't found your stash yet," laughed the guy next to her, shaking his head as he did. he gave her this mischievous grin and his warm brown eyes shone. he brushed a few strands of his dark brown coloured hair out of his face and grinned at her, "welcome to the land of the living, cherry!"
how painfully ironic, she thought.
"i- where are we?" she mumbled, "and-"
suddenly, a loud whistle was heard and a teacher shouted, "all right cupcakes, listen up!"
the guy was obviously a coach by the looks of it. she squinted slightly, he was a baseball cap pulled low over his hair and had a wispy looking goatee and a strangely familiar look to his face. he wore a bright orange polo shirt that almost reminded cherry of the camp half-blood shirt. he styled this with nylon workout pants and nikes that were a blinding white.
"stand up, coach hedge!" yelled one of the students and cherry's eyes widened.
no- it couldn't be-
"i heard that!" yelled the coach. he scanned the bus and his eyes met with ehrs for a moment and they widened slightly. so definitely gleeson hedge- wow! he's a coach now?
"we'll arrive in five minutes! stay with your partner! don't lose your worksheet! and if any of you precious little cupcakes cause any trouble on this trip, i'll personally send you back to campus the hard way."
"can he talk to us that way?" said a voice behind her.
"always does. this is the wilderness school. where kids are the animals." she said it like it was a joke they'd shared, and cherry felt bad for whoever the girl behind her was.
"this is some kind of mistake," the guy behind her spoke, "i'm not supposed to be here."
"i- same dude!" mumbled cherry, turning around to be faced with a very pretty girl with the prettiest eyes and gorgeous looking hair (with flawless skin, might cherry add). and then her look turned to the other guy. athletic build, blue eyes and blonde hair. the one who thought he wasn't supposed to be there. well, at least she wasn't technically the only one.
the boy next to her, leo, laughed, "yeah, right, jason.we've all been framed! i didn't run away six times! cherry didn't liberate a flower shop. and piper totally didn't steal a bmw."
the girl, piper, blushed, "i didn't steal that car, leo!"
"oh, i forgot, piper. what was your story again? you talked the dealer into lending it to you?" he turned to both cherry and jason and raised his eyebrows like, can you believe her?
"anyways," shrugged leo, "i hope you've got you worksheet, 'cause i used mine for spit wads days ago. why are you looking at me like that? hey you too cherry! what? did somebody draw on my face or something?"
"i'm not meant to be on this bus," mumbled cherry, hissing at her headache she was generously given, "man does anybody have any advil or something?"
"d'you think they'd trust leo with something like that?" joked piper.
"i- i don't know any of you," jason said.
"sure, i'm not your best friend, i'm his evil clone!"
"leo valdez!" coach hedge yelled from the front, "problem back there?"
leo sent a wink in cherry's direction before he turned back to jason with a maniacal grin, "watch this." he turned to the front, "sorry coach! i was having trouble hearing you. could you use your megaphone please?"
coach hedge grunted, like he was pleased to have an excuse. he unclipped the megaphone from his belt and continued giving directions, but his voice came out like darth vader's. the kids began to crack up. the coach tried again, but this time the megaphone blared: 'the cow says moo!' kids howled in delight and the coach slammed down the megaphone.
"valdez!" piper stifled a laugh, "oh my god, leo, how did you do that?"
leo slipped a tiny philips head screwdriver from his sleeve and spoke,"i'm a special boy."
cherry was far too awkward to even say anything, but wondered when they were going to get back to the point about how cherry nor this jason guy weren't meant to be here.
thankfully, jason spoke up before she had to go through an internal debate as to whether she should speak or not.
"guys seriously," jason pleaded, "what am i doing here? where are we going?"
"by the looks of the dirt," mumbled cherry, looking through the window, not realising piper, jason and leo were looking at her, "i'd say we're in nevada... uh, probably somewhere near the grand canyon if my geography is right- what?"
"i- nothing," mumbled piper before she turned to jason again, "jason, all seriousness, are you joking?"
"no! i have no idea-"
"aw ok, yeah they're both joking," leo laughed, "they're trying to get back at me for the shaving cream and the whole jello- thing, right?"
"shaving cream and jell-o thing?" mumbled cherry, clearly confused. jason nodded, as if agreeing with cherry. it seemed they were both terribly confused.
"i think they're being serious," piper spoke in a worried tone.
"i don't- i can't-"
"that's it!" yelled coach hedge, "the back row has just volunteered to clean up after lunch!
the rest of the coach cheered as leo mumbled, "that's a shocker."
she heard mumbling behind her presumably from piper and a confused jason. she turned round to leo, and he stared at her with a little grin that morphed slowly to a confused look as he said, "so... you really don't remember me? or... pipes? or jason?"
"i've never met any of you guys," cherry admitted, "the stuff about me... liberating a flower shop- sort of sounds like me. i haven't done that- but it sounds like something i might do."
"but you remember your name and everything? age?" quizzed leo.
"i remember my age 'n stuff," she mumbled shyly, "and my name- my birthday... i remember all that. i haven't lost my memory or anything, i just have never met you guys."
the bus dropped them in front of a big red stucco complex like a museum. it seemed cherry had guessed correctly (which she would've hoped for. all demeter children had an excellent sense of direction when it came to the ground). her piercing headache was still there, and it was starting to annoy her. she looked down to her clothes and realised very quickly that the clothes she wore now certainly weren't the ones she went to sleep in. she now wore a large green jumper tucked into her mom jeans that had the words 'appreciate the earth' in the corner where her heart would be. along with that, she wore black combat boots.
