#that he'd choose Nico over something he loved so much | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

silverstonesainz-archive · 1 year

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it’s still the 15 in la so forgive me for the late submission i’m adoring these least-to-most-likely scenarios and would love to hear your thoughts on the 2023 grid + danny, mick, and seb in terms of who’d successfully one day randomly pop up with a secret wife of ten years and three kids as if it were a casual thing

from least-to-most-likely... im sorry this is so long and a lil late

lando -> idk i think its a generational thing where soft launches & validation through social media is all the rave. so i think lando wouldnt or even couldn't hide it even if we wanted to. and i think lando likes showing off his girl, hes very comfortable in his relationships (ie talking about luisa in dts).

pierre -> absolutely not. he loves showing off what– rather who, he loves. i mean yall.... his photos with katerina are still up on his instagram he loves that shit. SO NO he will not being keeping a wife and family a secret. if he had it his way he would livestream his wife giving birth. tell me i'm wrong, i dare you.

logan -> he is a young, white man. and i mean white. american white. and if there is anything i know about caucasian men in all my years of dealing with them, there is no hiding a girl even if their life depended on it. same deal as lando too, where soft launches and the need for validation through posting is very much ingrained in the current dating culture sooooo yea.

fernando -> this man is so unserious, and also a boomer-wanna-be-gen-z when it comes to social media so its all about sharing his love and his corazon. though i will say he will be pretty selective with what he shares. and i think he'd pull a rosberg, in that he will post family photos but with emojis over his baby's faces.

nico -> something about this man just tells me that he enjoys the validation and the sharing a lot. we'd hear about the engagement, the pregnancy, all through instagram. but i think he'd do it in cringey cute way. my man is on pinterest with "cute pregnancy announcement inspo" in the search bar.

checo -> he is a proud papa & husband (minus that time in monaco). he loves having his family around him so there isn't a reason why he would ever keep it a secret. though i will say, much like he already does, he would try to keep his family/personal life very much seperate from his work. i think all we'd see of his family is when they show up to races or milestones/birthdays via social media.

charles -> i think he just loves sharing pieces of his life with us that keeping his family a secret would be impossible. charles would 100% walk onto the paddock with his daughter on his hip. they would be wearing matching sunglasses (raybans bc forza ferrari. and not her own pair, one of daddy's). but not outfits bc mama dressed her baby, not charles.

valterri -> he tries to keep what goes on in his personal life as on the down low as possible. i think that he would definitely try to keep his kids out of pap photos & try to hide their faces but other than that i think we would all be aware of his ever-growing family. i think he'd do smth cheesy like post a photo from the back of him and his son with matchin mullets. or maybe a photo of lewis carrying his daughter bc 'uncle lew had to get a matching outfit with his god daughter.'

oscar -> i could've lumped him higher on the list with lando/logan but smth about oscar tells me otherwise. like idk what it is about him but i think he'd try to keep it on the hush hush for as long as he can before eventually sharing with the world. we'd be surviving off soft launches for a WHILE methinks. (but i could be so wrong bc idk oscar this is just based off his face).

kevin -> we'd know (i mean we know now). but similar to fernando in a sense where he chooses what pieces of his time with his wife and kids he wants to share with the world. i think he is very protective of his family and the peace he's worked on building around them.

esteban -> you know... with the way his & elena's relationship is going i can definitely see this man randomly dropping that he's married one day. but the thing is, is that we would all already have an idea of who his wife is, if that makes sense. we'd get little bouts of content from him. a very 'private, not secret' type beat.

nyck -> just like esteban in a sense where we'd know who the wife would be. i think the marriage would come as a shock, but as their family grows i think he'd drop hints and stuff. nyck will definitely bring his kid(s) to at least one race a year and i just have an inkling that his child would be a menace.

alex -> he's happy to share the small moments with the world, but oh it would be very sparse. just little crumbs here and there. he protects what he loves so much, but he's much too proud and excited not to share. think of all the baby photos with all the animals. the matching hair-dos. the baby hating photos as much as dad hates media so when the paps come around baby has the same frown.

daniel -> we would know, but i think he would take his time introducing that part of his life to us. we'd always know he's married & has kids, but we would also have to live off of soft launches for a bit. daniel is a proud man, proud of the life he builds and who he chose to build it with. and daniel would 100% walk onto the paddock with his kids hanging off of him. his daughter on his back, son upside down in his arms.... do you see the vision???

lewis -> this man could go either way. on the one hand i can see lewis showing off the love of his life and his family bc thats what lewis does. he shows off the people he loves. but then i can also see him keeping it quiet, keeping just a piece of his life a secret because in the position he's in, he doesn't have too many secrets to himself left. so yeah... but tell me what yall think.

carlos -> carlos would've been lower on the list with all that 'i protect love' crap but me personally, i just don't see it. i think that we'd all somehow find out about his engagement + growing family somehow. like carlos is always being followed by the paps for literally WHAT. so yeah, i don't think it would be best kept secret. also he's such a family man, i think he'd jump at the opportunity to share his family with the world.

lance -> i know lance has posted his s.o. before, but there is something about this man that tells me when it's a love that he really really values and wants to protect, he will keep it a secret. he will keep them away from the limelight, from the unnecessary attention for as long as possible. idk about 10yrs and then pop out with a whole wife & kids, but i definitely think he'd be the type randomly drop on wednesday that he's engaged.

george -> i think this man could pull it off if he wanted to. i think he'd go ghost on social media in terms of what he does in his personal time. like itll be all race content until one day he just drops a photo of him & his wife welcoming their new baby. i can see it. but i think it all depends on him.

