Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Kyle jolted awake as his alarm wailed through the air, it was time to get ready for school. He groaned when his alarm clock wouldn’t stop ringing, he reached over and hit the snooze button. Getting up at 6:30 am every day, for five days in a row just to go to school, was easier said than done in Kyle’s opinion. It was a process that Kyle still hadn’t quite become accustomed to. A few minutes later when he did manage to sit upright, he let out a loud groan while stretching to get the blood flowing back into his muscles.

Kyle’s hair was messy and frizzy but was no longer a fro, it got too long so now it reached his shoulders, though it had lost its previous volume the curliness was still pretty much the same. He tied his hair into a ponytail before tucking it under his hat, he could use a haircut but he never really cared about his hair growth in the first place. Though it was odd that his mother hadn’t nagged him about getting it cut, usually she’d be all over his case.

After finally getting to his feet Kyle made the trip to his bathroom to get tidy, but of course he had to wait for Ike to hurry up and get out of the bathroom. Once in the bathroom Kyle hurried to get ready so he’d still have time to eat breakfast. While Kyle got ready for school he figured that his parents would already be awake, he imagined his mom would be preparing a nice homemade breakfast while loudly humming and his dad would be sitting at the table reading the South Park Gazette. However when Kyle goes downstairs there are two bowls on the table along with a box of cereal and a carton of milk. Ike is already at the table munching on that cheap knock off brand of cereal that no one likes but Kyle’s mom always buys anyways. “Hey Ike, where’s mom and dad?” Kyle asks as he slides into the chair across from his brother.

“Mom left a note saying she needed to go out and dad holed up in his office.” Ike shrugs. Suddenly Kyle doesn't feel hungry, just sad that the morning wasn’t going like he thought it would. He got up and put the bowl into the cabinet before turning back to Ike.

“Mom and dad have been acting so weird lately, Ike. Haven’t you noticed too? Dad started picking up extra work while mom will just leave at random times in the day without saying where she’s going. They hardly even speak to me anymore; the only words I can get out of them are ‘Kyle we’ll talk later” or “go to your room.’” Kyle mimicked his mother’s New Jersey accen t.

Again Ike just shrugs like he doesn’t care. What was going on with his family?

 Not wanting to stick around that kind of situation any longer, Kyle stormed out of the kitchen and grabbed his backpack on his way to the door. “I’m going to school Ike! Tell mom and dad there’s a field trip today so I’ll be home late!” He yelled over his shoulder to Ike who just waved a dismissive hand at him without even looking up. With that, the redhead stepped out of the house into the chilly mountain air. It was like this almost every day of the year. “Stupid snow.” Kyle muttered, his shoes were getting soaked due to the snow covered sidewalk.

It seemed like it might be another normal day in the mountain town of South Park, the sun was out but it was still freezing cold. Like every other day three boys waited at the school bus stop awaiting their forth friend; this is where they met up every morning routinely. Stan got his mom to drop him off at the bus stop on her way to work instead of driving him all the way to school, so they could all take the bus together. Since the Marsh family had moved out the farm Kyle could tell that Stan was desperately trying to cling to some kind of normalcy. 

They all had in their own ways. The atmosphere around town has changed and lately Kyle noticed that things have been wildly different. It was even getting to the three other boys – Stan, Kenny, and Cartman. They stood in absolute silence, which was very rare considering Cartman always had something unpleasant to say to or about Kyle. But they all had not spoken a single word to each other since arriving at the bus stops, only nods of acknowledgement. 

The tension that had been lying thick in the air of their little town was mostly coming from the adults, who would murmur to each other when they thought their children weren’t around. It was starting to affect all of the students of South Park High School, though Kyle noted it was mainly centered around the freshmen. It felt like it was mostly their parents that were doing the secretive talks. Sheila and the other parents would stop in the middle of their sentences when the teens were in the room and waited to continue when they were out of earshot. Many parents would also randomly burst into tears or fits of anger. It was strange behavior for even Kyle’s mother and father who are usually very open and talkative about everything. The relationships between them were worse than ever but none of the teens really wanted to talk about it.

Finally the bus arrived, breaking the frightening silence they held between them, it was like the reprieve they all needed. Kyle was the first on the bus, he paused when he stepped up. He startled when he saw that their bus driver was different from the usual one but he shook his head when Cartman shoved him roughly. “Fuck off.” Kyle hissed back at him and he quickly saved a spot for Stan to sit so that Cartman wouldn’t take the seat next to him. Cartman growled at this fact and muttered a quick, ‘fucking Jew’ but surprisingly didn’t push his luck as he continued down the bus isle with Kenny in front of him. It was another surprise that left the redhead stunned at the quirk in behavior, Cartman usually would have shoved Kyle next to the window so he could slide into the seat and annoy the hell out of him.

He shook his head softly as Stan slid into the seat, close enough to Kyle that he could feel Stan's warm body heat. Kyle glanced around and made sure that no one was looking before he reached down to take Stan’s gloved hand into his own. Stan and Kyle had just started dating a couple months ago but it already felt like a long time. That might sound cliche but Kyle’s not above being sappy when it comes to Stan. They hadn’t officially announced their relationship but he’s pretty sure everyone had suspected that they were together years before they were. 

Kyle couldn’t shake this strange feeling in his chest upon seeing a new substitute bus driver, it was a slight feeling of eerie unease. Holding Stan’s hand calmed his nerves a bit but he still couldn’t help but be super aware of their surroundings. He saw that they were taking the long route to school instead of the quick shortcut that they would normally take; maybe the bus driver wasn’t informed of this? Kyle desperately wanted to believe this but he knew this not to be true and he also knew that Stan sensed this as well, the two boys exchanged a knowing look. All the students on the bus were silent, no one was going to speak up so Kyle opened his mouth to speak but Wendyl Testaburger beat him to it. 

“ Uh? Mr. Bus Driver Sir? You could’ve made a left on that street back there and it would have led us straight to school.” Wendyl informs the driver, who still says nothing and continues to drive down the road without even looking back at the students. At this point everyone realized that this was no accident and everyone had panicked looks, even Craig Tucker who has a nonchalant demeanor all the time. "Please sir, tell me where you are taking us. We're supposed to be at school by now to pick up the teachers for our field trip. We have a long day ahead, can you please take us to school? If you're lost you can take a right and it'll take you right back to our destination." Wendyl said, trying to plead with the suspicious bus driver, but again his words were ignored as he kept driving.

"Oh my god we're going to die!" wails Clyde from the back of the bus, which Kyle wouldn't have thought that was the smartest thing to say because now everyone was just freaking out more.

"I-I don't want to die, nng!!" shrieks Tweek as he started to get up from his seat, only to have the person sitting next to him pull him back.

"W-Well I don't w-want to die either!" says Butters who was whimpering and cowering against Kenny, who had his arms around Butters to comfort the distressing boy.

"We aren't going to die you fucktards." Cartman throws his two cents out there. 

“We aren't going to fucking die. You need to calm down, we're going to be just fine. Weirder things have happened in our town! All of you toughen up!" Stan turned around in his seat to glare at all the kids who had spoken. Everyone was slightly calmer now, but not by much. Kyle felt a rush of fear at his uncertainty, he had no idea if they were going to be alright. 

