Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“They’re gonna kill him when they realize he’s here!” were the first words Etho heard when his consciousness slowly came to be.

Wincing at the noisiness around him, he struggled to open his eyes, blinking slowly to allow himself time to adjust to where or who he was.

First blink, all he saw were blobs and blurs of colors, his vision still faint around the edges. He could register muffled voices of multiple individuals debating over something with one being much louder than the rest. Etho couldn’t help but furrow his eyebrows at said person’s volume, but he didn’t have the energy to exactly express his uncomfyness to the disturbance yet.

Second blink, his vision cleared up enough to give him enough information as to where he currently was. All he saw were three figures surrounding him, and Etho doesn’t need anymore information to know that said figures were the ones he registered to be the ones arguing (with how loud they slowly became over the short span he spent trying to wake up, Etho doesn’t even dare consider it a ‘debate’ anymore).

Third blink…. “We can’t keep him here!” was the second phrase Etho was fully able to hear after he came to be. Feeling absolutely paralyzed from where he was laying, his head did most of the work as it twisted and turned to finally get a good look at everything.

His eyes first laid sight on the noise disturbance to his right, realizing that the person he’d been hearing shout clearly this entire time was a short kid with… moss and plants as a jacket? Etho did a double take before putting his questions and worries to the back of his head, opting to instead put a face to the person that had been screaming Etho’s ears off.

Other than the weird style of clothing, the kid also looked weird, but not in an extremely bad way? He just looked… a little beat up, if the space in between his teeth that Etho saw every time he spoke was anything to go by. But then again, maybe the dude was just teething late. Extremely late. Well, considering the baby fat left on his cheeks, Etho could probably assume that maybe he was at a teething age, but that’s rude to assume.

Not wanting to further judge the same child over and over, Etho turned his attention to his other side instead, getting a good sight of an orange-haired person and a… person who had small horns peeking out from the side of his head, and…

Etho struggled to look downwards. A furry?

From so much disbelief and confusion, Etho hadn’t even realized that the argument partaking before him had come to a stop, only realizing that they were staring at him when he looked up to see all of their panicked looking eyes on him.

…Should he have stayed asleep?

A loud cough broke through the awkward silence before he could awkwardly decide whether to pretend to pass out or not, “You’re awake,” the orange-haired individual started.

Etho could only nod, hesitating to say anything for a while before ultimately deciding to do the best option and ask his questions, “Where.. Am I?” he asked weakly, almost surprised with how raspy his voice was. His reaction must’ve been obvious if the way the beat-up looking kid snorted and stepped away to get him a glass of water while the long-haired kid continued to converse with him.

“I’m Cleo,” she placed a hand on their chest before gesturing to the furry beside them, “This is Doc. I know he may look a little... weird,” they eyed Doc up and down as if she was regretting not reminding him to put his mortal disguise on.

“More than weird,” Etho added as he sat up to eye Doc up and down properly, both he and Cleo’s actions being met with an offended frown.

“Just unusual for someone as isolated from our world as you. You’ll get used to it eventually,” Doc huffed out, clacking his hooves on the wooden floor. Etho assumes that the clacking was meant like a threat and he quickly looks away to focus on his surroundings instead.

They seem to be in an infirmary, if the other beds beside the one Etho’s laying on and the smell of medicine was anything to go by (unless he’s wrong and they were in a really boring looking dormitory instead). It seemed pretty noisy outside and the faint scent of grass and nature can be smelled from the passing wind through some of the open windows, or maybe the scent emanated from the moss jacket kid who came back to hand him a glass of water.

And with the distrusting and angry look moss jacket kid gave him, Etho is stuck wondering if the glass was poisoned or unfiltered. Did he do anything in his sleep to offend this guy?

“This is Bdubs,” Cleo continued to introduce, “Don’t mind his stink eye. He’s just a little on edge because of the state you arrived in,” she tried to be nice about it, but Bdubs’ intense gaze really didn’t help support any kind of sugarcoating she gave him. There was obviously something more than just being ‘on edge’.

Etho fiddled with the glass of water with hesitance, looking back and forth from the glass and towards Bdubs, getting slightly more and more concerned the harder he got stared at. He was at a loss on what to say for a moment until he remembered that he couldn’t really say anything more if he had a sore throat.

He took a deep breath and downed the water, realizing now that his mask had been taken off his person at some point, but he had half the mind to worry about it as he gave the empty glass to Bdubs. A little more awkward staring and Etho muttered, “Thank you,” mostly expressing his gratitude of realizing that the water was indeed not poisoned no matter how distrusting looking Bdubs was of him.

His awkward ‘thank you’ seemed to placate whatever vendetta Bdubs had against Etho as he sighed through his nose and puffed out his chest proudly, “You’re welcome!” he replied in a weird tone as he once again left to place the now empty glass somewhere else for cleaning, leaving Etho to the more friendlier figures.

Cleo flashed a weary smile as Etho’s gaze followed Bdubs for a little too long, “Are you able to talk now? Nothing hurting or anything?” she asked, snapping the white-haired teen’s attention back to the situation.

“Fairly fine, I think,” Etho replied while rubbing at his throat, the earlier scratchiness of his voice evidently gone, “Just a little numb on my limbs,” an understatement. He could barely feel his legs. Even if he did, attempting to move it will induce some sort of painful heebie jeebies all over his body.

“Well, you did just survive a monster attack,” Doc kindly pointed out, doing well to remind Etho of the happenings before he woke up here, “You’re lucky you’re only a little numb and not in the depths of Asphodel.”

Right, he got jumped on by some ugly winged bat-looking woman, though he’s not sure if she was a bat at all. His memory is intact enough to remember it was a flying creature but fuzzy enough to not remember the details. She definitely had claws. Painful and sharp ones. If he wasn’t so disoriented and lost, he would be able to probably investigate the claw marks the monster left on his leg.

Left with the aftermath of whatever happened to him had Etho’s head aching from the amount of confusion, questions, and thoughts he needed organizing in his brain. Cleo and Doc’s eyes never left his figure, so they most likely noticed the way his face unconsciously scrunched up into a wince as he silently attempted to move his feet.

Doc shook his head and patted Etho’s leg over the blanket gently, “You’re better off letting it rest, dude,” he said as he moved around to get a stool to sit on, positioning himself on the other side of the bed as Bdubs seems to have decided to not return.

“For now, we need to get you up to speed while we still have the time. So, listen carefully….”

After his little coma, his furry lab coat-wearing companion patiently oriented him on everything he’d first have to know before facing the world beyond the walls of the infirmary. He first introduced monsters, more specifically the monster that attacked Etho.

“Furies are spirits that serve the Greek God of the Underworld. Loyal monsters to the Lord of the dead, Hades.”

Something that shouldn’t be existing, but is apparently now existing, and it almost killed Etho. All because he smelled like something he shouldn’t be smelling like.

Which was rude to hear at first. Etho didn’t know that even mythological monsters were so judgemental of someone’s natural smell. It’s not like he felt the need to invest in a good perfume in expectancy of impressing a spirit of the Underworld.

But that isn’t completely the case, Doc had reassured after Etho expressed all his nonsensical concerns. It was only because Etho was a demigod, giving him a distinct scent from mortals, that a monster such as one of the Furies was able to locate him. Gadgets like phones were also possible reasons as to how he was found as these dangerous creatures could also hear the voices of demigods travel through the air.

Etho found this unfair, but he wasn’t able to put proper attention to complaining about these details as Cleo added another information;

“Monsters have a higher chance of overlooking your existence and not finding you at all if you’re unaware of your godly origins. It makes your scent less potent.”is what she said, which left Etho even more confused than before.

He didn’t even know he was part-god until now, so why was he caught?

He asked this exact question and was met with tense silence and an awkward stare down. Etho felt like the two were underestimating his intelligence as they proceeded to move the topic along like he was dumb enough to let the topic pass.

…He did let it pass, but it wasn’t because he was dumb. He was actually smart enough to know that people he barely knows wouldn’t be so willing to reveal every bit of information just because he asked.

So he was going to find answers to the rest of his questions himself, even if he doesn’t exactly know where to find it yet.

After the whole orientation about all these demigod things and basically being info dumped a bunch of Greek Mythology information like he was listening to an audiobook, Etho was eventually left alone to register everything and rest.

Obviously, Etho was in no state to just suddenly get up and frolic wherever like he wasn’t previously in a state of near-death, so he was stuck on the infirmary bed for a while until his body decided to stop procrastinating on replacing some of his scarred skin.

The only thing that made the boring hours of sitting tolerable is Cleo reassuring that demigods heal faster than mortals, so he would be up and kicking again sooner than what is expected of a normal human.

They had those ambrosia and nectar things but they couldn’t abuse it too much since they already used too much of it when he was first brought into camp to treat his injuries. Something about burning up if consumed too much, but Etho didn’t care enough. He was more than happy to stay away from unknown liquids and foods for now while conscious.

So the healing process was heavily based on time, leaving him with more time to kill than he would’ve liked. He spent most of his time just staring up at the ceiling and sometimes reading up on some books Doc left behind if he wasn’t too familiar with the Greek myths yet.

He was just about halfway through a story on Eros and Psyche when particularly loud steps approached his bed, forcing him to look up from his book to flash an inquiring look at Bdubs, who still looked as suspicious of him as the first time he met him. Except this time, Bdubs seems to be carrying a tray of food that could possibly be poisoned instead of a glass of water that he assumed was poisoned until it wasn’t.

He was probably overreacting, but he couldn’t help it when Bdubs gave him the same glare as always. Etho was still quite uncomfortable with the possible meanings behind such a venomous gaze, but at the same time, he couldn’t find it in himself to actually take it seriously with Bdubs’ beat up face.

“Well, aren’t you comfortable?” Bdubs taunted.

Etho barely registered it as a taunt, not feeling exactly threatened by the short kid. Although he did feel a bit uncomfortable to be faced with this kind of atmosphere when he wasn’t donning his usual mask.

He still needs to ask where his clothes and personal belongings went.

While he let his thoughts wander in silence, Bdubs registered his lack of response as a rude counter to his taunt, causing him to be angrier for no reason, “You can ignore me all ya want, but let this be the only time I say this, mister,” he leaned over at Etho, slamming the food tray on the table beside Etho’s bed, almost spilling with the harsh treatment.

Bdubs tried to be condescending but his short stature didn’t really help as he had to embarrassingly tip-toe to actually be able to ‘look down’ at Etho.

“You can pretend to know nothin’, act like a damsel in distress ‘n all—” Bdubs spat, “But as soon as your act gets the other kids in trouble, I will hunt you down,” he pushed a finger on Etho’s chest, “A lot of demigods have come here trying to be the child of prophecy, but all they brought was hurt to innocent kids that didn’t even need to be in the crossfire.”

Bdubs leaned back and puffed out his chest, crossing his arms over them to look as if he’s in charge, “So if you’re here thinkin’ you could be some hero you’ve always dreamed of, then don’t think I’d let ya stay here!”

Etho furrowed his eyebrows and widened his eyes in disbelief to Bdubs’ words. Pretend to know nothing? But he really didn’t know anything! What gave this kid the right to threaten him when he didn’t even choose to end up here? They didn’t even know each other yet Bdubs was out here already making assumptions that he was the worst thing to ever come to their little demigod camp.

The white haired teen’s hands had unconsciously gripped hard at the blanket of his bed while confusion and annoyance slowly overtook his brain.

His life had already been stressful. He almost died. He basically got kidnapped and brought here against his own will, and now he has to deal with the aftermath of whoever pissed this guy off. Obviously he can’t bottle his stress up for a long while like he’s always practiced-

So he argued back.

“I don’t know what right you have to make assumptions about me, considering we’ve never even met until I regained consciousness- And even then, you were the one who came here acting like threatening me makes you a hero,” Etho’s voice was steady, but with the way his normally neutral face scrunched up, he obviously wasn’t happy.

“I genuinely don’t understand what I did to make you hate me and I certainly wish I did so I could just stop whatever I’m doing altogether, but you’re making this extremely difficult for both of us,” he sighed, “So, yeah, I guess I’m sorry for- what? Existing? I didn’t know it was such a crime to you. But you’re in no position to assume what kind of person I am when you’re acting the way you are.”

If his voice broke somewhere at the end of his sentence, he pretended it didn’t, standing his ground as Bdubs’ expression turned from anger to surprise to a weird one that Etho couldn’t put a name to. Probably regret? Embarrassment?

He didn’t get a chance to think on it deeper as Bdubs snapped his body around to stomp out of the infirmary with only a mutter of, “Enjoy your meal.”

Etho’s gaze stays at the direction where Bdubs left before begrudgingly taking the soup that was left behind and eating it, not even bothering to check if it was actually poisoned anymore.

“I apologize about Bdubs,” Cleo had started when Etho had come back from another part of the infirmary, dressed up in the orange camp t-shirt and with less bandages than what he woke up with, plus he finally had his mask back.