yuki -> idk i think in a relationship he'd be very reserved about it. i think that he'd hate the attention he would end up receiving about dating, so much so he'd prefer if no one knew right away. i think that we'd always know he's with someone bc of like soft launch-esque photos of hands/back of their head. but yeah we'd never truly know who until much much later.

guanyu -> guanyu truly gives me vibes of wanting to protect his family and try to keep them separate from his work. and not even in a malicious way, but in a sense where he doesn't want the people he loves most to be put under undeserving scrutiny. he'd find ways to bring them to races & events but truly, the public would never know.

max -> if were being completely honest here, we know so much about max's love life because of who he's involved with. but if he had it his way, i think we he would pull it off. like i think he would randomly drop the "my wife & kids" line out of no where and it would take the world by storm. and max would say it so nonchalantly too.

mick -> i think that he could pull it off. even in his last relationship, i dont recall ever seeing him post about/with her so... he is definitely a very very private guy. and he has a very tight group of friends at that, so i doubt any information would ever get out to the public unless mick makes a move first.

seb -> he's a very private guy, who didn't even have instagram until last year... and it was to announce his RETIREMENT. and though we know about hannah, we don't know much about his kids. i think i remember kym telling a story about how sebastian asked him & other photographers not to photograph his kids when they came on the paddock so.... seb will go through hoops and the extra mile to be sure a secret is kept.

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happyk44 · 1 year

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The spitfire words - kill yourself - still echo in the air around that one spot at the dining pavilion and people avoid it like the plague. It's brushed clean of tracked dirt from the soles of shoes, a person shaped hollowness, representative of their fears.

He'd cried a little after he said it. When the camper he'd screamed it at lifted their knife and cut their own throat so deep they could not be saved.

Blood was heavy in the air, thick like iron. Jason inhaled it over and over again and watched Nico freeze with wide eyes as everyone around him cried out and scrambled forward. The little girl he'd been defending stopped crying.

Jason hadn't met her before. She was brand-new to camp, my niece, Nico had said in a voice note when asking Jason to visit. The daughter of blessed death and going to sleep with a quiet sigh and deflating lungs, painless and comforting.

And Nico had come back from a three-day excursion in South America - Brazil or Peru, Jason couldn't remember - to find out that some hardheaded son of Ares had been bullying her. Quietly out of view of other people who might've agreed but would've chastised him. Apparently she didn't fit. He thought she should leave with her uncle and never come back.

Jason knows Ares, Mars, whichever one the god chooses to be at any given moment, likes death. Needs it to make his wars. There's no goal if death isn't there. No sense to it but the slaughter and maybe Ares is more bloodlust than Mars but one in the same, how can violence prevail if everyone is too busy fighting the same war over and over again.

So the kid doesn't match up and now he's dead in the ground. Nico left into the shadows only minutes after. Calanthe went with him.

Jason remembers Nico muttering to him about how, despite Will's careful kind words, he still felt like a pariah, eyes watching him, people wondering why he was still around. Jason didn't know how to tell him his fears were right. People whispered and the air was soft and sweet, carried those whispers right to Jason's ears and drove him mad with protective care.

It doesn't shock him when the whispers become bolder, louder, in Nico's absence.

Nico had said once, This place isn't meant for the Underworld. It's too bright for us. We're cave-dwellers at heart. He'd called things off with Will hours after that and sometimes Jason wondered if that was what he'd meant. Olympus was high on the mountain, bright in the sky, like Will and all the others. Nico was grounded in dirt and darkness.

Jason didn't mind burying himself with him though.

He was pretty sure he could find air in the depths.

The blood was scrubbed clean from the concrete but sometimes its resurfaces, pooling and puddling in the pores. It tastes sharp and bitter in the stale air. It smells like a reminder. Jason mentions it once, offbeat, as he walks Lou Ellen into the cozy cottage hidden clustered in far edges of a forest and Nico just rolls his eyes and mutters something about his brother and threats.

Zagreus despises Olympus almost as much as he loves his father. As much as love his mother and his siblings.

Zagreus would burn it down if he could but he settles for subtle threats and crafting a forest to hide all the dark and dreary, the children that belong to shadows and solitude and exhale gravedirt from their lungs and drive madness through whispering waking nightmares.

Jason never asks how Nico did it. But he dreams of it. It's not the same as charmspeak. He remembers how that had felt, when Piper used to talk to him and his world went fuzzy around the edges, and he was hazed away, not really himself, but unaware that something was wrong until she was finally gone and days faded into months and suddenly the air was sweeter than it had ever been.

Her words had crowded into his head so fierce his memories had been pushed away. The headache that had pounded for days after while he finally recovered who he was, or, rather, who he'd been once before.

The dream turns him from a bystander to a victim, to a bully feeling greater than themselves, and it makes him laugh. Jason has always been bigger than britches, deserved and fought for with teeth and claws and a determination to survive that this dreamlike body doesn't carry. Couldn't even comprehend.

(Won't ever comprehend)

But Nico's words hit him and it warps everything. Oh. He does want to kill himself. He wants nothing more than to drive the knife into his throat and die. So he does.

Over and over again, mechanical and determined.

It's like a twist in his very being - different from Piper's pretty soft words. If she'd told him to, he'd paused and questioned it until she repeated it with more conviction. If she'd told him to kill himself, the world would've gone fuzzy around the edges and he wouldn't want to so much as he'd be convinced to. She's so pretty. Why not do it? Just to make her happy. When he snapped out it - either when the knife made contact with the flesh of his throat, or maybe further past that when Thanatos was collecting his soul - he'd wonder to himself, Why did I do that?

With Nico's words, they're vicious and to the point. It sinks like heavy hot fog into his soul and warps him different. He wants to do it. Not because Nico said to. But because he wants. He wants to kill himself.