They were way too far from their school now for it to be an accident of a lost driver. This driver knew exactly where he was going but it was not South Park High School, it was some unknown destination with an unknown situation awaiting them. “Sir? What is going on? Where are you taking us? Please explain, you are freaking us all out.” Kyle finally said something after seeing the ‘Now leaving South Park’ sign. The bus came to a sharp stop at the side of the road, the bus doors opened and another teenager boarded the bus. Kyle only got a glimpse of the teen; he was about 16 years old and he had black hair and golden brown eyes, the strangest thing about him is that he was wearing pajamas with little birds on them.

"Who are you?" Craig demanded, but the unknown teen just smiled before lifting his fist in front of his own face without answering, then blew some bluish powder into the air as the bus moved back onto the road. Kyle’s eyes began to get heavy and he started to feel sleepy, was that because of that powder? Kyle's thoughts were sluggish, he tried with all his might to stay awake but his efforts weren't any good. Yawns and groans broke out all around the bus, it seemed the powder had affected everyone. Stan’s head flopped to the side and he slumped onto Kyle, Stan was now fast asleep. And it only took a few more seconds for Kyle and probably the rest of the bus, as he figured, to be dragged into the warm comforts of sleep.

Chapter Text

When Kyle woke up he could faintly hear crying and the hum of a motor. Were they still on the bus? Kyle slowly opened his eyes, only to find that his face was pushed up against the glass of the window. Outside the window it looked like they were on a flat plain, there were no mountains around for miles, which made it obvious that they were not in Colorado anymore. The heated air that blew in through the open window also confirmed of a much hotter and very different climate. The bus was still moving along a highway that Kyle didn’t recognize he hadn’t so much green vegetation since he went to the Amazon Rainforest when he was eight. Where could they be? Obviously still in America because every so often there would be a billboard in English, but the signs never said anything that would clue Kyle in on their whereabouts.

It was starting to heat up, especially with Stan still asleep on Kyle’s shoulder it also didn’t help that Kyle was wearing his jacket that was made for cold weather. With a quiet sigh the redhead unzipped his orange jacket, while at the same time trying to keep Stan from slumping lower. He grabbed his backpack to put his jacket in there but when he opened it he saw that instead of his school items that were usually in his pack there were clothes, his toothbrush, and some other of his own personal belongings. Now he really confused, he knew that he hadn’t packed any of that, had someone swapped out his school things for these? What was going on here?

Kyle angrily shoved his jacket into the backpack as he had meant to do, before zipping it up violently. There was something really wrong going on here and Kyle was going to get to the very bottom of it. He had started to stand up when he heard voices coming from the front of the bus.

“I’m sorry it’s going to take us longer than you planned. We had to take a different route; there were monsters all over the other one. We’re in Kansas now. I swear lugging five kids of the Big Three is going to get us all killed. We should have taken them in turns like you said, and now every monster in a 60 mile radius can smell us coming. I suggest that Jason should meet us in Topeka-” Kyle was ease dropping on the bus driver who seemed to be talking to someone. Another strange thing was that Kyle could hear the other person, and they were obviously not on the bus.

“We can’t spare Jason; he’s in Virginia getting twin daughters of Apollo. I’m running things at camp with Chiron; I could give you Nico for the time being but only for a while because we have a situation in Nebraska.” It was a guy’s voice and he sounded tired but determined on whatever they were speaking about. Kyle peered over the seat to look at the driver, what he saw startled him to stillness. There was a face on the windshield; it was the face of a boy with raven black hair and blue-green eyes. His face was slightly distorted in the mist in which he was being projected out of, especially when the windshield wipers went through the mist. How was that even possible? ‘Am I still dreaming? What camp is he talking about?’ Kyle wonders briefly. And he continues to listen in on their conversation to obtain more information.

“But Percy, Nico is horribly insensitive. What happens when all the kids come to? Vincent already helped as much as he could without falling asleep, but now his energy is spent and he’s sleeping again on the front seat of the bus. I’m really bad at explaining the whole half-blood thing and you know he is a bit... well creepy. What about Piper? Send her, she’s good at that and she can keep the kids calm.” Asks the person driving, it’s the same person as before but now that hat that he was wearing before is gone, Kyle can see his face clearly. He looks about the same age as the teenager who had blown the blue powder, but that’s where their similarities stopped. While the other in pajamas was all pale with straight black hair, this one had that Latino tan to his skin and a mop of brown wavy hair.

The boy in the mist, Percy, put on a thinking face and then sighed after a long pause when he came to a conclusion. “I’ll send Piper, Hazel, and Frank to help you from Topeka to camp; they have to pick up the Roman campers anyways. Nico will be sent to you until then. And did any of them get claimed yet?”

“Two children of Athena. Percy, I-I'm sorry about Annab-” The boy sounded a little sad, and Percy looked wrecked as if he'd been to a funeral, he quickly cut Leo off.

“Of course, thanks Leo. I’ll get Piper and the other two to you as soon as possible; they’ll most likely come by pegasi. Wait for them in Topeka. Let me know about any further complications, if the kids start waking up just stay calm and friendly, let them know that they are safe and we aren’t their enemies. And for goodness sake don’t piss any of the other Three’s children off, that’s bad news.” Percy gives the boy, Leo, a very stern look which makes him nod repeatedly.

He mocks a salute to Percy, “Yes sir.” Then he turns off the windshield wipers which made the mist disappear along with Percy’s face. Kyle saw Leo look into his mirror that reflected the interior of the bus; he ducked when Leo’s brown eyes met his green ones. “Well good morning sleeping beauty. I’m guessing you heard all of that and you are confused. Your blonde friend over there cried when I tried to talk to him so I’m hoping you won’t burst into a bunch of tears before we’ve even spoke?”

Of course now Leo was talking to him seeing that Kyle is awake. At the mention of his ‘blonde friend’, Kyle heard Butters whimpering behind him. His throat ran dry and his thoughts were flying through his head at a million miles per minute, Kyle didn’t know what to say or ask first. Kyle was trying to find the most intelligent question to ask and he had just found it when he blurted out, “Who the fuck are you?”

That made Leo raise an eyebrow but he also laughed, “Big language for someone of your age. You’re twelve right?”

“I asked you a question first.” Kyle shot back at the boy, very irritated at the fact that Leo had just laughed at Kyle.

“Yeah alright, that’s fair enough. I’m Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus and I am your official camp bus driver/mechanic, but I’m not a chauffeur, this is a one way trip.” Leo keeps his eyes on the road this time instead of looking back up at the mirror. He pretended to sound official but Kyle could hear the joking tone in his voice.

“My name is Kyle and I’m fourteen not twelve. Hephaestus is the name of a Greek god; did your dad’s parents hate him so much that they had to name him that.” The rhetorical question didn’t seem to surprise Leo who just laughed warmly at Kyle’s attempts to irritate him.

“Well yeah he is a Greek god, so he would have that name. And I don’t know about Zeus but Queen Hera wasn’t too happy.” Leo says nonchalantly as if he talks about Greek mythology on a regular basis. Which for some reason ticked Kyle off more, it was like Leo was trying to tease him or something.

“Bullshit! Your dad isn’t a god. You’re lying, asshole.” Kyle retorts bitterly and rolls his eyes. He doesn’t have time for this guy’s malarkey.

“My dad is the Greek god Hephaestus just as your mother is Athena.” Leo says in a matter-of-fact voice as he switched lanes on the freeway.