Etho was briefly caught off guard with her words before his expression turned into one of understanding, “You shouldn’t be the one apologizing,” he said, which made the child of Hebe smile wearily and shake her head.

“No, really. He has a heart of gold, it’s just that…” Cleo trailed off and she seemed to be in a daze. When she didn’t continue, Etho spoke up, “The prophecy, right?”

Cleo blinked and looked at him in surprise before sighing exasperatedly, “Yes, I assume Bdubs has mentioned it to you when he came to bring you food.”

Etho didn’t respond. He didn’t feel the need to as Cleo seemed to need the silence to recollect her thoughts for whatever else she was going to orient him on this time.

“You see, we’ve been waiting for many years for a Big Three kid to show up. A child of Zeus, a child of Poseidon, a child of Hades, anyone–” She crossed her legs and clasped her hands on her knee as she gazed up at Etho sternly, “But also, we hoped they wouldn’t show up,” she said ironically, causing Etho to react in confusion.

“They aren’t meant to exist, you see. I don’t mean that it’s impossible for the strongest gods to create demigod children of their own, but they are banned to.”

“Banned to?”

“A lot of wars in history had their own demigod spin-off, world wars and all that,” Cleo nodded, “A lot of them don’t end too well in terms of preserving life. Being a child of one of the Big Three, you were basically given power greater than others. They were terrifyingly strong, and terrifyingly destructive.”

Cleo stood up from the stool she had been sitting on, absentmindedly pacing around the infirmary, glancing out the windows as she watched campers run around and pass by the building, “Hearing this, a lot of people would’ve thought that this was a good thing, since power is, well, power.”

“But power doesn’t always reap good things if given to the wrong person,” Etho provided a thought of his own, which made Cleo giggle at him.

“Exactly. Power is a responsibility, but responsibility can be taught. After all, a lot of us are children. Teenagers. We wouldn’t have to worry, if the surrounding environment is right.”

Cleo’s expression seems to fall after that phrase. Etho had wondered if he should offer some words of comfort, but she already started speaking before he could even open his mouth.

“But that’s not what the gods think, especially not after the Great Prophecy.”

Etho could’ve sworn he heard some faint rumbles of thunder from the sky. When he glanced at the window, the sky was fairly cloudy, but not cloudy to the point of a storm. He turned to silently question Cleo, but she continued to tell her tales without acknowledging the rumble. Either she knew what that sound meant and didn’t care or she simply didn’t hear it.

“I.. can’t exactly tell you the prophecy, but a lot of things changed after that day,” she shut her eyes and sighed for the nth time that same hour, “Zeus became paranoid for his position in Olympus, started to strike down all his brothers’ kids with no remorse after the three had agreed to not have children anymore.”

“And even despite that, he was still the first to break such an oath,” the next moment Cleo opened her eyes, they seemed to hold hate, anger for whatever the world came to be just because gods had the power to do as they please, “A hypocrite. He thought he was capable of hiding his son from the camp.”

Cleo bit her lip and tried her best to suppress her anger, trying her best to tell the truth without letting her emotions get the best of her judgment. Etho awkwardly reached out a hand for her to take in case of comfort, but she shook her head to show that she didn’t need such. So he took back his hand to his side.

“TFC was the first child of the Big Three we had seen so far after the oath. Even then, he didn’t live long enough for us to even get to know him, as he valiantly sacrificed himself to buy time for some kids to run to the camp,” Etho furrowed his eyebrows as he finally understood why Cleo was acting in such a way.

“And all Zeus could do was… turn him into the pine tree over at Half-blood hill, powering the borders of camp to keep us safe inside,” their voice sounded broken, but she didn’t let herself cry. They had mourned enough and would rather smile in memory of one of her friends, “It’s what TFC would’ve wanted, but… it’s a little annoying that Zeus thinks he can go ahead and act like a good father after not showing up for his kid when he was needed the most.”

“So, Etho–” Green eyes met heterochromic ones, a weary expression contrasting one of understanding.

“I hope you stay safe, and live long with a pure heart. We would really hate to see another life go to waste.”

Etho noticed how Cleo had been talking as if she knew something of Etho’s origin that he himself didn’t quite understand yet. But faced with her hopeful expression, he didn’t have the heart to question the deeper meaning behind her words and simply nodded in a half-hearted promise.

Etho’s injuries healed enough to turn the painful numbness he started with to a much tolerable discomfort. His discomfort mostly stemmed from the fact that he wasn’t able to get any exercise at all, leaving some of his joints and muscles so stiff to the point that Etho thought that he aged 60 years from staying in bed.

As much as he appreciated Cleo’s and Joe’s patience and effort for the few days he was bedridden, he was very much eager to get out of the infirmary as soon as possible.

His first step outside of the infirmary was almost magical. He hadn’t expected to be so excited to see the outside, especially when it was as chaotic as he was warned to expect.

Instead of the usual city scene, he was met with a bunch of teens and kids running around and hanging out in every corner of the nature scenery. Some groups were marching and jogging around with spears in their hands, a pair of kids were running around frolicking through the edge of the paths growing flowers by their wake, and the familiar sight of Joe was helping out some kids polish their armor.

Basically, it was an abnormal camp that looked more like an army camp than an actual summer camp, as they stubbornly advertised, but Etho already knew that.

Etho spent a good chunk of his day exploring the camp on his own, awkwardly limping around as he pretended to not feel the intense staring he was getting from the other kids as he passed by.

He tried to act cool, like how celebrities would keep walking even when paparazzis are flashing cameras at them. But, inevitably, Etho had some awkward staredowns with some kids because he was doing what he needed to do: familiarize himself with the area.

So far, he was able to find the mess hall, the stables, the amphitheater, all kinds of facilities that were constantly full of life. The only places he avoided for now were the beach and the woods. Because hiking through a possibly trap-filled forest and an annoyingly sandy beach was not the best combo for his still-not-quite-healed legs.

Etho went to check out the strawberry fields next and was then met with the not completely welcome sight of Bdubs stopping his work in the fields to frown at him suspiciously.

“What’re ya doin’ here? Aren’t you supposed to be restin’?”

“Oh, uh…” Etho fidgeted in place. His index finger habitually pulls his mask up higher on his face, “I was discharged from the infirmary. I’m fine enough to be able to walk around now,” he kicked his feet absentmindedly and twisted his ankles stiffly in the air to put evidence to his words.

Bdubs didn’t reply immediately, staring Etho up and down as if he had to make sure of his state himself, leaving Etho to deal with the awkward silence.

If the shorter kid found something to get angry at him about again, he didn’t say anything of the sort, simply huffing out a judgemental ‘hmph’, “Just ‘cus you’re able to walk around without fallin’ over, doesn’t mean you’re completely healed, ya doof.”

Was he being scolded? Etho wasn’t sure, but he did feel a little exasperated with how he was being treated again, as if his outburst the other day hadn’t been enough of a reaction already. He had a lot of things to ask and say about such behavior, but he really didn’t want to send himself back to the infirmary by offending Bdubs.

The tension grew and Etho has the urge to leave this conversation, but couldn’t find it in himself to. His silence then seems to be some kind of invitation for Bdubs as he suddenly removed his garden gloves and threw them at the side.

Etho raised an eyebrow and backed away a bit when Bdubs suddenly approached him, then walked past him before pausing to look back at him, “I’ll take ya to the Hermes cabin. You’re better off getting acquainted with your cabinmates first before your surroundings at your current state!”

The shorter teen started walking towards the cabins without even looking back to check if Etho had been following. Which he was, but he was struggling to catch up with Bdubs’ much faster and purposeful pace, especially when his legs were still a bit wonky.

He didn’t say anything though. Even if he did decide to say something, he doubts Bdubs would listen to him and slow down after their last encounters.

Etho was on autopilot as he watched Bdubs ahead of him greet and wave to every passing camper with a smile. A smile that Etho doesn’t seem to remember receiving ever, and even now as the two reach the Hermes cabin, Bdubs forced a stern look as he watched Etho catch up beside him.

“This is where you’ll be staying. Better hope there’s even space for you in there,” Bdubs said, urging Etho to peek into the Hermes cabin.

It was.. Populated, to the point that some kids don’t even seem to have proper beds of their own as they were lounging on sleeping bags in some dusty corner of the cabin.

He couldn’t help but wince at the sight as he looked back at Bdubs to silently question if he purposefully sent him to a populated cabin to rain hell upon his day or if this was truly the place for new campers.

Bdubs didn’t meet his eyes as he waved over one of the campers, “Hypno! New kid’s here!” he shouted, causing a lot of demigods to put their attention on the two that lingered around the entrance of the cabin.

Some kids were blatantly sizing Etho up and some were already giggling and whispering like gossip girls. It was a really anxiety-inducing situation, for only Etho, apparently. Bdubs looked like he could barely care about it.

A blonde-haired kid with a black bandana covering most of his head got up from where he was lounging on his bed. He took the time to come over in response to Bdubs’ call, “And so he is, huh?”

The blonde, Hypno, examined Etho up and down, left and right, exaggeratingly tilting his head as if he really needed to get a good look at him, “Cleo wasn’t kidding when they say you were a peculiar looking one. Also a little older than I had expected. How have you survived all this time?” he questioned mostly to himself. Etho didn’t know whether to be offended or flattered, but he kept silent. He doesn’t know how to react or reply to such, and it’s a good thing he didn’t have to as Bdubs moved the conversation along hurriedly.

“Quit overwhelmin’ the guy!” Bdubs scolded, waving his hand around to signal the other kids to look away or mind their own businesses. Hypocritical of him to say such, but Etho did appreciate the action.

“His legs haven’t really healed yet, have ya made extra space?”

Hypno looks back and around as if this was actually the first time he even considered checking if they actually had space in the cabin. He hummed and gestured to an empty bed, “He could probably stay there. With his height, I doubt any of the sleeping bags we currently have fit him.”

Etho looked over at the said bed while Bdubs raised an eyebrow at Hypno,

“Isn’t that bed Imp—”

“Nah.”

Hypno was quick to cut off anything Bdubs was about to say, leaving the shorter teen to frown at the action, but didn’t seem to want to argue about it, “Guess it’s the Hermes cabin’s problem.”

Bdubs turned to finally look up at Etho, “And yours,” he pushed Etho over to the direction of the empty bed, causing the taller one to stutter in his steps, “Go rest up! And get used to the environment.”

Hypno nodded along and wrapped an arm around Etho’s shoulder as he basically dragged the man to the bed, “You’ll learn to get used to it here, don’t you worry,” he chuckled.

Boy, did he really have to learn to get used to it here.

As soon as Hypno helped him settle in and oriented him on the daily camp schedule Doc and Cleo couldn’t really tackle, a bunch of campers came up to his bed and started interrogating him. Who he was, what his height was, why he wore his mask, and all kinds of questions Etho really had a difficult time answering all at once, but he was able to calm the storm down after a while.

His life wasn’t particularly interesting, so after revealing some basic information like his name, age, life before camp, the campers thinned down and left him alone.

He did get questioned about his godly parent, but all kinds of interest on him died down immediately after he said he didn’t know too much about it.

People are hella paranoid about their godly parents, Etho observed.

Not that he could relate. As much as possible, he’d rather not meet his, especially after having the audacity to be absent from his life even after his mother died.

With that, he began to pass the summer with anxiety and hope for the future.

Etho’s legs had healed not too long after settling in the Hermes cabin. He was eventually back to a much healthier state, which made him eligible to participate in a lot of the camp activities.

He spent his days getting used to his new environment, especially when he was told that the camp was his forever home now after the camp directors had heard that Etho had no one outside of camp to care for him.

He spent his first year learning everything there is that the demigod world had to offer. From fighting, to farming, to stable cleaning, and even to forging.

He especially liked forging, or anything that had him using both his hands and brain, and the Hephaestus kids shared the same sentiment so they had no problem with sharing their area with Etho, especially when he usually made some cool trinkets they could get inspired from.

Even when the summer was soon about to end and campers were already preparing to leave for their school years, Etho still spent his time at the forge. It’s not like he had to hurry to pack anything since he wasn’t going anywhere, so he still went about the normal routine he found himself in daily.

The forge was fairly empty then, save for Mumbo who also didn’t plan to go home that year. Something about his mom already leaving for a trip so he was too late to go with her, but the boy didn’t explain anything else so they immediately both left each other alone to work on their own things.

Along the hour, Tango entered the forge to join them, stretching his arms out and smoothly walking over to hang them around Etho’s shoulder as he shook the taller man for some attention, “Working even until now, huh! You’re far more hardworking than most Hephaestus kids I know,” the blonde man laughed.

Etho didn’t react much to Tango’s attempt at annoying him, moving the sword he was polishing aside so he could converse with the Hephaestus counselor properly, “Well, there’s really not much for me to do here,” he grumbled, “Especially when everyone else is busy preparing to leave for home.”