So he does. There's no question. And there's no wondering, there's no why.

There never will be.

When he wakes up, Jason tastes blood on his tongue and wishes he cared. But he doesn't. So he doesn't ask about it. Nico isn't afraid to speak. Sometimes Jason doesn't know if it was an accident, too much force, too much anger. Or if it was intentional, rage and reactivity being what they are.

He knows that - knows it like the snap of his jaw around another's throat for calling Dakota a bastard and making his eyes well up thick and heavy. Knows it like the twitch of his fingers, the itch to claw, when the whispers at camp become heated and nervous.

Lou Ellen leaves and Clovis leaves. They all follow Jason like pups to the feast. The Underworld does not breathe at camp anymore. You'd think that would make all their fears sleep easy but it just makes them anxious.

He wanted them where he could see them, Percy had said late one night, when Nico was fast asleep, sandwiched between them. Percy's hands are soft on Nico's hair. He smells like saltwater and it mixes with Nico's graveyard scent easy. Jason could track that scent from the other side of the country.

Who did? Jason asked, and Percy's lips twitched, brows furrowing.

Nico had woken up screaming and sobbing and calling out for his mom and when Jason had aprooached him, he'd scrambled back in fear, screeching bloody murder. Percy had come barreling into the bedroom. The scent of popcorn filled Jason's nose, but the food itself had been scattered in the hallway with Percy's rushed footsteps.

There was no flinching from Percy when he approached and Jason had thought it was Tartarus thing but Nico's fearful gaze, trained and tracked on Jason's soul, made him quickly realize that, no, this was something different.

Your dad, Percy answered carefully. He stroked Nico's hair sweetly and Jason wondered if Nico knew that Percy loves him. He wanted our cousins where he could see them and when Hades refused to send Nico and Bianca away, he tried to kill them.

He kissed Nico's forehead and held his clammy hand tight in his grip. Nico murmured something soft under his breath, faintly Italian, and curled deeper into Percy's protective hold.

That's why he was scared of you earlier.

Nico had once told him he had a soul like his father - electric yellow and loud. It had made Jason squirm to consider. It made him bitter then, with Percy's words and Nico's fear and the fact that even with Nico cuddled next to him, he felt like he was miles away.

It still annoys him to think. He doesn't want to be his father, paranoid and cruel. He wants to be like the Jupiter, the Zeus, the one that represented leadership and strength, law and order, the sky and thundering rains.

Not the coward that kills children because he's scared of being dethroned, and sends monsters after his own son until that child is driven to the Underworld to taste the protection of pomegranate seeds just because that child called out his own stupidity.

Percy doesn't visit camp anymore either. Although his father loves him, and he is hurricane of a demigod to deal with so monsters cower from him more than they chase him. He's loyal to his friends and with Annabeth aging out of camp and Grover venturing further and farther, his bindings to the place that caused him pain have more than unshackled from his skin.

He worries, though, about the people that will come after him, the siblings that are on the way, toddler feet no doubt scampering over tile and hardwood floors right now, and Nico rolls his eyes and mutters, Poseidon was thought to be chthonic too sometimes. And Percy relaxes.

Jason would too.

He wouldn't want his siblings to grow up in a world that looks at Nico and thinks him dangerous instead of beautiful, even with blood on his hands and a fire in his teeth. Maybe that's a curse of being wolf-raised. He sees more love in fangs born hard into flesh and bloodied meat piled on dirty floors than he does in empty words and love letters he can't read.

But Poseidon is different from Zeus, Neptune different from Jupiter. The Underworld is depths below the earth and darkness and caves and monsters, and the ocean understands all of that well.

So Jason is welcome because he is touched by darkness from the ruby stain of bitterness on his tongue, and Hermes is welcome, in fragile spades, the ghostly kids that hid themselves and their powers until they saw Jason walk out with Thanatos's young son asleep on his shoulder, and whispered, "Can I come?" and chased him as their father chases the wind and ghosts.

Jason only ever visits to bring them back here. To hear the whispers from satyrs being sent on quests and outrunning them as wolves outrun their prey, as the wind reaches shores, sweeping up kids with shadows in their veins and gravedirt in their lungs before the enemy can touch down in a tornado of future pain.

There's few of them on the radar - their parents love them as the ground loves a corpse, and keeps them safer than the sky ever could. And the ones off the radar, untouched by howling winds and unscented in grasping air, visit regularly, touch their beloved siblings and cousins and teach them how to hold their heads held high.

The ones who can't go home, who have no home to return to, stay with Nico and Jason remembers bitter seeds chewed up in his mouth, watching his uncle crowded by doting loving employees, who were more family than the people on the mountain miles above and states away.

It is more love than he has known before. Wolf hearts and warm fur meant more to him than wide eyes begging him to speak when he didn't know how words fit in his mouth. When the pedestal they dragged him onto was too cold and too high and he wanted to be back in the grass, rolling in the dirt, and growling at birds.

He learned to make his own heat, and learned not to crave the warmth of another's hold.

It was different now. Warmer. Softer. The cottage is one-story, unassuming, until you walk down and down and shadows pull you into cave-like structures decorated in string lights and soft golds. It's dim and comforting and no one has to sleep alone just because there isn't anyone to call them a sibling. Everybody shares and everybody has their own space and everyone pulls Jason into cuddlepiles, seeking his heat and strong arms to snuggle.

Before he'd seen his muscles for warrior strength, but now it's to lift four or so conked out preteens to bed and rearrange furniture, and that matters more to him than anything. But even still, no one bats an eye when he shoots forward and sinks his teeth into monster flesh and no one complains when he licks blood from his hands.

The inhumanity of his humanity is never questioned here, not among the otherworldly spectators who see beauty in dark things.

