Work Text:
"Okay, okay! Who's choosing next" Annabeth asked everyone.
Annabeth was laying with Percy on one of the many bunk beds in the Poseidon Cabin. She was here along with Percy who was twiddling with his Camp Half-Blood necklace, the beads hitting against each other making a small “thunk” every couple seconds. He was wearing a random hoodie, which ended up being Jason's, fortunately, Jason had been pretty chill about it and Annabeth was glad that Jason hadn’t made it a big deal. He had just accepted loosing another hoodie, zero arguments. To be fair Percy seemed to do that a lot, stealing (Percy called it borrowing) random clothes from people.
Nico and Will were also here, they were lying together on the bunk opposite to theirs. Nico was blushing at something Will said, and Will was quietly laughing and pointing out his boyfriend’s red, but grumpy expression. Although, that didn't mean Will’s face wasn’t a bright red too.
Frank and Hazel were in the bunk right under Nico and Will, Hazel was sitting with her head on Franks shoulder, she looked peaceful and really pretty in a Frank’s opinion, she appeared to be sleeping, but she was also wearing a pyjama set that appeared to be from the 20’s (where did Hazel get it from? He had no clue). The fact that she was sleeping wasn't very surprising to anyone as it was around 2 at night. Hazel wasn’t one to stay up late.
Jason and Piper were just sitting on the floor and leaning on each other with a bunch of pillows, they looked to be comfortable but Piper was scolding a Leo who was trying to annoy Reyna who was glaring straight back at him. Jason was seen trying to tell Leo off too, but he looked like he was stuck between bursting out laughing and trying to remain serious (mainly because Piper and Reyna would totally turn their glaring to him if he dared to side with Leo). Unfortunately for him, he was failing and his facial expression looked about the same as any time Leo was talking to him. Leo always rambled and Jason can admit that he barely understood any of what he says, ever. Bonus points if it is about mechanical stuff too.
Thalia was sitting near Annabeth, and was talking to Jason. She didn’t seem to notice that he wasn’t paying her any attention. Thalia was trying to explain the ending of the film they just watched. She was in a good mood too, she didn’t even get mad at Percy after he called her entitled, self-centred, selfish, egoistic, and other interesting words, all because she complained about his movie of choice but then went and picked something far worse in Percy’s opinion. After he insulted her, she simply told him “Wow Percy! Those were some big words you used! You sure you didn’t need Annabeth’s help?” And smiled sweetly, or as sweetly as you can with eyes that look electrified more than half the time. She was only here because she had gotten permission from Lady Artemis to spend a week at Camp Half-Blood, she was ecstatic especially about it as she got to spend time with her family and since it was at Halloween.
Rachel and Percy looked to be the most chaotic out of everyone here, they were both giggling uncontrollably and looking pretty crazy to anyone who was sitting near them. Rachel was showing Percy something on her phone and Percy was attempting to reenact whatever it was. He was doing all of this while also being covered by a blanket. It's safe to say that he was failing miserably, although Rachel (who was secretly recording him) was laughing. Annabeth made sure to wave away Franks concern, and made sure to inform him that this happened every time they met up.
Unfortunately Grover couldn't make it, he had a date with Juniper. Grover wouldn't admit it but it looked like they went trick or treating. The seven would have joined but Halloween seemed like the best time of the year for monsters to spawn, and with 5 children of the Big 3 this was a pretty bad idea. They all wished them luck though, and Percy reminded Grover to try not eat the present he had for Juniper.
"Um maybe you Annie? Although I don't know if you'll manage to find much, I feel like we've already watched the whole horror section" Thalia responded, turning away from the chaos near her.
”Yeah sure, let me look through it real quick” To no one’s surprise, they had ended up watching all the horror movies that were worth watching. The last one they had watched was Coraline, chosen by Piper. Everyone had enjoyed it- bar Frank who had been confused throughout the whole movie and even more so when Annabeth and Piper talked about Movie theories and easter eggs.
Something that was a surprise to all of them (though it probably shouldn’t have been) was the fact that Rachel had every single movie you could think of on her phone, how? They wouldn’t know, they decided it was better to not ask, though they guessed it was to do with the fact she was the daughter of a millionaire.
”It’s only like two” Leo complained “I’m sure you’ll find something”
”Um, I could look through like murder, or mystery documentary’s? Sometimes they’re scarier than actual horror movies” Annabeth suggested, though she winced while saying it.
”Of course Wise Girl, it’s your turn anyways. Pick whatever you want” Percy flattered while staring at her hair which she was twirling around her finger.
