★ 。＼｜／。★
𝗕𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗘
𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖎𝖙𝖗𝖊 𝖙𝖗𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖊-𝖈𝖎𝖓𝖖:
GELATO IS THE HIGHLIGHT
OF THE TRIP
★ 。／｜＼。★
A LOT HAD happened after the girls returned from the Temple of Fear and Panic. Phobos had indeed accepted Mimas' ear — Piper's spoil of war — and sent her, Belle, and Annabeth back up to the surface. They had returned to the Argo II and informed everyone of what happened. Belle told Percy about her panic attack that she had in private which made Percy even more adamant to not let her out of his sight. However, after Belle had learned from Piper to try and accept her fear rather than push it away, she noticed her nightmares become less and less intense. Everything seemed to be going smoothly as they continued their way to Greece.
Naturally, everything then went wrong. The ship was suddenly attacked by a violent storm that would've killed them if it wasn't for Percy and Jason. While the rest of the crew tried to save the ship, Jason had risen from his bed (which he wasn't supposed to do because of his wound) and found Percy trying to keep the ship stabilized. Belle honestly wasn't surprised to see her stupid idiot boyfriend jump over the side of the ship to go into the rowdy sea, but she was shocked to see Jason follow after him.
Apparently, the two of them had met Kymopoleia, Goddess of storms, at the seafloor. She had created the storm because she was working for Gaea (of course she was.) However, Polybotes, the Giant bane of Poseidon, had showed up and began to choke Percy with poison. Jason, in a panic, then promised Kymopoleia that the minor Gods and Goddesses would be recognized more. That assisted in persuading the Goddess to help destroy the Giant. Jason's wound had also miraculously been healed, which Belle didn't really understand, but it didn't matter. Both of them had survived.
Despite both of them being okay, the poison Percy had choked on had left him quite sick. The second Belle saw how green he looked when he came back to the ship, she went into worried girlfriend mode. She was there every time Percy had to throw up (which was pretty often) and tried to get him to eat something little by little. He seemed to be getting better each day, but Belle could tell that he still felt awful.
However, the storm had really damaged the ship. After their encounter with Kymopoleia, the Argo II limped through the Aegean. It was too damaged to fly and too slow to outrun monsters. Someone had to be on duty at all times. Hungry sea serpents attacked the ship about every hour. Curious fish seemed to be attracted to them. At one point they even got stuck on a rock, and Percy and Jason had to get out and push.
It wasn't the most ideal situation. Especially since with all of the damage, three days passed of them still trying to get the ship back into working order. That meant they were also running out of time before the Feast of Spes. The closer they got, the more nervous Belle became. Demeter's voice in Tartarus kept ringing through her head — your plant powers can help in this war, but you alone cannot stop Gaea.
Belle had the ability to control plants. She was getting pretty good at it and her powers became more powerful every time she practiced. Belle had begun to believe that if Gaea ever did wake — Gods forbid — that she could somehow try and stop her. Gaea was the Earth. And what was on the Earth? Plants. Maybe if she used that trick of bending plants to her will with Sunflower just a little more, that could somehow drive Gaea back into her sleep.
However, something was telling Belle that even though she was one of the eight, she wouldn't be the one to destroy Gaea at all. This whole thing basically began with a certain trio who went on a quest to save Hera — Jason, Piper, and Leo. If it started with them, it needed to end with them.
Finally, after those three long days, the Argo II made port at the island of Mykonos. It was decided that Belle and Percy would go scout ashore. The afternoon was hot and windy, but the sun was shining brightly, which made the extremely blue water sparkle. Belle and Percy walked around the island while holding hands, just enjoying being together on the wonderful day. It was beautiful. Many plants curved around the white stucco buildings that had blue roofs, windows, and doors. Belle kept insisting to stop to look at the gardens.
Percy once plucked a red rose off of a bush (careful not to avoid the thorns) and tucked it behind Belle's ear. "Here. For you."
