Beating Hearts

Giants and Gaia

Tony had reached his terror limit for the week. He'd been nearly electrocuted, almost impaled and skewered, had a close call with a land mine,  and was tied up above a ditch by two girls from the Hermes cabin. On top of that, he'd come close to slipping into the pool of lava forming at the base of the rock wall and was all but forced to listen to the nightmare fuel they called history. The Fantastic Fair of Fright he had just witnessed curtesy of the dead boy walking over there had burnt up the last of his resolve. He would have left a while ago really, if his curiosity hadn't gotten the best of him and his fear hadn't pinned him in place. 

However, when Nico suggested they leave his cabin in order to prevent future 'accidents', Tony couldn't help but feel relieved. As much as his jaw hurt from the constant clenched position, Tony had a feeling he needed to know what happened next. Percy was an enigma, wrapped in a mystery, hooked up in a question mark and to top it all off, he was surrounded by a serene shield to prevent prying. The perfect defense to keep outsiders away from his life. Before Wanda had left with Vision, she'd told the team that she'd attempted to get into his head several times during his stay, and he'd managed to keep her locked out even in his sleep. As if he felt her poking around his mind...

Tony still remembered how she shivered at that and couldn't help but to entertain the notion that she had sensed something, a greater darkness in him, that made her stop trying. Whenever someone asked Percy about his friends and such, all they got were more cryptic answers and secretive smiles to add to their growing collection. Tony didn't think-

"OW!!" 

Clint was sprawled on the ground holding a hand to his head and wincing at the pain. Natasha glared down at him and rolled her eyes. She shifted her foot back to it's original position, and continued walking towards the beach as if she didn't just kick the legs out from under her friend. Nico observed her for a moment before his lips twitched and he said, "You would get along with the Hunters." Ah, yes, the man-haters; sounds like Natasha's type.

"It's a good thing, too. If all of you were guys or too lovey-dovey for their liking, their group would try to kill you all and there's nothing we could do to stop it if they caught you alone. They'll be here by this evening by the way. And on Friday we've scheduled a game of capture-the-flag and some war games at Camp Jupiter." Nico grinned, and it seemed malevolent to Tony. Wait...They were coming here? Tomorrow? But wasn't Natasha enough to deal with?

"But, before that I wanted to finish up on Percy's background. Thalia would gladly help me tell it, but she may be a bit...bitter about her past, and I was planning on telling you about that, the Seven and the Giant War." Nico explained. Another war, huh?

"Let's start with this: Thalia and Jason Grace lived with their mother, Beryl Grace. Beryl had attracted the attention of Zeus, and later Jupiter when she had Jason. Hera, or Juno, was furious when she discovered that a mortal had sired two children with her husband, so she demanded one to be a tribute for her.

"Beryl left Jason, who was also named after Hera's favorite hero, in abandoned ruins. He made his way to the Wolf House and eventually to Camp Jupiter, but Thalia didn't know that, so she ran away from home and when she was about 12, 14 years old, she and Luke found a seven year old Annabeth. I'll touch up on that later, but basically, Thalia was turned into a tree because she was trying to protect her friends and her father felt bad for getting her killed in the first place, her tree was poisoned, healed and she was returned back to normal. Then she joined the Hunt and found Jason, Leo and Piper in the woods. They had just had a run in with Midas, and Piper was sick after being thrown in a river to be cured when she was turned to gold. The Hunters nursed her back to health, but Thalia also realized that Jason was her brother Jason, because of a scar on his lip from 'trying to eat a stapler when he was two'."

Tony snorted. "He did what?! After everything I've heard about this guy's great adventures, I would've expected something a whole lot cooler-" Tony stopped short. Nico was glaring at him, and he looked like he was trying not to kill Tony right then. "I wouldn't speak badly about the dead, if I were you. And especially not in the presence of a child of Hades," he threatened. Tony gulped and waited to see if the story had more to it. Nico continued on to tell them(an extremely watered-down version) of the Prophecy of the Seven, though he didn't go into depth with most of them. Tony perked up at the mention of Leo Valdez, because of the boy's fame in his old cabin, then laughed out loud at the way he acted. Nico ignored him for the most part, and only looked over at him when he confirmed that Leo, too, had died in the final battle. 

If Tony's crestfallen expression was worth dealing with his bothersome comments for five minutes, Nico didn't show it. Perhaps it wasn't worth gloating over. They had just finished with the last person, Annabeth Chase, Percy's girlfriend. Not 'ex' exactly, since they'd never broken up, she just died. Woah...since when was Tony so nonchalant about death? Had being here less than a week already conditioned him to get used to it? However, Tony didn't have time to think about that, as two people burst into the room. Both were about 14 at most(probably closer to 13 or so because they were probably demigods), and if their clasped hands were anything to go by, they were a couple as well. 

The taller form was a brunette male, with almost-but-not-quite-strong features and expresso eyes, along with an air of quiet confidence over shadowed by awkwardness, reminding Tony of Steve. The Lilliputian girl beside him had hazy gray eyes with a foggy look to them, and Tony could tell that without the forced dreamy expression she had adopted before entering the room, that she would have a piercing gaze. There was intelligence locked behind the clouds in her eyes, but it was clear to him that the loopiness she exuded was part of a front, as her hair was deliberately messed up and she wore strange glasses around her head, making the look too over the top to be natural for someone like the pale blonde-haired girl. 

Their faces where slightly flushed and the boy spoke with a slight accent, like he'd gone to and from a foreign country continuously. "Sorry to interrupt, but we heard about some mugg-mortals getting into camp and wanted to see. I swear, the British are getting to us. The Ice Prince told us to tell him and the others about them when we get back," he apologized. 

The girl nodded and smiled. "Yes, we volunteered, me because of my overbearing Athenian curiosity- even if I'm not her kid- and Nev's need to get away from people who think he's pathetic. Though, when we got here, he was stressing over whether or not we should've sent Male Medusa instead, even though he vehemently disagreed by saying that he didn't want to disrupt the peace by coming back after so long. They at least still know we're alive; imagine the commotion he'd cause!" she exclaimed, before the three demigods broke into laughter. 

The brunette blushed a bit and gave an embarrassed smile, then coughed and let a touch of disappointment show as he told Nico, "Either way, we don't have long here. We were going to say 'hi' to our siblings, then set off, before someone notices our absence. Our favorite son of Hecate would have covered for us but...well, with the upcoming war over there, he's been busy especially with being a triple agent an' all. There's about a five hour time difference, so it's, like, nearly 5 over there. We have an hour or two here, before we've gotta scram. Moon's got her owl form, so she'll need rest, too, and those flying shoes the Stolls bribed me with for not ratting on them are harder to control tired."

"Alright see you 'round, I guess, Snowdrop. Misty." Nico nodded at each in turn. "Honestly, how corny," 'Snowdrop' joked. Nico snorted. "Resorting to puns now, I see."

A loud, deep horn sounded in the distance, interrupting the boys' playful banter. Nico's dark orbs glittered with an odd combination of malice and excitement.

"Sounds like the Hunters are here..."

Now, I know that bringing two other characters into this is completely random at this point in the story, but it had a point later. But like way later. As in, the reason these two showed up is because there is going to be a sort of a sequel, and I want them to be included early, also showing a bit of contest the next time you'll see them, early. 

~DarkCooki3