At that Thalia coughed and stared at Percy accusingly “Yeah, you couldn’t pick a worse horror than this guy. We literally watched ‘Finding Nemo’ because he persuaded Nico, Jason and Hazel to watch it and called it a horror because of the sharks”
Nico nodded his head at that “Agreed, that was the worst 1 hour and 41 minutes of my life” he said huffing, and ignoring a remark from Will that sounded a lot like “Really? You sure about that? You looked like you were enjoying it when it was playing”
“How on earth did you memorise how long that movie was, I can’t even remember what we watched last” marvelled Leo, staring at Nico with awe and confusion.
”Stai zitto” Nico bit back, using Italian “plus I memorised it cause like I said, worst time of my life” he exasperated, and glared at Will, as though to tell him not to say anything else, smirking back Will opened his mouth only to be interrupted by Percy.
“It was necessary guys, I get Nico and Hazel, but Jason! Jason, said he hadn’t watched it. We can’t have that! That’s blasphemy that is.” Percy declared while sighing, before getting whacked in the head by Annabeth “You can’t just say blasphemy Seaweed Brain”
”Plus, Jason did watch Finding Nemo!” Thalia declared, and then muttered “when he was like 1”
“Okay whatever, Annabeth look through the documentary section, y’all are getting off track” Piper exclaimed before realising she had used a little bit of charmspeak. She tended to try and avoid using it on her friends, but screw her, she was tired.
”Yeah guys, listen to Pipes over here!” Percy said a bit loud, and Piper glared at him at the use of the nickname.
Annabeth complied and clicked onto the mystery part, she had to look through it a bit as she had already watched a couple before, and wasn’t really interested in rewatching them. It was a total of two minutes before the room went into chaos again because Leo had spotted something on the screen.
”Oh my god, Percy t’is you?” Leo exclaimed all excited, while pointing out a documentary on the side, it has bright colours and a picture of a kid with black hair and startling sea-green eyes on the cover, the name Jackson was also on bold as part of the title.
”No way… Percy is famous?” Nico’s eyes widened, apparently when you got a tired Nico, instead of him being grumpy, he was more like his 10 year old self.
”how come you didn’t tell me! I can’t believe you betrayed me like that” Thalia said dramatically, waving her hands around.
”I didn’t know I was famous either” Percy looked up at the screen “although it’d make some sense, I guess. I was wanted for a couple things when I was 12” he said this as though this was the most normal thing ever, which for him probably was. But for everyone else this was pretty crazy.
”Okay no, now we gotta watch it” Reyna said while Rachel’s hands went forwards to grab the remote from Annabeth’s hands, although the demigod moved hers away in the last second “nuh uh, still my turn to choose”
The last person they expected to speak up was Hazel, maybe because everyone thought she was still sleeping “Awh, please Annabeth? If you’re okay with it Percy. But I’d love to learn more about your adventures as a kid! We barely know anything, even if this will be horribly inaccurate” Frank nodded his head next to her.
”Yeah, I’m fine with it” he turned to look at his girlfriend with pleading eyes “Come on Beth, pleaseee” he exaggerated his please, but the effect was worth it.
”Okay, fine, whatever. To be honest I’d like to see what kind of rubbish they said as well”
Leo was bouncing up and down on his seat, much to the annoyance of Piper who was once again back at glaring at him. Excited he said to Annabeth “Come on, come on. Put it on already!” Now Reyna was glaring at him too, and she jabbed him at his side to shut him up.
It was put on in no time, and two guys popped up on the screen. One had blonde hair and brown eyes, while the other was a brunette with grey eyes. The were sitting in a room and the title of the interview “The Jackson Family, A Mystery” was bold on the wall behind them. The two men were sitting down in comfy looking chairs, and Piper frowned at the obviously fake accent the blonde guy was using. He smiled at the camera and announced “Hello, my name is John, and I'm here with David over here!"
The brown haired guy, called David lifted his hand to the camera, he didn't really look interested in what they were talking about, but he sat forwards anyways.
"David here, is going to be answering my questions, while also telling us about this case. He has more information than anyone else as he had inclusive interviews from people inside the case."
"Right. So I'll be telling you about the mystery, know as the Jackson family. This case has been 'resolved' and closed, but many people like John over here, find the details of the story weird and not looked through as well as they could have been"
David shuffled about his papers and picked up a remote for the screen behind them while John nervously laughed, before coughing awkwardly.
The man looked up at the screen, which now was displaying a photo of a missing kid and his mother.
At this Frank spoke up "You went missing? And this was when you were like 12 too?"