Nico pours him a glass of pomegranate juice and chases Jason into their shared bed. It feels partially-empty without Percy on the other side, but Hazel drops into the space with a loud yawn and it's better.

Hazel visits often. Frank doesn't follow, but he calls. Hazel disappears into shadows and emerges in the outdoors to answer the calls. She will not jeopardize their safety in anyway, even though Jason is sure Frank would follow her into the wrong side of any war if she asked.

The kids love Hazel as much as they love Nico and the covet all the time they get with her. She wilts whenever she has to leave and Jason wonders how long it will take before she stops. Before she ditches her house in New Rome and crafts her own space deep below the earth where the shadows whisper and gold lays.

He wonders how long it would take Frank to settle in with the rest of them. Not long, he thinks.

Once you've seen the beauty of the dark, it's hard to return to the harsh ugliness of the light.

#nico di angelo #jason grace #percy jackson #my fanfic #my writing #happy talks pjo #it is midnight so i do in fact have to stop here but yeah #uhhhh please enjoy i don't know where all this came from but i've been writing for an hour?? lmao

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cabin10diaries · 1 year

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honestly, bianca's life would've been horrible if she actually survived her quest, or hadn't gone on it at all.

her watching nico grow whenever they meet. him being taller and older, eventually getting wrinkles, grey hair, and suddenly– he's just gone. she knows he's dead, being a daughter of hades, and the moment she feels it she knows exactly what happened. and gods, does it hurt to realize her brother is gone.

it hurts so bad, everything keeps dying near her. plants keep wilting, animals keep running, and frost grows on the grass at her feet. her brother is dead, and she's stayed the same for decades. he's gone and lived his life, and she's been stuck in the same shtick for years.

and shit– she's missed nico's whole life. his birthdays, his crushes, his friends– how long has it been since they'd properly celebrated? how long had passed since she watched nico blow out candles on his cake, gush over a boy, rant about mythomagic? did he still like the game when he had become an adult?

and their friends. percy, annabeth, grover– they're long gone, too. all that remains of them are their legacies, their adult children, their young grandchildren. none of the campers at chb were recognizable anymore. how much had she missed?

why did she miss everything? to be a hunter of artemis? to join a girl group before she had gone through puberty? to feel like she finally fit in somewhere, after years of her childhood being an outcast?

her childhood was gone, too. she never was able to enjoy it. would she had rather experienced it than be a hunter? was it better to be coerced into a band of misfit nymphs and girls because she just wanted something– and gods, the one thing that gave her what she wanted made her leave her brother behind. alone, at a camp that hated him for years until he'd been accepted.

the novelty of joining the hunters had wore off a long time ago. but she couldn't leave now, especially not to die. it would be cowardice, lame, wimpy. what else would she do in her life anyway? she dedicated her whole life to this and for what? losing the life she could've had with her brother? watching the people she loved die before her very eyes? feeling more alone in the end than ever before?

and gods forbid she die soon. she's an excellent hunter, having put all her time into being one. she's never lost once. but to die means to see nico, to see her friends, to see her mom– it's the only thing she wants.

but she isn't a coward. she won't stand still in battle, waiting for a stray arrow to hit her and bleed out on the forest floor. she'd fight to die– as recklessly as possible.

gods, she knows how happy she'll be when she dies. she'll be the happiest she's ever been, dying with the biggest grin on her face. choosing to spend the rest of eternity in elysium, asphodel, wherever she goes– she's going to spend the rest of eternity with her brother. her mother. her friends. she'll spend it with the family she'd barely known in her years alive with them, instead of girls she never truly wanted to know in the first place.

but for now, the rest of her years, she'll mourn her brother. life rots around her still, if only a little less. all that's keeping her alive is the idea of her brother, and dying to see him.

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halothenthehorns · 10 months

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Chapter 18: A FRIEND SAYS GOOD-BYE

Nico took the book with a pinched throat. If the pattern had continued, it would have been Rachel's turn. Some part of him still waited for Percy to turn and blame him for that, his actual friend missing while he was still hanging around in here.

He didn't though, of course, he was never on Percy's mind long enough to even get his anger. Somehow the nothing of it always bothered him more than if Percy would just flat reject his dark wish. Clearing his throat sharply to scram away such feelings, it worked rather in his favor as his voice came out appropriately uneasy to read the chapter title.

Nobody had any quips for that. There was still one line of the prophecy unanswered for.

We landed at Crissy Field after nightfall.

As soon as Dr. Chase stepped out of his Sopwith Camel, Annabeth ran to him and gave him a huge hug. "Dad! You flew... you shot... oh my gods! That was the most amazing thing I've ever seen!"

"And I didn't even get to see it!" Alex groaned, falling back into her seat as if shot herself.

"I bet if you ask nicely Artemis will beam the image into your head," Thalia grinned, though Percy winced with unease if gods could really do that.

Alex looked ready to drool at the prospects and he was very grateful when Nico kept going before Thalia could expand on the idea.

Her father blushed. "Well, not bad for a middle-aged mortal, I suppose."

"But the celestial bronze bullets! How did you get those?"

"Ah, well. You did leave quite a few half-blood weapons in your room in Virginia, the last time you... left."

Magnus still squirmed uneasily in his seat, never having gotten the story for that. Uncle Fredrick had come to the rescue, but he still didn't even know his own aunt's name. His cousin never talked about them, and love didn't solve every problem of choosing.

Not to mention the ominous question if the wolves would find him if he did dare to haunt any other families doorstep. Even Uncle Randolph didn't deserve that.

Annabeth looked down, embarrassed. I noticed Dr. Chase was very careful not to say ran away.