“Awe, don’t miss us too much, buddy. You’ve got Mumbo here!” Tango smiled and patted Etho’s back before moving away to clean up what mess was left of the forge, the mess that Mumbo and Etho decidedly ignored, “Besides, I’m sure your friends will at least write to you while they’re gone, or at least Iris message.”

Silence befell the forge except for Mumbo’s little silent mumblings in the corner. He seems to be having a mental battle with a tech chip he brought back from a junkyard expedition.

Met with such silence, Tango stopped his actions to turn and flash an inquiring look at Etho, “I mean, you do have friends aside from us, right?” he questioned. Etho looked away and gave it a thought.

Etho had gotten along with a lot of campers, sure, but most of them were barely considered actual friendship. At most, he had a lot of acquaintances, but not a lot of friends that he talked or hung out with daily. Cleo and Doc were definitely his friends, but Doc is sometimes too busy with his satyr stuff and Cleo was always with Bdubs so it was awkward for him to approach her anytime.

Hypno was one friend, he supposes, though he doubts he’s the type to write letters. There was also Impulse as his cabinmate but it was a bit awkward for Etho to approach him considering he apparently took over his bed without realizing. Joe would’ve been enthusiastic about being penpals, but Etho isn’t particularly excited over getting spammed with theater anecdotes for the entire year. It would be amusing only for a little while, but it’s hard to always return such excitement when he wasn’t too interested in theater.

At this thought process, Etho realized that he really didn’t interact much with other people except for the Hephaestus kids, because he constantly found himself working in the forge rather than anywhere else. Suppose that he’s the same as Mumbo in that area, locked away in their own spaces to do their little hobbies all because they had no one else to really bond with except for the people working at the forge.

Etho had been thinking about this for too long that Tango couldn’t help but speak once again to bring the teen’s attention back to their conversation, “Not even Bdubs?” he added another question.

Etho’s face scrunched up so hard that you could see the expression he’s making despite the mask covering half of his face, “We don’t get along,” he replied. Tango reacted with widened eyes of surprise.

“You’re not? But Impulse told me he was the one who came to the Hermes cabin everyday to check on you,” Etho finds his breath stopping at that information. He didn’t know anything about that, “Would’ve thought you’d be the best of friends. Bdubs likes doing that– Claiming to be best friends with everyone and anyone.”

“Oh,” was all Etho could muster. He found himself breathing again, albeit uncomfortably consciously, and he tried to work on his sword once again to distract himself enough to get back to normal breathing, “You thought wrong. He’s probably just checking in everyday to see if I’ve hurt anyone.”

Tango frowned at that statement and even Mumbo stopped what he was doing to look back at Etho. He didn’t look back at the two of them as he busied himself. But he could feel their questioning and worried stares, so he decided to open up about his experience with Bdubs.

“He didn’t really seem to like me when I first woke up here. He threatened to hunt me down if I even considered… being a child of the prophecy, or something. He said that if I hurt anyone by attempting to be so, he won’t forgive me,” those were definitely not the exact words Bdubs said, but that’s how Etho remembered it to feel like.

“So that’s why you’ve been avoiding him?” The ever so observant Mumbo asked, his attention on his tech chip far gone already in order to put it on Etho, who responded to the kid with a nod, “Yeah, I doubt we could ever look at each other as friends.”

Though Cleo did attempt to make them get along at some point, Etho was just too good at avoiding people. He would turn down Cleo’s invitations to hangout when the activities sounded too suspiciously close to what a Demeter kid would like. In the end, Etho ended up rejecting every invite.

Instead of a frown of empathy, a look of understanding showed on Tango’s face this time as he chuckled in amusement at Etho's story, causing him to raise an eyebrow at the reaction, “Ah, sorry– about Bdubs, I mean.”

Etho shrugged, “You wouldn’t be the first to say that,” he said which caused the Hephaestus counselor to chuckle even more.

“But he’s not doing it because he hates you, I offer that perspective at least.”

Etho had already readied himself for another story, a history he’s meant to know about to find answers as to why Bdubs is the way he is with him. And Tango delivered.

“We’ve had a lot of demigods come and go for the past few summers. Naive little kids, they were. Most of them were hella excited to learn they were part god and were quick to get out and try out whatever powers they have,” despite his words sounding like it’s recalling something fun, Tango seemed unexcited about it.

“The camp directors were pressuring these new kids as well. Though a bunch of the counselors came together to convince them to not be so paranoid of the prophecy, they still pressured the kids to train and train for a prophecy they probably aren’t even a part of,” the blonde sighed.

Mumbo, who Etho expected to stay quiet this entire time, spoke up to add up to the story, “Nothing good came out of it. It only made everyone snappy and on edge,” he murmured, fiddling with his fingers nervously, “They eventually get claimed, but not by any of the Big Three. So all the harsh training the camp pressured them into doing has basically gone to waste.”

“Not that it stopped them from still having a delusion that they’re still a hero though,” Tango was quick to add, followed by Mumbo’s solemn nod.

“One of the kids before went crazy. He started ordering people around like he was still relevant,” Mumbo said with a slightly angry tone before he covered up with a cough and a mutter of apology before continuing his story, “He eventually got physical with me when I disagreed to one of his invention ideas, throwing the forge tools at me and even swinging around a sword.”

Etho eyes softened in pity and then hardened in annoyance. Someone dared to actually put a hand on poor little Mumbo?

Mumbo noticed how Etho stared at him pitifully and he smiled sheepishly, “Not to worry though. Bdubs was fortunate enough to be around and he stepped in for me.”

Tango half-scoffed and half-laughed at the memory, “That was the angriest I’ve seen Bdubs. He absolutely scolded the heck out of that kid to the point they actually ran away from camp after that. I doubt they’re alive now.”

“Bdubs did that?” Etho blurted out, suspicious of such a story since the Bdubs he was met with was… well, maybe it wasn’t too far off in some perspectives. To Mumbo, Bdubs would probably look like a hero. To Etho, if he were in the shoes of the arrogant kid before, he would most definitely still receive the same treatment Bdubs has given him as Etho.

“Yeah, he got in trouble since everyone else decided to blame him as the reason for possibly killing off a camper by making them run away. Bdubs got punished for protecting us.”

But, even with that story, it still didn’t make Etho’s irritation for Bdubs’ actions towards him disappear. Seriously, who would be so mad at someone that you start reflecting those actions to the next people that don’t even understand what’s going on? It was maddening.

And yet, Etho couldn’t put the blame entirely on Bdubs. He’d be paranoid and snappy too about every demigod who trespassed to his home after witnessing an event that almost cost one of his friend’s life, and even being framed for someone’s death when their death could’ve been no one else’s fault but their own. He understands that much.

“We’re not saying this so we could force you to forgive Bdubs right away, by the way. You’ve got all the rights to be mad if his behavior has offended you at all,” Tango reassured.

“We just hope you would at least come to understand him a little bit.”

And that Etho did, but forgiveness would have to be saved for another discussion in his head.

A few days later, it was time for Tango and the other campers to leave. He planned to share a taxi with Cleo and the others and, of course, Bdubs was a part of those others.

Mumbo clung behind him as he waved off the older campers depressingly.

Tango did some last minute goodbyes and some last minute headpats to Mumbo before heading in the Gray Sisters’ Taxi. Cleo followed after him but not without giving Etho a hug. False simply gave a nod of goodbye and Bdubs didn’t even acknowledge him as he only waved towards Mumbo.

Bdubs lingered by the door of the taxi when Etho felt the need to call him, “Bdubs,” the person with said name froze and looked back, inquiry and confusion in his eyes..

Etho opened and closed his mouth from under his mask as he hesitated on what to say. He wanted to say something, anything, an apology, but at the same time- he didn’t know what he was supposed to be saying. He didn’t know how to put words into anything.

The white-haired teen swallowed up anything he was about to stutter out and instead said, “See you next summer.”

The son of Demeter blinked several times like he was caught off-guard by such a phrase. His lips pursed and he nodded, “Yeah, see you,” he murmured awkwardly before getting in the taxi and closing the car door.

Etho and Mumbo watched as the taxi sped off with their friends, and Etho found himself looking at the direction they took off longer than he should’ve.

The camp eventually fell into quiet as the campers left for home, signaling the end of summer that year.

The year passed by boringly. Etho spent his autumn patrolling the borders with Xisuma and spent his winter spoiling little Mumbo with gifts.

And before anyone knew it, Etho was soon to spend his 2nd year of summer in Camp Hermitcraft.

By the time summer came around, the camp was bustling with activity again. Etho was begrudgingly dragged to a small start of the summer party in the Hermes cabin when his cabinmates returned and unpacked their things.

Cleo came over at one point to catch up with him, surprisingly without Bdubs, but didn’t stay too long to party with the Hermes cabin, excusing herself to clean up the Hebe cabin for the summer.

Mumbo went to greet his older siblings back to the cabin and the Hephaestus kids had a little catch-up moment of their own, leaving the forge empty. Etho didn’t really find a silent forge appealing when everyone was gathering together, so he forced himself to stay put and party with his cabin mates.

So when night fell, Etho was obviously tired, socially, mentally, and physically. After long months of getting used to living with such an empty camp, he’s forced to get used to the liveliness of it again. Despite it being his second year here, he still felt a bit new and lost.

But even when the fatigue was seeping into his bones, his brain wouldn’t cooperate to let him sleep, so he tip-toed around a bunch of sleeping campers in favor of getting some fresh air outside.

He didn’t go anywhere special, just sat by the porch of the cabin. So he wasn’t too far for possible danger but wasn’t too close for comfort.

Etho supported his head on his hand while his elbow was supported by his knee. His eyes were unfocused as his mind went into a tired daze. The fresh cold night air of the camp is actually doing well to calm his head enough to make him yawn.

He could’ve sworn he was about to fall forward and fall asleep, but he jumped at the sound of someone approaching. Etho blinked the sleepiness away from his eyes and he sat up straight to look over at Bdubs who also seems to have noticed him at the same time.

Bdubs stopped in his tracks and Etho would’ve assumed he’d just ignore him and pass if it weren’t for the shorter teen taking slow and hesitant steps towards him, forcing him to prepare for an inevitable social interaction.

“It’s curfew,” Ah, of course that was the first thing Bdubs was gonna point out.

Etho shrugged, “You’re out here too.”

“It’s different for me. I got permission to stay out a bit longer because I had to care for the strawberry field,” Bdubs explained with a tired tone, shamelessly walking over and sitting himself beside Etho with a comfortable distance between them, “Since I doubt any of you year-rounders actually took the time to care for it while I was gone.”

It was when the child of Demeter mentioned the strawberry fields that Etho finally took notice of the basket in his arms, filled with harvested strawberries that no one had ever bothered to touch the rest of the year last year, “Oh, I guess so.”

Bdubs fixed his hold on the basket so it could comfortably settle on his lap without falling, “What’s your excuse then?”

“Busy conspiring against the camp,” Etho blurted out as a sarcastic joke, not that Bdubs first registered it to be so as he leaned away and glared at the tall teen. Etho would’ve laughed in amusement at this if it weren’t for the fact that he knew why Bdubs reacted the way he did.

“I’m kidding. I just have crazy insomnia. I can’t sleep well when…” Etho trailed off and gestured towards the entrance door of the Hermes cabin with his head.

Bdubs followed his gesture and slowly relaxed, nodding in understanding, “Well, if you aren’t actually conspiring then, yeah, I’d understand the lack of sleep. I used to hate stayin’ there too. Too cramped.”

Silence befell the two, having nothing but the sound of buzzing fireflies acting as white noise between them. Etho hadn’t really expected to get this far into a conversation with Bdubs, especially one that actually felt friendly. He was afraid of saying anything that might immediately send the mood otherwise.

“Snack?” Etho jumped slightly and snapped out of his daze, looking to his side to see Bdubs offering up the basket of strawberries to him. He didn’t immediately take the offer, eyeing the basket before moving his suspicious gaze up to the other’s face.

Bdubs noticed the hesitance and suspicion and sighed, a sheepish blush on his face, “Look, obviously we aren’t on good terms and that is entirely my fault.”

“It entirely is,” Etho agreed.

The other teen pouted and snapped his head away with a huff, “That’s what I said.”

“It wasn’t fair of me to take out my anger on you despite most of my grudges stemming from people you wouldn’t even have to worry about,” Bdubs’ expression took a tired turn as hunched over in shame, “I was just a bit on edge, after everything that happened to the younger kids at camp. I don’t want this place to be a bad memory for them.”

Silence again, but it wasn’t as tense and awkward as the one from earlier. It was a necessary silence for the two of them to take in what was currently happening. That Bdubs actually came to properly converse with Etho without the threats and constant glaring. It took an entire year, but it was better than nothing.

“You don’t have to accept that excuse though,” Bdubs said after another deep breath, “But I hope you could at least know that I’m sorry.”

“And if I don’t accept the apology?” Etho tested.

