𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐈𝐀, 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐲 𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐨𝐧

nineteen

YOU/EMBER ✦

"were all gonna die... eventually." percy shrugs, "no— percy, soon. it's a warning." i look to him. he lets out a breath, "okay, guys—" percy begins to stay but my ears are filled with the sound of the loud bike approaching. i quickly refocus my attention to him, "three old ladies with a ball of yarn cant know what's gonna happen to us— what i choose to do changes what's gonna happen. and i can chose to do anything i want—" he trails off at the end.

he's right. i cant believe i've never thought of it that way.. am i really that dense? it seems like the most obvious thing to say. but maybe i've been sheltered too long and this is my only nature. i really hope percy doesn't perceive me as shallow or only thinking inside of the box.

"need some help?" an older man's voice interrupts my thoughts, a voice i swear i have heard before... percy looks at me in confusion. "what now, star girl?" he whispers to me. we all turn around slowly still kneeling. as soon as i met the man's eyes my heart dropped to my fucking ass.

ares, my mothers boyfriend, aka a literal ass. he's ignorant, selfish, and not to mention— a tattle tale. "beg pardon?" grover says. "what do you want," i say sternly. "i asked if you needed help."

"no, nope. were— were good. appreciate you asking though, so long." grover waves.  "you don't seem to good." he says after we had already sat back down. "we don't need your help. now leave us alone." i tell him again, percy looks to me confused.

this boy is probably the most clueless boy i've ever met in my entire life.

"oh really?" we all stand up "you're way behind schedule and after all your mother wouldn't appreciate it if i just left her daughter out here like this." percy's brows furrowed not quite understanding what was being said.

"what does she care." i mumble but i'm pretty sure percy heard what i said due to how he looked at me. "what was that?" ares questions, "nothing. why would you want to help us anyways ares," the two boys look at me with wide eyes. "just wanted to help my cousin thats all— and besides zeus has all his kids out here doing the same."

"cousin?" percy questioned, "look— there's a halfway decent diner up the road, if you want my help you'll meet me there, but don't dottle. i won't wait forever." he tells us putting on his sunglasses. he smiled before he left leaving me uneasy.

"wait— what does he mean by 'your mother wouldn't appreciate'?" percy asks me, "he's my moms boyfriend." i tell him, "lets go." grover and i start walking, "wait—" i turn around to face percy, "what did you mean by 'what does she care?'" he asks, "nothing— now lets go, no dottling." i say walking ahead of him.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

when we reach what we think is the diner we are immediately met with the sound of ares' laughter, "guess this is the right place." percy spoke. we all walked over to him, sitting down as he typed on his phone, "gimme a second, i'm just starting a fight on twitter here. nothing makes me happier than a good old fashioned, burn it down fight." after a moment he puts it down "so your quest is going to fail. ask me how i know." 

"it's not going to fail." percy tells him, he laughs. "sure it is." i roll my eyes and cross my arms. "for starters..." ares presses play on a video from his phone. a man appears to be talking about percy, 

"percy was always troubled, but i never thought he was capable of something like this," the man in the video says,

"who is that?" i ask percy, "that's my stepdad..." he says, "what's he doing?" 

"and in addition to the destruction at the gateway arch, you believe he may also..." 

ares lets out a laugh, "wait for it."

"has something to do with your wife's disappearance?"

"a kid that messed up? what wouldn't he do?"

the way his stepfather said that made me so angry. it made me want to dig that man out of the phone and choke him. how could he say that about him? how could he make percy feel like there was ever something wrong with him? that he was messed up— that he was so messed up?

i look at him with concern, "what?" he says, "wild right." i place my hand behind his shoulder feeling the need to provide some sort of comfort. 

"im gonna kill him." percy spoke. never thought id hear him say that....

"i knew i was gonna like you." ares tells him.

a/n sorry if its short but its about to get GOOOOOD. thank u sm for reading!!! make sure to leave a comment and a vote i rlly appreciate it! <3