Percy had never considered running away, leaving his mom to deal with Gabe alone. He wished Annabeth would talk about what she'd be running from when she was at Camp. Was going into the arms of the Hunters her answer?

"I decided to try melting some down to make bullet casings," he continued. "Just a little experiment."

"I imagine a sentence exactly like that is what made Annabeth exist," Jason said, clearly his fascination with Annabeth existing at all still a touch new if he thought about it to long.

He said it like it was no big deal, but he had a gleam in his eye. I could understand all of a sudden why Athena, Goddess of Crafts and Wisdom, had taken a liking to him. He was an excellent mad scientist at heart.

Percy hadn't often imagined a 'dad' replacement for Gabe when he was younger, he spent to much time wishing the waste dead to hope his mom found anyone better, or possibly worst.

This probably would have been a cool contender though. His mom was kind and patient and had the most loving heart. All he'd needed really was someone to help him with his homework.

He couldn't forget the fact Annabeth had run away from this guy, but he hoped if they managed to make peace they could at least build an exploding volcano together or something. It would go a long way towards Percy starting to forgive this guy for making Annabeth feel so unloved.

"Dad..." Annabeth faltered.

"Annabeth, Percy," Thalia interrupted. Her voice was urgent. She and Artemis were kneeling at Zoe's side, binding the huntress's wounds.

Will leaned forward in his seat, his hands fidgeting in place. To assess the damage, to know what tool would be best, or to ascertain if it was beyond mortal help and get her nectar.

He already knew it was to late. The prophecy would not allow otherwise.

Annabeth and I ran over to help, but there wasn't much we could do. We had no ambrosia or nectar. No regular medicine would help. It was dark, but I could see that Zoe didn't look good. She was shivering, and the faint glow that usually hung around her was fading.

Nico was leaning as far back into his seat as he could. He was surprised Percy, or anybody wasn't throwing him accusing glares. Thalia in particular.

Even if they hadn't gotten on well, he'd expect Artemis's lieutenant to be like anybody else back at Camp when death came up and give him a pointed look, like he gave Thanatos a ring every time someone mildly annoyed him.

Instead she sat there in quiet respect and made an odd motion. One he instinctively recognized as a blessing. He could only guess it must be one among the Huntress's, and he mimicked it with a pain that never felt any less as he thought of Bianca.

Had she felt nothing upon her death? Had she laid in Talos's body and known what was coming, watched her own hand lose the grip on her bow as her glow faded?

Even knowing every intricate detail of her death didn't save him from his never ending questions about her.

"Can't you heal her with magic?" I asked Artemis. "I mean... you're a goddess."

Artemis looked troubled. "Life is a fragile thing, Percy. If the Fates will the string to be cut, there is little I can do. But I can try."

Percy's mind felt barred from that kind of answer. A wound even the gods couldn't fix?

His hand crept to his hair, he touched the side of his head and as his mind lingered on his dad again, Poseidon, a place in his life no mortal could ever fill. Was that why he was down here? Had he gotten a wound even the God of the Ocean couldn't fix, and his memory had been the price?

She tried to set her hand on Zoe's side, but Zoe gripped her wrist. She looked into the goddess's eyes, and some kind of understanding passed between them.

Nico licked his lips nervously for a moment. He was worried Bianca was right about him, and he was holding a grudge against Zoe for being even a small part in convincing his sister to join this group that had gotten her killed. If he read Zoe's last moments, he'd just sound like a bitter, resentful jerk when she'd been a brave warrior and grieved his sister just like he had.

He wanted to be better than that. Hades was the God of the Underworld, no matter how the souls came to him, he knew how each should be treated. Nico tried to read with nothing but respect.

"Have I... served thee well?" Zoe whispered.

"With great honor," Artemis said softly. "The finest of my attendants."

Zoe's face relaxed. "Rest. At last."

As much as Nico loathed to be the one to read this, he kept his voice level.

They all heard the words with a sort of grandeur he didn't even seem aware of, like how a bugle could only sound in particular hands.

"I can try to heal the poison, my brave one."

But in that moment, I knew it wasn't just the poison that was killing her. It was her father's final blow. Zoe had known all along that the Oracle's prophecy was about her: she would die by a parent's hand. And yet she'd taken the quest anyway. She had chosen to save me, and Atlas's fury had broken her inside.

Percy rubbed his fingers together, but the blood on his hands was only in his head. First Bianca, now her, he glanced nervously at Thalia and clenched a fist. Their sacrifice for him would never be forgotten again, his guilt wouldn't allow it. He would not allow the same thing to happen a third time to one of his friends.

She saw Thalia, and took her hand.

"I am sorry we argued," Zoe said. "We could have been sisters."

Thalia brushed her hand through the silver circlet in her hair. They were now, if only in spirit, but she remembered whenever she looked at the stars and promised she was doing her best. The only time the open sky didn't bring her dread.

"It's my fault," Thalia said, blinking hard. "You were right about Luke, about heroes, men—everything."

Then of course Percy's hands fell into his lap and he gave her the most tragic of looks like a street performer had robbed him.

"Shush you," Thalia said without looking over, but she was finally fighting off a smile again.

"Perhaps not all men," Zoe murmured. She smiled weakly at me. "Do you still have the sword, Percy?"

"I don't think it leaves him, it's kind of gawking him," Alex offered. She wasn't mocking the dying girl, just trying to bring some levity to those she'd left behind.

I couldn't speak, but I brought out Riptide and put the pen in her hand. She grasped it contentedly. "You spoke the truth, Percy Jackson. You are nothing like... like Hercules. I am honored that you carry this sword."

A shudder ran through her body.

"Zoe—" I said.

"Stars," she whispered. "I can see the stars again, my lady."

