502Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter.
Consul of the Underworld: Grinding Phase
Chapter One: Pride and Prejudice
Beta: ShadowofAxios
New York City was as flashy as usual. The lights, the noise, the people, it was always a rush.
Alkaid was sitting down at a small table outside of The Cheesecake Factory with her girlfriend Pyrrha. They were out on one of their weekly dates. A luxury that they had been able to enjoy since the daughter of Hades had started working in New York and thus made commuting easier for both of them.
"How are the classes? The kids not giving you trouble?" Pyrrha asked, dressed a bit more maturely than normal but still had some of her usual punk taste splashed in.
"Yes, though I think some of them might have a crush on me." Alkaid giggled as she gingerly partook in her cheesecake.
"Little shits." Pyrrha grunted as she stabbed her cake, much to Alkaid's amusement. Seeing her overprotectiveness was just one of her cute sides.
"You have nothing to worry about about. I'm not interested." Alkaid assured her girlfriend. "Besides once I actually start taking over some classes from Mr. Morgan, I will make it a point to dump so much homework on them that it'll kill any crush they might have."
Pyrrha chuckled.
"There's this one boy though, Percy Jackson. I've been watching him closely and I am almost sure that he is a half-blood." Alkaid said with certainty.
Pyrrha just cocked her brow doubtfully. "You sure?"
"Yes," Alkaid nodded. "He has the standard ADHD, troublemaker package, plus he has a satyr shadowing him."
The daughter of Ares just hummed concomitantly. "Satyrs can make mistakes."
"Maybe." Alkaid acknowledged as she dabbed her lips with a napkin. "But my instincts tell me that this time he is right on the money."
"If you say so," Pyrrha said dismissively. "Why is it important?"
"Because if his history is anything to go by, he is powerful and you know what that means."
"Trouble." Pyrrha said with an annoyed sigh. "Great. Just what we need right now."
"I wonder who his godly parent is." Alkaid said with a twinge of curiosity.
"Has he shown any powers? Or interests? Those are usually tells of who his parent is."
"No." Alkaid signed, "He seems pretty average, though he tends to brood at times."
"Well, that rules out some but nowhere near enough options." Pyrrha noted dryly.
Alkaid gave a shrug. "I know. It's frustrating, but he really has nothing else that might hint at his parentage."
"Get him mad. That always gets some kind of reaction out of a half-blood." The redhead suggested with a dark smirk.
Alkaid gave her a look. "And risk losing my internship? You do realize teachers are not supposed to antagonize their students, correct?"
"This kid sounds like he does that all on his own."
"It's the principle of the matter."
"Alright, alright, don't get your panties in a twist, Kaidy." Pyrrha said as she held her hands up in surrender.
"Though your idea is not without merit." The daughter of Hades hummed thoughtfully. "I will not instigate anything, but I can certainly observe him whenever he becomes angry."
"There you go! So, what's next?" Her girlfriend asked as took a sip from her drink.
"You are done with your meal?"
"Yeah, it was nice to come here. Been a while." The daughter of Ares shrugged.
"Hmm," Alkaid hummed as she glanced at her girlfriend with a leer. "Speaking of things we've not done in a while…"
"Kaidy?" Pyrrha said nervously, clearly wary of the way the other girl was looking at her.
"How about some toys?" Alkaid asked with a smirk. Her foot under the table brushing teasingly up her date's leg.
Pyrrha blushed to the point she matched her fiery hair.
"Oh! And did you bring that uniform I got you like I asked?"
"Y-Yes. Why?" Her girlfriend stammered.
"Simple my dear. You have detention with Professor Potter." Alkaid declared with a smoldering gaze.
Pyrrha was tongue tied by the declaration. So stunned, that she let her fair skinned lover drag her to a nearby hotel.
It had been a while.
"And now to summarize what we've covered today: We've gone over what we know about Shakespeare's life and the times he's lived in. The next time I see all of you, we'll start examining his work and trying to dissect how these might have influenced it." Alkaid said as she rounded up her lesson to the class of young boys and girls before her.
Many of her students were writing down the notes she'd written on the board diligently into their notebooks, which brought a pleased smile to her face. Others were too busy staring at her, no doubt something inappropriate running through their hormonal minds.
The daughter of Hades sometimes cursed her knack for fashion. She was dressed in a dark blue skirt suit that she'd accented with a small gold chain-link necklace. It certainly flattered her appearance, though perhaps a bit too much.
"Now before the bell goes, let me remind you to drop your vote for which of Shakespeare's plays in the syllabus you want to cover first." She added, pointing to a box on the teacher's table.
The bell ringing in the background just as she finished, Alkaid smirked at managing her time well. As the students began to shuffle out of class, all of them dutifully dropping their vote as she'd requested, the young woman looked towards the proper teacher of the class and her mentor, Mr. Morgan.
"Excellent work, Miss Potter. Your time management was excellent. Something even most experienced teachers struggle with." The elderly man smiled at her, receiving a beaming one in return. "Now why don't you pack up? The staff meeting is starting soon and we wouldn't want to be late."
"Thank you, sir." The young woman preened at the praise, as she packed up the box of votes and her other teaching materials.
"Done?" Mr. Morgan asked and Alkaid nodded. "Good then let's get going, we can talk more on the way."
The sorceress agreed and they headed to the staff room.
"I hear we're receiving a couple of new staff today." Mr. Morgan informed Alkaid, who just nodded politely. While she was curious about the new arrivals coming in the middle of the term, she was honestly more concerned with how she did in the lesson earlier.
Seemingly picking up on that, her mentor gave her a reassuring smile. "But you're more interested in hearing about my take on your lesson earlier, correct?"
Blushing lightly at being so transparent, she nodded.
"Like I said earlier, you did a good job." The man informed her after they both took a minute to exchange greetings with a group of students they passed in the hall. "The role play you used at the start of the lesson was especially good. It was a truly effective way to hook the students' interest about the bard and his work and you carried it out well."
Another group of students passed by and the two teachers paused to greet them, before Mr. Morgan continued with his assessment of Alkaid's performance.
"Though I personally feel that the role play could have been extended." The man admitted. "Ideally you shouldn't be focusing on teaching content in the first lesson like that but rather on building interest. As such, a whole lesson focused on doing that might have been better. Also you're still employing a little too much lecturing. Something I warned you about previously."
"In hindsight, I realized that as well." Alkaid agreed. "I'll need to work on it."
He mentor seemed satisfied with that and offered her a understanding nod. "Don't beat yourself up over it. The temptation to just lecture is another thing we teachers struggle with. It takes time to learn how to fight it. You've already made quite the improvement in that regard from the last few lessons you taught."
"Thank you, Mr. Morgan."
"We're in the staff room already, Alkaid." The man said with a playful smirk, as he held the door for her and they entered. "It's Simon now, did you forget?"
Alkaid just rolled her eyes at her mentor.
As she put her things down, she noticed that most of the faculty were already present but so were two new faces.
One was a middle-aged caucasian man with a thick brown beard and a scholarly look to him as sat in a wheelchair. There was something familiar about him. Even more suspicious, the sorceress could sense some magic coming from his wheelchair.
The other was an elderly woman with stringy hair and a worn face. She radiated an aura of unbending harshness and even through her human disguise Alkaid recognized her immediately.
Alecto, Father better not have sent you here to watch me. I don't need a babysitter! She whined in her mind. The young woman thought she had proved herself to her Father already. Ugh, he was such a worrywart!
"Everyone, this is Mr. Brunner, our new Latin teacher. And Mrs. Dodds, our new pre-algebra teacher. Please give them a warm welcome." The principal said as everyone clapped politely and greeted them.
As the meeting proceeded, Alkaid barely heard anything that was discussed. None of it really mattered to her. As an intern she basically did what she was told by her mentor, as such if there was anything she needed to know Simon would tell her. As such, she instead spent the whole meeting trying to decipher the reason why her old nanny and the magic using man in a wheelchair were here.