“My mom’s name is Sheila, not Athena. You’ve got the wrong kid.” Kyle grits his teeth as he thinks of the backpack filled with personal items. Though he was still skeptical about the whole Greek god thing, that sort of thing shouldn’t be possible.

“That’s not what the glowing owl says above your head, little dude. Athena has claimed you as her child. Nothing you can do about it now except embrace it.” Leo’s eyebrow creases and he squints at the gas meter. Kyle looked up in bewilderment, but Leo was not lying, there was a glowing owl above his own head. “Damn it looks like we’re going to need gas soon.”

“Where are we going?” Even though Kyle already knew the answer to that question from eavesdropping on Leo, he asked it anyways.

“To Camp Half-Blood as soon as I pick up my friends in Topeka. So please no more questions save them for the girls… and Frank.” Leo sounds a little wistful as he pulls into a self-service gas station. “Don’t get off the bus; yeah I know this is odd. But it’s dangerous out here. Stay in your seat, calm your sobbing friend, do what you want just stay on the bus.” Leo half pleaded, half commanded as he shut off the engine and stood up. Leo wasn’t as tall as Kyle had thought he’d looked at first glance, he was probably only about 5’4 or 5’5. It also looked like Leo had changed out of the bus driver uniform and was now wearing jeans and an orange shirt with C.H.B on the front; Kyle could only guess that it stood for the place that Leo had mentioned before. Camp Half-Blood.

When Leo had gotten off the bus to go pay for the gas, Kyle watched him walk toward the store before he got up. He made sure Stan was lying down and wasn’t going to roll off the seat then walked down the aisle in between the seats. Kyle found Butters curled up in a ball in the seat he was sharing with Kenny, their seat was across from the emergency exit. “Butters are you okay, dude?”

The blonde didn’t look at Kyle; he only shook his head to answer his question but said nothing to him. “It’s okay Butters, I’m going to go get help. I need you to look at me, Butters. We need to work together if we have any chance at getting away alright?” Kyle said calmly, there was no reason to be stern that would only cause Butters to freak out more. After a few minutes Butters visibly relaxed and looked up at Kyle with tears that threatened to spill over his cheeks again.

“H-how can I help, Kyle?” Butters asked cautiously as if he wasn’t sure if he wanted to.

“All you have to do is make sure that Leo is still putting gas while I make a run for it, also if Stan wakes up tell him that I’m getting help and to hang in there. Make sure that everyone doesn’t go berserk. We’ll all be just fine. Now can you do that for me? Keep watch, let Stan know, and help keep the peace. Those are your tasks can you handle that Butters?”

“Oh hamburgers… I-I-I think s-” at that moment, a cry came from someone toward the back. It was Tweek; he bolted up onto his feet, looking as if he’d run a marathon.

“Oh my god! They’re all dead. Ahh!! That dude killed my friends.” Tweek was twitching more than normal; he whipped his head side to side looking for movement.

“They aren’t dead, Tweek, they’re just sleeping from what I can tell. Now you have to relax and do what Butters says until help arrives, okay?” Kyle is bone deep tired but he knows wasting time here isn’t going to help; he just has to trust Butters to do what he told him. So without listening to Tweek’s response, Kyle opened the emergency exit that was facing the road and jumped off the bus to the pavement below. Kyle took in his surroundings, the sun was high in the sky which indicated that it was about noon and there were trees and bushes everywhere. Quickly Kyle took off on foot towards the road, his plan was to flag down a car and hopefully use the person’s cellphone to contact the police. But Kyle didn’t even get that far, he went running into someone, successfully knocking them both to the ground. The boy he’d run into was not Leo, no this boy was smaller and had a more menacing feel to him. Kyle felt as if all the warmth had been sucked from his body as he looked into those chilly cold eyes. This boy was sickly pale like he’d never been in the sun before, and his hair was a very dark brown color. The face he was giving Kyle made him look older than he probably is, more mentally aged than he should be. He was thin enough that Kyle might have thought he really was sick or dying, but Kyle knew better from when he crashed into him that the boy had muscle. And he had a sword dangling from a sheath at his waist which made Kyle scramble away.

It seemed that Leo heard the commotion Kyle caused and so he peeked around the back of the bus with a frown. “I told you to stay in the bus kid… Nice catch, Nico. It seems like you always pop in at the right second, even if it is kind of weird when you do. Oh I have been meaning to ask. Have you accidentally shadow traveled in on someone taking a shower? Wait. Actually I really don’t even want to know.” Leo babbles on, it didn’t look like he was mad at all that Kyle had tried to escape.

Nico rose to his feet and dusted the dirt off of his pants, letting Leo chatter on about Nico’s ‘shadow travel ninja powers’ before hauling Kyle unkindly to an upright position. “Gods, do you ever stop talking, Leo? Come one we have to get them to camp before An- I mean Percy throws a fit. Then I have to get back to the Underworld and right now, you talking, is wasting my time.” Nico grumbles in an unfriendly tone. Kyle heard that again, stopping before saying that name again, he glanced at Leo who had another brief sad moment, before putting up a smiled.

“Okay, I get it. Well it looks like we’re all gassed up and ready to get to Topeka. Get back in the bus, kid. Let’s get this show on the road because we’re wasting Grumpy McSkully’s, aka Nico di Angelo, time.” There was no room for argument; Kyle had been caught trying to escape and this was the result.

Though to be far his plan wasn’t fool proof, it was all he could think of at that moment he was improvising on the spot. His plan had failed and now he follows Leo back to the bus with the ever so silent Nico trailing behind. Kyle didn’t like the feel of Nico’s gaze on him, it made him uneasy just like the first time he’d seen Leo. Now he knew why Leo had called Nico creepy when he was talking to Percy, his presence was just unsettling. Like the time that Death came after Kenny, that’s how it felt to have Nico near Kyle. Butters and Tweek looked confused but also ashen when they saw that Kyle had been caught and returned to the bus, their eyes longed for an explanation that Kyle could not give them. “Alright future campers, back in your seats we have a long road ahead.” Kyle took a seat next to Stan again once he got his boyfriend upright. The creepy kid, Nico sat in the front seat next to the sleeping teenager in the bird pajamas, he and Leo seemed to be conversing in low tones so that Kyle couldn’t overhear.

A loud groan from the back signaled Cartman waking up from his induced sleep. “This is going to be a long ride.” Kyle sighed as Leo pulled out of the gas station and back onto the open road. Kyle had expected Cartman to start cussing the driver out but he seemed to be more worried about something else, enough to be almost completely silent. Butters and Tweek talked quietly about their parents and what was probably happening in South Park, and Kyle let himself listen. He felt some what calm listening to his two classmates as they exchanged somewhat chill conversation. It went on like this for an hour and half; Tweek, Butters, and Craig (who woke up 20 minutes previous) played small games to get their minds off of the situation at hand and the nervousness that they were all feeling. Kyle had tried to wake up Stan without much luck, it seems that whatever that blue powder was worked too well on Kyle's boyfriend and everyone else who was still asleep. Stan, Kenny, Pip, Clyde, Wendy, Bebe, Token, Damien, and their other classmates were not yet conscious, though some of then were moving and groaning as if they were going to wake up.

Kyle has just begun to relax, as much as one could while being held hostage, when bus started to pick up speed. They were probably over the speed that was legal on this road. Kyle had to keep Stan from falling out of their seat as the bus accelerated and picked up more speed. Why was Leo speeding? Was someone chasing them? Maybe it was the police, Kyle thought hopeful that someone had reported them missing.