Bdubs shrugged and fiddled with the strawberries in the basket. He seemed to have already prepared himself enough for this kind of scenario, “Well, it’s not like I’m tellin’ you to. Just thought I’d let ya know.”

The child of Demeter offered a strawberry over to Etho, with a mumble about it being washed, and only then did Etho accept the offer and take it in between his fingers.

He didn’t immediately bite down on the strawberry, not the same way Bdubs started snacking on his. He was in deep thought for a long time as the other ate beside him.

“Don’t worry too much,” Etho started, causing the other demigod to stop chewing and tilt his head at him, “If I were to run away and betray anyone here, I’d at least let you know before anything.”

The white-haired teen sounded so serious for something that made no sense that Bdubs couldn’t help but huff out a laugh, “I don’t think that’s how being a traitor works, dude!”

Etho didn’t laugh along as he seemed to really take his next words seriously, “No, but that’s how I work.”

“I don’t think I’d forgive myself if I take away whatever kind of home everyone has set up here,” Etho took a breath and fixed his gaze up to the night sky, “So if I were to find myself turning away, you’d at least be the first to know.”

Bdubs stopped snacking happily, frowning at Etho’s words like he couldn’t believe he was saying such things seriously, “..Why me?” he eventually asked after a few beats.

“I just know you wouldn’t hesitate to stab a sword into me if it mattered,” Etho admitted with a smile like he found his own answer amusing.

Etho didn’t know what Bdubs’ expression looked like right now, especially when he’s this quiet, but he also didn’t want to know the look of it. He kept his eyes up at the sky to look longingly at the dotted sky.

Bdubs seemed to have had enough of staring at the other demigod in disbelief as he slowly looked away, his gaze downwards instead of upwards like Etho’s, “You don’t have to say that…”

Etho didn’t respond.

“This is your home now too.”

Etho made a noise akin to a chuckle, “It’s a just in case.”

After his late night conversation with Bdubs, it felt as if a weight had been taken off Etho’s shoulders. He felt a little more welcome to actually partake in camp gatherings.

Cleo was especially excited when he finally agreed to hang out with her and Bdubs. Although Bdubs himself wasn’t surprised when Etho came over to help them out with making strawberry jam to sell outside, he still flashed a questioning look at the man.

There was still some tension between him and Bdubs, but it was… a tension that still had him unconsciously avoiding Bdubs, but not in an irritated way that he’s been living with for the past months. A different kind that Etho doesn’t understand.

Not that he had time to understand when his eyes were suddenly so focused on the way Bdubs glowed everytime he laughed in glee, finding enjoyment in everything he did.

Etho concludes that it was probably because he was used to Bdubs frowning at him so often that he was this hyper fixated on his smile.

A new camper was brought into camp a few weeks after summer started, though he definitely got in much less injured than Etho had when he was first brought into camp.

Etho didn’t know how to feel now that he’s barely counted as the ‘new kid’ anymore, especially now that Ren comes up to him asking about certain things because he’s one of the campers that could basically be considered an old camper.

If it were last year, Etho would’ve been in Ren’s place at some point, except that he was definitely less excitable than whatever character the new camper was.

False was the one who brought the dog-like camper in, along with the help of Beef. She found Ren when he was valiantly fighting off a chimera. Although, in False’s words, he was valiantly ‘swinging his arms around like an idiot’ at a chimera. The former story was told in Ren’s perspective as he admitted to having known of his powers long before already, which explains why there was a monster after him.

He boasted that he’s able to handle himself well even without having to train, so he feels as if participating whatever was in camp would be easy peasy for him. He said this in a non-condescending way, of course. He was just a little confident about his abilities and there was nothing wrong with that, but…

Immediately after Ren said that, everyone who was present to welcome the new camper slowly turned to look at False nervously, who placed herself behind Ren. Her smile didn’t look like a smile, and Etho can’t help but shiver at the sight.

As if by instinct or as if they had already gotten used to expecting something to go down, the entire crowd besides Ren started backing away, muttering excuses of needing to clean the stables, needing to feed the pegasi, all that jazz. Etho didn’t personally provide anything and silently just stepped away, causing the new camper to be confused as to why everyone was suddenly backing off.

That is until he felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned around to see False’s ominous smile.

Whatever happened next was up to imagination, but there was a lot of running and screaming that day, that’s for sure. It reminded Etho to not mess with a child of Nike. They were big on victories, especially victories over ones with a little too much ego.

After all, there was no such thing as gentle teaching here. You’ll have to change your thinking and perspectives in hard ways, possibly deathly ones.

Despite the harsh first day training False immediately put him in, Ren wasn’t deterred. He definitely lost some of the ego he had on his early knowledge, but he was still the same confident kid that was ‘kidnapped’ into camp.

Etho found himself spending most of his day in the infirmary with Doc after False basically dumped a weak Ren on them. He was in charge of just generally watching over Ren so he wouldn’t do anything that gets him excited and hurt again while Doc does the actual medical stuff.

Etho wasn’t a talker, but he could at least hold up a conversation. Though he did eventually grow tired of nodding and humming to Ren’s little rant about False being cool which slowly evolved to him asking way too many things about Doc, he didn’t complain much.

If someone saw him jump up in the air in celebration when Doc did allow him to leave the infirmary so they could let Ren rest, he would have to tell them they were hallucinating.

Etho assumed that the day at the infirmary was the last time he’d ever have to interact with Ren, since he was pretty sure that the new camper would prefer to go out and meet more people rather than stay with the small group he already met when he first got here.

Color him surprised when Ren kept constantly dragging him out of the Hermes cabin because he wanted Etho to escort him to the amphitheater, which in turn forced Etho to the honor of having to sit down at the side while Ren, the Dionysus cabin, and the Apollo kids played around and bonded over theatrics and musicalities.

The new demigod really blended in with the group, conversing with them easily like they’ve known each other for years.

So color him surprised again when Ren came back to the Hermes cabin absolutely beat up and in tears. Etho, at first, had thought that some camper had bullied the man to the point of tears, but apparently the tears were of another problem.

Ren had gotten claimed by Ares during a friendly spar against Xisuma, and he was absolutely devastated to hear that he really wasn’t at least a part of Dionysus or Apollo cabin. But Etho had half the mind to comfort him, leaving the comforting to his other cabinmates. Etho felt weird, almost jealous. His heart felt like it was tightening around itself.

A camper who was newer than he was got claimed before he had. And as much as Etho had first believed that he wouldn’t really care about his godly parent at the start- After spending a long year almost alone, he realized just how secretly desperate he was to at least have actual family to call.

As much as he loved hanging out at the forge with the Hephaestus kids, almost to the point that he considers him his own kind of family, the reminder that they have each other while Etho has no one to call as actual family hurt sometimes.

Instead of expressing these unnecessary feelings, Etho turned away and sneaked out of the cabin, not wanting to join the sob party.

He doesn’t care. He definitely doesn’t care that someone else gets to leave that damned crowded cabin before he could. He doesn’t care that Bdubs kept glancing at him when Etho ended up going to him and Cleo for a distraction. After all, claimed children wouldn’t care. They lived absolutely fine without knowing the internal paranoia Etho has had to live with since he started living here.

After all, he was used to being unwanted. Maybe it was better that he was left unwanted lest he gets selfish and becomes someone he would rather not be.

Weeks pass and Etho has barely interacted with Ren anymore, now that the son of Ares has siblings that could keep up with his energy. The teen was quick to get over his claiming after being reassured by the Dionysus and Apollo kids that he was still free to come over. They were willing to forget the stereotypes surrounding the Ares children since Ren was pretty cool from the start anyway.

It was almost jarring that the sleeping bag beside Etho’s bed had become unoccupied so quickly. Especially jarring that the first thing he sees in the morning is not the face of an excited dog-like teen already ready to drag him out of bed to beg him to escort him to the amphitheater again.

He really needs to do something about his reaction to such short changes. He’s getting too comfortable with certain things for his own liking.

After Ren had found his place in camp, Etho had thought that all the previous emotions that surfaced during Ren’s claiming would die down. That maybe it was just a phase he had that one time because he was irritated from his usual lack of sleep.

That is until Ren had found him swinging his sword alone in the arena and excitedly offered to spar with him.

“Don’t be worrisome, Etho! I barely have any powers as an Ares kid, really,” Ren had reassured when Etho paused his own training to give Ren a hesitant look.

“That’s like lying to a pet that they’re not going to the vet while also driving them to the vet,” Very nice analogy, Etho. his inner voice tells himself as he watched Ren try out all the different weapons available that had just been left lying around by the last campers who used the arena.

The Ares kid eventually picked up a long sword and positioned himself in front of Etho without hearing out whether the spar was actually agreed to or not, “I mean, the pets still come out alive despite it, right?” Ren played along, positioning himself in a fighting stance.

Etho really didn’t want to fight, especially not with a kid descended from the god of war. He’d been doing well for the past few summers to avoid injuries since limping on healing legs was obviously not the best feeling for him.

But seeing Ren’s confident smile and the passing campers already coming into the crowd around them to check out what’s happening, Etho feels as if freedom of choice was an unpracticed concept in these types of scenarios.

Though he’d really rather disappoint the other by walking away, some part of him didn’t allow him to move from his spot.

The more he stared at Ren, the more he felt as if the irritation he’s been suppressing for the past few days were resurfacing tenfold. It had his whole body slightly trembling, and he really doesn’t know if it was from the anger he’s trying to bottle up or from the anxiousness he’s getting from his self-aware side.

What is happening?

Etho swallowed nervously, his eyes suddenly focused on the child of Ares as he went into the same fighting stance. His grip on his own blade tightened as Ren’s grin widened. If Etho were a little more clear headed, he could understand that the smile directed at him was lighthearted and excited.

But, again, for some reasons unknown to him, he instead took that grin as some sign of mockery.

Before he knew it, he kicked his feet on the ground as he pushed himself forwards, putting his entire strength into swinging his sword to Ren’s side, which was deflected as expected.

They exchanged hits over and over. The scratchy sound of the worn out swords almost deafening to Etho’s ears, but he didn’t care to cringe at it. His brain was hyper focused on…

Hurting Ren? No, this.. He doesn’t feel right. He didn’t mean to think that.

But Etho didn’t have the time to think too hard on it as Ren’s sword slashed at Etho’s arm during the time he was distracted from his own thoughts, leaving a medium-size gash on his forearm.

The child of Ares widened his eyes and backed off. Etho doing the same as he groaned at the strike of pain he felt on his arm, “Shi– Dude, Etho, I’m so–” Ren had meant to stop the spar and check on the damage on Etho, but he didn’t even get to come close before the other had ignored his own injury in favor of pushing himself towards Ren again with a sword.

Ren instinctively parried the sword away, but squeaked in pain and surprise when Etho put a lot more force than what he had been swinging with for the past few exchanges. The sword was redirected, but in sacrifice it instead left a small slash on Ren’s leg.

“Agh! Eth–!” Ren was about to complain, but stopped dead in his tracks when he was met with, not Etho’s usual non-caring stare, but a stare that looked like he wanted to kill him. It left even the son of Ares hitch a breath in fear.

Etho didn’t seem to be in the right mind. He could barely register Ren’s shouting as loud ringing filled both his ears and mind. His eyes were so focused yet so unfocused at the same time.

The earth suddenly started shaking and sounds of it cracking could be heard, but even so, Etho grit his teeth and kept slashing at his opponent. Ren kept yelling for him to stop, even the spectators that came to watch them seem to be yelling and running off in panic from the sudden earthquake.

It was only when Ren had been pinned to the ground by a bunch of skeletal hands that popped up from the earth with Etho towering over him with his sword aimed at his neck, that Etho finally snapped out of it and the earth stopped shaking.

The aftermath scene was tense and quiet, stares of disbelief and fear were pointed at Etho from all around the arena. Xisuma and Doc were at his side struggling to grip Etho's wrists tight enough to prevent him from actually hurting Ren.

“Hades, God of the Dead and God of Riches,” Xisuma announced almost breathlessly, his voice echoing throughout the arena, “Hail Etho, the son of the Lord of the Underworld.”

The silence continued to stretch out. It felt loud despite being what it is. Etho looked at Ren who looked above him instead of at him, then at his trembling hands that were held by his friends. His gaze then looked around at the demigods that surrounded them and he felt like he was going to kneel from the pressure of their judging stares.

Before anyone could register, Etho struggled off from Xisuma’s and Doc’s grip and threw the sword away with a clank.

He ignored the shouting and noisiness as he immediately started running out of the arena, to the direction of the woods, with no thought but escape in mind.

Although, in his mind, the son of Hades wanted to locate the border and escape camp, maybe even change his identity and never show his face again, he really didn’t get far.

Especially when he could finally register the stinging pain on his arm and multiple parts of his body, he was too fatigued and hurt to actually impulsively plan to run away. So he found himself somewhere deep in the forest where Capture the Flag would usually occur, sitting behind a particularly large boulder and hugging his knees to himself like an anxious child trying to make themselves small.