After the meeting concluded, Alkaid discretely pulled Alecto aside to speak with her.
"Alecto, what are you doing here?" She asked the Fury with thinly veiled annoyance.
"Do not worry, Little Lady. I am not here for you." She smoothly replied as she glanced at Mr. Brunner who was surrounded by their colleagues who were welcoming him to the school. "Not entirely anyways."
"Explain, please."
The Fury nodded and said, "I am here because that man is actually Chiron."
Alkaid's eyes widened in surprise at that as the puzzle pieces began to come together.
"Father thinks he's here to find a powerful demigod-"
"Yes," the Fury agreed. "One which our Lord thinks is the spawn who took his property. After all, why else would that old centaur come all the way here away from his precious children if not to pick up the prize?"
Alkaid thought on those words and blinked in surprise, "You think Chiron is involved in the theft?"
Chiron was a famous teacher, and for Alkaid who wanted to teach for a living, it was hard to imagine he would be party to such a thing.
"Perhaps, Princess." Her old nanny said as she eyed the centaur warily. "Or perhaps he's just here following the breadcrumbs like we have."
"Breadcrumbs?" Alkaid said, even as she figured it out. "A powerful half-blood here, not far from Olympus just when that's exactly the profile of the thief?"
"Exactly." Alecto agreed. "Is there anyone here you suspect of being a demigod?"
Alkaid frowned as she nodded slowly, "Yes, a boy. He seems oblivious to our world though."
"And that can be faked or arranged. Have you forgotten the power of the Lethe?" The Fury said while shooting a look at the pocket where she kept the bottle of the memory erasing water that Alkaid carried with her at all times.
"No, I have not." The demigoddess pursed her lips, as she began to see where her Father was coming from. As much as she wanted to give her student the benefit of the doubt, she could not deny that if he had even the smallest chance of being the thief… She had to be sure.
"His name is Percy Jackson, a sixth grader. I'll point him out to you." Alkaid assured her Father's torturer.
"Good." Alecto said with a smile that would have given most people heart attacks but which the daughter of Hades found endearing.
As the bell rang to warn them that classes would be starting soon. Alkaid noticed how Chiron left the room with a glare of suspicion aimed at her and Alecto.
It was the day school ended and Alkaid had just come home to the Underworld after a long last day at work. As an intern that wouldn't be returning next term, the last day of school was also her last day at Yancy.
Which was a shame since she had enjoyed her time there. It had been a learning experience. She'd thought herself prepared to teach when she'd first arrived at the school, but actually stepping into the classroom and conducting lessons had showed her just how much more she had to learn.
That said, it was not without its downsides. Namely a certain annoying centaur.
I know he is supposed to be clever, but he kept me on my toes most of the time we interacted. Alkaid wrinkled her nose at the thought. Chiron, while a great and kind treacher, was as sharp as any blade. Especially after that damn field trip. Alecto really jumped the gun there.
At least the trip had outed Percy Jackson as a demigod, and judging by his powers and their strength, one sired by her Uncle Poseidon. Though it had also confirmed, as if there was any doubt, to the centaur who Alecto had been which made him even more suspicious of Alkaid for their close association.
If only he bought that she used to be my teacher when I was a child. Alkaid sighed. It was only the truth.
Then again their excuse might have been more damning. Honestly, Alecto had no imagination.
Really should have stopped her before she said that. I definitely could have come up with something better.
At least she was fairly sure that she hadn't given anything away, nevertheless Chiron probably had an idea what she was.
Especially when he casually slipped into Ancient Greek to see how I would respond. Even when we were taking orders for lunch. Alkaid chewed her bottom lip, at least she had acted as clueless as she could.
She was pacing around her room in thought, going over all her interactions with Chiron to spot if she'd dropped the ball anywhere when a knock came from her door. Retreating from her mind palace, she addressed her visitor, "Yes?"
"Princess, Lord Hades wishes to speak with you in the throne room." A ghoul said from the other side.
"Thank you."
With a quick hop via Shadow Travel, Alkaid entered the throne room and noted the depressing atmosphere filling it. Since it was summer, her step-mother Persephone had gone to see Aunt Demeter as usual. And as was his typical behavior, her Father was heavily saddened by this.
She smiled as brightly as she could and greeted her sire, "Hello Father, I'm home for the summer holiday."
"Ah, Alkaid. Glad to see you back." Hades said with a smile. It didn't reach his eyes though and she knew he was still upset over the loss of his Helm.
"It is good to be back, Father." Alkaid returned as cheerfully as she could.
Hades' smile grew a tad more warm, before the brazier in front of his throne suddenly flared and an image appeared in the depths of its dark flames. He immediately turned his attention to it as it showed her former student Percy Jackson spending some time with his mother.
"Alecto has yet to reform, but it should be within a few hours. As she cannot tell me, I need your insight on the Jackson boy." He said, his voice becoming menacing as his pale white fingers dug into his obsidian throne. "Is he capable of being the Helm Thief?"
Alkaid pondered on this. While her interaction with the young boy left her with the impression that he was not capable of doing this, she was still someone who followed logic above all else. And her logic led her to believe there was a small possibility he might have had a hand in this.
After all, like Alecto had said, the Lethe was an amazing tool.
"As he is now? No, I would not think so." Alkaid offered.
Her Father's black eyes glimmered dangerously, "I sense a 'but'."
"As Alecto pointed out to me, a sufficiently scheming individual could very easily have wiped his mind." Alkaid added, biting her lip nervously at the possibility.
"Lethe." Hades hissed and stroked his chin in thought, "I am not sure who has visited lately to get some of the waters. If so, it might have been centuries ago."
"Discounting his apparent lack of knowledge about our world, Percy Jackson is everything that someone would look for in the thief. He is either a powerful son of Poseidon or can at least pass for one, which would either mean his Father sent him or he could be used to frame the King of the Seas. Plus he was unknown to the gods which makes him difficult to track."
"From how you've described him, he is sea spawn without question." Hades stated firmly, "He is exactly like Poseidon was in his youth."
Yes, you two did grow up in the same stomach after all. Alkaid nodded as her Father stood up. The souls of the damned in his robes moaned and cried as he picked up a monster catalog.
"I couldn't say." Alkaid demurred. "That said I don't think we should be so hasty here."
Hades cocked an eyebrow as he casually flipped through the book of monsters for hire. Ever since the monsters unionized in the sixties, the gods had been forced to actually pay them when they were sent to challenge demigods. Alkaid had heard from her family how it had been a massive scandal back in the day.
"What do you mean?"
The sorceress gestured to the image in the flames and the beginnings of a storm brewing wherever the boy and his mother were.
"Let's not make ourselves out to be the bad guys here, is what I am saying Father." Alkaid said as she took the monster yellow pages from his hands. "Chiron already is suspicious of you as is thanks to Alecto's rash actions. Sending," She paused to look at who he had almost hired and frowned, "the Minotaur, really?"
"He does good work for cheap." Hades rebuked with a sniff. "Especially if you send him after a child of Poseidon. Sometimes he even does it for free."
"Anyway, let's not be seen as the aggressors here. We're better than that, yes?"
Hades just gave a disgruntled huff of irritation. "Only because it seems like my other brother has beaten us to the punch."
Turning to the flames, Alkaid saw as a raging storm surrounded the scene and from within its howling winds emerged the hulking half-man half-bull form of the Minotaur.
"...He had to have cheated with the lots, I swear. There's no way that the Fates would let someone like that be the King of the Universe of their own accord." Alkaid frowned as she telekinetically put the book away. Her brow twitched with irritation at how stupid the god king could be.
"I know, right?" Hades agreed with a smirk as dismissed the scrying.
"You are not even going to watch?" She asked him as she felt some concern for Percy.
"Why? If he dies, I can question him myself. If he lives, I'm sending you to Camp."
"I'm sorry, what?" Alkaid asked with wide eyes.