“Oi! Slow down!!” Cartman yelled from the back, Kyle glanced back to see that Cartman was turning an alarming shade of green. The large boy was also clutching the seat in front of him with dear life, he was going to hurl from motion sickness. For a second Kyle felt bad for Cartman who looked as if he wasn't fairing to well with the new speed.

“Just hold on tight, it’s going to be a bumpy ride!” Leo shouted to Kyle, Butters, Tweek, and Cartman. And that’s when Kyle sees the large crowd of what appeared to be people standing in the center of the highway. And they were driving full speed towards them without sign of stopping! Leo was going to run down all of those people! Pure anxiety and panic swelled up in Kyle’s chest again he started to shout at Leo to stop, Tweek and Cartman were also yelling at the driver who spurred on. He couldn’t hear himself or his friends over the blood rushing through his ears, but he knew that he was shrieking curses that would get him grounded if his (fake) mother had ever heard them. It was kind of like time was slowing down until they were nearly a yard away from the crowd. Kyle said a quick prayer in Hebrew, and he shut his eyes tightly and waited for the impact.

Obviously it was too late to break now; Leo went crashing straight through the barricade of people that were standing in the path of the bus. Kyle heard the awful thudding sounds of the bodies hitting the bus, but when he opened his eyes there was no blood, all the people who got hit turned to sand grains. Sand? Humans didn’t turn into sand; blood came out of humans not sand. Then all of the sudden Kyle’s concentration broke through some kind of mystic barrier because the things that had just looked like people now were monsters with large fangs and scales. It was like a switch had been flipped in Kyle’s vision and a whole new world unfolded in front of his eyes. Monsters of different, size, shape, color, etc. stretched out down the road, they were all different but equally as scary. These were things you would see in movies, in dreams, and on TV but not in real life, these were real live monsters. These things could actually harm or kill everyone on the bus, and they look like they would do it without mercy too.

Things were just not making sense to Kyle, nothing was clicking in his brain. Confusion and fear took the place of the emotions he was just feeling before. And now for the third time today Kyle asks himself, ‘What is going on here?’

Chapter Text

When Kyle’s hearing switched back on he could hear the combined shrieks of Tweek, Cartman, Craig, and Butters. And to top it all off the effects of sleeping powder was wearing off the rest of his classmates. The worst time it could wear off would be now, everyone would panic once they come to, it was inevitable. It even looked like the sleeping teenage boy, Vincent, was awake due to all the commotion; he was attempting to stand but he obviously could not get his balance on the floor of the speeding bus. He kept just falling back down into his seat despite his attempts to get up, but he never once demanded that Leo slow the bus. He knew that they were in immediate danger and needed to get out of there as quick as possible.

Kyle was holding onto Stan to make sure that he wouldn’t fall over into the aisle, so this might help partially with the panic that Stan may feel when he woke up completely. He could only hope that his boyfriend maintained a level head but that was like hoping for rain in a hot desert. So Kyle did the best he could by holding onto Stan’s arm tight, probably tight enough that it might accidentally leave a bruise. Kyle hadn’t even realized that Clyde, Bebe and Wendy’s screams along with two other students that Kyle didn’t recognize had joined into the chorus of high pitched wailing.

The window by Butters’ and Kenny’s seat took the pointed end of a spear and shattered into a million pieces all over the two. Butters let out a shriek as a monster tried to get in through the broken window now that it had seized its opportunity. Nico had appeared as if by magic on Butters’ seat, he shoved the two blondes into the aisle and drew a sharp black sword. The sword seemed to radiate a dark light and feeling because Kyle got the chills when it was revealed; Nico used it to disintegrate the reptilian monster with a slice and a sharp jab to the gut. “Everyone crouch down in your seats and cover your head with your hands.” Leo rasped over the intercom but none of the students were listening, they were all clutching the seats or each other for dear life, somewhere even crying. There was too much din for anyone to properly hear much less follow what Leo had instructed them to do. So Kyle just wrapped his arms around Stan and began to pray harder in Hebrew but at one point it turned to English and what he said even surprised him.

“If I am your son, Athena, please don’t let Stan and I die here. There was so much I wanted to do. If you would just help me out in a moment of pure need, I’ll do anything.” Kyle wanted to take the words back as soon as he said them, he felt incredibly stupid praying to a god he didn’t even really believe in. He had always had faith in Judaism ever since he was a little tyke, but now to find out that there was a god or well gods as in plural it baffled him. But if this would help even a little bit then he would pray to a mother that he never knew he even had. At that moment the air in front of Kyle began to shimmer and into his lap appeared a sheathed sword and a bronze shield, on the sword there was an engraving that Kyle knew was in Ancient Greek but he could somehow read it perfectly well like it was English. It looked like: Anerrhíphthō kýbos. But Kyle read it like: ‘Let the die be cast.’ Without any time to think about what it meant that he mother has actually answered his prayer or how he could read Ancient Greek, Kyle focused on the matter at hand which was getting to Topeka alive.

Kyle understood what was to be done he could feel the meaning behind the gifts. His mother meant for him to fight for his life or to be gone, protect what he loved or he was useless to her. So Kyle sat the awakening Stan on the floor in the small space between their seat and the next then got to his feet with the unsheathed sword in hand. Nico was handling a large monster that was trying and succeeding to rip off the roof of the bus. Kyle decided to deal with a monster that was trying to pry the emergency exit door open with its sharp claws. He saw that the thing had the face of a woman (that looked a little like his stern preschool teacher), wings of an eagle, and a body of a lion. Kyle scrambled to remember what this creature was called, he had read it somewhere in a mythology book but that was years ago but still he tried to grasp the memory. “Now, honey let me ask you a question. What is at the end of a rainbow?” The voice the Sphinx had sounded like a stern math teacher who was about to give detention for a wrong answer.

Kyle suddenly remembered what he was up against, a monster called the Sphinx who asked a riddle or question and if you got it right you’d live to see another day. If you got it wrong… well then you became Sphinx chow. So Kyle took a moment to think about it but then he figured that since everyone knew that phrase it would be... “Uh… gold?” Kyle guessed but as soon as those words left his mouth he knew he was wrong. He had fucked up bad, now it was fight or die, and he’d much rather not be dead. The Sphinx licked her lips and shook her head with a fearsome smirk.

“Oh no, dear it seems you’ve answered incorrectly. Time for lunch.” She roared as she pulled her lion body into the bus and sprang at Kyle. Quickly Kyle took up his sword, prayed to his mother for guidance, and then he swung the sword. All he could do was hope for a death blow to kill the monster that was set on killing him.

Chapter Text

KYLE

Kyle always did have a problem with hand eye coordination, especially when it came to sports. For the most part he was good at football, basketball, even soccer, but the one game he could not play and hated with all his being was baseball. Oh how he could calculate a certain degree and swing, the ball would never connect with his bat. He’d try over and over, going so far as to practice an hour a day at the park. He could never land a single hit on a ball, not one. Not that he thought it would ever come in handy (like now for instance) he just couldn’t accept that he was bad at playing baseball. He kept on trying though, joining team after team to better himself at the sport but it wouldn't click. He couldn’t accept it because he was good at so many things; he always got straight A’s, he was good at making people like him, he could hold a decent job (if you count being the mascot at Whistlin’ Willy’s), and he could play sports. But he couldn’t play this one game where you hit the ball with a stick, how ridiculous is that?