Belle narrowed her eyes at him. "You're trying to make me look like a Princess again, aren't you?"
"I mean, it's not like it's hard."
Her cheeks flushed red and she tugged on his hands. "Come on, let's keep going."
No monsters were on the island (thankfully), but there were some pelicans just walking around. Apparently they were the mascot of the town. Finally, after they walked around the entire island, the two of them were in higher spirits (even if Percy did stop to throw up a couple times.) They even found a Little Italy section of the town and decided to get gelato for the crew. Considering what was going to happen in just less than two days, Belle decided they deserved it.
The two made their way back to the ship semi-quickly so the gelato wouldn't melt. While Percy went to go get Leo (who was trying to fix the control console), Belle found the rest of her friends sitting outside on the deck together, seemingly having the same idea as the couple to try and enjoy the sunshine.
"Hey," Belle greeted, making them look over at her. "We got everyone some gelato."
"Please tell me—" Jason began.
She rolled her eyes playfully and handed him the cup. "Yes, Jason, I did get you vanilla. How could I forget?"
Leo and Percy rejoined them. They all sat out on the deck without worrying about a storm or a monster attack for the first time in days, eating their ice cream. Belle had managed to find Frank — since he was lactose intolerant — an orange sorbet at the gelato place so he had that instead of ice cream. She stared out at the pretty town of Mykonos in front of her.
"We saw these pelicans walking around town," Percy announced. "Like, just going through the shops, stopping at the bars."
Hazel frowned at that. "Monsters in disguise?"
Belle laughed slightly. "No, they're just pelicans. Apparently they're the town mascots. As for the gelato, Mykonos had a Little Italy section. That's why it's so good."
Leo shook his head. "First we go to Rome for Spanish steps. Then we go to Greece for Italian ice cream."
Belle really couldn't argue with the gelato. She ate her strawberry gelato and forgot about all her troubles for the moment. It sort of felt like they were on vacation, despite the fact that it was July thirtieth and Gaea would wake in less than forty-eight houre. However, the thing was that the closer August first became, the tighter all of them seemed to pull together. The next two days would either make or break them. It kind of made Belle appreciate her gelato and the time she had with her friends just a little bit more.
Piper set down her cup of Gelato. "So, the island of Delos is right across the harbor. Artemis and Apollo's home turf. Who's going?"
"Me," Leo immediately volunteered.
Belle's eyebrows knit in thought. She looked over to him, along with everybody else. It wasn't that they thought Leo wasn't equipped enough to go to Delos, it was just that he had volunteered so fast out of nowhere.
"What?" Leo demanded. "I'm diplomatic and stuff. Frank and Hazel volunteered to back me up."
"We did?" Frank asked, lowering his orange sorbet. Leo shot him a look. "I mean . . . sure we did."
Hazel's gold eyes flashed in the sunlight. "Leo, did you have a dream about this or something?"
"Yes," Leo blurted out. "Well . . . no. Not exactly. But . . . you got to trust me on this, guys. I need to talk to Apollo and Artemis. I've got an idea I need to bounce off them."
Annabeth frowned and looked like she wanted to object, but Jason spoke up.
"If Leo has an idea, we need to trust him," Jason cut in.
Leo smiled at him. "Thanks, man."
Percy shrugged. "Okay. But a word of advice: when you see Apollo, don't mention haiku."
"Why not?" Hazel questioned. "Isn't he the God of poetry?"
"Just trust me."
"Got it," Leo replied while getting to his feet. "And, guys, if they have a souvenir shop on Delos, I'm totally bringing you back some Apollo and Artemis bobbleheads!"
Leo went back into the Argo II, probably to get some supplies for the trip. Frank and Hazel trailed after him. Belle stared after Leo suspiciously.
"Something's going on with him," Annabeth announced.
Belle tilted her head in thought. "Yeah. I wonder . . ."