"If I had any other choice, I wouldn't even consider such a thing." Hades snarled, "I trust the rest of our family as far as one of my ghouls can throw them. Sadly, you are my best agent who has a reasonable chance at entering the Camp. Finally dating that daughter of Ares has its uses."
Alkaid frowned as she realized the validity of her Father's logic. Though she did not like him judging Pyrrha like that.
"I suppose you're right."
"Of course I am." Hades said with a teasing smirk. "Besides, you've never been to a summer program. This will be a new experience for you."
"I've already been with a much of hormonal children for months." Alkaid dryly quipped. "Sending me to a bunch of them with powers is not that much different."
Suddenly, the brazier flared in intensity once more and the image returned to show Percy facing off against the son of Pasiphaë. He was not doing so well however, as at the creature's feet was the unconscious form of his satyr friend Grover Underwood and both Percy and his mother were trapped in the meaty clutches of the monster and being crushed to death.
"Ah! The finale of the chase. Let's watch shall we?" Hades said with deadly cheer.
"Huh, she seems familiar. I think I ran into her once in New York City." Alkaid admitted as she cocked her head to the side and took a closer look at the boy's mother. "Hm, she's a pretty good driver. She made it all the way to Camp in the storm even with the Minotaur chasing after them."
"It's not going to help them sadly." Hades observed with a sadistic smirk. "All of them are about to die."
As the events unfolded, Alkaid felt a sense of deja vu from the time of Thalia Grace and company fled to Camp Half-Blood. That had ended in tragedy for the daughter of Zeus as she ended up being transformed into a tree for her troubles.
Transformed!? I have an idea!
"Father, wait!" Alkaid shouted as inspiration struck her.
The Lord of the Dead turned his head towards his daughter and gave her a questioning look.
Obliging, Alkaid outlined her plan. "We should save Jackson's mother. If he did have something to do with the theft, we can use her for leverage. If not, he and his godly parent would still owe us a boon for saving his mother's life. It's a win-win scenario."
Hades smiled maliciously as he pondered the idea for a moment, before with a wave of his hand the woman in the flames transformed into golden particles.
"Very good, Alkaid." The Rich One praised.
"Now, I'll have one over that waterlogged brother of mine." The god said sinisterly as a stream of golden particles flowed down from the ceiling to coalesce in the palm of his hand in the vague image of Jackson's mother.
"Yes, Father." She bowed her head politely, wisely keeping her opinion about the silly rivalry between her Father and his brothers to herself.
Instead, both father and daughter turned their attention to the image in the flames. They watched as the untrained boy pulled off a feat of great strength and broke off one of the Minotaur's own horns before using it as a weapon to kill the monster.
Alkaid was impressed. That was not something most trained demigods could manage, much less someone who appeared to know nothing about their world.
"If my youngest brother lets him live, the boy may actually be a decent hero." Hades said while stroking his chin thoughtfully. "Or it just proves he does have training, but merely forgotten about it. Either way, it shows that the boy definitely has the skill to be the thief."
The young woman rolled her eyes at her Father's apparent obsession with the boy being the thief.
"So am I to assume I should pack a suitcase?" Alkaid frowned, annoyed at having to degrade herself to being a Camper for the summer just to satisfy her Father's paranoia.
"A duffle. You can't take your whole room with you, daughter of mine." Hades chided.
"I could if I used the right expansion charms or a magical tent."
"And give away one of your aces?"
"I've gone to Hogwarts! How else would I know Pyrrha, let alone date her?" She argued right back.
"And do the average witch have the skill or means to purchase or create such things?"
"No…" Alkaid pouted at this. She really didn't want to have to be reduced to what she could carry in a duffle bag.
It was beneath her.
Enjoying her plight, Hades just smiled playfully. "Maybe this will teach you some moderation when it comes to your clothes, hmm?"
Not dignifying her Father's tease with a response she spun on her heel and matched towards her room, "I'm going to pack."
Her only reply were her Father's amused chuckles.
Infiltrating Camp Half-Blood had been depressingly easy. All the daughter of Hades had to do was arrange for Pyrrha to pick her up and drive her there, claiming that she'd finally convinced her that she was a demigod.
Honestly, could the security in this place be any more lax? Alkaid noted with a frown as she settled into her bunk at Cabin Eleven where she was staying as a 'unclaimed' half-blood.
While newcomers tended to get a spot on the floor. As an adult, it was decided that she would get one of the beds instead. On one hand this was for purely practical reasons as she took up less space in a bed then on the floor, on the other hand no one felt comfortable letting a young woman sleep on the floor alongside a whole bunch of hormonal boys. It was why all the girls older than twelve in Cabin Eleven were all given bunks even if they had to share.
She was one of the few rare older demigods. Something that seemed to give the younger children some signs of hope since she had been living outside of Camp most of her life.
If they only knew.
"Hey Kaidy," Pyrrha said as she dropped by Cabin Eleven just as Alkaid finished unpacking her stuff and casting a series of wards on them to ensure their safety from her kleptomaniac cabinmates.
"Hello, Pyrrha." She smiled genuinely. The only thing nice about this mission was that she would be able to spend more time with her lover than she had in months.
"Want to go for a walk around the lake?" Her girlfriend asked, earning them a few snickers and blushes from their unwanted audience. One which helpfully included her target on this mission, Percy Jackson.
The boy had been gobsmacked when she'd shown up. He'd tried to question her, but Pyrrha and the Cabin Eleven counselor, Luke Castellan, had warned him to back off. Supposedly to give her time to 'adapt to being a demigod'. Alkaid appreciated that. As much as she had liked the boy as a student, she had always been annoyed by how he, and admittedly many of his peers, never seemed to run out of questions and always wanted to ask them at the worst possible times.
Shaking off her thoughts on the boy, the daughter of Hades shot her lover a smile. "I would love to."
As the couple began to stroll towards the lake, Pyrrha couldn't help but grin as she admired Alkaid's new look. The daughter of Hades was dressed in a pair of jean shorts and a Camp Half-Blood tee-shirt. With her stunning figure, it was quite a sight. Not that the girl in question agreed.
"You look good in orange."
"No, I look terrible. The colour does not agree with me." Alkaid countered sourly. "I'm going to burn every one of these shirts once I'm done with this visit."
Pyrrha playfully bumped her hip against Alkaid, "Don't be so gloom and doom. Try to have some fun at least. Who knows, you might enjoy yourself."
"Is this you trying to recruit me for this flag game of yours?"
"Hey, with you on our side we're locked for a win." Pyrrha grinned as she folded her arms behind her head.
"Hmph! I'm not using my usual arsenal. I'll be using basic spells and that's it." Alkaid told the redhead sternly, before dropping into a whisper. "Father doesn't want me to let on about what I can do."
"Your dad might have the right idea." Pyrrha agreed with a frown.
Alkaid blinked in confusion. Her lover agreeing with her Father? Was it doomsday?
"Yeah, I'm as surprised as you are." The daughter of Ares agreed. "But Chiron held a meeting after you arrived. Told each counselor to keep an eye on you."
Alkaid withheld a laugh, "Clearly Chiron has no idea where your loyalty lies. Honestly, the nerve of asking you that."
The grass around Alkaid's feet withered as her irritation manifested.
"Oh, he knows. He asked the other counselors to watch me too." Pyrrha grumbled as she kicked a stone beside the path into the lake. "Castor from Cabin Twelve told me. After I left, he called everyone else back. Said something about how I was compromised because I was dating you."
"If something happens, you know I won't hesitate, correct?" The alabaster skinned beauty said in a wicked whisper.
"Yeah. By the way, he said you might be working for the enemy. I think he might know who your dad is."
Pinching the bridge of her nose, "Enemy. Of course they view him as the enemy. He only makes sure when they die they are taken care of. Ingrates, all of them."
"Hey, it's just him okay." Pyrrha said defensively. "Mr. D was either laughing his ass off at Chiron or glaring at him. I think he might actually be on our side."