A tear trickled down Artemis's cheek. "Yes, my brave one. They are beautiful tonight."

"Stars," Zoe repeated. Her eyes fixed on the night sky. And she did not move again.

Jason gripped the coin in his pocket too tight, like he was trying to leave an impression on his skin. Crissy airfield had no attachment to him, but her wound had happened on Mount Tam. The place reeked of death in his memory, and he moved without thought to place a gentle hand on Thalia's shoulder for her having to feel the same. Not even getting his memories taken away was saving him much from the pain, the weight that mountain always made you feel when you descended.

Thalia covered his hand with hers and gave such a strange smile he didn't know how to place. Another woman came to mind, a woman with elaborate blonde hair, but the same smile.

Thalia lowered her head. Annabeth gulped down a sob, and her father put his hands on her shoulders. I watched as Artemis cupped her hand above Zoe's mouth and spoke a few words in Ancient Greek. A silvery wisp of smoke exhaled from Zoe's lips and was caught in the hand of the goddess. Zoe's body shimmered and disappeared.

Artemis stood, said a kind of blessing, breathed into her cupped hand and released the silver dust to the sky. It flew up, sparkling, and vanished.

For a moment I didn't see anything different. Then Annabeth gasped. Looking up in the sky, I saw that the stars were brighter now. They made a pattern I had never noticed before—a gleaming constellation that looked a lot like a girl's figure—a girl with a bow, running across the sky.

"Let the world honor you, my Huntress," Artemis said. "Live forever in the stars."

Magnus was to busy trying to clear his throat without getting caught to marvel to much at that yet. How completely insane such an ability was to exist didn't matter right now.

His mom deserved that. A quiet, peaceful death with the person she loved most at her side and being honored for all time.

It wasn't easy saying our good-byes. The thunder and lightning were still boiling over Mount Tamalpais in the north. Artemis was so upset she flickered with silver light. This made me nervous, because if she suddenly lost control and appeared in her fully divine form, we would disintegrate by looking at her.

"Now where's that line of warning in the Prophecy?" Alex scoffed.

"Can you imagine coming all that way and finishing your grand quest just to go out like that? I'd be pissed," Jason agreed, but he held it under better control of a passive observation. He had more faith the gods had better control of themselves than to kill their own hero's.

"I must go to Olympus immediately," Artemis said. "I will not be able to take you, but I will send help."

The goddess set her hand on Annabeth's shoulder. "You are brave beyond measure, my girl. You will do what is right."

What was right for her though? Percy swallowed a Titan sized lump in his throat no matter how much he agreed with Artemis about that. Whatever happened, he would not panic and fling himself at her feet, begging her to stay. He was better than that, he wanted what was best for her...

Then she looked quizzically at Thalia, as if she weren't sure what to make of this younger daughter of Zeus. Thalia seemed reluctant to look up, but something made her, and she held the goddess's eyes. I wasn't sure what passed between them, but Artemis's gaze softened with sympathy.

Thalia's camo attire seemed to glow extra bright for a few moments as she fiddled with the zipper of her jacket over her black punk clothing. She'd never regret her time in the Hunt, but she had questions now she wasn't sure Artemis would give willing answers for. She wouldn't trade Jason for Annabeth if given a chance though just to appease anyone.

Then she turned to me.

"You did well," she said. "For a man."

I wanted to protest. But then I realized it was the first time she hadn't called me a boy.

Percy sat up straight in his seat, clearly delighted that had worked out already! She hadn't called him a brave man, but he'd take it!

She mounted her chariot, which began to glow. We averted our eyes. There was a flash of silver, and the goddess was gone.

"Well," Dr. Chase sighed. "She was impressive; though I must say I still prefer Athena."

"He is truly a smart man for waiting until she left to say that," Will snorted.

Annabeth turned toward him. "Dad, I... I'm sorry that—"

"Shh." He hugged her. "Do what you must, my dear. I know this isn't easy for you."

Percy had wanted to hug her so bad. It had been the first chance to breathe, sit around and look about to see her just standing there casually beside him again like she'd never left.

She'd looked so comfortable next to her dad though. Percy had a suspicion this might have been the first time they'd had an alone moment in a long, long time, so he was glad he'd kept his hands to himself, to give Dr. Chase a chance to say what Mrs. Chase had told him to.

His voice was a little shaky, but he gave Annabeth a brave smile.

Then I heard the whoosh of large wings. Three pegasi descended through the fog: two white winged horses and one pure black one.

"Do you punch Percy for getting the cool Pegasus?" Alex grinned Thalia.

"I do not," Thalia said with a strained smile. They were gorgeous creatures of course...and still not ones she wanted anything to do with.

"Blackjack!" I called.

Yo, boss! he called. You manage to stay alive okay without me?

"There were several close calls," Percy said like they weren't there for every single word.

"It was rough," I admitted.

I brought Guido and Porkpie with me.

Nico made such an adorable, annoyed little frown so different from his previous serious expression before as he wondered which Pegasus it was that complained about carrying him Will had to look away before he did something really stupid.

"Who names these guys?" Alex asked in delight.

"Not sure, I think they pick for themselves, or Salina does. I've never asked," Percy shrugged without concern.

How ya doin? The other two pegasi spoke in my mind.

Blackjack looked me over with concern, then checked out Dr. Chase, Thalia, and Annabeth. Any of these goons you want us to stampede?

"I would kill for a Pegasus that would stampede on command," Alex somehow grinned even brighter.

"Hopefully no one we know," Magnus frowned.

"Nah," I said aloud. "These are my friends. We need to get to Olympus pretty fast."

No problem, Blackjack said. Except for the mortal over there. Hope he's not going.