Her mind began to slowly place all of the pieces together. To storm or fire, the world must fall. Jason, Piper, and Leo. If it started with them, it needed to end with them. One of the eight will die.
"I don't like that look," Percy stated. "What are you thinking about?"
Belle shook her head. That thought was so ridiculous, stupidly heroic, and couldn't be possible. Maybe her mind was just a little too in overdrive that she was making things bigger than they actually were. But the way Leo was acting . . . something was up.
"Nothing," Belle answered, looking over at him with a reassuring smile. "Now, come on. I think we should get in some planning for what we're going to do when we get to Athens."
⭒ ☆ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ☆ ⭒
A LITTLE WHILE later, after a very productive meeting of Belle, Percy, Annabeth, Piper, and Jason attempting to plan for Athens that ended in a huge fight over a game of Uno (Belle knew Annabeth had to have cheated, there was no way she could've won that many times in a row), Frank, Hazel, and Leo all returned back to the ship with news. They all seemed . . . off. It was strange. But Belle decided to push that away for now.
Leo had managed to make a bargain with Apollo. He had made a machine that could make music, and Apollo traded him for telling him that his son, Asclepius, could make them the physician's cure from his old temple in Epidaurus, and also gave him the curse of Delos (which actually was just a yellow daisy that had to be picked by Apollo or Artemis). Meanwhile, Frank and Hazel had a conversation with Artemis about how Octavian had ordered some Cyclops-built onagers to fire on Camp Half-Blood, wanting to destroy Camp Half-Blood without a single Roman casualty.
Belle decided to Iris-message Katie, Connor, and Travis to warn them. It would be the first time that she talked to them ever since she got out of Tartarus. She stood in front of one of the sinks in the gallery, a rainbow made out of the water vapor. Belle took a deep breath and shook out her hands in front of her. She didn't know why she was so nervous.
"O, Iris, Goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering," Belle announced. "Show me Katie Gardner and Connor and Travis Stoll."
She threw the golden drachma into the rainbow. A scene shimmered into view. Belle smiled softly at the scene in front of her. Travis had his arm around Katie as they sat on the beach together, and Connor sat next to them, absentmindedly tapping his fingers against his thighs. It was early morning for them on Long Island.
Katie was the first once to notice her, and she gasped. "Oh my Gods, Belle."
Belle laughed slightly, her eyes filling with tears. "Hey, Katie. Hi, Connor and Travis."
"You're alive," Connor breathed out. "Gods, Princess, when I got that note . . . holy Hermes, you made it out."
She nodded. "Yeah, I did. I'm so sorry I haven't called, it's been busy over here."
Travis shook his head. "It's fine. You're out saving the world, meanwhile we're stuck inside Camp."
"That's actually what I wanted to warn you about. Octavian has a bunch of onagers that he's planning to fire on Camp. So, please, be careful."
"You're telling us to be careful?" Katie asked incredulously. "We'll be okay, B. You be careful, all right?"
"I'll try," Belle replied, wiping away a tear with the back of her hand. "I'll be home soon, okay? I miss you guys."
"We miss you too," Connor agreed. "Love you so much, Princess. Now go save the world."
Belle's smile turned sad. She waved her hand through the scene, and her three best friends disappeared. Belle sniffled and placed her hands on the sink, letting some tears fall down her face. Gods, she missed them so much. Never had they ever been separated for so long. And after Tartarus . . . Belle couldn't wait to see them again.
A figure appeared beside her and began to rub her back softly, and Belle could tell that it was Percy. She pushed herself up and wiped away some of the tears off her face.
"We'll get back to them," Percy promised.
"I know," Belle responded. "It's just been so long."
Percy nodded in understanding. "That gives us even more strength to beat Gaea. We have to get back to everyone we love."
Belle sniffled again and the two of them stood there in silence for a while. Less than forty-eight hours until Gaea woke. One way or another, the eight Demigods of the Prophecy would finally reach their final moments.
