Son Of The Cup Bearer {Percy Jackson x Ejen Ali}

This Is Why Everyone Should Learn To Swim. And Portal.

Scratch that. Moon's portalling still needs a lot of work. She had intended for them to land next to the lake, but turns out, her aim was quite off several metres. Take it from Moon to not locate your portalling destination anywhere fifty metres from a lake. 

The first thing that Moon registered was her surroundings: shockingly cold, the increasing pressure on her lungs, and the light blue environment. 

The second thing she registered was the lack of air. Instantly, her mind went into panic and she flailed about in the water, trying to get anywhere than where she was. Around her, four other figures splashed into the water, creating a million bubbles. Her friends. Crap.

Just to add another dumpling to the plate: Moon didn't know how to swim.

However, she was saved of that tiny issue when she left a tug on her arm. Iman, with her headscarf flowing around her like a jellyfish and her cheeks puffed up like a pufferfish, hauled Moon up by her arm and together, they burst the surface of the lake, coughing and spluttering in the strawberry scented air.

A moment after that, Alicia, Ali and Khai emerged around them, their hair stuck to their scalps and gasping. 

Before Moon could utter an apology, two other people she doesn't recognise surfaced from the water. These two girls had silky, brown hair that came out not scraggly, even when wet, and were wearing shimmering green shirts. They seemed to be floating just fine, for they were supporting both Ali and Khai. On the contrary, they looked amused, batting their eyelashes too often for Moon's liking.

Together, they swam to the shore, Ali and Khai with the girls' help. Though, why only both of them had the privilege of getting a random girl to help them was beyond Moon. Is it because she was a girl, she was expected to look after herself? Huh. Was that supposed to be good or bad?

When they reached shore, it was to find a group of campers of about thirty gathered around them. Campers both short and behind were trying their best to peek at whatever was going on while muttering amongst themselves. 

Moon felt tired. She didn't even try to explain herself or get rid of the crowd. She could only shiver and let her teeth chatter on the spot. Though, thankfully, Chiron the centaur chose that moment to appear.

"What's going on? Did a camper get hurt?" he asked, his voice full of worry. Even without seeing him first, Moon could tell by the tone of his voice the identity of the kind centaur. The crowd shifted to let way for Chiron. 

When his brown eyes landed on the five of them, and then the two green-shirted girls, his eyes widened into the size of pancakes.

"Moon, Ali, Alicia, Iman, Khai! You're back! We were beginning to worry about you. Someone get them some towels!"

Then the crowd shifted again, and out came a muscly Chinese man with a dark-skinned woman with startling golden eyes. Both of them were wearing a Camp Jupiter shirt and had tattoos on the inside of their arms. 

"Khai!" they exclaimed in unison. They rushed towards Khai and hugged him, despite him being wet. Khai grunted from the sudden force, shooting Moon and the rest apologetic glances for not introducing and the unexpected show of affection - though, Moon rather thought it was cute.

"Thank Mercury you're alright," the golden eyed woman sighed. "You ran off on your own, we didn't know you were missing until Frank did a double check."

Moon gasped, pointing from the Chinese man to the golden eyed woman back and forth. When the both of them made confused looks, Moon exclaimed in awe, "You're Frank! And you're Hazel! Khai told us about you!"

"Oh," Frank said. "Hi, er-"

"Moon," Moon said proudly. "Daughter of Hecate."

"Well, Frank Zhang," Frank introduced. "Son of Mars."

"Nice to meet you guys." Hazel smiled. "I'm Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto."

"You know us." Alicia gestured at her and Iman. "So we're gonna pass."

"Ali," Ali tried for a grin, though it appeared more of a grimace. He retched and spat out a clump of seaweed. Cringing, he wiped his mouth. "Ali bin Ghazali."

Frank and Hazel shared a look. 

"A pleasure," Frank finally said.

"We should get you guys to cabin seven," Hazel said quickly. "You've just returned from a quest, you'll probably need to have a checkup, then you guys can-"

"Guys!" a familiar voice shouted. Moon targeted the source to the choppy-haired daughter of Aphrodite, Piper McLean. She was pointing at the top of Ali's head, where a something had appeared.

Moon stared in awe at the symbol swiveling above Ali's head. Campers immediately ceased muttering, even the green shirted girls had their eyes wide and fixed upon the symbol.

Ali, however, was scrutinizing at the faces around him, his eyebrows creasing together ever slowly. "There's a symbol above my head, right?"

Chiron nodded, then slowly got into his position of kneeling. For a horse, of course. He bent his forelegs and bowed at Ali. The campers around did the same, even Frank and Hazel. Moon hastily also got on one knee, though she did not tear her eyes from the symbol on Ali's head: a revolving golden cup.

"Hail, Ali bin Ghazali," Chiron announced gravely to the grassy shore. Then he stood up, looking Ali straight in the eye. "Son of Hebe, goddess of youth, former cup bearer of the gods."