Alkaid relaxed but still held herself, "He knows who I am, I'm sure. He probably told Chiron. Glad to hear he's not out for my blood."
"Yeah, unlike Chiron he doesn't think your dad took the Master Bolt. He said it was too obvious when Chiron mentioned it."
"Shh," Alkaid placed a finger to her girlfriend's lips, "The Campers still don't know about that."
"Shrry." The redhead mumbled out and moved the hand away. She placed a chaste kiss on the back of her hand and smiled, "It's not a big deal though. It's like an open secret. No one is talking about it because Chiron is insisting we keep it a secret to 'avoid panic' but everyone with half a brain has figured it out."
Alkaid boggled at the king of the gods' total lack of discretion. His symbol of power had been stolen and he'd let the whole damn world figure it out!?
Then again, the only things he seemed capable of keeping secret were his affairs and even then he had a terrible track record. Just look at how often Hera managed to sniff them out.
Getting back to the matter at hand, Alkaid continued questioning her lover about Chiron. "Does the activities director suspect I stole the Bolt?"
Pyrrha nodded. "I told him he was stupid since you had an alibi, but he didn't want to listen."
"Really now, I remember that time quite fondly." Alkaid smiled teasingly at her girlfriend, whose cheeks turned a pretty shade of pink as she undoubtedly recalled the steamy date they'd been on the night of the theft. Pyrrha had even begged off from Camp's field trip to Olympus to spend some quality time with her lover after some rather persuasive arguments on Alkaid's part. Arguments that might have involved some rather racy talks over I.M..
"Y-Yeah. Just so you know, we're both adults so that's okay here. Though I'd rather we ease up on it, no secret stays safe here if you know what I mean."
Alkaid frowned at this and brushed her fingers against Pyrrha's cheek, "And what exactly would like you keep secret about our relationship, hmm?"
Blushing prettily, Pyrrha stammered out a response. It was adorable to see. "I-I don't mind people knowing we're having sex, but w-what we do. T-That I have a problem with them knowing. It's private ya know?"
"Then we'll just need to be discrete, won't we?"
"Ahem!" A loud male voice cleared his throat from behind them, causing both girls to jump.
They spun around to see Mr. D looking at them with amusement.
"Yes, you will." He assured the lovers. "Which is why if you two do feel the need, please use one of the guest rooms in the Big House. I'd rather not have the brats' parents after my head for exposing them to 'indecency' or some such rubbish that birthed the miscreants in the first place."
"Greetings, Mr. D." Alkaid curtsied despite the lack of a skirt. "And thank you most kindly for your generosity."
"Heh, finally a brat with manners. Leave it to him to bring up one of you right." The god of wine snorted as he sipped from his Diet Coke can and walked off.
Pyrrha just looked between the retreating god and Alkaid in shock.
"He likes you." She breathed disbelievingly.
"I'm a likable woman."
Pyrrha quirked a brow.
"Okay, so my Father and him have always gotten along. Plus I'm betting he's doing it in part to piss off Chiron and some of the other gods."
"See, now that I believe."
It was another boring day at Camp Half-Blood for Alkaid. The activities just didn't appeal to her at all. She knew more about their world than the daughter of Athena that taught the classes, Annabeth Chase, did. Her skill with her powers, what she was willing to show at least, were well beyond acceptable. Arts and Crafts never interested her and neither did the physical sports. In fact, the only remotely interesting thing about the Camp's activities was the physical combat training. And that was entirely because Pyrrha handled most of that.
A fact that led them to visiting the Big House after almost every one of their lessons. It had even become a running joke throughout the Camp, but neither girl minded. So they had a healthy sex life, that was more than many couples could claim!
The horny teenagers wished they could get away with it. Sucks to be them.
Not that sex was on her mind all the time. No, despite the distraction caused by her lover's close proximity, she was still on a mission and she was dutifully carrying it out.
As Cabin Eleven cooled down after a long day of activities and waited for the dinner bell, Alkaid sat at her bunk and discretely kept her emerald green eyes on the young Jackson boy even as she lazily pretended to read a book. The boy was talking with Luke about quite the spar the two had earlier in the day where Percy managed to disarm Luke.
Only after dumping water on himself. Does water give him a buff? Alkaid thought as he was asking Luke for some tips on what he should do. I think I've read that it's one of the possible powers for children of Poseidon.
She was distracted enough to barely register as Sammy, one of the sons of Hermes, slid onto the bed next to her. It wasn't necessarily a big deal. The cabin was thoroughly cramped and quiet spots inside were few and far between, as such the little one that formed around her due to the way the Campers were ostracizing her on Chiron's orders - as Pyrrha had told her - was often exploited by others who needed a breather from the bustle.
She very much did mind however when the boy's hand began snaking towards her rear. Just as his hand was about to make contact, the black flakes in her eyes shined darkly.
That's it! Fury hammered into her body as her magic caused her hair to move in the non-existent breeze. With a angry shout, the son of Hermes was catapulted from one side of the cabin to the other.
His body crashed with a heavy thud and a second one when his face met the floor. All eyes turned towards the black haired girl as she was standing up with magical energy around her body.
"You crossed a line, boy." Alkaid snarled down at the fool as she stomped over to stand over him. "I get that you're a hormonal idiot. That the whole lot of you are. That's why I don't mind if you leer or catcall or even wank while thinking about me or whatever else you do. It's natural for kids your age. Heck, I'm even flattered."
All around the cabin, everyone's faces turned red as she listed off what they had done.
"The second though, the mere second you touch me… I stop being so nice. Did I say I want to be touched by you?"
Sammy shook his head furiously.
"Exactly, Sammy boy, I didn't. And when you tried that was you molesting me, you get that?"
The boy's eyes widened in horror.
"Y-You're not gonna press charges or anything, right?"
"You bet I am." Alkaid told him. "Just like everyone should in my place."
The boy began shaking fearfully at the fear aura that the normally composed woman was unconsciously releasing in her outrage.
"Travis, Connor," Luke said as he marched up to the confrontation, disappointment on his face. "Take our sorry excuse for a brother to Chiron and Mr. D would you? I'll be there in a minute."
"Righto, Luke!"
"Come on, Sam. Damn you screwed the pooch." The nearly identical looking Stoll brothers said as they helped their brother up and hauled him off.
Alkaid, noticing the terrified looks pointed at her and quickly cut off her aura. She was cursing herself on the inside for her lapse, but chalked up her mistake to being too outraged.
"He's lucky he still has a hand, Castellan." She said loudly enough to be heard from outside the cabin.
"And I know that." Luke held up his hands, trying to play the mediator that he was. At least he was on her side. Good to know sibling bonds did not cover serious crimes here at Camp. "I'll make sure Mr. D and Chiron will be fair in their judgement."
"Knowing Mr. D he'll be a dolphin in a few minutes."
That drew a few snickers, but the stern looks on Luke and Alkaid's faces quickly quieted the children.
"And he'll deserve it." Luke agreed. "So, um, not everyone in Cabin Eleven is like him."
"I know, or weren't you listening to what I said? So long as you keep what you do to yourself, I'm confident enough in myself to be flattered instead of offended. Some of the crushes are even cute."
Turning to shoot Percy a teasing wink, she continued. "Especially Percy's."
The son of Poseidon turned bright red and sputtered, "W-What are you talking about?"
The whole cabin burst into laughter at that denial.
"Oh, come off it Jackson." One of the Hecate girls giggled. "Didn't you spend the whole singalong last night telling me how hot you've always thought she was?"
"I-I-" Percy sputtered, unable to say anything.
"Or that time you looked after her and Pyrrha all hot and bothered when they ran off to the Big House?" Another cabin mate asked. "Not that I can blame you, both of them are smoking hot."
Percy just stood there blushing crimson and unable to say a word. He looked like he wanted to find an entrance to the Underworld just for an escape.
"That I am." Alkaid agreed without shame. "But let's give Percy a break. He's already too shy to talk to me since I got here, tease him any more and he might be liable to faint at the mere sight of me."