"Uh yeah, I was fine though, I was only at Camp Half-Blood" Percy assured them, before Thalia spoke up while fixing their ringlet on her head "Yeah guys, he's not the real deal like Me and Annabeth!”
"Me and Superman too!" Leo added on pushing Jason lightly on the shoulder, Thalia looked at them before nodding and wincing at the reminder of her brothers kidnapping "oh yeah"
"This is a missing poster, it was all over New York back in 2005" David was about to add something else in before John interrupted and started speaking "So here is Sally Jackson, now called Sally Jackson-Blofis. She, along with her son Percy Jackson went missing for a couple of weeks. David if you could give is some background information?"
David rolled his eyes at that, and Reyna got the feeling that that's what he was planning to do before having been interrupted.
"Oh yes, of course. Percy Jackson here has been described as a dangerous, unhinged young man by his former stepfather-"
"Woah, wait what- Paul said all of this?" Nico asked his mouth hanging open, while Will looked at boy in question concerned.
"Uh no, this was like before Paul" Percy answered and stared at the tv. He looked as though he wasn't interested in talking about this topic ever, and Thalia under her joking exterior looked slightly shocked but understanding had confused as well. Her eyes narrowed at the now closed off boy.
"-Gabriel Ugliano. The boy had been kicked out of multiple schools, public, private, boarding, military and other. This matched with his description of being called a troublemaker." The screen now showed a picture of an ugly, old looking guy. At hearing the last name John perked up "Did Sally, who married Gabe take his last name?"
"No, but don't go and start theorizing. Can you hear how horrible his last name sounds? No one in their right minds would take it" at hearing this the man leaned back against his chair, wincing at the other man's words.
Piper could only imagine what John’s last name had to be for this reaction.
"Oh gods, what is that? Percy please tell me Sally married someone better than him" Will pleaded as he looked up at Percy, begging that he was right.
"Oh yeah! She married Paul now, she's pregnant with my little sibling now too! Nico you met him!" At that Nico’s head bobbed up and down on Wills shoulder "Do you know the gender yet Percy??"
"Um I think they are saying it's a girl, but nothing for certain yet" Percy replied with a smile on his face.
"So, why didn't Aunt Sally take Gabe's last name? Huh Percy?" Thalia looked up innocently at mentioned boy, Annabeth who was also becoming increasingly worried met his eyes too.
"wha- It's just like they said? Seriously! ugly last name is all" Percy faltered as he tried to smile and reassure them, but Annabeth was the only one who noticed, Thalia seemed to be just focussing on the words themself instead of his body language.
"Yeah?" Thalia asked, though not a single part of her believed it, Percy was basically radiating nerves as the conversation went on "Yeah" Percy clarified, and Thalia opted to lean back against Jasons shoulder, who looked surprised to say the least.
It looked like the conversation was over but before they unpaused it, Annabeth turned to look at Percy with uncertainty "Percy, isn’t this is the same guy that said all those horrible things about you while we were running around and doing the quest?"
He paused at looked at her, putting his hands on her shoulder he looked up and smiled once again "Oh wise girl, he was just worried! About um mom and the car, you know it was pretty trashed. Plus he didn't know me that well and only saw me after school or in the holidays when I was in a bad mood"
"And how long did he live with you?" She questioned once again and this time Percy winced "Um like around 9 years, maybe? I don't know. I think mom was already dating him and then when I killed that snake in my cot she actually asked him to move in"
Annabeth just accepted that she wasn't going to get anything out of the boy right now. She could've pushed him more, or tried guilting him into telling her by saying something like "You'd tell me if something was wrong, yeah?" But that would have added heaps of unnecessary guilt onto his shoulders. She rathered that he tells her himself, when he feels comfortable to do so. Although she wouldn't lie when she guessed Thalia would be trying to find out just as much as Annabeth wanted to, especially because of her own childhood.
"Now, Sally Jackson. Sally here, is a woman in her late 30's, she has brown hair and as of now, she is a well knows author, she is known for her creative and extremely imaginative writing." after he said that, two pictures appeared on the screen, the first was of a young boy around ten or maybe eleven years old, sitting with his mother and staring at the camera, Frank wouldn't know but he thought it looked like a school photo. The second phtoto was a sloppily taken photo in the Cracked Teapot, the coffee shop Percy and Sally often sat at.
"oh gods John. don't tell me you took this photo" David laughed as he saw the blurry parts, "you could've probably found one on the internet as well, you know? We aren't the only ones doing this case." John looked bright red and cleared his throat, unfortunately for him Piper paused it right then so he looked horribly unflattering.