⭒ ☆ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ☆ ⭒
LEO HAD MANAGED to get the Argo II airborne after only working on it for one night. Tomorrow was August first, so Belle guessed that he was highly motivated. It wasn't in the best shape, but it was good enough for their final lap. They made their way to Epidaurus to go see Asclepius so he could make them the physician's cure.
"Oh, that's beautiful," Leo commented as he maneuvered the ship over the ruins of Epidaurus.
Percy peered over the railing from his place next to Belle. "Looks like more rubble."
Belle elbowed him once she noticed his face getting a little green, making him stand back up straight. "Hey, don't do that. It'll make you feel worse."
Annabeth pointed to a disc-shaped structure about fifty yards off their port side. "There."
Leo smiled at her. "Exactly. See, the architect knows her stuff."
The rest of the crew gathered around. Belle stared down at the ruins. She tilted her head to try and see it better. Slowly, she began to see what Annabeth and Leo were talking about.
"What are we looking at?" Frank questioned.
"Ah, Señor Zhang, you know how you're always saying, Leo, you are the only true genius among Demigods?" Leo inquired.
"I'm pretty sure I never said that."
"Well, turns out there are other true geniuses! Because one of them must have made that work of art down there."
"It's a stone circle," Frank said. "Probably the foundation of an old shrine."
Piper shook her head. "No, it's more than that. Look at the ridges and grooves carved around the rim."
"Like the teeth of a gear," Jason offered.
"And those concentric rings," Hazel added, pointing to the center of the structure where curved stones formed something like a bull's-eye. "The pattern reminds me of Pasiphaë's pendant: the symbol of the Labyrinth."
"Huh," Leo stated. "Well, I hadn't thought of that. But think mechanical. Frank, Hazel . . . where did we see concentric circles like that before?"
"The laboratory under Rome," Frank answered.
Belle shuddered slightly. Rome had not been a pleasant experience.
"The Archimedes lock on the door," Hazel recalled. "It had rings within rings."
Percy snorted in amusement. "You're telling me that's a massive stone lock? It's, like, fifty feet in diameter."
"Leo might be right," Annabeth voiced. "In ancient times, the temple of Asclepius was like the General Hospital of Greece. Everybody came here for the best healing. Aboveground, it was the size of a major city, but supposedly the real action happened belowground. That's where the high priests had their intensive care, super-magical-type compound, accessed by a secret passage."
Percy raised an eyebrow. "So, if that big round thing is the lock, how do we get the key?"
"Way ahead of you Aquaman," Leo replied.
"Okay, do not call me Aquaman. That's even worse than Aqua Boy."
Belle looked over to him, obviously offended. "Oh, so you're hating on my nickname? You know what, I just might call you that instead of Percy all the time now."
Percy's eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't."
"I will end you, Percy Jackson."
"I'd like to see you try, Belle Adair."
The two held intense eye contact for a long moment.
"Okay, um, anways . . ." Leo trailed off, turning to Jason and Piper as Belle and Percy looked away from each other. "You guys remember the giant Archimedes grabber arm I told you I was building?"
Jason raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were kidding."
"Oh, my friend, I never kid about giant grabber arms!" Leo rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "It's time to go fishing for prizes!"
With some assistance from Jason, Leo managed to open the lock with his mechanical grabber arm. The two of them and Piper went down to talk to Asclepius with all of the ingredients for the physician's cure. Meanwhile, yet again, Belle, Percy, and Annabeth suggested another game of Uno to Hazel and Frank. With the possibility of the world ending tomorrow, it only seemed like the natural thing to do. Belle laughed with her friends and imagined them just as normal teenagers. Maybe, just maybe, if they defeated Gaea, that was what they could become. No more quests and no more saving the world. That was her only wish.
After a lot of games of Uno and a lot of arguments, Leo, Jason (who had glasses now), and Piper came back with the physician's cure. Belle stared at the glowing red vial that sat at the middle of the table of the mess hall as the three of them relayed what had happened. Asclepius made them the physician's cure with some persuasion by Piper's charmspeak. They also said how Asclepius had looked at Leo sadly. That really got Belle thinking. Surely that horrible thought she had earlier wasn't true . . .