"Miss Potter!" Percy cried out in dismay.
"Hot for teacher~!" Someone sang out.
"Ehem." Alkaid frowned at one of the boys, who winced at her sharp gaze.
"Sorry!"
A few days after the groping incident, where the culprit had indeed been turned into a dolphin and which according to a dream visit from Makaria she'd learned had gotten mauled within hours of his transformation by a school of great whites and delivered to their Father for judgement.
How that happened, Alkaid had no idea. Really. It definitely had nothing to do with her Uncle very transparently trying to curry favor. Most definitely not.
Last she heard, Sam was enjoying a rather painful time in the Fields of Punishment.
Never let it be said that the House of Hades wasn't a vindictive lot.
It was due to this vindictiveness that she was strongly tempted to do something untoward to Percy at the moment. It was after a lesson in sword fighting, where her waned fencing skills didn't par up against Percy's growing aptitude with a blade. She frankly called bullshit on his unnatural talent for swordsmanship. What did that have to do with Poseidon? At least her magical skill could be attributed to her training and association with Hecate and her heritage as a child of the magic rich Underworld.
Now if he had super strength, it'd be more believable since his father was known to throw mountains in the Gigantomachy. Alkaid thought in bemusement. She could just imagine Percy accidently leaning on a wall and caving it in.
It certainly earned a giggle.
Her recovered mood was sent plummeting however when Chiron trotted up to her with a determined look on his face.
"Alkaid, I believe we need to talk. Now." The centaur demanded.
"Here? Right now?" Alkaid asked honestly surprised that he would confront her so publicly. He probably thought this would make things more difficult for her. His stern visage however did not deter her, after all, she had seen worse from Persephone when she wouldn't eat her vegetables when she was a little girl.
"Yes, now." The Trainer of Heroes said sternly. "Tell me, when were you going to confess to being a daughter of Hades?"
Seeing eyes on her, Alkaid decided to put on a smug look, "Honestly, what took you so long to ask? I thought you would be more direct. Not hiding behind your campers and having them spy on me. We're both intellectuals after all, or at least I am."
The unsaid jab caused his long face to frown further.
"I waited, young lady, so I could gauge you better. Honestly you confused me. On one hand, you seem like a good person. Yet on the other, you were cooperating with a monster. One of the Kindly Ones no less."
Did he perhaps forget that the Furies are Father's most loyal servants? Or is he so biased against our House that only a traitor that would oppose Father and his servants carrying out his will would qualify as a good person to him?
"Well, Alecto was always a nice nanny when I was a wee little thing." The daughter of the Rich One shrugged, "So I said hello to her."
Chiron just staggered back in shock. "N-Nanny."
"Yes. I was quite cross when she went and attacked Percy. Honestly, if you didn't give him that sword I would have blasted her for such a thing. It was reckless and totally jumped the gun of our investigation." She said, trying to be truthful as she could.
"Investigation?"
"The same one you're doing on me. To check if Percy was capable of stealing the Master Bolt."
"What?" Percy shouted in the background, but both Alkaid and Chiron ignored him. Whispers erupted from some of the campers while others had a grim look on their faces.
"And?" Chiron demanded.
"We have not made a judgement yet. It is why I'm here. To continue the investigation."
"I see."
"So what about me?" Alkaid spread her arms out, "Have I been a fair little half-blood or am I the spawn of evil you so clearly assume I am? Please, be honest."
Chiron's hands twitched for his bow and that was answer enough for Alkaid who began priming her magic.
They were both stopped however a holographic image of the Helm of Darkness enshrouded by black flames appeared over Alkaid's head.
"I believe this is the part where you honor my Father, sir." The 'newly' claimed half-blood stated coldly.
The centaur gritted his teeth, even as the surrounding Campers all took to one knee.
"Hail, Alkaid Potter, daughter of Hades. God of the Dead and Wealth, Lord of the Underworld, The Rich One, The Silent One,The Hospitable One." Chiron hissed out.
All around them, the Campers muttered uneasily about her parentage but again neither of them paid them any mind.
"Oh, and now that everything is in the open, I would like it if you stopped poisoning the Campers against me. I'm not the Lightning Thief, just one of the many people looking for the culprit."
"I will certainly try." The centaur said while glaring daggers at Alkaid. "So long as you do not put my Campers in danger in your investigation."
No he won't. Alkaid frowned, her anger rattling in her chest as her hands twitched. She had respected for Chiron as one of the great teachers in history and for his fabled wisdom and kindness. Sadly, that respect was blown away by this public attempt at inciting the Campers to lynch her.
"Without question, I'll even swear on the River St-"
Alkaid's bold declaration was interrupted as Percy stepped forward.
"Stop!" The boy shouted. "She doesn't need to do that."
"Percy, if her Father did steal the Bolt-"
"Which he didn't." Alkaid interrupted, not that Chiron acknowledged her.
"-then she could very well be here to sow confusion at best or worst attack us from within! I will not put the lives of everyone here in danger."
The boy had a fierce look in those sea green eyes of his. His hands were balled, as if he wanted to say something but looked conflicted.
"Enough, Percy." Alkaid said putting her hand on his shoulder. "There's no point in talking to a bigoted donkey."
The growing crowd of Campers cringed at her disrespecting their mentor, but thankfully no one said anything.
"He's already decided my Father is guilty even without any evidence."
Much like how Zeus has done for you. Alkaid inwardly sighed as she looked at the young boy. It wasn't fair, but then against, the two weren't supposed to be born in the first place.
Turning to Chiron once more, she addressed him with a glare. "I honestly expected more from you. And a reminder, my Father will remember this next time some of your campers die. The House of Hades' grudge runs deep. Even I have my limits."
"Is that a threat?" Chiron bristled, reaching for his bow but was stopped when Mr. D put a restraining hand on his arm.
"Ha! If the girl wanted to make a threat, she would." Mr. D said with a dark grin on his face, "Right there? That's just her telling things as it is. Uncle Bones never forgets a slight and you've just majorly disrespected him and his daughter with your lack of trust. Good job, Trainer of Heroes."
The ancient centaur flinched as the god pointed out how he'd likely just doomed many of his charges to unfair judgements in the afterlife thanks to his rash actions.
"A grudge is a terrible thing, Chiron. You should know with how many students you lost to them." Alkaid shot back, sounding disappointed. She had met many of them after all. From Achilles to Medea.
"I-"
"Save it, Chiron." Mr. D told the older immortal. "You're just digging yourself deeper. Go relax, I'll handle this."
Chiron trotted off, but not without shooting Alkaid an angry look over his shoulder.
"You ok, Miss Magic?"
Alkaid just nodded to her godly cousin.
"Good. Then I advise everyone get back to whatever they were doing. Show's over. Scram you little cretins!"
At the god's bellow, the Campers scattered with Alkaid and Cabin Eleven no exception. Seeing that the crowd had dispersed, Mr. D nodded in satisfaction before conjuring a Diet Coke and strolling off while sipping form it.
It had been a odd week for Alkaid since the confrontation with Chiron. While it had led to many Campers giving her a wide berth both on account of their mentor's obvious dislike of her and their own unease over her parentage, it had also led to many others opening up to her. Particularly the children of the minor gods in Cabin Eleven who saw her being a daughter of Hades as a good thing. Her Father was after all the closest thing the minor gods had to an actual advocate to the Olympian Twelve as they had. A role that had earned him quite a bit of respect from them, which had transferred over to their children as well.
This was why when Alkaid had declared that she would buck the decision of Luke Castellan to ally Cabin Eleven with Athena during the Capture the Flag wargame, the children of the minor gods had mostly followed her lead and allied with Ares instead.