"Awh Percy! Thats you at 10? Awhh you looked like such a cute child" Hazel cooed and a couple people nodded their agreement including Thalia who then opened her mouth "Yeah, you were, what happened?”
Percy, who was obviously about to say something when Nico interrupted him "woah, why are you glaring at the camera like that? Also you're being stalked! Thats kinda cool" Percy forgot about Thalia immediately and stared at his own photo before answering Nico, while Jason stared at the younger boy. Jason looked a bit freaked out, although that was probably because of Nico’s enthusiasm on Percy being stalked.
"I think that was the day that I didn't come prepared for photos. First I was wearing old worn out clothes, second I was meant to have a photo taken with mom, which we both forgot so they had to call her, and then we had to retake it about 20 times because I couldn't keep still. The photographer yelled at me when my mom was away at the toilet, so I just decided to make her job harder."
"Ah, cool"
"Anyways, before we lose track of the actual reason we are here" John said as the screen flickered and showed a group of police men investigating a car "In late May, Gabe Ugliano made a phone call to the police about his missing camaro. While explaining to the police man about why his case about a missing car is important enough for them to immediately start looking for it, he mentioned in passing a comment about his wife being missing too"
David interrupted and said "That was the reason why the case was investigated and why they found the car so soon. Unfortunately, no people were found on the scene. The car was also trashed, with scratches and many parts of it missing, the police decided to call it a car crash for the reason that it was the most likely scenario. But then they had also found proof to believe that lightning struck on the car, but they found that way too unlikely so they dismissed it"
"Woah, woah, woah. That fucker- I mean that man didn't even report you missing?" Thalia all but yelled, anger shining clearly in her blue eyes along with electricity.
"Um I guess? But I didn't know about this part so.. " he trailed off, looking over at Annabeth, before Leo sat up.
"Percy? You know that's like, messed up. Right?" Leo asked him, worry shining in his eyes that usually were bright with humour.
"Hm? Oh um- well he was probably just worried about his camaro, he like told me not to trash it or anything and now it was missing, plus he mentioned Sally, so it's all good" Percy told him, unsure of why he kept defending the man.
"Yeah, in passing? Percy my dad forgot about me sometimes, but like he'd definitely report me missing and not some car. Like I know I can't compare-" Piper tried before being cut off by Percy.
"Look Pipes, I appreciate all of the concern- but I don't really need it, everything came out fine so no need to worry. Plus he doesn’t do shit like that anymore" He flashed her a smile, but at the last sentence Nico, Will, Thalia, Rachel and Annabeth frowned. They didn't know that Percy still kept in contact with his ex-stepfather, all of them had met Sally and Paul, and by the looks of it Gabe was never mentioned before.
He turned to Rachel in hope of a distraction and Rachel complied, showing of one of her paintings in her camera roll.
"In the car there were traces of the mother and son’s DNA, this confirmed that it was in fact their car. But- as well as the DNA of the two, a couple of stranded goat hairs were found on the seats. This cannot be explained and even experts were confused. It is guessed that a goat was maybe walking past and made a stop inside of the car, but that hill is not a goat area and they have never been seen there." David continued.
"Goat hair? In your car?" Hazel asked confused, looking up at the Greeks.
"Oh wait- It is Grover? Right?" Rachel asked for confirmation, although she most certainly has heard this story before.
"Yeah, he was- is my protector. We would've been dead if it wasn't for him" Percy smiled, but he looked down for a split second probably remembering that Grover wasn't here chilling with them.
"At the top of the hill, there was a Strawberry farm, it was said that it hasn't been looked through and the police and investigators just left it as it was, I've always wondered the reason for that" John added before picking up another missing poster and showing it up to the camera.
"Anyways, this here is one of the missing posters from the investigation, I had managed to get my hands on it a couple weeks back, it was a lucky find especially since it was just before this here took place" John smiled warmly at the camera before David clicked a button on his remote making the screen show a newspaper "unfortunately, this I couldn't find anywhere, so a digital copy will have to do"
Percy clenched his teeth as John let David tell their audience about the newspaper. He immediately recognised the newspaper as the same one that Luke had shoved into his cabin all those years ago. What happens with the papers was one of the cruelest things Luke had done to him, maybe not the most evil... But this one hurt just the same or maybe even more. Unknown to him, Will had been looking at him with confusion, concern and curiosity.
"Uh, everything alright Percy? Ur jaw looks like it's about to fall off" Will said, but winced when everyone's attention immediately went to said boy.