"I don't like it," Jason admitted. "The way Asclepius looked at Leo—"
"Aw, he just sensed my heartsickness," Leo reassured him, yet Belle didn't really believe him. "You know, I'm dying to see Calypso."
Belle raised an eyebrow. News travelled fast on the Argo II. After all, it was a small ship. Apparently, while her and Percy were in Tartarus, Khione the snow Goddess had sent Leo to the island of Ogygia where he had fallen in love with the sorceress Calypso. Belle remembered Percy telling the Gods to free her of her curse after the Battle of Manhattan, but none of them had actually checked on her. That caused some tension between Leo and Percy for a while.
"That is so sweet," Piper commented. "But I'm not sure that's it."
Percy frowned at the physician's cure. "Any of us might die, right? So we just need to keep the potion handy."
"Assuming only one of us dies," Jason pointed out. "There's only one dose."
Belle lifted her head up, only to see Hazel and Frank staring directly at Leo. Her eyebrows knit in thought and suspicion. What was happening?
"We have to keep our options open," Piper suggested. "We need, like, a designated medic to carry the potion — somebody who can react quickly and heal whoever gets killed."
"Good idea, Beauty Queen," Leo replied. "I nominate you."
Piper blinked. "But . . . Annabeth is wiser. Hazel can move faster on Arion. Belle can control plants. Frank can turn into animals—"
"And yet, you've got the heart," Belle told her, smiling softly at her friend.
Annabeth reached over and squeezed Piper's hand. "Leo's right. When the time comes, you'll know what to do."
"Yeah," Jason agreed. "I have a feeling you're the best choice, Pipes. You're going to be there with us at the end, whatever happens, storm or fire."
Leo picked up the vial. "Is everyone in agreement?"
No one objected. Belle crossed her arms and exhaled as she watched Leo wrapped up the physician's cure in a chamois cloth from his tool belt. He presented the package to Piper, who put it in the pocket of her shirt.
"Okay, then," Leo announced. "Athens tomorrow morning, gang. Be ready to fight some Giants."
"Yeah . . ." Frank murmured. "I know I'll sleep well."
Their dinner broke up. Belle found herself sitting outside on the deck underneath the sunset with Percy and Annabeth. It reminded her of when they would sit together at Camp Half-Blood. And it only felt right that the three of them were spending possibly the last day of the world together.
"I think it's crazy to see how far we've come," Annabeth suddenly voiced, tucking her knee into her chest. "I mean, Percy and I started with that quest for Zeus' lightning bolt, and then Belle, you started with the Labyrinth . . ."
Belle nodded. "We've been through a lot and we've grown a lot. But I definitely wouldn't change it for anything else. You guys are my family now. We might be a little messed up, but I think all of our broken pieces fit together."
Percy slung his arms around both of their shoulders and brought Belle and Annabeth closer to him, making them laugh. "It's the three of us against the world. Uh . . . quite literally."
And there the three of them sat until the stars appeared, just enjoying being in each other's silence. None of them knew what was going to happen tomorrow. How could they? Prophecies were always hard to read. They couldn't try and change the course. Now, it was all up to the Fates.
— [ ♡ ] —
filler chapter asf ❤️
no thoughts, head empty, just thinking about how traitor by olivia rodrigo was literally belle and percy's song during that whole conflict in something there with rachel. pls don't talk to me rn I'm kind of upset
anyways
LOOK AT THAT FUCKING BOOK ONE PARALLEL WITH THE "I WILL END YOU" "I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY" ASKFNSEKNSOI THAT WAS THEIR FIRST KISS CHAPTER LOOK AT HOW FAR THEY'VE COME
and yeah I made them play uno. imagine how chaotic that would be
gifs by 1-800-SIMPINGFORSEB !