He considers himself lucky to have not been caught by any of the leftover traps of the Hermes cabin members, but he assumes that the only reason why he was able to avoid them was because of this weird instinct he has that correlates to the ground.

Etho’s arms tightened around himself as he buried his face into the space in between his knees, feeling the need to cry but also being so practiced at suppressing his emotions that he physically couldn't will himself to cry.

He instead stayed curled up like that for who knows how long in silence.. With the way the forest was slowly getting darker and the sky was beginning to turn into a pinkish-orange hue, he had probably been missing from camp for a long while already.

Not that he’s expecting anyone to be looking for him, not especially after the little outburst. One year in a camp that kindly took him in to care for him and this is what he does, huh?

Etho wonders when he had gotten this selfish and dangerous.

Time passed a little more and the silence of the forest was almost beginning to feel suffocating. Due to the borders around camp, neither avians or land animals were able to trespass as they pleased. So the woods were eerily quiet.

Of course, such silence didn’t last long, Etho’s shoulders jumped at the faint sound of someone calling out for him.

“Ethooooooo!”

Bdubs. Out of all the people to be looking for him it had to be Bdubs. If he ends up finding him, Etho could only expect that the threat he received from last year during his first days in camp is actually happening and that the son of Demeter had come to hunt him down.

The white-haired teen pursed his lip and hunched over himself even more than what is physically possible, shortening his breaths to make sure that he really wouldn’t be seen.

In the selfish parts of his brain, he hopes Bdubs would find him. He didn’t seem too angry when he was calling Etho, almost like he was just worriedly curious as to where he’s gone. In the more depressing parts of his brain, he hopes Bdubs wouldn’t find him. So that he could confirm that no one would look for him if he were to run away and change his identity.

Either way, only half of his being was satisfied. After a few minutes, the steps got louder and stopped beside him.

“Ugh, there you are! I was lookin’ all over the camp for ya!” Bdubs complained exasperatedly as he maneuvered around the boulder Etho was hiding behind, placing himself in front of the curled up teen, “Got me and the others worried and everythin’! What’re ya even doin’ here?'' he huffed.

The sitting demigod didn’t respond nor did he look up to meet his eyes, resulting in a deep frown from Bdubs.

The son of Demeter kneeled in front of the man and scanned his figure. His expression scrunched up when he spotted the drying blood on Etho’s arm.

Etho took notice of Bdubs’ judging gaze and had already assumed what he was being judged for, “What a way to make everyone hate me, huh?” he murmured, almost unintelligible when muffled by his mask. But Bdubs somehow understood it anyway and gave him a pointed look, “It’s not your fault.”

Bdubs shamelessly reached out and held Etho’s hand gently as he pulled it off his figure to get a good look at the injuries under his long sleeves, “Ares kids tend to arouse feelings of impulsivity and anger upon their opponents. It probably affected ya maybe a little too much,” he explained.

The son of Demeter pulled his free hand to closely caress on one of the bruises, making Etho hiss in pain at the contact, “Not that knowing that’s gon’ make you any less injured,” Bdubs snorted.

The son of Hades chose to be silent, his heterochromic eyes kept on the ground as he let Bdubs do whatever magic he needed to do. The magic being the cube of ambrosia Bdubs brought out from the first aid kit he apparently brought with him and bringing it up to Etho’s face, “Eat, or I’ll force ya,” he threatened without actually sounding too threatening.

Etho leaned back and stared at the cube, looking up at Bdubs before hesitantly pulling his mask down to eat it out of Bdubs hand. Perhaps that should’ve been weird for both of them, but neither seemed to be in a mood to point that out.

With some hesitant chewing and equally hesitant swallowing, the two watched patiently as the gash on his arm slowly started to magically close up, leaving nothing but a small scar and a large tear on his sleeve.

Etho shivered at the feeling of warm energy spreading through his limbs. From his chest to the tips of his fingers and toes. The heavy uncomfortable feeling of fatigue all over his body was suddenly gone in a flash, along with some of the cuts and wounds he’d gotten.

Bdubs’ concerned expression didn’t change, but he did seem a lot more at ease at the sight of Etho healing quickly. He still decided to do a double check on his injuries just in case, shamelessly maneuvering Etho’s arms around while he was still compliant with whatever Bdubs was doing.

“...Don’t you hate me?” Etho finally spoke up while watching Bdubs curiously rubbing at some of the calluses on his hands.

The child of Demeter looked up at Etho with a confused expression, “What?”

“You specifically told me to not hurt anyone in camp. I thought you’d come here to hunt me down for it,” Etho recalled in a quiet voice, which contrasted with Bdubs who laughed in reaction, “No one died, right? And Ren didn’t seem badly beat up compared to you.”

Etho lowered his head, “But I almost killed him, I think.”

Bdubs’ hands stopped checking on his injuries, instead moving to hold Etho’s hand in comfort, “But you didn’t. You didn’t want to, right?”

“But they still looked- they stared at me like I was a monster. Maybe I am- I wouldn’t be surprised,” Etho said more than he should, his hands trembling in the other’s hold.

The moss jacketed teen tightened his grip around Etho’s hands, “I don’t think you realize this, but they’re not staring at you because you were almost the cause of someone’s death,” Etho furrowed his eyebrows and raised his head to look at Bdubs in confusion.

“Then why–”

“Etho.”

Bdubs cut him off and the warm hands around Etho’s colder ones disappeared as they made their way onto his shoulders instead, “Things are about to be different. Extremely different.”

“Starting from now on, Ren won’t be the only thing you’ll be scared of losing.”

“You won’t understand now, but don’t worry- That’s why everyone is here. We’ll be here to guide you.”

Bdubs sounded so much more serious than anyone had seen him that Etho couldn’t help but actually feel a little more alarmed about his situation. He blinked once and Bdubs was suddenly rising from his position, a hand reaching out to Etho.

“And you won’t have your answers if you stay here and mope. It won’t be fun if we lose you to some minor bruises, yeah?”

Although the cold of the upcoming night was seeping into his bones, Etho felt warm like the sun was still shining upon him. Faced with Bdubs’ inviting hand and blinding smile, he supposes he wasn’t too far off.

Etho took Bdubs hand and pulled himself up, his legs shaky from staying in one position for too long. The son of Demeter noticed this and laughed outright at his misery, but still kindly placed a hand on his back for support.

“Let’s head back and get you a proper check-up, dude. You’re a wreck.”

When they arrived at the infirmary, it was already evening. With the curfew looming over their heads, Etho would’ve assumed that every camper has already gone to the nightly campfire or retreated to their cabins early.

An empty infirmary was what Etho would’ve preferred, especially when he was still so embarrassed about his whole spectacle in the arena, but faced with multiple familiar faces when he entered the infirmary, he realized that he should stop internally jinxing himself.

He thought that he’d be met with some ugly stares once he entered inside, which is why he lingered by the entrance of the infirmary awkwardly. But instead of hearing jeers, all he heard was amused giggles.

“You look dumb just standing there, Etho. Get over here already,” Cleo invited with a teasing tone.

He hesitated in accepting her invite, wondering if he really was welcome there. But with little push from Bdubs behind him, he walked forwards and found himself being forced to sit down on an infirmary bed surrounded by worried friends.

Ren was on a bed beside him.

Etho assumed that any future interactions with him were gonna be awkward from now on, but that didn’t seem to cross Ren’s mind as he flashed Etho his usual grin, “Good spar?”

The son of Hades sheepishly nodded, “Sorry about… earlier.”

The other waved his hand dismissively, “That’s not what you’re supposed to respond, Etho!”

Etho sighed, “Good spar,” he relented then quickly added, “And I’m still sorry about almost killing you.”

The Ares kid laughed joyfully, “Can’t be the best of friends if you haven’t almost killed each other at least once in your life, eh?”

Etho would really beg to differ, but seeing everyone else laugh along to such nonsense, he just let it be.

The night before Doc had planned to discharge both he and Ren from the infirmary, Etho had a nightmare.

He watched as the camp fell into ruins in front of him yet he was stuck planted on the ground like he wasn’t allowed or meant to do anything about it.

He looked down in his hands to see a scythe in his hands.

He doesn’t know how to wield one. Weird.

When Etho had apparently shaken the earth and summoned skeletons from the ground, he had been claimed by Hades mid-fight without realizing. But the other spectators had definitely realized, especially when the glowing symbol of a three-headed dog was so eye catching and cute. (All in Ren’s words.)

So his life as one of the unclaimed children was over, not that knowing his dad made his life any easier. His friends may have been a lot more relaxed with the idea that he was a child of the Big Three since they claimed to have had a hunch about it way before already, but other campers definitely weren’t.

There are multiple scenarios in life that many people would find uncomfortable. Going inside the Hermes cabin with your cabin mates avoiding you and whispering behind your back was one scenario Etho considers to be uncomfortable, especially when he realizes that he’d have to consider this as the norm from now on.

It’s not like he chose to have Hades as his godly parent, but they still glared at him like his entire being was his fault. It wasn’t his choice to not have a cabin dedicated to his father either!

So hanging out inside the Hermes cabin was a no-go for him now. Etho couldn’t even lounge in his bed without getting the occasional side-eye as demigods pass him by. Hypno and Impulse tried to make his experience in the cabin less unbearable, but it’s not like they could make the poisonous staring go away.

It was a good thing that he wouldn’t have to actually stay too long as Keralis directly called for him about being assigned a quest.

Etho doesn’t know if being called to be assigned a quest was an act of mercy of the gods or the one last hit that would cause him his demise.

The depths of home of a half-blood to the strongest deities.

Shall awake the ruler of time and ruin the three’s treaty.

Shall choose between himself and the world.

A contest between fate and time.

Fate of Olympus, a continuing blaze or an ending phase.

Etho watched as the mummy-looking ‘oracle’ stopped breathing out green smoke and went boneless on its chair.

He stood there with bated breath for a little while longer before breathing out a sigh of relief after confirming that the creepy oracle wasn’t coming back to life and jumping at him with its brittle and rotten looking limbs.

And here he thought he’d already been through too many uncomfortable scenarios already. The oracle is now leading in his discomfort leaderboard, right above living in the Hermes cabin as a Big Three kid.

He had been called to the Big Three house to not only get assigned a quest by his father himself, but to hear out the Great Prophecy now that it’s been revealed that he could possibly be the ‘half-blood to the strongest deities.’

The camp directors were anxious about the prophecy finally starting with Hades being the first one to reach out to him. The Lord of the Underworld himself. It was almost an honor and a terrifying thing to hear.

Though, compared to most of everyone’s expectations, the assigned quest isn't really anything special. Hades listed that he just needed his son to come down with some friends to take care of a problem at an area near Tartarus. Something about trespassers and monsters. The details were vague like the Lord of the Dead wanted everyone to second guess his orders.

It was too much information to absorb and to store in his brain in one day that everything they brought him to discuss at the Big House were all a blur to him. All he knows is that he’d have to leave camp by next week, with two chosen companions with him. He wondered why two only if this was such a dangerous quest, but they were all just quick to defend the ‘rule of three’, which Etho honestly calls bull–.. A bunch of doodoo.

You don’t just start a war then send out three child soldiers to fight it for you just because you believe in some superstition like the rule of three.

But then again, this side of the world doesn’t exactly follow normal mortal thinking and standards, so Etho kept his complaints to himself as he breezed through the meeting with his crippling anxiety and half a brain.

Etho left the Big House and its scary attic with a piece of paper containing the quest details and with less sanity than he would’ve liked.

That night, he dreamt of suffocating in the abyss, with the whispers of the dead forcing themselves into his ears and into his brain.

He woke up with the urge to vomit.

Days after the whole meeting at The Big House, Etho was in a dilemma as to who exactly he should take to the quest with him. He had a fair share of friends, but he feels as if he’s not close enough to them to ask them to risk themselves a journey to the Underworld nor does he feel inclined to push his friends into serious danger at all.

Etho considered just going alone, but that’s basically making the choice of leaving Olympus to its demise. This is his first quest. He sincerely doubts he could actually handle himself no matter how strong being a Big Three kid is rumored to be.

But he couldn’t just sit still and mull this over for an entire week until the day he needs to leave. When he’s not thinking of it, he’s out in the arena or somewhere more quiet, training himself in both weaponry and his powers.

He had thought to do all his training alone, but ever since the forest incident, Bdubs had somehow found a way to cling to him even without Cleo acting as their peaceful mutual.

They were currently in the middle of the woods, sparring against each other as Etho doesn’t trust himself to actually spar against the other campers anymore.

Not that he was less afraid to hurt Bdubs, it was just that the son of Demeter was pushing him to just accept his help lest he gets annoying about it anyway, so Etho let the cabin counselor train him however he pleases.

“How are you going to save Olympus at this rate?!” Bdubs screeched exasperatedly when Etho was once again immobilized for the nth time that session.