The children of Athena in Cabin Six had tried to kick up a fuss over that, but Alkaid had simply reminded them that the rules clearly stated that for the purposes of the game the children of any given god could choose to side with whoever they wanted. Nowhere was it stated that they needed to have the privilege of a cabin to have this right. They had tried citing tradition next, but Alkaid had just referred them back to the rules. To her, logic trumped tradition, something that irked the Athena Cabin when she threw that argument in their faces.
As such with Cabin Eleven's allegiance effectively split between both sides in the game, the Athena faction found themselves heavily outnumbered with Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, Ares, and Hephaestus arrayed against themselves and their allies in Apollo. At least, until they'd managed to convince Demeter to switch sides. Alkaid hadn't bothered to check but rumor had it that they had promised Cabin Four to cover their chores for a whole month to get them to agree to defect.
Not that the outcome of the game mattered at all to the daughter of Hades. In fact, as she hovered in the air just outside the ten feet no-go zone for guards around her team's flag, she found herself bored to tears.
All she'd needed to do since the game started was cast a few magic circles for a handful of bombardment spells, tie them into some targeting spells and set up some randomized timers for them to fire every so often at the enemy. Besides that, all she needed was to provide the spells with magical power and that was it. She'd even saved herself the trouble on that front by casting a few spells designed to absorb magic from the environment and had them feed into the other spells. Thanks to all that, she'd created what amounted to an automatic magical artillery position. Something that her opponents had absolutely no way of countering if the way they ran like headless chickens whenever they saw one of her spells flying their way was any indication.
Looking on with her chin rested in the palm of her hands as her knees supported her elbows, she let her mind wander.
How is this at all challenging? They should at least throw some monsters into the mix. Make it fun. Alkaid thought as she enjoyed the landscape painted by the waning light of Apollo's setting sun in the few moments before darkness crept along the forest.
"You know, this setup is amazing. Like, super intricate but you kinda zap the fun out of this, Miss Alkaid." Said Gracie Grey, daughter of Hecate and one of the other guards for the flag.
"Really?" Alkaid looked surprised, "This is just a basic defensive set up that came to mind. If I had more time they wouldn't be able within get one hundred yards of the flag."
"Which is why it takes all the fun out of it." Sherman Yang, another guard and son of Ares chimed in.
"I don't understand."
Gracie sighed and leaned against her spear.
"Save it, Sherman, if she can do this as casually as breathing she won't get the challenge in a fair fight."
"I thought I was being fair." Alkaid pursed her lips, "I left gaps for them to find in my firing patterns."
"How charitable." Sherman scoffed.
Alkaid just pouted in confusion, as Gracie just patted her arm comfortingly even as she shot the older girl an exasperated look.
Deciding that she wasn't going to bother dealing with whatever confusing nonsense the two were talking about Alkaid decided to pull up a scrying spell to check up on what was going on in the rest of the forest. So far it seemed that Athena Cabin's team was largely pinned down by her barrages though the children of wisdom were figuring out the patterns behind her spells and were starting to exploit them.
I knew they would eventually.
More interesting however was the confrontation shaping up at the creek that served as the boundary line between the zones controlled by the two teams. Apparently, Percy was being confronted by some of Pyrrha's siblings led by her second in command Clarisse La Rue. Someone who was rumored to have a score to settle with the boy over an incident involving some toilet water on his first day in Camp.
With a little help from the buff he got when wet, Percy was handling himself surprisingly well as he managed to overpower them despite their superior training and numbers.
The display reminded her of her recent interactions with the boy. After her little public clash with Chiron, young Percy had seemed to get over his awkwardness towards her and began to converse with her on a regular basis. Mainly during dinner and breaks in their activities. The main grievances that seemed to preoccupy the young boy were his adjustment to being a demigod and his mother's 'death'.
Ironically, this led to some pretty awkward conversations seeing as for the former, Alkaid knew who she was as far back as she could remember. As such she couldn't really empathize, instead the jet black haired beauty could console him as a teacher would a student. In regards to the latter, well things got even more awkward. He had actually asked her if she had any idea about where his mother had ended up in the Underworld in the hope that as the daughter of Hades she could offer some insight. Unable to tell him the truth due to the need to keep his mother hostage as leverage for now, she had lied by omission by telling him about how souls were sorted after they died.
Despite her deflections though, the boy didn't seem to catch the hint and talk about anything else. Thoroughly exhausted with the uncomfortable conversations that occurred as a result, the daughter of Hades decided to distance herself from the boy. She could fulfill her mission by observing him from afar. There was no need to put herself through unnecessary difficulty.
Though I am a little worried about how he kept asking about the Underworld's layout. It almost sounded like he planned to sneak in, maybe to rescue his mother? He can't be that stupid can he? No demigod could possibly reach the Palace without Father letting him. Alkaid rolled her eyes. Then again, he does look like the rash and stupid type.
The green eyed boy seemed modestly upset by the berth she had given him, but it was easily forgotten as he fell into his own crowd of friends around his age. He seemed to click with that Chase girl -Who would give her the stink eye whenever she could - and his satyr guardian, Underwood. Though it seemed the two didn't seem to get along and he was often forced to play mediator. Apparently, the woodland spirit had been Thalia Grace's, Chase's old friend, guardian too but his ineptitude had led to their group getting lost and slowed down enough for Alkaid's Father's army to catch up with them whereupon the Furies had heaped scorn on the satyr for his incompetence for letting them do so. Words that had stuck in the surviving demigods, Luke and Chase, of that disaster to this day.
Which is indirectly my fault. If only I hadn't reminded them how useful pointing out the enemy's mistakes to unsettle them could be. Alkaid thought to herself. Not that she'd ever reveal that little tidbit or any of her part in Thalia Grace's fate for that matter. She very much liked not being mortal enemies with the counselors of Cabins Six and Eleven, thank you very much. She had enough enemies here already.
She was brought out of her musings when her darkvision allowed her to catch glimpses of movement in the distance. Seeing where she was looking, Gracie and Sherman gripped their weapons in preparation for some possible action.
A scorched but relatively fine looking Luke Castellan exited the foliage, huffing and puffing.
"See?" Alkaid smiled at the two, "At least someone of skill managed to see the gaps. Now you don't have to deal with the weaklings."
"We were a group of ten." The scarred blond pointed out as his breathing calmed down.
"Exactly. No riff raff, only the good ones. Or one in this case." Alkaid said with a teasing smile at the older boy.
He wasn't dazzled by it like most men, instead he shot her his own handsome smile in return.
Sherman however seemed to dislike their banter as without a word he charged at the son of Hermes with his Xiphos blade poised to gut him.
Luke was hardly fazed as he dispatched the younger boy as if he was a gnat.
See, now that makes sense since Hermes is known for his sword skills. Alkaid analyzed at the sheer grace the young man wielded with little to no effort.
Gracie watched the whole thing with trepidation, clearly reluctant to engage the young man hailed as the greatest swordsman the Camp had seen in generations.
"Err, Miss Alkaid, a little help." The girl begged as she nervously leveled her spear at the blonde.
"Hm, I'm rather curious how he does against magic. I would suggest some fire Gracie. It's always a staple for a young sorceresses."
"I haven't learned any offensive magic!" Gracie shouted fearfully. "I just came to Camp this summer, I've barely learned anything at all!"
"Oh...remind me to give you a magic lesson in the future please. That just won't do." Alkaid casually asked as Luke advanced on them. "I owe Lady Hecate far too much to not teach her children in return."
"That's nice and all, Alkaid." Luke said with a smirk. "But I don't think it helps Gracie at the moment."
The daughter of Hecate nodded in fierce agreement. Her misty green eyes fearfully eying the blond as he stalked ever closer to her.
Pursing her lips, Alkaid agreed, "That's true. Gracie, focus your magic, point your spear at Luke and shout Incendio."
For all that the younger girl was panicking, she followed the instructions of the daughter of Hades' impromptu lesson to the letter and fired off a surprisingly large gout of flame at the son of Hermes.