I assured him Dr. Chase was not. The professor was staring openmouthed at the pegasi.

"He can see them?" Jason asked dubiously.

"Told you that Mist stuff is not as reliable as you seem to think it is," Percy seemed much less concerned about the implications of that and more smug his point was finally proven.

"Fascinating," he said. "Such maneuverability! How does the wingspan compensate for the weight of the horse's body, I wonder?"

"I've been wondering much crazier shit than that since the beginning," Magnus was smiling again for, finally, someone else around here questioning the absurdity of this world. Then he frowned to himself even this mortal was reacting better than he had, but he did have a child with a god first, so this wasn't his first interaction.

Blackjack cocked his head. Whaaaat?

Percy went cross-eyed too and looked at his hand, just like he had then. "Wait, our brains don't know how we work automatically?"

Thankfully Annabeth had been distracted talking to her dad to notice.

"Our brains are piles of mush laced with electricity and a drop of ichor, we're lucky we're functional," Thalia shrugged.

"Why, if the British had had these pegasi in the cavalry charges on the Crimea," Dr. Chase said, "the charge of the light brigade—"

"Dad!" Annabeth interrupted.

Dr. Chase blinked. He looked at his daughter and managed a smile. "I'm sorry, my dear, I know you must go."

He gave her one last awkward, well-meaning hug. As she turned to climb aboard the pegasus Guido, Dr. Chase called, "Annabeth. I know... I know San Francisco is a dangerous place for you. But please remember, you always have a home with us. We will keep you safe."

Magnus wasn't sure how much he believed that anymore than Annabeth did. Going there for a job felt like one to many mistakes no matter what Uncle Fredrick said. She had a home and family at camp, she might be able to travel the world safe in a group of sisters with the Hunter's.

Yet this mortal family who clearly loved her at least enough to try even on the smallest level was still waiting in the wings even if she didn't want either of those options. Magnus swallowed jealousy and quickly went to studying his frayed and patched clothing as he asked and answered himself for the thousandth time why his cousin had never seemed to consider finding him all these years. She had more than enough.

Annabeth didn't answer, but her eyes were red as she turned away. Dr. Chase started to say more, then apparently thought better of it. He raised his hand in a sad farewell and trudged away across the dark field.

Thalia sighed as she thought back on that moment, her regret of blaming all of her problems on Percy feeling even more selfish than ever in the darkest part of the night before dawn. Annabeth hadn't glanced at her or Percy, she didn't need anybody to help her make that decision, though they'd spoken about it in the coming weeks with multiple Iris messages. That little seven year old in her mind had long since grown up, and Percy had been more a part of that than she'd been. She never should have resented Percy for that.

She still felt like she'd lost Luke and Annabeth that night. The people who she kept hoping they'd be.

Thalia and Annabeth and I mounted our pegasi. Together we soared over the bay and flew toward the eastern hills. Soon San Francisco was only a glittering crescent behind us, with an occasional flicker of lightning in the north.

Thalia was so exhausted she fell asleep on Porkpie's back. I knew she had to be really tired to sleep in the air,

Thalia tried to deny the blush nobody was laughing at anyways. She'd never told Annabeth about that, but the child of Athena had figured it out after a few weeks together when she always avoided the window whenever they'd hide out on anything higher than the third floor. Her soft blond head would curl up in her lap and whisper they'd keep each other safe from everything, and Thalia's arms had held her tight as she slept peacefully.

Her mind flickered to Percy readjusting the golden fleece onto Annabeth's sleeping form on the back of that Hippocampi as they kept each other safe now.

despite her fear of heights, but she didn't have much to worry about. Her pegasus flew with ease, adjusting himself every once in a while so Thalia stayed safely on his back.

"Maybe I just wanted to close my eyes and pretend I was on a normal horse," Thalia still made a half hearted denial.

"And the snoring was obviously just there to drown out the wind and give Annabeth and I some privacy," Percy nodded seriously.

"I don't snore!" She yelped.

"Must have been thunder, my bad," Percy grinned. It was a miracle she hadn't spooked Porkpie.

Nico quickly kept reading before Thalia got to enthusiastic with reminding Percy of what always came after thunder.

Annabeth and I flew along side by side.

Jason's mind automatically supplied them holding hands before he shook himself and remembered they weren't actually dating yet. It was just the way Percy's face lit up at having her back again and the way his hand always tried to curl around nothing in here that made it seem obvious they would have been.

"Your dad seems cool," I told her.

It was too dark to see her expression. She looked back, even though California was far behind us now.

"I guess so," she said. "We've been arguing for so many years."

"Yeah, you said."

"You think I was lying about that?" It sounded like a challenge, but a pretty halfhearted one, like she was asking it of herself.

"Memories can change and warp with age," Will agreed gently. He didn't think about his mom much, but when he did he mostly remembered the nothingness of their time together. How she'd always been on stage singing as far away from him as she could be while he'd been a lonely kid sitting around at bars with just a glass of water for company. It took effort to remember the littler moments he knew must have happened, her singing the seat belt song as she buckled him in, her always stopping at his favorite restaurant any time they passed no matter what time of day.

Sometimes he wondered if he went back to Texas to see how she was doing if she'd even remember him at all. Probably depended if she hit the big leagues yet or not.

"I didn't say you were lying. It's just... he seems okay. Your stepmom, too. Maybe they've, uh, gotten cooler since you saw them last."

"It definitely had something to do with meeting you Percy," Alex cheerfully mocked. "Everybody always gets ten times cooler just being in your presence." She kept the disparaging tone out well enough how she felt about Percy trying to rekindle a flame that should have been left out when it came to family affairs.

"The cooliest you say?" Percy chuckled while Alex groaned and rolled her eyes at him.