"Oh yeah, sorry- I'm just like mad at Luke, I think. Sorry, I guess, I know he was a hero and he died like one too-"
"What? No shut up Percy, you know your feelings about Luke... All the anger, resentment and what ever else it may be.. Don't just invalidate because Luke died with heroic actions, he was still evil before he died you know" Will spoke up, angry in behalf of Percy, who always threw away his own feelings and needs for everyone else.
"Yeah, yeah" Percy waved him off "Anyways, I know all of you's are confused so I'll explain, see that newspaper yeah? After I was claimed I was isolated a lot by everyone at camp, cause you know, son of the big three"
At that Jason tried to interrupt but when Percy continued speaking he sighed and turned to look at his sister. Her eyes met his concerned and questioning ones and she nodded at the question that was displayed clearly on his face Thalia had gone through something like this too, and he could bet that Nico had the same experience. Jason though about his own experiences back at Camp Jupiter and decided that he also had went through this, maybe not the uncertainty at him, but he was isolated and definitely treated differently than others, with more pressure being put on his shoulders
"And someone felt like being an asshole I guess, cause a newspaper had been forced through the gap under my door. The paper, as the guy is explaining, just tells us that me and my mom are missing... A little bit further in the paper it accuses me about a lot of stuff, like attacking my mother. It just paints me as a suspect and there was a phone number at the bottom to report crime" Percy could feel the anger radiating off his skin, Annabeth did too, so he stopped for a minute and Piper spoke up in the silence
"That is horrible! You're telling me someone at camp- Luke did this?"
"Yeah, I think so at least.. But it gets better, someone decided to also circle the phone number with a black marker just to showcase how welcome I was." He finished sarcastically, although his tone proved how tired he sounded.
Annabeth looked miserable, and her face had a pained expression on it. She mindlessly fiddled with her Camp-Half Blood necklace, specifically the first bead, the one that had a sea green Trident printed on the small circular surface, she looked Percy in the eyes and she sniffled asking "Percy... Why didn't you tell me? I know I was a bit protective over Luke-"
"That's exactly why Wise Girl, imagine I did tell you, especially later on, when we were more friendly with each other. Are you sure that if I told you, you wouldn't have accused me of trying to make Luke seem even more like a bad guy?.. But to be completely honest, I think I just didn't tell you cause I forgot" he gave her a lopsided smile and she nodded and sat up to hug him, resting her head on her shoulder.
Thalia and Nico were also pissed,
Thalia who had became a sort of older sister for the two younger boys, had to sit here and listen to how Percy wasn't even welcomed into a place he now called home, and to make matters worse, two years later when she showed up she hasn't treated or welcomed him any better either. Constantly blaming him for everything, like Annabeth falling off of the cliff, or just completely ignoring him and getting frustrated and aggravated every time he mentioned Luke. She couldn't believe Luke had turned to the other side, it was unbelievable at the time, and the betrayal she felt all the time did not help any more than the heartbreak.
Nico felt horrible and annoyed at himself, he see's Percy as an older brother, or better said cousin, and he knows Percy feels the same about him, cause he certainly treats him like a younger brother. Although it does make it slightly awkward with Nico’s hero worship... But he was getting over it. Kind of. he mainly felt like shit about how he made Percy make such an impossible and risky promise, one that was completely uncalled for with the prophecy he was under. What did he even expect Percy to do? Sacrifice himself over Bianca? Yeah no, thinking about that sent a shiver down his spine. He was so unfair to Percy when he came back with the news, he shouldn't have reacted like that, although whenever he talks to Will about it, he always says "you were just a scared kid, no one blamed you for your emotions n stuff" like thanks Will, very motivational Will.
Thalia decided to be the first of the two to apologise, but before she even got any words out Percy had walked over to her and hugged her. Percy could feel Thalia's stiff back, and tense shoulders but she slowly just melted into the embrace.
“I’m so sorry Percy, I shouldn’t have treated you that badly when we first met… I knew you were bullied at school too, yet I still acted no better than any of them. I know I also wasn’t the only one at camp… but I’m still so so sorry” she told him, looking at her feet.
”hey it’s okay, you too Nico. I mean you were rightfully upset Thalia, you came back to a world after being a tree for a couple years and finding out that one of your friends was over in the dark side, while the other was missing. It was a completely normal reaction” Thalia stared at him as though he grew two heads “Yeah sure, that didn’t mean I had to be an asshole to you though!” He just shook his head at that and turned to Nico.