The jet of fire put the counselor on edge as he backed off, his icy blue eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Wow!" Gracie marveled at the magic she'd just pulled off. "That's amazing. Thanks Miss Al-"
The girl never finished her words of gratitude as Luke capitalized on her distraction to close the distance and in a move straight out of Star Trek used a Vulcan Nerve Pinch to knock her out.
"Now that was mean, Castellan. At least let her feel accomplished before you knock her out."
The blonde just shrugged and smirked with a carefree smirk.
"You gonna try and stop me?"
"Hm, not really, this has been quite boring." Alkaid admitted with a sigh as she laid down on her platform on her side. As if she were the Cheshire Cat looking down at Alice. "I really just want it to end."
It might have been her imagination, but the boy seemed to breathe a sigh of relief upon hearing that.
"Take the flag and do hurry. I wish to go to bed soon." Alkaid dismissed the blonde with a wave of her hand.
"And the magical defenses?" He asked with some stiffness.
The sorceress just snapped her fingers and dispelled the wards. "There, they're down. Take it and go."
Nodding, the son of Hermes hesitantly picked up the blood red flag branded with Ares' symbol and once it seemed he was sure that it was safe, he immediately turned around and broke into a run for his team's territory.
Pyrrha will no doubt whine to me about this, but I can't just give her all her victories. Alkaid sighed as she lay down in utter boredom on her platform. The warm summer air was nice and she was strongly tempted to just take a nap. Besides, I set up most of it. It's her job to do the rest. I'll just say Castellan had his father's sticky fingers and leave it at that.
The sounding of a horn blared through the woods. It seemed the match was over.
At last! Alkaid crowed as she shot Enervate at Gracie and Sherman before ushering the two disappointed children towards the growing crowd of revelling Campers as they celebrated Hermes Cabin's victory.
As the Campers cheered, Alkaid hung back at a distance. After her rough few weeks at Camp, she couldn't really identify with them and thus didn't really feel the need to join in their festivities. Besides, the whole thing was a little over the top and the daughter of Hades, despite years of toning down her obsession with being ladylike, was still too proper to partake in something quite so wild.
Pyrrha walked over, looking a bit scuffed up. Her battered leather armor and exhausted figure held a certain appeal as Alkaid's pouty lips pulled up into a small smile. She was about to say something, but she was cut off suddenly.
A loud terrifying growl put an abrupt stop to the celebrations. As one, all the Campers turned to see a shadow on top of a rocky outcrop deform and transform into a large, black mastiff with glowing red eyes that was the size of a rhino.
A hellhound? Here?
Chiron called for his bow, but Alkaid ignored him and chose to prime her magic instead.
"Axel Shooter!" She incanted and sent a dozen magical spheres that closed on the monster from all angles.
The hellhound evaded the magical bullets however by jumping out of the way of the attack and pouncing on Percy instead. Even as the bullets curved back around and slammed into the monster's back and Chiron's arrows turned it into a pincushion, it ignored its mortal wounds to use its jaws to rend right through what little protection his light armor offered him.
The monster melted in shadow, soaking into the ground until it disappeared but it had already all but killed the boy. His body was covered with deep cuts and he was literally bleeding out.
"Di immortales!" Annabeth said. "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't... They're not supposed to..."
The daughter of Athena shot an accusing look at Alkaid.
"Someone summoned it," Chiron said. "Someone inside the camp."
Luke came over, the banner that he had won in the game just moments earlier in his hand forgotten, his moment of glory gone.
Clarisse yelled, "It's all Percy's fault! Percy summoned it!"
"Be quiet, child," Chiron told her.
"You're wounded," Chase told him. "Quick, Percy, get in the water."
"I'm okay."
"No, you're not," she said. "Chiron, watch this."
As he stepped into the water, the boy's mortal wounds healed right in front of everyone's eyes.
Without question, he's either Uncle Poseidon's son or that of some other powerful water deity. Alkaid thought with amazement at the sheer rate the boy healed. It was extraordinary.
"Look, I-I don't know why, " Percy said, trying to apologize. "I'm sorry..."
Look up you daft boy. Alkaid thought with annoyance at her cousin's foolishness.
"Percy," Chase said, pointing at the symbol hovering over his head. "Um..."
By the time he looked up, the sign was already fading, but he was still able to make out the hologram of green light, spinning and gleaming. A three-tipped spear: a trident.
"Your father," Chase murmured. "This is really not good."
"It is determined," Chiron announced.
All around him, campers started kneeling, even the Ares cabin, though they didn't look happy about it. Alkaid followed and felt pity for the boy once more. Their burden as children of the Big Three was difficult to bear.
I can only hope he doesn't crumble from the weight.
"My father?" Percy asked, completely bewildered. His body trembled as he watched the hologram spin lazily and soon flickered into nothingness.
"Poseidon," said Chiron. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."
"All hail." Alkaid grimly noted and rose to her feet, along with everyone else. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see many of the campers looking frightfully at her. As if they were terrified that she would attack Percy for his heritage.
Of course they would. After all, I'm the big bad daughter of Hades. What a convenient villain to have on hand. The elder demigoddess didn't scowl, but her eyes were frightening enough to make those made of weaker stuff back off.
"Alkaid summoned it!" Someone in the crowd shouted, "Who else could do it?"
"Anyone with knowledge to summon them you little shit." Pyrrha snapped at the Camper, looking ready to impale the one who threw the blame at the daughter of Hades.
Most of Ares Cabin agreed with their counselor, instead leveling the blame at Percy but they were drowned out by the voices that accused Alkaid of the crime.
As the number of voices blaming her grew, Alkaid had a sinking feeling in her gut.
Chiron didn't say anything however, his old eyes looking at Alkaid. It was as if he was trying to read her, his face set in a grim visage. That alone spoke volumes to many of the Campers as they edged towards the sorceress, their weapons drawn.
Pyrrha stood in their way, her labrys raised threateningly.
"Stand down, you fools." Alkaid's lover said with a glare. "Or I'll make you."
The campers didn't back down however, thinking they had the could win due to their numbers alone. This proved the height of foolishness for them since Pyrrha wasn't looking too charitable. She aimed her ruby encrusted bracer Miló and unleashed a gout of fire at them.
Some of the campers were burned and fell to the ground where they rolled around in a bid to put out the flames, while the others quickly backed off wary of getting caught up in another blast. This led to their swift downfall as Pyrrha leapt through the flames, and swung the flat of her labrys at them like a club and knocked five campers on their rumps.
"Who else, huh? Come on!" Pyrrha challenged them with bared teeth.
"Enough!" Alkaid commanded with her magical persuasion at full power, her magically infused words quelling many of those in the area, while she put a hand on Pyrrha's shoulder.
"Chiron," The daughter of Hades addressed the Camp's activities director. "Do you have anything to say?"
The centaur just shot her a defiant glare.
That was answer enough for the sorceress and she turned on her heel. Without a word, she stalked off with as much dignity she could muster despite how furious she felt.
I understand how Father feels. To be blamed as the villian every time something goes wrong… how in the world has he dealt with that for so long?
Pyrrha was on her tail as she shouted back, "I thought you were better than this, Chiron! I just lost a crap ton of respect for you!"
"Miss Potter!" Percy called out and Alkaid looked over her shoulder at him. He was pale and was barely standing despite his healing thanks to the power of the creek, still there was a fire in his eyes that she could respect. "You didn't do it, right?"
"...No."
"I believe you." Percy said with confidence. "Take care, okay?"
Alkaid smiled, honored by her cousin's trust in her. "Thank you, Percy. I will."
With that, Alkaid turned around to head back to Cabin Eleven to pack her things.
She and Pyrrha were gone within the hour.
Omake: Pavlov's Demigods
"Come on, come on, jump Sora! Honestly, where is Tinkerbell for that fly ability?" Alkaid grumbled as she rapidly dodged around so she wasn't killed by Proud Mode Sephiroth.
"Kaidy! Are you playing another video game!?" Pyrrha's exasperated voice called out from the I.M. that materialized a few feet away from the engrossed daughter of Hades.