Etho tugged at his arm, only to give up almost immediately when the vines wrapped around his body wouldn’t budge. He shared a look of equal exasperation to Bdubs, who frowned at him and slowly retracted the vines back to the ground. With freedom once again, Etho rubbed at his wrist joints and sighed at his progress.

“It’s not that I’m bad at fighting, it’s just–”

“You’re thinking too narrowly…. Too predictable!” The son of Hades frowned at that, not that Bdubs could tell aside from the way Etho’s eyebrows furrowed in offense. Bdubs didn’t dare to comfort the man, deciding to straight up tell him what he needs to improve on. After all, that’s what he offered to do.

“There’s too many openings, and you dive straight in instead of takin’ your time to examine your opponent. Ya show off your cards too early and leave your enemy to know your strengths, which then shows off your weaknesses,” Bdubs said, sounding a lot smarter than he has for the past few days Etho has gotten to know him, “Also, you’re barely in sync with your powers! You’re using them too…. Consciously! Or you just don’t end up using them at all!”

Etho didn’t respond immediately as he tried to note Bdubs’ words into his brain, having half the mind to catch the sword one of Bdubs’ vines threw at him, “I can’t help it when you’re cheating with the vines all the time,” he grumbled. It was a nonsensical complaint, and even his sparring partner could agree.

Bdubs rolled his eyes and summoned a vine to push at Etho’s figure, much gentler than he had been with the said plant, but a force harsh enough to let Etho know it’s a way of scolding him, “Don’t be a loser! There’s no such thing as cheating when you’re on the actual battlefield!”

That was true. In the face of a life or death situation, a scenario of war, there were no rules and there was no mercy. Especially not when most of your enemies could most likely be monsters who have no form of moral or human intelligence.

Etho himself knows this. He was truly just being a sore loser because he underestimated how much more knowledgeable Bdubs is of his own powers. If they were to compare themselves to each other in terms of experience rather than genetic strength, Bdubs is obviously the winner.

“Think outside the box, Etho. Or rather, think beyond what you see,” Bdubs haughtily advised.

Etho couldn’t have Bdubs acting too haughtily like that when the son of Demeter couldn’t even hold a sword properly. That hurts a certain part of his ego.

He took a deep breath, “Fine. Again,” he said determinedly, immediately putting on a fighting stance.

Bdubs flashed a toothy grin as he waved his hand to summon more plants to his calling.

“You ought to be careful out there,” Xisuma had said to him while Etho was packing up for the quest that he was due to leave for next morning.

The son of Hades looked over to see the acting camp director leaning against the bunk bed just across Etho’s bed. Xisuma intently watched him through his purple visor, a judging eye on the items Etho was carelessly packing into his backpack.

He hadn’t expected Xisuma to come by, but he also wasn’t surprised that he did.

Etho busied himself by double checking his things again, though still trying his best to converse with the child of Athena, “Well, obviously I’d have to,” he mumbled, but X shook his head.

“No, I mean to be really careful. Be aware of where you are and what you’re doing,” he advised seriously, pushing himself off from where he was leaning to take Etho’s messy backpack and re-packing it to a much more organized way himself, “Something about this quest doesn’t feel right.”

Etho watched in mild amusement as X brought stuff out to properly fold them and separate them, putting them in Etho’s backpack in a much more organized and spacious way, “Is it because the quest is from Hades?”

Xisuma shook his head, “It’s because it’s not Hades. He wouldn’t need help from his child of all people over some problems in the Underworld. He’s the literal ruler.”

“But what if–” Etho was cut off with an ‘oof’ as Xisuma zipped up his bag and gently threw it to his chest. The two stared each other down like they were trying to communicate somehow.

“Consider it an Athena kid’s intuition,” Xisuma cut their interaction short and put his hands on Etho’s shoulders as an act of support, “Stay safe, Etho, and be on your guard.”

Etho had gotten up before any of the Hermes campers could, silently going about his daily routine for the before changing into civilian clothes and putting on his personally-organized-by-X backpack.

He tip-toed around the sleeping campers and looked back one last time.

Although the atmosphere between Etho and the Hermes cabin dwellers have grown awkward, Etho found himself fearing that he wouldn’t be able to go home to the familiar death stares of his cabin mates by the end of summer.

No matter how uncomfortable it has been to sleep here, he can’t find it in himself to imagine a day where he wouldn’t be able to go home to it. But before he could grow any sentimental, Etho left the Hermes cabin and went to meet with his quest mates over at Half-Blood Hill.

Cleo and Doc were already by the entrance of the camp, packed and ready to go.

Perhaps there would’ve been much stronger teammates than the two of them, but they were the ones he chose. Cleo may not be too useful in terms of powers, but she was a damn good healer, so as with Doc. They were both smart, but not too ambitious. It was a safe balance in the team.

And the best thing about the two of them, to Etho, they were the ones he trusts his life with. They had already seen him in his lowest times twice already, so he’s confident that they’d be able to respond in the face of injury and danger.

“Ready to go?” Doc asked one last time as if anyone needed anymore confirmation.

Etho took a breath and nodded, leading the group ahead as he passed the archway entrance of the camp. They had trekked towards the camp border, the pine tree landmark in sight. Except, the pine tree seemed to have company.

The group of three stopped and Etho is almost confused with the sight of Bdubs crouched beneath the pine tree. Cleo seems to have noticed this as well and playfully pushed Etho forwards, “Go on then.”

“Huh?” Etho blurted out confusingly, looking back at his two companions, “Aren’t you two also—”

Before he could even ask his question, Cleo pushed him forward again, harsh enough to the point that Etho did almost trip forwards. He flashed a frown at the child of Hebe before begrudgingly walking towards Bdubs.

The sound of grass crunching must’ve gotten Bdubs’ attention as his eyes moved from whatever he was doing crouched down there up to Etho who had approached, “Oh, Etho!” he exclaimed excitedly, noticing the backpacks and the presence of Cleo and Doc not too far off behind Etho, “Already leavin’, huh?”

Etho could’ve sworn he sounded a little solemn pointing that out, but he didn’t dwell too much on it, “Uh, yeah. Gotta get an early morning start before the world…. ends and all.”

He only received a laugh for that comment, “You seem nervous.”

“Who wouldn’t be?” Etho shrugged, “This is the first time I’m going out of camp after regaining consciousness. It took an entire year.”

Bdubs suppressed another laugh, “Pfft, other demigods would kill to even be in your position. Going out for a quest and all,” he said, rising from his crouched position to properly look up at the pine tree. Etho followed the same action and looked up at it with him.

They stayed like that for a while, letting the morning breeze pass by them as they stared at what remained of TFC in a daze.

“You could join us,” Etho suddenly offered when the silence stretched on for too long, moving his eyes back down on Bdubs. The shorter teen seemed amused at the offer, but shook his head to reject it.

“Nah, this is your quest to fulfill. I probably wouldn’t even be helpful. What can I do? Grow some flowers to bribe monsters with? Ha!”

Etho feels as if Bdubs is underestimating his own abilities. No matter how reluctant he is to actually partake in violent activities, he was still good in terms of catching his opponent off guard. The son of Hades has been forced into too many sparring sessions with him to know so.

But he respected Bdubs’ reluctance to join a quest, “I suppose you’re right. You’d probably leave me to die if given the opportunity.”

The son of Demeter snorted, “Ha! Glad you’re aware about the status of our friendship.”

Etho fought the urge to roll his eyes. With how things have been going for them since the start of this year’s summer, he almost completely forgot that they were meant to hate each other. He completely forgets when had mutual annoyance to fondness, and he’s scared to know when.

“But you picked good teammates,” Bdubs added when he didn’t get a response, looking past Etho once again to look at Cleo and Doc who were idly conversing while waiting, “I’m sure they wouldn’t be the type to leave you.”

Etho mostly set his eyes on Bdubs despite their conversation pertaining elsewhere. He notices the look of worry in his eyes despite the smile that he’s forced to wear, “I’ll take care of them,” he said reassuringly in hopes that the other’s expression would be more relaxed.

At the demigod’s promise, Bdubs looked back with a warm smile, “You better!” He then raises a fist, lingering in the air as if to expect a fist bump. Etho was caught off-guard briefly, but he entertained the action anyway, bringing up a hand to return the fist bump.

What caught him even more off-guard was when Bdubs turned his hand and opened it to reveal a pouch tied to a string, an attempt at a necklace. Etho blinks in confusion, reaching out to take the small pouch.

He opened the pouch slightly to see pine leaves put in it, “This is…?”

“Fallen pine leaves from the big man over here,” Bdubs patted the trunk of the pine tree gently.

“But why?”

“For protection.”

Pine leaves for protection? Etho silently asked, which Bdubs somehow understood from just one more confused look directed at him, “TFC’s been protectin’ everyone inside for many years, before and after death,” he explained, his expression slowly turning sheepish as he turned his head to avoid Etho’s eyes.

“Thought that it could serve as good luck, so he could protect you even outside of camp!”

Etho looks back down on the pouch with a much newer perspective. When put like that, it was a gift with a sentimental meaning behind it. It wasn’t just some fallen pine leaves forced into a pouch, it was a gift that signified Bdubs wish for safe travels.

His expression softened and he closed the pouch up tightly, then took the string attached to it to wear around his neck, “Thanks, Bdubs.”

Bdubs’ face glowed brighter when Etho wore the gift with no more hesitance. He patted the taller teen’s arm and nodded, “Come back alive and well, Etho.”

For some reason, Etho had expected to get through this quest scot free with the pouch of pine leaves around his neck. It’s nice to know that there’s a lot of things willing to snap him out of that delusion, even if said things are big scary monsters that almost killed him off once or twice.

And, hey, because of those nerve wracking situations, he was at least able to find out some things about himself.

Etho had long since known that he had some sort of connection with the dark and shadows, especially evident with the way that he was the literal son of the God of the Underworld, but it was only when he was faced with a manticore that his instincts finally thought to use his powers.

Usually, he’d be humble about his achievements. It’s not like he could celebrate every little thing, he has no time for that. Defeating monsters would probably be the bare minimum of what is expected of him.

But he does have to say that figuring out how to travel through shadows had never gotten him so pumped. Though he did suffer some injuries here and there, nothing deterred him from the amount of adrenaline he got from learning how to shadow travel above the manticore and stabbing it straight into the ground to the point that it immediately poofed into dust from the impact.

Ignoring the weird bleeding cuts all over his body, he was excited about this new discovery, and despite Doc scolding him about being too reckless, he also couldn’t help but congratulate him.

Recognizing the ability to basically teleport was basically recognizing a new quicker way to Los Angeles without having to struggle for a way of transportation, especially when traveling through the sky was out of the picture since the start.

But, of course, they couldn’t just straight up tell Etho to use his shadow traveling immediately. He was nowhere near knowledgeable on it and the group would really rather prevent a situation where they end up traveling somewhere further than they’d wanted.

So, while they hitched a ride here and there, they found themselves in Chicago, miles away from home.

Etho spent most of his days perfecting some of his powers and, even if it was exhausting, he tried to use shadow traveling when they weren’t doing anything during the evening, during times when they’d just settle down and camp for the night.

They camped out near one of the beaches of Chicago and Etho popped out of the shadows after another evening spent just teleporting around, scouting out the area for possible monsters that could approach them overnight.

There were none to take note of, thankfully. With how dizzy he gets after using shadow traveling for too long, Etho would really prefer it that way.

He walked on over to Doc by the campfire, who was noting down things on his map. The satyr heard him approach and looked up expectantly, “How did it go?”

Etho plopped himself on the sand tiredly, “Well, I’ve gotten better, and it’s feeling less weird and more comforting to do now,” he picked up a stray stick and started poking at the campfire absentmindedly, “I could probably try out traveling with the three of us, if you want.”

Doc hummed appreciatively, “We’ll see how transport goes tomorrow.”

The son of Hades then noticed the absence of one member in their group, “Where’s Cleo?”

Doc nodded his head towards a certain direction and Etho followed his gesture to see the ginger haired demigod by the shores of the sea, talking to the obviously not naturally made mist, “What is she doing?” If he squinted his eyes, he could see a face of someone in the mist, but he couldn’t see that well in the night so he didn’t look too hard.

“Iris messaging,” the satyr responded and folded up his map, putting it away in his own bag, “You’ve never used it?”

Etho watched on for a little longer before looking back at the campfire, “Not really. I’ve seen some people use it,” he murmured, “Keralis gave me a few drachmas just in case I needed to communicate with family without using a cellphone, but that was when they didn’t even know I was an orphan.”

“Ah,” Doc donned an awkward expression, “So it was no use in the end.”

The two of them waited for a while before Cleo bid her goodbyes to whoever she was talking to and came back to join them by the campfire, “Bdubs called,” she announced to the group, making Etho raise an eyebrow.

“Again?” he asked. He could’ve sworn that Demeter kid was reaching out to Cleo every other day now. It’s a wonder why he didn’t just join them on the quest when Etho offered when he was going to be this clingy anyway.

Cleo smugly grinned, “He keeps asking about you.”