”Neeks, look. You were ten, and even if you were twelve, thirteen or however old, you’d still have the right to act out, and be mad and upset at me.. I broke your trust and your promise, you shouldn’t feel bad about that, if anything I should be apologising-“
“-once again, yeah you already apologised about a hundred times” Nico rolled his eyes “plus fine, I won’t be guilty ‘bout all of this…” Percy shot him a grateful look “if you stop feeling guilty about Bia” the grateful look was replaced by a look of betrayal and Nico just shrugged sitting down.
Annabeth had tried to focus back on the documentary, trying not to mind how Jason and Thalia were having a panicky (yet reassuring) conversation on why Thalia used to be a pine tree, Annabeth didn’t mean to eavesdrop but she overheard bits of it
“Thalia… you used to be a tree” he said slightly with disbelief, Thalia must’ve mistook the concerned disbelief in more of an excited tone and carried on explaining “Yeah! that big one over at the top! The tree is still there you know, it’s a pine, and it’s huge-“ she got cut off by Percy muttering “-ugly, and takes up way too much space.” She looked at him and huffed “what’s your problem, you walk into the tree or something?” He looked at her and nodded “yes, and I can tell you that it was way too many times, even during monster fights! Actually it’s more like especially-“
They were left to finish up that conversation as Annabeth put her focus back to the screen.
“Anyways,” John says after David had finished up explaining what the newspaper article said “Up to this point, there was no proof of life from either of the two Jacksons, well not until the 11th of June, where Percy Jackson is seen entering a bus. He is not seen with his mother, but with two children that look to be his age, upon further investigation, we have found out that one of the two children was Annabeth Chase. This girl was 12 years old at the time, just like Percy Jackson. She has been reported as missing when she was just 7 years old. The reports have all been deleted though, meaning she probably had been back at home by now”
Three photos had popped up, once again the first was a school photo of a 6 year old Annabeth. Her elbow long, perfectly curled blonde hair was behind her back and her grey storm-like eyes stared accusingly through the screen. The second photo was the grainy picture of Annabeth, Grover and Percy walking onto the bus, it seemed to be taken through a window so they had guessed that someone on the bus had recognised either Percy or Grover. And lastly, a missing poster but this time with a picture of Annabeth.
Leo laughed upon seeing the first photo “Oh my gods, we have another one! Annabeth what did the camera person do to you too!”
The Annabeth that was with them in the room looked at the photo with an expression that looked identical to the photos, this made Leo laugh harder, and even Hazel to giggle a little.
”I think it was to do with my step-mother telling me to smile… On a different note though, I have to side with you Percy. It’s so weird being on a documentary” she huffed silently leaning into her boyfriend’s shoulder.
”Now, this might come as a shock to you, because it sure did to me. Prepare yourself, because the bus had ALSO been striked by lightning” John explains while his grumpy co-partner complains “you can’t say ‘also’ when the first time wasn’t confirmed”
This was pretty much ignored by John.
”Oh gods…” Reyna muttered, a little shocked “why was Zeus so against you back then? Because I don’t think you’ve managed to piss off enough gods by that time to have Zeus try strike you down twice now” Thalia nodded along, pretty angered by her fathers actions.
”Oh, well Zeus had thought that I stole his lightning bolt. Obviously I didn’t” he said when he received a look from half the people in the room “Yeah obviously Frank” Leo laughed at said boy who was now sticking out his tongue at Leo.
“Well that’s… lovely I suppose” Reyna answered, glancing at his ceiling with a disgusted expression, most probably aimed at Zeus.
”After the unfortunate event of the bus exploding” David says, stealing the spotlight from John “Young Percy Jackson and his trio weren’t seen for a whole two days, where Percy Jackson was accused of destroying a National Landmark” No one interrupted David, the group of demigods (and their one mortal friend) were all too hooked on the documentary now. “This took place at St. Louis Arch. It was reported when an old lady who had just come down from the elevator, had told the staff that she had heard a ear-popping noise and saw a bright light which ended up being an explosion. It was lucky however, that not one person had been injured in this incident. Although there were a couple of strange things told to the paramedics that were not only strange but also confusing to say the least.”
”one of the fan favourites was about a fire breathing dog, and the other was how the witnesses had said that they had seen a young boy (Percy Jackson) jump of from the top of the arch into the river. Obviously both of these are completely unrealistic. For example how would our young hero of this documentary, have managed to survive a fall off 600 feet? All of these crazy assumptions and stories from the witness were all called fake, and that they were made from the result of shock.”
"Oh, that's what you meant on our quest" Frank said, his lips forming a little circle when saying 'oh'.