"Pyrrha?" The gamer replied distractedly. "Did you need something?" She said as she barely avoided being murdered for the seventh time. Still, her Completionist Nature would not give up.
"Yeah, I wanted to talk."
"A liiittle busy at the moment." Alkaid said as she went for a Trinity attack.
"Aw, come on Kaidy," Pyrrha whined, but Alkaid ignored her to focus on her game.
The child of Ares growled in frustration, before trying a different tack. "You know it's hot over here in Camp. It's almost summer and the sun is beating down on us like crazy, I'm getting all sweaty. Maybe I'm wearing too much clothing..."
The daughter of Hades paused for a moment, causing her game avatar to freeze and suffer a ton of damage as a result, as she processed that.
"Are you trying to have phone sex with me?" Alkaid asked as she paused her game, stupefied that her girlfriend would go that far.
"Maybe? I don't know! You're better at this stuff then I am…" Pyrrha said with an angry pout. "All I know is that I want your attention and all you seem to care about is your stupid game!"
"Pyrrha, I don't care about it more." Alkaid hastily promised, "This is just my me time."
"Right. So you totally forgot that we were supposed to talk at this time?" The daughter of war shot back, crossing her arms angrily.
Alkaid quickly shot a look to the wall and flinched. She'd been playing for twice as long as she'd intended and Pyrrha was right, it was already the time they'd set aside to call each other.
"So it is," The daughter of Hades said trying to play it cool. "I forgot the time."
Pyrrha just huffed in irritation.
"I'm really sorry?"
"I worry with you gaming so much. You're usually punctual."
The daughter of Hades winced a bit at that, but tried to keep a poker face. It nettled her to have her flaws pointed out to her, but when her girlfriend did it, it stung more than anything.
"Well, if that's how you feel, how about we continue where you started us?" Alkaid flashed a coy smile as she let the strap of her spaghetti strap slide down her shoulder.
Pyrrha just quirked an eyebrow. "You think I'm still up for it?"
Alkaid just blinked in confusion. "But you were just…"
"Trying to get your attention." Her upset lover finished for her. "Now, if you want any more of that then you're going to turn off that game. If you do, then maybe, just maybe, I'll give you some on our next date."
"...Cheeky little…" Alkaid grumbled as her lip quirked up.
Oh, her girlfriend was going to feel her tender embrace later. That was without question.
"Call me whatever you want. Oh, and you've gotta promise to cut down on gaming in general too. Let's say to an hour a day, that good?" Pyrrha asked with a smirk.
"That's blackmail!"
"True," The daughter of Ares agreed. "But can you at least promise to cut it down? I'm really worried about how much time you spend gaming."
"If it's for you, how can I say no, you scarlet siren?" Alkaid teased, hoping it would get a blush from the tomboy.
"G-Good," Pyrrha stammered. "See you at The Cheesecake Factory this Saturday?"
And there it was, her lover was on the back foot once again. With her dominance restored, Alkaid waved her finger and turned off her PS2. No one said being the dominant one in their relationship meant there was no give and take. She'd promised Pyrrha to cut down on her gaming and she intended to keep that promise.
"See you then." Alkaid returned with a sultry smile.
"Y-yeah, see ya."
The I.M. faded away and it left Alkaid to ponder how else she could surprise her girlfriend.
Done and done! Thanks to the team of Nameless and Axios as always.
Nameless: So before we talk about the chapter itself, I feel the need to repeat some things we used to reply to reviewers at the end of the The Unrelenting Frozen Seas: The Trials and we think is applicable to this story (not just this fic, but the series as a whole) and Rhode and Andi's stories/series as well.
First, we plan for these sets of stories to be long series that will cover all the way till the end of the Gigantomachy. Ambitious we know, but that's our goal. So when things show up in a book and is left hanging or a character grows to become unlikable suddenly, this is because are set up for exploitation later in series. They are at this point just elaborate foreshadowing. We're setting things in place for future plot points so they don't just come out of nowhere when it's time to introduce them.
Second, let me repeat why the wizards are so weak in our fics. It is mainly a response to holes in Rowling's worldbuilding. Principally the simple inference that with muggles being the dominant people on Earth, and not the wizards, this implies that the muggles are superior. Human nature and history dictates that if the wizards actually were as superior as they, or more accurately their propaganda says, then they should rule and not hide in the shadows like scared rats. In response to this we felt the need to justify this. Since we're crossing with a verse with non-wizarding magicals, many of which are absurdly more powerful than wizards, we just had them side against wizards. Rowling doesn't seem to have given this issue much thought in canon, but if she did she could easily justify this by having the muggles having wizards in their employ (gold is a great incentive and blood can be thicker than water) or other countermeasures against wizards/magic. Not to say that a wizard/muggle conflict if it is allowed to spread won't cause significant damage since some wizarding spells likely will lead to mass muggle, possibly civilian, casualties. But there are many, many more muggles and this possibility will be known and accounted for by muggles (like in this fic where they prioritized an overwhelming first strike precisely to counter this).
Third, our general treatment of the Potterverse is a "slash and burn" critique (and that's how we see it) of it, because in the greater scheme of the world of our fics it is utterly insignificant to the world and to our main characters. This was our intent from pretty early on. We knew that the story would move pretty quickly away from Wizarding Britain and we knew the main characters would not care much about Wizarding Britain once it did since they'd be preoccupied with godly struggles that affect the fate of the world a lot more than the conflicts of one rather small wizarding community. So we decided to go all the way with our critique. It let us do certain things that playing around in the relatively small sandbox provided by the Wizarding World alone would never have allowed. Did it lead to caricatures at times? Of course, that's part of our critique (namely that the Potterverse lends itself very easily to such things because of not so well thought out writing). So we are aware of what we're doing. It's wholly deliberate and we're doing it as fans of the Potterverse. Critiquing it means we care about it and want to highlight flaws and think up ways to fix it. Unfortunately a lot of the solutions we came up with (our fault really) amounts to destroying it but we blame that (perhaps a little too selfishly) on Rowling's poor worldbuilding more than anything else.
Fourth, while certain comparisons between Andi, Rhode and Alkaid's series are likely unavoidable. We would like to remind everyone that they are separate verses. As such, each character's growth should be seen from within her own context and not in comparison to that in another series. For example, both Rhode and Andi became emotional messes in their second books because of things that happened to them, not because we're duplicating the same stuff. It's a case of convergence, not duplication.
Lastly, our stories are darker and grittier than either the canon Riordanverse or Potterverse because our biggest complaint about the former (where the majority of our story is set) is that it downplayed how dark the original Hellenistic myths are way too much. We're trying to rectify this. So our stories should be more akin to a Warhammer novel than anything else, because that's how dark it got in the myths where challenging the gods is suicidal and any mortal/hero/demigod who attempts it is fighting inevitable defeat. So our choice to write in this style is entirely deliberate. We have tried to tone it down because of reader feedback but we're not abandoning this because we feel it is central to what we're trying to write here. We know many readers used to the Riordanverse and the Potterverse's lighter style won't appreciate it, but we frankly don't care. We have a vision and we're sticking to it.
Now onto the chapter itself. First off, our choice to move things along so quickly from Yancy. We know some people wanted us to cover it in some depth and for us to focus on some interaction with Percy. However, to be frank, there's not much to cover there. For Alkaid, he is first and foremost her student and she would maintain a professional distance accompanied by some curiosity over his heritage. Could we have shown more of this? Definitely, but then we'd slow things down to a degree we didn't really like. It was thus either give more Yancy time or focus on moving the story along. We chose the latter because all the stuff we want to write comes after they leave the school.
E4E: Onto Chiron. Know that we are not bashing on him. We love the guy, but in The Lighting Thief he was clearly so sure Hades was the bad guy. It was kinda of sad. So we translated that here. That combined with his worry for his Campers has served to cloud some of his rational judgement about Alkaid. As such, he started seeing her as a threat.
You know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps!
