𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐍° ! percy jackson

𝐢𝐢.𝐢𝐯 - 𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 (𝐚)

That night, Aurora couldn't sleep, per usual. She wasn't surprised. Much like all her nights at camp since a week ago, she stared aimlessly at the sky, the cool summer breeze nipping at her skin as she lay in the strawberry fields with nothing but the soft whooshes of winds and chirping of birds. The stars twinkled, as if they were playing a prank on her. If she was being honest, the gods totally could've told her that her life was one huge joke and she would've believed them, because what in Persephone's name was going on?

Percy had a Cyclops for a brother. None of the people she grew up with were speaking to her. Aurora had been basically evicted from the Demeter cabin, despite Gracie's complaints. She wouldn't live somewhere she wasn't welcome. Gracie told her that she would sleep outside with her, but Aurora refused. "It will only last a couple days," Gracie had said, a futile attempt at reassurance. "They'll get over it. They're just in shock, you know? Trust me, they love you. Who couldn't? Just give them time. You know them, and more importantly, they know you."

But it didn't. It had been eight days, and no one seemed to remember that Aurora was Aurora, and instead, this forbidden homewrecker. And all of a sudden, it was Aurora's fault that the monsters came for them at camp, not Luke's. It was Aurora that could be working for the bad guys, because Hades has it out for her.

Completely ridiculous.

She could feel tears pricking her eyes, and she wanted to be anywhere but the great outdoors at that moment. Luckily for her, Percy only had one cabin mate, and he seemed to like her well enough (what was it with her and the sons of Poseidon?).

She jogged lightly towards the cabins, inhaling the familiar scent of summer. She couldn't explain it; it was the grass and the warmth and the flowers and everything that was home all bundled up into one. Aurora's pace slowed as she stopped in front of Cabin 3. It was undeniably Poseidon's: tall, looming, and made of some sort of aquamarine stone, which was coincidentally the same color as Percy's eyes. During the year, she would sometimes pass by the empty cabin and think about her previous summer, how abnormal it was.

She debated knocking on the door, but decided against it. What am I doing? She asked herself, shaking her head. Percy doesn't want to talk to me after I yelled at him like a bitch. Aurora shook her head and wanted to laugh at herself. So dumb. But as she was about to walk away, Percy's loud, obnoxious voice wafted through the cracked window, and she found herself eavesdropping just a little bit. She was clearly interrupting a conversation, but she also did not seem to care one bit. It was a little deserved, if she was being honest.

"Don't say that. You're not a monster." Percy sounded guilty, and a tiny bit awkward. She could hear him shift in his bed. She was almost 100% sure he was scowling previously, due to his choppy and culpable tone.

"It is okay. I will be a good monster. Then you will not have to be mad." Aurora's heart squeezed at Tyson's determination, her lower lip pouting involuntarily. She wanted to tell him he was perfect the way he was, something she wished someone had told her. He didn't need to be any better than he already was. Aw, Tyson. Don't do that. Don't go there. It was crazy to her, because she didn't even know that cyclops could go there.

However, Percy's response surprised Aurora. "It's just... I never had a half-brother before." His voice was wavering slightly, and he sounded precariously vulnerable. Percy had always put up a front of joking and not caring about anything in the slightest. As much as she didn't want to admit it, Aurora didn't think that he actually, well, cared that much. "It's really different for me. And I'm worried about the camp. And another friend of mine, Grover... he might be in trouble. I keep feeling like I should be doing something to help, but I don't know what. I'm sorry. It's not your fault. I didn't mean to be mean to you. I'm mad at Poseidon. I feel like he's trying to embarrass me, like he's trying to compare us or something, and I don't understand why. I don't like being compared to other people, is all."