So imagine his frustration when he swung that sword and completely missed the Sphinx; Kyle was more frustrated than baffled. Or he would have been if it wasn’t for the rush of fear that came with, because he had missed the Sphinx, his backside was now vulnerable and open. There was nothing Kyle could do but scream as he felt the claws of the monster rake across his back, ripping through his own white t-shirt. The pain was excruciating; it was almost as if someone had taken a hot wire to his back in three separate places. Kyle had never felt this kind of pain before, the pain thats so intense it balls up your stomach in nerves or makes you want to black out instantly. Next came the blood, it was hot and it stung as rolled down his back in red rivers. But was worst of all was the smell of his own blood that had reached his nose. It smelled so bad, like rust and iron, it was enough to make his stomach lurch. The smell was thick in the air around him so Kyle had no doubt that he was severely injured, this was no kitty scratch.

Every move had to count, he made the wrong one and now he was paying for it with pain. Tears fell down his face as the air hit the fresh wounds, it was living hell.

Kyle whirled around though his painful injuries screamed at him not to move an inch, but he still managed to. The Sphinx was smirking at him with her razor sharp teeth; she licked her chaps hungrily as she got ready for a second strike. Kyle’s mind was running through possible scenarios, with a quick glance over his shoulder at the torn-open emergency door exit, a plan began to form. Though if his plan failed he would surely die, with no doubt about it, so he figured that he’d better live. It’d really suck if he only got to live for 14 years; he had so much to look forward to, such a bright future ahead. He was not going to let some mythological, or well supposed mythological creature take all of his life opportunities away from him. No he was going to fight his way to the top so that he could show everyone, even himself that he could make it if he really tried.

On that note he watch the monster in front of him with a careful eye; the tension on her hindquarters, the deep breaths. The timing had to be perfect, it had to be just right so Kyle waited and he watched. As the time passed his confidence skyrocketed, he was absolutely sure he was going to survive. He had to for Stan, for his mother, for everyone who had ever wasted their time on Kyle because he had something to prove now, that he could be useful and he could help. Sweat rolled down his forehead, his face only to collect at his chin and drop down onto the floor. But Kyle did not take his eyes away from the lethal being in front of him, no he was not going to make that mistake. Watching and waiting was the key to defeating this monster with Kyle's plan, it was makeshift but it would do the trick, or at least Kyle really hoped it would.

The twitch in the Sphinx’s face gave away her attack, giving Kyle just enough time to duck down low as she sprang with her claws extended. Obviously she was not expecting Kyle to be ready for her attack, so her eyes widened in surprise and her mouth was in a pink ‘o’ as she sailed over Kyle’s head. She had overshot her jump. It was Kyle’s turn to smirk up at the monster as he thrusted his sword up into the chest, and presumably the heart of the beast. Kyle moved the sword downwards, making a very large incision on the monster's underbelly. At first nothing happened and the Sphinx continued to move over Kyle toward the open exit. And then the Sphinx burst into a cloud of golden dust that rained down upon the teen that was below the monster. It was like glitter that had burst out of a balloon or a pinata, and it got everywhere, it burned his skin like fire when it touched the open cuts on his back. Though couldn't care less because he was alive right now, he was alive because he had killed that monster.

Kyle whooped in joy because he has killed his very first monster and lived to see another day. That is until the bus began to shake due to the monsters pounding against it because of this Kyle lost his balance and began to stumble backwards. He was going backwards toward the open emergency door. Kyle flailed in open air for a second; his sword went clattering to the floor and out of the bus as he started to fall out of the doorway into the crowd of hungry monsters. It was kind of like someone had paused a movie or pressed a slow motion button because nothing was connecting in his brain. It all felt as if he was moving so slow, wind whistled through his ears and his hair tickled the back of his neck. He saw the sky, thinking it was the last time we could be able to see something as beautiful as the open sky. The life he had lived flashed through his mind, he saw his family at the back of his mind. He felt the despairing loneliness of them all growing apart; of all of them pushing him away, there was resentment in Kyle's heart. But all he wanted to know was why? Why had his mother sent him away? 

He gasped in relief as someone grabbed his outstretched hand which he had extended in hopes of catching a hold of something to stop the falling.  A choked sound made it out of his throat and into the open. It was an utterly startled and relieved sound all mixed into one. The red-head’s heart skipped a beat when he caught sight of who was holding him up, it was Stan. Stan’s blue eyes bore into Kyle’s green ones, those eyes Kyle could look into for hours even when he was mad at Stan. Those beautiful eyes were amazing, and their owner had just saved his life. Stan had been smiling at first but it slowly faded to a frown as Stan helped Kyle safely in the bus. Stan was pale, looking very worried, but it seemed like his words escaped him because he hadn’t said a word to Kyle. Or a word that Kyle could hear, everything in his ears were silent, even as he himself began to talk excessively. The world was on mute, his ears couldn't register anything but the beating of their hearts and the blood pumping through his ears. Finally the adrenaline he had been running on since they boarded the damn bus was starting to wear thin and fade away to nothingness.  

“You’re awake. I thought you’d sleep through this whole mess but I guess I was wrong. Tell me I’m dreaming, this can’t be real can it? Stan? Say something, Stan. You’re freaking me out!” Kyle mutters, holding onto Stan since his legs began to tremble, he could no longer keep himself up seeing as he was starting to get dizzy from blood loss.

The world was spinning around him; Kyle’s stomach lurched and before he knew it he had thrown up all over Stan’s shoes. “Sorry.” He whispered as his vision started to blur. Spots danced before his very eyes making Kyle smile and laugh funnily, he reached out to touch one, but it just shifted the skin on his back, causing him to cry out in world tilting pain. Soon enough everything went black, he went limp in Stan’s arms, and the last thing he saw was a bright light. All Kyle could think was ‘please don’t let me die here’ before all coherent thought was gone as he sank into a painless sleep.

STAN

Stan had woken up to complete and utter chaos, things that sounded like he was in hell and not on a school bus. His classmates were screaming at the top of their lungs, people were scrambling to and fro in the aisle, and there was inhuman sounds coming from all over. It was a mad house, completely insane. Stan barely had time to wonder what the hell was going on. All he could remember was that he had got on the bus, Kyle had saved him a seat so they could sit next to one another. But then something was happening. Something had gone wrong, but Stan couldn't put his finger on it because his memories were still a little fuzzy. Speaking of Kyle, Stan looked through the churning body for the bright red hair that belonged to one Kyle Broflovski, but the crowd was too thick for him to get a good look for anyone resembling Kyle.

Bits and pieces began to come back to Stan; they had gotten on the bus but the bus driver had been going the wrong way like his intentions were to kidnap the children. Oh and then some douchebag got on the bus and knocked them out with tear gas??? What was that stuff?

Stan looked out the window, mouth dropping open at what he saw. Monsters for miles around, and the thing is Stan doesn't even find it weird because from all the things he experience in his childhood monsters wouldn't be the strangest.