Etho paused and presented an even more confused expression while Doc and Cleo chuckled at him like they knew something he didn’t. He was getting deja vu from this. The last time they looked at him like this, they were hiding the fact that they knew who his godly parent was.

“You should Iris Message him sometime.”

“I don’t… think he’d appreciate it if I did,” Etho could already imagine it. ‘The Etho Iris Messaging me?! Who gave you the right, huh?!’ is what Bdubs would say. Probably.

Cleo was convinced otherwise, “With the amount of times he’s asking me to check on you? I doubt it.”

“I don’t even know how it works!”

“Doesn’t hurt to try now, does it?”

When Etho thought his banter with Cleo was gonna get both of them nowhere, Doc offered encouragement of his own, “Better to get used to it now than to learn much later. What will you do if you need to communicate with someone and we’re not around?”

Ah, so he’s using that tactic, huh. Etho pouted from under his mask as he looked away from both Cleo and Doc’s intense staring. When they wouldn’t stop, he relented with a sigh, “I’ll try one of these days.”

“Tomorrow,” Cleo corrected. Etho turned to glare at her.

“Fine. I’ll try tomorrow.”

When he promised tomorrow, Etho thought that they meant the next time they settle again tomorrow, not immediately after the sun rises. He could barely even tell that it was morning before Cleo rudely dragged him out of his sleeping bag and dragged his body across the beach to approach the shore.

He struggled out of Cleo’s grip before they graciously let go of him. Not only did he have sand all over his body now, it was also all over his hair. The itchy feeling of it on his body was not something he would rather wake up to at all.

He sat up and shook his head, shaking off any sand on his hair like a dog. He turned to glare at the child of Hebe, but they didn’t return a look as she brought out a spray bottle of something and sprayed it over the water, causing some sort of mist to form.

Cleo smiled proudly before bringing a golden drachma out and throwing it to Etho, “Just like how I instructed you last night. Do you remember?”

Etho caught the coin and examined the mist forming on the water, “Well, yeah, but why can’t we do this in the evening?”

“Bdubs wakes up as soon as the sun rises and sleeps as soon as it sets.”

“But–”

“Go, Etho!”

The son of Hades really doesn’t understand what the rush was, confused that even Doc rushed to join them. One last moment of hesitance, he approached the seashore closer, not caring for the water tickling the sole of his shoes.

He sighs, “Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering…” Then plop goes the drachma into the sea.

Etho crouches there for a while before realizing that he actually needed to say the name of the person he needed to reach out to, but before he could actually say anything, the mist had already distorted to show the face of the very much awake Bdubs.

The child of Demeter’s smile was wide before it briefly fell in confusion, “Etho?!” he exclaimed in surprise.

Etho waved slowly, “Uhh, hiiii?” he greeted.

Bdubs blinks several times and tilts his head, making sure he was seeing right. His confusion then turned into worry and panic, “You- You’re Iris messaging? What’s happenin’? Are ya hurt? Is Cleo or Doc not there? Why are you–”

“I’m not in danger! At least, not for now!” Etho was quick to reassure with an equally panicked tone, making Cleo and Doc in the background giggle.

“Wuh? Then the reason why you’re Iris messagin’ is…?”

Etho sends a look over to his two companions, silently begging for help. But, unsurprisingly, they didn’t say anything and only gave him a thumbs up of encouragement.

…

He doesn’t even know how to respond to that.

He looked back at Bdubs, “I.. don’t know,” he admitted seriously, causing Bdubs to react even more confusingly at him.

“You don’t know?”

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?!”

“I really don’t know!”

“You’re the one who started this!”

“Cleo made me!”

At that, Cleo started absolutely losing it beside Etho. He turned to look at them pensively, muttering at them to shut up. Cleo’s laughter must’ve been that loud because Bdubs sighed like he heard it, “What is she tryna get at?”

“They’re teaching me how to use Iris messaging,” Etho replied, deciding to ignore his laughing companions beside him.

“Huh,” Bdubs’ interest seemed to pique at that, “So this is your first time usin’ it?” Etho nodded sheepishly in response while the other in the mist smiled wide, “Glad to be your first Iris message!”

The son of Hades, for some reason, felt embarrassed at that revelation and his face flushed. He hopes that the mist doesn’t reflect that properly. He decided to move the conversation along, “Cleo told me you kept asking about me.”

This time, it was Bdubs’ turn to be flustered. His expression froze and he turned his head away to grumble something. Etho could swear he heard him calling Cleo a snitch under his breath, but he didn’t dwell too much on it as Bdubs pretended to clear his throat aloud to get his attention back to him.

“So ya doing well?”

Etho shrugged, “Somewhat.”

“Oh, that’s good then…”

And then they returned to awkwardly staring at each other, not knowing how to continue this conversation. Etho pulled his mask higher on his face as if that was gonna lessen his embarrassment.

“I-I’ll go now. We still need to be on the move.”

“Ah, right! Of course, go do your hero-ey stuff ‘n all!”

“Yup. Then– How do I–” Etho tilted his body right and left trying to figure out who to cut the connection.

Bdubs suppressed his laughter, “Just wave your hand at the mist and I’ll disappear.”

“Oh, alright, then–” he reached out to wave his hand at the mist, “Etho!” but he stopped mid-air when Bdubs suddenly called him, making him pause and look up at the misty appearance of Bdubs again.

“Yes?”

Bdubs opened and closed his mouth in an attempt to say something, but then seemed to stop himself and went with: “Let’s do this again sometime!”

And then the mist disappeared. Bdubs cut off the connection before Etho could.

The I.M.s with Bdubs became a regular thing from then on. Not regular to the point that they’re doing it everyday, but he did check in with Etho instead of Cleo multiple times.

It reached the point where Etho actively looked forward to them no matter how awkward they ended most of the time. It constantly gave him a reminder of why he’s doing the quest in the first place.

To get home, to where everyone else was waiting, in a scenario where they wouldn’t have to worry about the fall of Olympus and possibly the world.

Even when they had reached the entrance of the Underworld, or even entered the Underworld itself in where Iris Messaging is almost impossible, Etho still looked forward to them up until the moment his eyelids got too heavy from waiting, and he’s forced to face the next day.

Camping out in the Underworld was not the nicest experience, especially when you’re constantly paranoid as to whether you’ll be greeted by a monster as soon as you wake up. Their group took turns patrolling, but Etho took on the patrolling job more than Doc and Cleo did.

He didn’t want to sleep, especially not when his nightmares had grown more frequent, worse and vivid ever since they entered the Underworld.

Etho doesn’t want to return to the dream where he’d go home to Bdubs and the others piled up in the middle of camp, burning up like a really gruesome campfire.

It really showed Etho why nightmares are called nightmares.

Maybe the frequent nightmares or the fact that the ferryman of the Underworld disallowed them to enter (which forced Etho to have to shadow travel them in) should’ve been obvious signs that told Etho that everything is wrong. Or maybe the fact that Xisuma said that something was wrong before they even left for the quest should’ve been the most obvious sign.

Or maybe it was the injured demigod they found on the way to the site Hades mentioned in the quest details that should’ve been a big sign.

Etho didn’t react much except for minor surprise when a strange looking demigod limped towards them with more injuries than they could count. But Cleo and Doc definitely made up for his lack of reaction as they gasped in overexaggerated surprise when they realized who approached them.

Apparently it was a demigod that previously ran away from camp, more specifically the one that Bdubs had to defend Mumbo from before.

Etho was pensive about approaching this stranger, especially when his first impression of him was from information he received from word of mouth from Mumbo and Tango. He would’ve decided to shadow travel away if it weren’t for the fact that Cleo and Doc seemed keen on healing the demigod and taking him back to camp after the quest because of whatever sob story they spewed out, no matter how reluctant they were to do so at first.

Not that any of what the injured stranger said made Etho any less suspicious of them.

So they camped once again, only for a short while since Cleo had to focus all her energy to heal the demigod, who cried in gratefulness. Doc was beside Cleo working on food over the fire while Etho sat further away, keeping an eye out for any dangerous beings nearby.

After a little while, the stranger somehow made the decision to limp over to Etho, “I heard this was your quest?” they had asked. Etho didn’t expect them to come up to him, so it took a while for his brain to tell himself to nod in acknowledgement.

“I apologize if I’ve delayed your group,” they said sheepishly.

Etho shook his head, “It’s… fine. We were called here about a trespasser problem too anyway,” which probably shouldn’t have been one of the things he should say to a person he just met, but the demigod beside him didn’t say anything. He did notice how their mouth seemed to twitch from his words, but he didn’t point it out.

“What else were you called here to do?” they moved the conversation along.

The son of Hades is not sure just how much of the quest he should reveal to someone who’s not a part of it, or rather is actually the problem that caused such a quest to appear. So he took a while to come up with a response that wouldn’t sound too suspiciously vague but also wouldn’t reveal too much, “We were just here to investigate and get rid of.. Stuff causing a disturbance, mainly trespassers and monsters. Not really sure about the rest that we’ll find along the way.”

The stranger didn’t even hesitate to almost cut his words off, “I found something weird while I was getting lost here, if that’s what you’re aiming to find!”

Etho furrowed his eyebrows at the mention of ‘something weird’. I mean, they were in the Underworld so a lot of things are bound to be weird, but how weird was that something weird to be considered something to take note of?

“It looked golden and important. Maybe it’s your father’s item? It looked like something that was meant for the God of Riches,” they added like they heard Etho’s inner monologue.

The demigod of Hades gave it a thought and nodded, “We’ll check when you’ve rested.”

Even if his guts are telling him that following the stranger was a bad idea, it didn’t hurt to check if whatever they found was truly an item of his father’s.

…

But he doesn’t remember telling the other demigod that his father was Hades. Did Cleo and Doc tell them?

They took a few hours to rest. At least, Etho hopes it’s been a few hours. They can’t really tell the time in the Underworld.

The demigod was stable enough on his feet to lead them the way to this ‘weird item’ they found, with Etho close behind them and Cleo and Doc following after him. It was a tense walk, especially when their surrounding areas slowly got darker and darker. Etho does remember that this area was supposed to be near Tartarus, but he’s not sure if the darkness was one of the signs that they were getting closer to it.

After long minutes of walking, Etho suspected that they were being led around like morons, that maybe there really wasn’t anything here at all. But he was soon to be proven wrong when he perked up at the sight of a golden coffin just out in the open.

He paused in his steps as the stranger walked ahead and presented them the golden coffin, “Here it is!”

Etho slowly walked on over and examined it. Well, it definitely looked weird and looked like something that the God of both the dead and riches would have, considering it was a coffin made of gold.

He took notice of engravings by the side of the coffin and was about to crouch down to take a look at it, but the demigod who led them here spoke up before he could think to do anything smart, “I tried opening up this thing to see if there was any treasure inside, but it was too difficult to open up!”

At that, Etho noticed that the coffin wasn’t exactly sealed. Due to its material, it would be difficult to move away by a normal person.

By a normal person. Too bad that Etho at the present time was too interested in what he was looking at to realize something with that.

He squeezed his fingers in on the space between the lid and the coffin and easily lifted it and pushed it off. He didn’t fully remove the lid, pushing it slightly to see what was inside of it. When he peeked his head in however, he didn’t get to register what was inside before–

“ETHO!”

Etho jumped at the sound of both of his companions shouting. He immediately tried to back away from the coffin to look back at them, but a hand harshly grabbed at his head and attempted to push him into the coffin. Etho instinctively gripped at the side of it and pushed against the force, which he can only assume is the demigod that led them here.

“Get off of me!” Etho growled out, hitting his elbow hard against the other’s stomach to get them off him, but they were relentless. He struggled enough to not be fully inside the coffin, using the opportunity to shake off the hand on his head to turn to where Cleo and Doc were.

They weren’t alone. Etho doesn’t know how, but a group of people, which he assumes are past runaway demigods, appeared and started attacking them. Cleo was biting off the hands that kept trying to hold her back while Doc was straight up kicking them hard like how a horse would.

Etho widened his eyes and was overcome with anger. He could understand trying to murder him, but hurting his friends as well? He hadn’t been this angry ever since he got claimed.

The son of Hades grit his teeth and reached out for any shadow that could aid him, dissipating into the void then appearing behind his attacker. All moral or empathy he had jumped off into Tartarus the moment these group of kids laid hands on them. He didn’t care whether this golden coffin thing was capable of killing someone and he put all his strength into pushing the runaway demigod into the coffin while they were still caught off guard by his teleporting.

They screamed as Etho pulled the lid over them, the coffin shutting its prisoner inside with a large ‘DUNG’.

Etho’s actions garnered the attention of the group attempting to attack Cleo and Doc, surprised yelling all around as some of them have completely disregarded the two in favor of running to the coffin to save their… ‘Friend’? ‘Teammate’? Some of them even tried to go after Etho but he just shook the ground a little and they were on the ground in just a few seconds.

Incapable attackers.