She hesitated. "They're still in San Francisco, Percy. I can't live so far from camp."

I didn't want to ask my next question. I was scared to know the answer. But I asked it anyway. "So what are you going to do now?"

The smile slipped back off his face and he shivered at all the possibilities before her that didn't involve him. The salty ocean water was of little comfort, but he'd swear the longer he thought of that kiss with Annabeth, she'd been underwater too, her blonde hair swaying around them. He'd know when it was coming, whatever the answer.

We flew over a town, an island of lights in the middle of the dark. It whisked by so fast we might've been in an airplane.

"I don't know," she admitted. "But thank you for rescuing me."

"Hey, no big deal. We're friends."

Nico said completely deadpan, "he just defied every god possible and traveled across the continent to take on a Titan and his army. No big deal at all." Percy had been taken by the Gods this time, and he was powerless to help him get out of here. Annabeth would probably bust through that door any minute to fix this, proving once again why they were better for each other. He'd never fit into Percy's life in a way that mattered.

"Isn't that what you do for friends?" Will agreed cheerfully.

Nico wouldn't know. He'd never had any.

"You didn't believe I was dead?"

"Never."

She hesitated. "Neither is Luke, you know. I mean... he isn't dead."

The rainbow of emotions that colored Percy's face would have made Rachel's day as an artist. Alex got a good appreciation out of it too as a way to sculpt about twelve facial expressions at once.

"He what?" Anger, shock, disbelief, and jealousy were definitely the top four that showed as he snapped. Nico quickly kept reading before he had to deal with them or any others. He was rather proud of himself, finally not sitting around longing to see any emotion on Percy just to get a small hint of what it would be like to have them directed onto him.

I stared at her. I didn't know if she was cracking under the stress or what.

"I mean, she spent enough time holding up the sky I expect a few cracks in her bones to be there, but her mind seemed to come away in tact..." Magnus didn't sound so sure himself. This wasn't exactly the first thing he thought he'd hear the two of them talk about their first alone moment together, and his stomach was already starting to clench painfully again at what the next trick was Annabeth was going to fall for from Luke's ghost.

"Annabeth, that fall was pretty bad. There's no way—"

"He isn't dead," she insisted. "I know it. The same way you knew about me."

That comparison didn't make me too happy.

That was now the number one peeved look on his face. He was scowling and muttering all kinds of things Thalia was leaning away with no wish to hear, even if she'd called Luke all of that and then some at one point.

The towns were zipping by faster now, islands of light thicker together, until the whole landscape below was a glittering carpet. Dawn was close. The eastern sky was turning gray.

And up ahead, a huge white-and-yellow glow spread out before us—the lights of New York.

Percy now looked apocalyptic with fury.

The fact that he was frustrated with Annabeth in mind meant that, for once, he wasn't affecting the ocean around him. "Are you telling me Blackjack could have flown us straight to Mount Tam without all that crap that happened down there!"

They wouldn't have lost Bianca! They could have skipped the confusing, exhausting days and barely saved the world with maybe an hour to spare, again!

"We would have never won without the journey," Thalia reminded, and she looked so miserable for having to remind him of all they'd had to go through to get there and everybody they'd lost for this fleeting win it didn't sound like much of a victory at all.

Percy slammed back into his seat and looked pretty annoyed Annabeth had suffered for days longer than she'd had to if just one god had told him where to look! Thalia wasn't wrong though, and that made him more mad than anything.

How's that for speedy, boss? Blackjack bragged. We get extra hay for breakfast or what?

"Hay with no frosting," but the quirk of Percy's lips promised he was just grumpy, he'd still sneak a whole box of donuts in.

"You're the man, Blackjack," I told him. "Er, the horse, I mean."

"You don't believe me about Luke," Annabeth said, "but we'll see him again. He's in trouble, Percy. He's under Kronos's spell."

"That he summoned," Percy said through gritted teeth. Annabeth had never seemed to hear that part, and he'd never liked sitting around arguing with her about it. It still stung though, a lot. She'd saved Luke's life and he'd laughed at her and walked away, leaving her to die under the sky! She'd saved his life and he'd rescued her! They weren't comparable!

I didn't feel like arguing, though it made me mad. How could she still have any feelings for that creep? How could she possibly make excuses for him? He deserved that fall. He deserved... okay, I'll say it. He deserved to die. Unlike Bianca. Unlike Zoe. Luke couldn't be alive. It wouldn't be fair.

"Fair," Nico echoed with a wet scoff. "What is fair?"

Percy gave him a sad, commiserating smile, and Nico smiled back. He looked away first too. He was tired of waiting for Percy to give him more than that.

"There it is." Thalia's voice; she'd woken up. She was pointing toward Manhattan, which was quickly zooming into view. "It's started."

"What's started?" I asked.

Then I looked where she was pointing. High above the Empire State Building, Olympus was its own island of light, a floating mountain ablaze with torches and braziers, white marble palaces gleaming in the early morning air.

"The winter solstice," Thalia said. "The Council of the Gods."

Nico exhaled in relief and passed the book to Will without a second thought, so he was still surprised to feel a warm brush against his skin when their fingers overlapped for just the briefest second before the purple spine exchanged.

Nico studied his fingers curiously for a moment before trying to catch Will's eye, who was acting like nothing happened as he flipped to the next chapter. Maybe it wasn't Will constantly trying to heal him? Maybe Nico had just forgotten what a human touch felt like after to long and he was still getting used to it?

#pjo #Percy Jackson #Thalia Grace #Jason Grace #Alex Fierro #Magnus Chase #fierrochase #percabeth #solangelo #nico di angelo #will solace #Titan's Curse #reading the books #fanfiction #HDYSG

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