"Mhm" Percy replied, although he wasn't really paying much attention to the guy, he had gotten up from his spot on his bunk, and had been searching in his drawer for the last two minutes. It didn't take him much longer to find what he was looking for, as he started to pass around bags of sweets, keeping the jelly beans for himself.
"I feel so bad for the clear sites mortals, being told you're crazy is not the best experience" Rachel sighed before looking up at Percy "Why did you fall anyways? Was it really a fire-breathing dog?"
"Right-" he says before swallowing a couple blue jelly beans, he passed the bag to Rachel who's eyes lit up like fireworks "-So yeah, it was a chihuahua. Or well it was a chihuahua before the old granny- what's the name, that anteater thing- oh well. She told me her dog was the chimera and that I should be grateful to he able to die at her hands, you know the usual"
He looked at them all, and for a second it was pure silence. Before Jason exclaimed "The Echidna?!" And Piper "Don't tell me you actually asked the mother of monsters if she was an anteater or something? ?"
Annabeth frowned at Pipers suggestion while Percy sat up and smiled at her "Yeah I did! I was like 'Isn't that a type of anteater' and she got all like 'Curse Australia!' Thinking back that was kinda stupid but oh well. She got so pissed at that though!"
The two laughed while Annabeth flicked Percy's ear.
"So why did you fall? Like I know there was a river but what was the reason?"
"Uh got poisoned, not recommended" he said, a little nervous, he had faced enough poison in his life.
"What did you say?" Annabeth asked, looking at him in alarm and a bit of frustration and worry.
"I got poisoned, I uh thought I told you that?" Percy asked with a wince, as if he was trying to remember telling her these things.
"No you didn't. I thought you jumped off cause you like thought you wouldn't be able to defeat her or something. Although thinking about it, that would be extremely unlikely, I literally witnessed you making fun of a fury when you were meant to be running away" she huffed once more as Percy hugged her “Sorry I didn’t tell you about this stuff, I didn’t want to worry you wise girl.” He told her and she gave him a half-hearted glare “yeah that’s the problem Seaweed brain”
"The next time Percy, Annabeth and the other child are seen is on the 21st of June, this is a couple days after the last sighting and we are all still unsure about what took place those couple days in between." John said, looking over at David, inviting him to continue.
"As said, on the 21st of June Percy Jackson was seen. This was on Santa Monica beach, where the young boy was seen with a man. The man was described as scary, tall and dangerous. Here is a picture of the scene. Percy was seen fighting? Yeah fighting, the guy. Somehow throughout this an explosion had caught all of the police cars, spreading a huge fire in between civilians and the two. They say it was caused by the man shooting a police car in the gas main that had been punctured a couple minutes beforehand from the earthquake."
"According to L.A. news, This man had ended up being a kidnapper, according to Percy Jacksons story. This seemed like a good explanation to all of this, for example the crazy kidnapper had caused the explosion at St. Louis Arch- Not Percy Jackson." David continued, but stopped to let an overly excited John finish up the story.
"The 'battle' had ended up being a gun fight- and the policemen had arrived just in time to help the poor kids. The kidnapper had fled but the children were safe in police custody, which is all that mattered." he stopped for a second breathing in "this... Is a very emotional part- and I'll let you all watch the clip of the news where our young hero had spoken"
Annabeth gasped and Piper let out a dis believing laugh "oh my god! I think I watched that! I was at L.A. at the time with my dad- I think, cause I remember the earthquakes. You're telling me that was hades? Woah. Anyways I totally watched the news and I gotta admit Percy... From what I remember you're a pretty good actor" Piper nodded approvingly.
"Thanks Piper" he smiled back and his eyes moved over to look at the TV. He was excited to see this part.
"All I want is to see my loving stepfather again... ...Here's the phone number" the clip played and now everyone in the cabin was silent, but that was soon cut by a giggle from Hazel. Her laugh could be called contagious as soon everyone else started laughing at the clip too.
"Oh my god! This is gold. The bastard got what he deserved" Thalia laughed, although she was still worried.
"Thanks haha. It's cool to be able to see how this played out, to be honest I would have believed myself too" Percy said, looking at the humorous glint in his on-screen self.
"And that's it!" John laughed, looking at David "This was one of the longer, and dare I day, more exciting cases we've done. And I am excited to see the results of it"
David got up and shook John's hand while the mans face had a light pink tint on it.
A clip showed up on the screen a second later and John went up to talk again.
"We also have a clip some passerby took of the fight against the beach, although we will admit that the image is shaky and there isn't much talking in the video as you can mainly just hear the sirens, although from what was heard had left the viewers confused and uncertain, we will play it as we finish this off" John said before an email address popped up.