"Holy shit that is a lot of fucking monsters, I wonder if-"

Then Stan saw it, the flash of red he had been looking for, instantly he was on his feet trying to get through. Butters was crouching with Kenny's barely waking body in the aisle, he was blocking Stan so he had to push Butters aside to see what was going on. But it still wasn't enough with everyone moving around, trying to get away from the windows where the monsters were aiming all sorts of items. Weapons, food snacks, clothing, even a fucking toaster oven were thrown at the windows in order to get their defenses down. Stan had played pretend with his friends long enough as a child to be able to deal with this kind of situation calmly, well that is until he saw:

Kyle standing in by the emergency exit door with a sword and shield in each hand facing what first appeared to be a lion. But after taking a good look at the thing, Stan realized that it was no ordinary lion as it had wings and from the side it looked like it had a human head. Stan wanted to shout to Kyle but he’d seen enough movies to know when to bite his tongue in a situation like this, Kyle couldn’t afford to be distracted if his life was in danger. When Kyle had swung his sword the first time, a sinking feeling settled in Stan’s gut because he knew it wasn’t going to land the moment Kyle started to move.

"Kyle!! Oh my god!" Stan shouted as he saw the blood.

Immediately upon Kyle being slashed on the back Stan tried to get to him, pushing multiple students from his way. There wasn’t a lot of space between where he was standing and where Kyle was but it seemed to take a lifetime to get to Kyle. Stan could see that Kyle was bleeding out quickly, that was dangerous because there was a hospital nowhere near where they were at.

By then Kyle had slain the monster, looking fierce as a warrior but with that warrior sharpness there was fear and pain.

Then the bus shook just as Kyle started to stand which became the reason why Kyle stumbled backwards, towards the open emergency exit door. Seeing the bewilderment and fear on his boyfriend’s face was enough to get him going. Stan had rushed forward with steel determination; he reached out his hand and caught Kyle’s in a firm grip. The ice that had run through his veins seemed to melt because the warmth of Kyle’s hand was enough to comfort him. Quickly Stan brought Kyle back into the bus, into his waiting arms. Oh how he wanted to cry in relief or something along those lines, he was going to when he remembered that Kyle needed him right now. Kyle held onto Stan with a weakening grip as him legs failed on him, he was muttering something under his breath that Stan couldn’t make out. It had been extremely difficult to hold up Kyle’s weight without touching the no doubt painful wounds on his back. Stan had been so freaked out from the time he woke up to now, but even more so now. He realized that he was shouting trying to get Kyle to hear him but it seemed that his boyfriend couldn’t hear due to shock.

"Kyle?!?! Stay with me! Dude stay with me please!! Please Kyle you can't do this to me you bastard now stay awake!! God damn it don't die. Just don't die okay. Alright alright. You're going to be fine! You are going to be just fine! We'll find you a doctor, we'll stop the bleeding and you'll be okay. I promise, Kyle I'll take care of you but you have to keep your eyes open and fight!" Stan was shouting, trying to get the attention of Kyle to motivate him so that he wouldn't give up.

Now all he could do is half drag half carry Kyle to back to their seat, past a wailing Butters who was staring at Kyle’s bleeding wounds. The Jewish boy had already passed out around this time, was it due to blood loss or shock he had sustained? Possibly the combination of the two had been too much for his body to handle at the moment, not mention the emotional trauma he would later go through.

Stan couldn't remember the first aid training he was taking this year, his brain was scattered and frazzled. Was he supposed to hold down the wounds? Or was he supposed to wait and see if he stopped bleeding? Was he even supposed to move Kyle? Wouldn't that cause more damage? No that was in people who fell from high and hit there head or were in car accidents. What was he supposed to do for Kyle?

This was Kyle. Kyle whom we went to school and did everything in the world with, someone he couldn't live with out. They lived out their lives together this far, they were always together even when they fought. They always made up  afterwards, he couldn't let this be the last time he spent with Kyle, holding down his bloody back while he dies. Stan couldn't do that. Not when they got this far, Stan barely told Kyle that he actually loved him just a few days ago. It had been a milestone for the teens, it was something that Stan was proud to say even around their friends, he liked to watch Kyle blush and tell him to shut up. There was so much time for that to happen again, Stan wouldn't let Kyle die because if he did, who would laugh at his stupid jokes? Who would come over and stay the night with him when he was sick? Who would he love unconditionally? It had to be Kyle. 

“Butters!! Shut the fuck up and get over here. I need you to calm the fuck down; I need your help with Kyle’s injuries. Screaming and crying isn’t going to do anyone any good so wipe your face up.” Stan snapped at the sniveling boy who was sitting on the floor hugging himself and sobbing uncontrollably. Quickly Stan ripped off his own jacket, using it to apply pressure to the continuously bleeding gouges on Kyle’s back. Soon enough Butters was by his side, looking very frightened but less worked up oppose to before.

“W-what can I do t-t-to help?” Butters stammers out while trying not wince as he sees the full extent of the wounds cut into his friend’s back. The blond’s pale face indicated that he was going to be sick if he looked at it any longer so Stan decided that he needed someone else to help as Butters was going to be of no use to him with those unsteady hands. Quickly he had to come up with another solution that would be beneficial to Kyle's survival, he needed someone with first aid training, and then it came to him. But he wasn't sure if she could do anything about this deep cuts.

Finally Stan came to a conclusion, “I need you to get Wendy. Tell her that Kyle is hurt and I need her help to keep him alive long enough to reach a hospital. Go now Butters!!” Stan barked out as he applied more pressure to Kyle’s backside, it seemed like it was stemming the blood flow a little or maybe Kyle had lost too much blood?? Stan really didn’t know it was Kyle who knew everything; he was the smarter half Stan, the half that Stan could not lose. Butters nodded then swiftly left to find Wendy. All Stan could do was hope that Wendy would know what to do in this situation; Wendy was one of the smartest people he knew, with Kyle being the second.

Wendy arrived with her hair tied back and her coat shed, “Alright Stan, I need you to remove your hands so I can replace your sweater with mine,” Stan did as Wendy asked and removed his hand along with the blood soaked sweater. Wendy continued her instructions as she carefully got Kyle’s shirt off and used the remaining cloth to make bandages. “You need to go get that bus driver or one of the other people; they caused this to happen now they need to help us fix it. For the most part the bleeding has stopped, but I’m going to use this to bandage the wounds until we can get to a hospital. And even if the bleeding does stop we still need to get anti-biotics to ensure that infection doesn’t set in.” Wendy took out a tube of Neosporin, though it was pretty obvious that it wasn’t enough to cover all of the lacerations. But she applied what she had to his back, that’s how Stan left things as he made his way to the front of the bus.

LEO

Leo had finally navigated them out of the seemingly never ending cluster of monsters after going through a flock of Stymphalian birds. Those monsters had quickly been defeated by awful music that Leo had played. After that no monsters were in sight, it seems that the monster attacks let up; finally they could relax a little. They slowed down a bit so that Leo wasn’t quite speeding but he was still going fast to avoid any mishaps with more monsters.

Honestly was not expecting that, he had tried to take a different route to avoid that situation but it had been inevitable. The monsters would always find the half-bloods one way or another just this time it seemed the Fates didn’t seem to be on their side. He just wanted to see the kids to Camp Half-Blood in peace, that’s all Leo wanted for this batch but no he could never have that. So once the monsters were far far behind them, Leo pulled over to the side of the road, just outside of Topeka, where Piper, Hazel, and Frank would be meeting them.