"so crash course for the amnesiac and... whatever's wrong with cherry," leo spoke, "we go to the wilderness school which means we're 'bad kids'. your family, or the court, or whoever, decided you were too much trouble. so they shipped you off to this lovely prison- sorry, 'boarding school'- in armpit, nevada, where you learn valuable nature skills like running ten miles a day through the cacti and weaving daisies into hats! and for a special treat we go on 'educational' field trips with coach hedge, who keeps order with a baseball bat-"
sounds like him, cherry smiled to herself.
"-is it all coming back to you now?"
"uh...no," jason spoke blankly.
"the nature part sounds nice," cherry added with a smile.
"you're really gonna play this out, huh?" sighed leo, "okay- so the three of us started here this semester. we're totally tight. you do everything i say- cherry is totally my girlfriend- and jason you give me your desserts and do my chores-"
"leo!" piper snapped.
"fine, ignore the last few parts. but we are friends. cherry is- she's like your sister? i dunno man but it's weird-"
"leo's jealous," cut in piper, with a glare.
"well," leo stressed, sending a look of retaliation to piper, "piper's a little more than your friend. the last weeks-"
"leo stop it!" piper's face turned red, and by the looks of jason, he wasn't far off it either.
"he's got amnesia or something," piper spoke, "and cherry... i dunno? selective memory? whatever it is, we've got to tell somebody!"
"who, coach hedge?" leo scoffed, "he'd try fix jason and cherry by whacking them upside the head."
"leo, they need help," piper insisted, "they've got concussion or-"
"yo piper!"
and that... was probably the start of everything that went wrong that day. and also the start of... whatever was happening to cherry right now.
"all right, cupcakes!" coach hedge yelled, "you are about to see the grand canyon. try not to break it. the skywalk can hold the weight of seventy jumbo jets. so you feather-weights should be safe out there. if possible, try to avoid pushing each other over the edge, as that would cause me extra paperwork."
the coach opened the doors, and they all stepped outside. however cherry was anything but excited. heights, why had she forgotten about that? she took a tentative step, and grappled onto the closest person next to her, which happened to be leo, and kept her claw grip on him. he turned to her and laughed slightly, "i forgot about your fear of heights."
seems their version of cherry also had a crippling fear of heights.
as they stepped outside, cherry temporarily forgot about how high up they were and stared at the view. the canyon was bigger and wider than you could appreciate from a picture. and they were up so high that birds circled below their feet. a long way down (and it really was a long way) there was a river that snaked across the canyon floor. a rumble was heard and cherry's attention was snapped to the storm clouds that were moving overhead. call it her weird version of a spidey-sense (demigod-sense? it was a work in progress), but cherry felt as if something bad was going to happen.
"you alright?" leo asked her, "just don't look down. i- wait i know something that might cheer you up. jason looks like he's about to throw up, right? i gotta camera to commemorate all of that."
"thanks," grumbled jason.
thunder rumbled overhead, causing cherry to jump slightly. within a few moments a cold wind rushed over them and cherry watched as jason nearly fell over.
"this really can't be safe," leo spoke, sounding just a bit serious as he squinted at the clouds, "storm's right over us, but it's clear all the way round. weird, huh?"
very weird. and very, very worrying for a demigod like cherry.
"all right cupcakes!" coach hedge yelled, "we have to cut this short, so get to work! remember, complete sentences!"
cherry winced slightly, she looked around, not enjoying what was happening at all. she could feel that something was wrong. and her piercing headache wasn't helping. she felt like somebody, or something was watching her, disturbing her garden (by that, she means her mind). it was like somebody had walked around, and was just kicking the daisies in her mind, tying to irritate or perhaps annoy cherry enough for her to snap.
"-is that gold? man you've been holding out on me!" leo gasped.
"it's nothing," jason mumbled, "just a coin."
leo shrugged carelessly before his mischievous smile graced his face again, "dare you to spit over the edge."
"w- leo that's disgusting!" cherry found herself saying. well, don't blame her! she might now have actually known anybody around her- but she knew basic hygiene!
you know in those horror movies that you watch, where you know that one person is going to die? or perhaps that you know there's going to be a certain jump scare? yet when you watch it, you're still surprised? that's what was happening to cherry. as soon as she heard the loud and jarring sound of the lightning, alarm bells sounded in her head, and he mind was itching to grab her sword that was currently in it's ring form. the wind picked up as cherry's mind raced. worksheets flew into the grand canyon and the entire bridge shuddered.
instantly, cherry found herself being held by leo, who seemed to be trying to protect the both of them. kids screamed, stumbling and grabbing the rails.
"everybody inside!" yelled coach hedge, "the cow says moo! off the skywalk!"
well, if what had happened before with that weird dylan guy was the beginning of the shit-storm of events (no pun intended) then perhaps this was the beginning of the full-blown chaos. even cherry, a demigod who'd fought in a war, was not prepared for what happened next. and that says a lot about the situation.
rosie speaks!
so hello and welcome to
another chapter !! i love how
awkward cherry is sometimes
and n o this won't be any sort
of immediate ily cherry typa
fanfiction. we are moving on
a slow burn friends to lovers
type beat and i tend to keep it
like that.
thoughts so far??
word count: 4,087 words