"depending if we have the time to do the-" John starts of only time get cut off by Davids muttering
"You mean if this gets views and makes a lot of money" John gives him a look but otherwise just tried to get back to speaking "-we will consider doing another episode for this story, anyways thanks for watching and if you know any other details or have other info about our case, please don't be afraid to send it to me through my email @clampitjohn10" his face blushed scarlett after telling them the email and Piper laughed now knowing why he winced so badly at the last name jab earlier.
"Thank you for watching- see you all in the next episode" the promised clip played, and everyone was silent again to watch the recording.
"Woah, that's interesting- how the most changes stuff" Frank said to Hazel.
"Yeah... His sword into a gun? And the same with Ares.. Thats some weird schist" She replied and Percy laughed hearing their inside joke.
"Anyways Perce... What else happens that's worth mentioning?" Will asked, while his boyfriend changed position to lay his head on his lap.
"Well halfway throughout that I iris messaged Luke- I don't think I really remember much of what was said though, I was just happy to see him" he told him.
"You so had a crush on the guy" Will replied.
"yeah so what?" Percy bit back, glancing at Annabeth "Did you not see her everytime he so much as looked at her" Annabeth made a surprised sort of noise and looked at him with mock-betrayal on her face.
"Mhm. Wait-" Nico said looking at Will, before his head seemed to start working again he turned to Percy "Wait, wait, wait- you like guys?" Percy looked shocked and slowly nodded his head "uh yeah?".
Nico groaned and hid his face "So all this time- when I thought I had no chance of a straight boy liking me- you were actually..." He looked confused, probably at the lack of knowledge of the name for the sexuality "Bi, or Bisexual. It's where you don't mind either gender" Percy supllied, before Will looked up again and smirked,
"Wait so who else did you crush on? Cause I can bet my guitar that Like wasn't the only one." Percy's face flushed and he looked at the ceiling muttering something "What was that Percy dear? Couldn't quite hear you" Thalia laughed.
"Beckendorf..."
Will laughed, "oh my god that makes so much sense, you kept staring at him all the time" Leo perked up, hearing the mention of his dead brothers name, he had a sort of wistfull like expression at hearing any random fact or thing about his dead family. Happy to learn more about him as he never got the chance to meet him.
They laughed for a couple minutes, Percy telling Leo and Piper a bit about Charlie and Silena as they ate the last couple jelly beans.
It wasn't long till Thalia looked troubled again though. She thought about how to approach Percy, and ask him about Gabe but she felt worried that she would just push Percy away.
"Um Perce- can we talk?" She finally uttered after a good 5 minutes, Percy soon replied a little concerned "yeah, gimme a sec"
They walked out of the doors and sat outside of the cabin on a nearby bench, Thalia looked at his face and saw some dejection in his eyes.
"So... What happens to Gabe in the end?" She asked, trying to sound hopeful.
"Oh! Do you remember me telling you how I sent the gods Medusa's head? Yeah well Po- dad sent it back to me and mom used it on Gabe" Awe filled up Thalia's face as she smiled a bit more brightly "She later sold the statue for enough money to go back to college and buy us a new apartment!"
She was happy with the news- she really was. But all she could think about was how bad Gabe was. You don't normally kill perfectly innocent people, and from what she heard about Gabe, was that he was worse than Percy let on.
"Percy... Why did your mom do that though? What was it that Gabe was doing?"
Percy looked as though he had to physically restrain himself from saying 'I'm fine' and walking away, instead he finally gave in and told her "Gabe was abusive" and that made all the hope disappeared from her face at once. She felt no compassion at the man- now statue.
"Did- did he hit you?" She asked carefully, trying not to overstep in this important and heavy conversation.
"Yeah... See this scar?" He pointed at his cheek "that's from a beer bottle he threw at me... Anyways he hit my mom more than me, mainly cause I was in boarding school most the time. Which I feel horrible about since Gabe was only there because of me, you know?"
Thalia frowned "no I don't know. Cause none of that's normal you know? I mean it might be for some of us here" she said pointing around the camp "but you can't just invadilate your own feelings because someone had it worse"
He smiled softly at her "yeah I know... I'm trying more, but stuff like that still slip sometimes" he looked up at the cabin and told her "I think the others are getting pretty worried... although Thalia... If you ever need anything, just say something okay?" He tells her noticing the tense shoulders.
"That goes for you too, you know?" She replies heading towards the door, opening it ever so slightly, but the gap was wide enough to hear the giggles from the inside.
"Yeah"
He replied, smiling and closing the door behind him.