Many of the kids had come up to him for all sorts of reasons; to ask questions, to demand that he take them home, etc. One of the kids had informed him that another kid was hurt, clawed by a Sphinx but that he was still alive and needed to see a doctor. Leo had just calmly reassured the kid, Stan, that help was coming. He may have had to tell a little white lie that Leo had called the paramedics, just to get the blue eyed boy off his case. Nico was guarding the emergency exit door now that there was a lack of an actual door there and Vincent had contacted Percy via IM (Iris Message) to update him on the situation. Vincent also contacted Piper, letting her know what happened as well.

He had already been on so many of these runs, picking up demigods from all over the nation, he’s been to almost every state except maybe Oregon, Montana, and Hawaii but there was a time and place for everything. Most of them had gone perfectly, got to camp with little or no accidents, but that wasn’t always the case. A lot of them were close calls because of all the monsters they encountered, it was hard getting half-bloods to camp in one piece, but it wasn’t impossible. This one was considered one of those that did not go smoothly as Leo had hoped it would. He had to know, somewhere in the back of his brain that this would not go perfectly because of all the damn half-bloods he was driving across the country. Leo was surprised that they even made it to Kansas, let alone Topeka.

There were just too many things that could’ve happened with all the scents of the demigods combining. It was like they were inviting monsters to come have a feast, but it was all they could do for now was hold them off as best as possible.

Leo actually ran off the bus when he saw the pegasi, he never thought he would be so happy to see flying stallions but here he is. Happy. Even more so when he saw there was an extra flying horse, and on it was his immortal girlfriend, Calypso. He waved his arms crazily with a smile as they landed beside the bus, earning gasps from the teenagers on the bus at the sight of the steeds. “Oh thank gods you guys are here. I am so cut out for this kind of thing. Let’s never have kids, okay?” Leo walks up to them with his hands in his pockets, his usual impish grin on his lips.

“Aw not even the cute babies Jason and I will have?? How cruel, Leo. There goes every date night for the rest of my life.” Piper sticks her tongue out at her friend as they make their way over to the Latino. Piper gives him a tight hug then moves to board the bus; next up is Calypso, whom gives Leo not only a gentle hug but also a chaste kiss on the lips.

“I didn’t know you were coming. What made you change your mind?” Leo asks his girlfriend carefully as he ran his eyes over her, not really believing what he was seeing. She really was there; dressed in an orange Camp Half-Blood shirt and black jeans with that beautiful smile Leo loved.

“I overheard Percy telling Piper that things weren’t going to well out here so I volunteered to come out to help you out. The more the merrier I suppose? Is that the appropriate phrase to use there? But like I said, I thought you might need my help so here I am.” Calypso explains as she fiddles with Leo’s fingers that were now laced with her own. Someone from behind Calypso clears their throat, trying to get the attention of the two that were blocking the bus entryway.

“Glad to see that you two are reunited again but I think we should get on the bus to get this show back on the road and on its way to camp.” It was Frank’s voice, Leo peered over Calypso’s shoulder to look at the last two of the group, looking flustered as ever due to Calypso and Leo’s open affection. Of course, Leo would have loved to tease them about it he knew now wasn’t the time. So instead of doing that he let go of Calypso’s hand and stepped to the side.

“Be my guest.”

Chapter Text

PIPER

Saying that the bus was in disarray would be an understatement of the actual chaos that was taking place at the moment. At least 5 of these high school kids were crying, 9 of them were trying to yell over each other, and 4 looked like they were going to be sick. Then there was the injured kid, who was unconscious and lying face down in one of the seats. From what Piper could see, his back was bandaged with ripped up cloth (probably from the shirtless kid, hovering near the injured one. Calypso was trying to make her way to the injured one but the previously mentioned chaos was preventing her from getting any further.

That’s where Piper’s gift of charmspeaking came in handy. She needed to get the whole bus to shut up so that everyone could breath and relax. Proceeding with such a state could make this get even uglier.

Quickly she grabbed the sound system’s speaker, “Attention, people. Everyone please be silent. You can rest easy because you are safe now. Settle down so that my friends and I can do our jobs. Everything is alright now, so have a seat and relax. You are in good hands now.” Piper laces the soothing charmspeak into her words.

“Hey, they were in good hands with me, Beauty Queen... that is until you know the monsters showed up.” Leo mutters in protest. But the only reason Piper could hear him is because the shouting, whimpering, and crying was fading into quiet. Piper waited until everyone had calmed down, including Leo who had been looking so tense, his shoulders were relaxed and he loomed less guilty. The kids all shuffled around until they were all sitting down, they still looked a bit scared but it wasn’t as bad as earlier.

“Okay this is good, now that you are all settled we can get started on part one of your orientation. My name is Piper McLean, I am the head counselor of the Aphrodite Cabin at Camp Half-Blood. If you are on this bus, it means you are a half-blood, a demigod like us at camp. This means that each one of you has a godly parent and a mortal parent. I know this may be a lot to take in and all of your must be very confused, I was when I first found out what this all means.” Piper took a small pause to keep herself from rambling. She hated having the attention of so many people. Piper inhaled. “You all are in danger unless we get you to Camp Half-Blood, it’s one of two safe places for demigods. That is if you are a Greek demigod. We’ll go more into whose Greek and whose Roman later, right now I want to know if I have any questions from you guys.” Piper exhaled slowly, she’d been practicing her speech on the way over but nothing could prepare her from the 20 or so shocked eyes on her, which was really starting to make her uncomfortable. Everyone was silent except for Calypso and Hazel who were conversing in hushed tones. No one made a move for about a minute, before one pale hand shot up from the middle of the bus.  “Uhh yes? You in the pink.” Piper pointed to the girl who promptly stood up even though one of her friends was trying to get her sit back down.

“Assuming you are telling the truth, Piper… Can you tell me why we all have two “mortal” parents back in South Park? Are you telling us one of people we thought to be our parents is a fake? The lives that we lived are almost complete lies? And why couldn’t you have found us sooner if we are that at risk?” The girl asked in a harsh tone, one that was full of challenge and malice. She reminded Piper of when she’d first met Annabeth Chase, a girl who was full of questions. Though this girl had straight ink black hair with mencing hazel eyes, she thought highly of herself by the way she talked and stood. It was obvious that she was wise for her age, she may look young but she had some good questions. Though those said questions began to stir murmurs with in her group again, and some of the kids started to whimper again.

“There is a magic called that Mist that has been hiding you from being detected, we were given a tip by one of your parents about your whereabouts.” Piper was really walking on eggshells now, she was losing the favor of the kids. It looked like the girl was ready to fire another round of questioning when some from the back noisily yelled.

“This is so awesome! That means my dad was a god! Ha!! I bet my dad is Zeus, all of you losers get the lame gods! Hell yeah this is so sweet!!” Piper took an instant dislike to the boy in the back who was bragging about his possible godly lineage. He was standing up on his seat with his hands in the air. He looked about 15, with short cropped light brown hair, dark brown eyes and he looked slightly overweight.The kid had this evil look to him as if he was the kind of person that kicked puppies or set butterflies on fire while they flew. Piper really hoped that he wasn’t a son of Zeus because that would mean he would be related to Jason. She inwardly shuddered as the boy continued, much to everyone's chagrin, to taunt his peers with a lot of “ha ha, ha ha” and “na na na na”. He was generally just being a huge pain in everyone’s neck, especially Piper’s. She now had a throbbing headache.

“Ugh!!! Eric do you ever shut the fuck up? I swear to whatever God or Gods that are up there that I will not hesitate to go back there are kick your fat a-” The previous girl growled turning around only to see the boy, Eric, flip her off. She started to charge back there when another boy stood up and grabbed her arm.

“Wendy, don’t waste your time. He’s not worth the fight. Cartman shut your filthy mouth! If anything your dad is probably the lamest god ever. He's probably like the god of racist garbage like you.” Piper cringed as soon as those words left the boy’s mouth. It was fine if you insulted the child of a god because normally gods don’t fight their kids battles but it’s not wise to insult the gods themselves. Especially if it was a god with a short temper or did not take kindly to insults.

A glowing dark red spear appeared above Eric Cartman almost immediately. It pulsed dangerously as if it were a response to what had been said. The kid had been claimed by Ares the god of war. That was not a god that you wanted to insult; that kid had made enemies with the wrong deity.

“Eric Cartman, son of Ares.” Piper said into the speaker, her voice bounced around the silent bus. Everyone around Eric began to back away, looking afraid of the son of Ares as if he were going to burst into flames. “Don’t be scared everyone, the sign above his head means that he was claimed by his godly parent. Has anyone else seen a claim mark? It most likely will not be the same as Eric’s it could be anything. A dove for Aphrodite. A flaming hammer for Hephaestus. Something along those lines will give you a clue to your own lineage. You will be claimed between here and Camp Half-Blood, so be prepared. Unless you are a Roman camper, your godly parent probably won’t claim you until you’ve done something worthy of being claimed, sorry that’s just the way Roman gods are.”

“The girl in the pink, the Wendy chick, is the daughter of Athena and so is the injured kid that Calypso and Hazel are treating. That makes 3 claimed out of 20 something unclaimed campers.” Leo reports lackadaisically to Piper. Piper is about to sigh in relief from not having any claimed Aphrodite campers on board when three pink glowing doves pop up over three of the kids.

Piper groans, silently cursing her mother, “This is going to be a long bus ride back to camp. You in the red, yes you and the kid behind you. What’s your names?”

“I’m Bebe Stevens and he’s Clyde Donovan.” Called the blonde back to Piper, she was one of the ones who was claimed by Aphrodite. Bebe had lush blonde hair that tumbled over her shoulders and baby blue eyes that looked cheerful enough. Piper could see nothing of Clyde but tussled light brown hair, he didn’t seem to want Piper to see him, she could sympathize with not wanting to be looked at as a child of Aphrodite. So Piper just nodded at Bebe with a polite smile and a wave in her direction.

“Alright everyone well Leo is going to repair that damages to the bus so hang tight, if you have any questions about I guess anything you can ask me or Hazel.” Piper pointed out her golden haired friend, who looked up and gave a shy wave to everyone before going back to work on the injured boy whose name was Kyle. That’s what Piper gathered at least from the chatter among the young demigods. The kid who had insulted Ares was hovering in the seat behind them, giving both the girls glares for touching his friend. Wendy was talking to him, probably telling him to quit in with the dirty looks because he looked embarrassed afterward.

Piper had done her part, so she sank into the front seat next to Vincent who was snoring again after all had been said and done. Now all they could was wait for Leo to finish up before they restarted their journey to Camp Half-Blood.

KYLE

    Coming back to the present wasn’t exactly the best experience in the world, lets just say he puked. A lot. It was gross and embarrassing but it made him feel better afterwards. Conveniently there was a small basin for him to throw up in, it had a little pinkish fluid in it. Water and blood. The pain in his back was less but it still hurt to move, so Kyle opted to stay still for the moment and open his eyes instead. He was laying on his side and he was still on the bus, he knew that because he staring at the back of the ugly green bus seats. ‘So I’m not dead, thank God. Or well thank you Athena? Mom? Ugh I don’t know.’ His head throbbed with a small headache, he decided not to read too much into things for the moment.

    He scrunched up his nose in distaste as the smell of his own bile wafted toward him. Kyle decided that he couldn’t just lay here where he could smell his own puke so with careful ease he attempted to sit himself up. But it was a difficult task to be done by himself without upsetting the healing gouges on his back. Needless to say there was a lot of pain involved with sitting up, he only just managed it when a girl reached out a hand to help him. “Ow. Thank you.” Kyle groans softly as she helps him sit upright instead of laying him back down like he was expecting.

“You’re welcome. That was quite an injury you’ve got there, that Sphynx really got you. But you’ll be okay now, we’re almost to camp. Once we get there we’ll have Will take a look at your back.” The girl gives him a well intended smile as she brushed her curly golden brown hair from her face. Her voice was smooth and sweet like honey with a small accented drawl to it, it was soothing.  

“Camp… Half-Blood? You mean you’re not taking us home? Not even after all that?” Kyle felt a stab of disappointment in his gut, he doesn’t know what he expected, of course they weren’t going to bring them home.

“It’s safer for all everyone, it’ll be scary for a while and you won’t know a lot of people in your cabin at first but you’ll be just fine. After a while you just get into the routine of things.”

“Was that what it was like for you?”

“Hm, yes and no? I come from Camp Half-Blood’s sister camp, Camp Jupiter. The Roman demigod camp. Things there are... different but it wasn’t nearly as... safe, I guess you could say, as Camp Half-Blood. I mean there’s a good amount of demigods there to protect the camp it’s just that Camp Half-Blood has a magical protective barrier around it that prevents monsters and mortals from wandering into it. When I arrived at Camp Jupiter it was a strange new world for me, until my brother, Nico helped me settle in.” The girl shifted in her seat and looked up at the roof of the bus to avoid eye contact with Kyle, who was in disbelief.

    ‘The creepy kid was this girl’s brother? But she looks so nice and he… looks like a zombie.’ Kyle cringed at the thought, remembering his failed escape plan that was foiled by her brother. ‘ That was so embarrassing, no doubt she probably knows all about it since he’s her sibling.’

“But even when I was there, at the beginning I didn’t fit in, it didn’t matter if I was just another demigod, the others were wary of me because I am the daughter of Pluto, aka Hades which is my father’s Greek counterpart, he’s Nico’s dad. I think some of the campers still are not that okay with me. Children of Pluto/Hades are known as bad omens.

“But that’s just me because of who my godly parent is. Things are not like that at Camp Half-Blood, especially for a child of Athena, you’ll do just fine.” She quickly went on to add this part because she must have realized how the words must’ve sound.The girl turned her eyes back to Kyle from where she had fixed them on the roof of the bus, just to give him a bashful smile. “I’m Hazel by the way. You might as well know my name after I just poured my heart out to you.” Hazel held out her hand to Kyle which he took, because he decided he couldn’t be mean to such a seemingly nice person. Even if said person was helping the rest of her friends kidnap them in a way.

“Kyle Broflovski.”

"Nice to meet you, Kyle." Hazel gave him a genuine smile as she withdrew her hand.

"How long was I... asleep for? What city are we in now?"

"We're passing through Missouri at the moment, St. Charles I believe. You've been passed out since before we got here, since Leo had fixed the bus, and since we've been on the road, up until here. So maybe around hmm 5 and half hours that you've been asleep since we left Kansas. I fully expected you to sleep the whole way to camp but seems like you have a will of iron, Kyle.”