“Etho!” the person with said name looked over to his friends that had their hands reached out to him, in stances that looked like they were prepared to run, “We need to leave! NOW!”

They didn’t need to say anymore than that as Etho maneuvered around their opponents to get to them, reaching out both of his hands to hold theirs and they all immediately started running from the scene.

“SON OF HADES.”

Etho paused and looked back in surprise to hearing such a loud and domineering voice, yet finding nothing of the sort that would signify where the voice came from. Just a bunch of kids and teens still attempting to open the coffin, that was unusually glowing bright.

“YOU WILL REGRET THIS.”

It didn’t feel like much of a threat, considering the threats he’s received from Bdubs himself, but the difference between those threats and the one he received from the current moment was that he now genuinely felt a pang of fear in his chest.

“Go…” Cleo and Doc looked over at him as he tightened his hold on them, “Let’s go,” he breathed out shakily. Etho didn’t give them a chance to say anything as shadows surrounded and ate them up, quickly traveling out of the Underworld.

… Which obviously wasn’t a good idea when he was this shaken up, but Etho wasn’t in the right mind to care. All he knew was that he didn’t want to stay there.

So even as his vision swam and his whole body swayed, he didn’t have the time to regret his actions as he fell forward and completely passed out from fatigue. He just hopes one of his friends caught him or he’ll wake up with one hell of a body ache.

As much as Etho slept as little as possible to prevent getting nightmares, he loses when he’s out like a light. He has no choice but to face his weird dreams.

This time, he dreamt of being inside the golden sarcophagus. His limbs felt cold and numb, almost like he was losing control of them.

He looked around to look for an opening then looked downwards at himself.

There was a hole in his chest, right where his heart is supposed to be.

He felt like screaming, yet he couldn't scream.

Etho gasped sharply as he woke up in cold sweat, which should be weird considering his surroundings felt strangely hot to his skin.

He was hyperventilating in reaction to his dream and it seems Cleo and Doc noticed this long before he even woke up as they were already surrounding Etho with worried looks on their faces, “Etho! you’re–” He cut them off by surprise and he hurriedly sat up, a hand clutching at his beating chest.

“Woah there, dude. Let’s calm down now–” Doc held both of Etho’s shoulders in hopes it would ground him, but he struggled to keep them on when the son of Hades kept struggling in panic.

“Where–... Did we escape?” Etho asked them, slightly out of breath.

Cleo shared a worried look with the satyr before rubbing Etho’s back to soothe him, “We’re already gone from the Underworld, Etho. You’ve already shadow traveled us out.”

Etho looked around and realized why it was hot. They were inside a cavern or volcano of some sort, the sky seen far above them through a crater. When Etho peeked over the edge of where they were, he widened his eyes at the sight of lava just below them.

Assuming he was lost as to where he transported them to, Doc kindly told him where they were, “It seems we’re in one of Hephaestus forges,” he looks down at the lava with Etho, “Mount St. Helens.”

“Isn’t that in Washington?”

Cleo gave him a pointed look, “Yes, which should be why you fainted as soon as you teleported us here. We went farther than what your instincts probably expected,” she stood up from her crouched position and brought out a hand for Etho to take, “Can you walk?”

Etho leaned back from the edge and took Cleo’s hands. He was a little numb all over, but nothing he couldn’t tolerate. Shakily, he was able to stand up, but he couldn’t keep upright.

Doc and Cleo settled themselves on either side of Etho and helped him walk, “Let’s get out of here. I don’t think a god would really appreciate us trespassing one of his territories,” Cleo advised and the other two could only nod in agreement.

The three of them trekked on the ledges of wherever is safer. Although they don’t exactly know where the exit is, anything was better than being near the lava. Along the way, Etho didn’t need anymore support so he let the two leave his side to properly scout the area without having to drag him.

Just when they were about to be convinced that nothing of note was there, the group had to stop their movements when they heard whispers and shouting up ahead. Etho raised an eyebrow of amusement when the murmurs felt like an exchange you could hear in classrooms. Though Etho didn’t stay in school long enough to actually remember what an interaction inside a classroom would sound like.

Curiously, Cleo was the first one to peek in, followed by Doc and Etho. Turns out, it really was a classroom.

Of monsters, that is.

At this revelation, one of them gasped a little too loud at the sight of the monsters, causing the entire classroom to stop whatever they’re doing and look over at them. The monster teacher spoke up, “Who are you guys?”

The three of them went tensely silent. Etho cleared his throat and answered on the group’s behalf, “Transfer students?”

The class went noisy again and started whispering at each other while the teacher continued to be suspicious of him, “I don’t remember being informed of transfer students–”

“Hey, doesn’t that guy strangely smell like the Underworld?” one of the students cut off their teacher, pointing at Etho.

Etho’s breath stopped as he stared at the class, and they started back. It didn’t take long for the interaction to cut short as the teacher yelled as if its realized something, “SON OF HADES!”

“Fuck,” Cleo and Doc hissed under their breath in unison, with the exception of Etho who instead said, “Oh snappers.”

“GET HIM!!” and then it was chaos.

The three didn’t hesitate to immediately backtrack and start running, not even bothering to look back as they could clearly hear the roars of the Telekhines chasing after them.

Along the way, they even started throwing lava at them. If Cleo were in the right mind, she would definitely not let him live down the fact that he screamed like a little girl every time a goop of lava almost hit him.

They were soon to run out of stamina and space to run into. They were getting desperate the more the Telekhines gained some distance on them.

Etho stopped running when they reached a particularly earthy part of the mountain, looking back at the crowd of monsters with an idea he had made up on the spot. Doc was the first to notice him stopping and he paused as well, “What are you doing, you madman?! Why did you stop?!”

Cleo also stopped in her steps when she heard Doc shouting behind them. She widened her eyes when Etho suddenly stomped on the ground and caused a large crack on the ground between him and the two, “Etho! What the fuck are you doing?!” Oh, she didn’t even seem to watch her language now.

Etho looked back at the monsters then back at them, “We can’t keep running like this. Find an exit while I hold them off!” he shouted, unsheathing his sword in preparation to fight the monsters off on his own.

One Telekhine seems to notice what Etho was doing and was very much excited to get their hands on him. They excitedly threw a goop of lava at him before jumping to get a tackle on him. Etho’s pants were set on fire, but he ignored it briefly in favor of dodging the attempt at a tackle. He swung his sword wildly as they all started to pile on him.

He could faintly register Cleo screaming at him, but he didn’t bother to acknowledge it as his body felt like it was on fire. Maybe it was, considering a lot of the Telekhines threw lava at him.

Etho waited until he couldn’t hear any complaints and screaming anymore, confirming that Doc and Cleo must’ve ran off to do what he asked.

He could do this. Hold these Telkhines off for a while. He was a Big Three kid. This should be easy peasy for him, right? It’s the bare minimum of what he should be doing.

Right, he’s got this.

… is what he constantly told himself internally until the pain and burning got too much and he was straight up screaming in pain. He didn’t even realize that he was screaming, nor did he realize that attempting to suppress his emotions wasn’t a way to go. Especially when one of his powers specifically responds to his emotions.

Etho’s legs felt weak as the ground shook, dust and rocks started falling from above him as the whole mountain sounded like it was about to fall on itself.

In an attempt of one last act of desperation, Etho shut his eyes and yelled out as the heavy pressure that built up in his guts got unbearable.

The earth shook and Etho’s world once again went dark.

Surprisingly, he didn’t dream this time.

When Etho woke up, he had expected to already be in the depths of the Underworld, blending in with the ghosts there. He thought he had died. But if it were the Underworld, why did he feel so comfortable? And why does he still have a conscience?

Etho slowly lifted his eyelids open, being met with a stoney ceiling. He blinked several more times and gave himself time to orient himself back to reality. His limbs twitched beside him as he attempted to move them. He winced from the stiffness of his joints, but he forced himself to ignore them.

He slowly sat up and brought a hand up to his head to massage his temples, easing whatever headache he got from sitting up too fast.

“Where am I?” he whispered to himself once he got over his phantom pain. He looked around to see a decorated and fairly comfy cavern. The ‘bed’ he was on was on the ground, but he wasn’t entirely uncomfortable despite it. It felt comfier than whatever he had in the Hermes cabin but that was probably because it lacked the overpopulation part.

Etho didn’t dwell too long inside. He moved the blankets off him and took careful steps towards the opening of the cave.

The first thing he saw was the sea. The first thing he smelled were flowers. The first thing he felt was the warmth of the sun. It looked, smelled, and felt like paradise here.

Etho walked out further and paused when he saw another person by the shore. The caramel-haired woman turned around and was almost surprised to see Etho, but then relaxed herself as if she remembered why he was there.

“You’re awake.”

Etho feels as if he’s heard that phrase more than twice already. Does he pass out that often? Well, he wouldn’t have to be met with the same phrase over and over if the world didn’t want him dead so bad.

“Where am I?”

“Ogygia. My home. You washed up on my shore injured.”

Home? Etho zoned out trying to remember what Ogygia was, but the other kindly oriented him when she saw how lost he looked, “I’m Calypso. We’ve already treated some of your burns and injuries. If you are hurt anywhere else, do tell me so I can communicate with my servants..”

Etho completely ignored her offer, now recognizing her, “The daughter of the Titan, Atlas?” he asked, causing Calypso to wince in response.

She nodded, “You’re knowledgeable on our stories, it seems.”

The son of Hades shrugged, “Somewhat,” he mumbled humbly. He only knew bits and pieces, but not exactly everything. He did know that Calypso was a Titaness that was exiled to Ogygia.

He looked around the island again and wondered, “Have I also been exiled? If I’m also here.”

Calypso tried to suppress her laughter, “No, you haven’t. I believe it is fate’s doing to bring you to me,” she walked past Etho in favor of going back to the cave, “Especially when you arrived at a fatal state.”

Well, Etho did just fight off a bunch of monsters on his own like a moron in hopes that he could buy time for his friends. Speaking of, he truly does wonder if Cleo and Doc got out safe. It would be embarrassing if they didn’t and now he’s just living his best life with an, objectively speaking, pretty woman.

He turned to follow after Calypso, “Oh, then…”

“Are you hungry?” The Titaness cut off whatever question Etho was about to ask, forcing him to forget about it and just nod along to her question. He was fairly weak anyway. Food would probably be good for him.

Lunch with an exiled Titaness was weirder than he had expected, and Etho thought he had already seen everything at the camp mess hall. Dining with excitable half-god children made for a really intense food fight.

But there was no food fight with the Titaness, thankfully. The only thing that weirded Etho out were the invisible servants that served the food and cleaned up the tables. It did not bode well for Etho’s paranoia to know that there’s servants that he couldn’t see but could see him. What if he wanted to take a number 2? Would he just have to pray the invisible servants weren’t around?

He doesn’t know if he should test that out, though he doubts he would get any results out of it except phantom shame.

After eating, Calypso excitedly showed Etho around the island. There wasn’t much to see, except for the cave he woke up in and Calypso’s garden, but even the garden was enough for Etho to consider the place beautiful.

He spent most of the day learning how to garden with the Titaness since she wanted him to stay out until the moon came up so he could see the garden in its full glory.

It was a good thing he agreed to such an arrangement. He was able to experience firsthand how moonlaces sprouted under the moonlight. They were bioluminescent and it reminded Etho a lot about lilies, but a tad more magical.

Calypso oriented him on how they work, how they grow, how they should be cared for, and all the things surrounding it. Etho paid half attention to what she was saying, finding himself in a daze as he stared at the moonlace flowers.

For some reason, his brain began to think about how Bdubs would probably like yet hate such a beautiful challenging plant, especially when he preferred to sleep as soon as the sun sets and as soon as the moon rises. He probably wouldn’t even be awake to see the fruits of his labor if he actually grew some of his own.

Etho found himself smiling. Just as he thought, maybe he still preferred something that grows on a sunny day rather than a moonlit night no matter how pretty moonlace flowers are, only if it meant that he could see Bdubs grow things that he could actually enjoy.

While he was thinking of this, he didn’t notice that Calypso had stopped talking a while ago and was currently looking at him with a pensive look.

After a few minutes of flower watching, Calypso invited him to stay in the cave for the night to rest. So even if Etho wanted to ask about going home, he felt too awkward to ask about it and just accepted the invite.

It was the next day and Etho summoned the courage to ask about going home when Calypso invited him for breakfast.

“Is there a way I could go home? I don’t exactly know where this island is so I’m not sure if I’ll faint from shadow traveling,” he tried to seem casual about it so it’s not rude that he sounds desperate to go home, but it didn’t matter as Calypso still acted a little strange towards his question.

“Ogygia is a phantom island. It is everywhere and nowhere,” she answered truthfully yet vaguely, “The only way a hero could leave is by the raft.”

Etho found that nonsensical, but he knew better than to make sense of anything on this side of the world, so he took it as it is.

“Is it urgent for you to leave?” Calypso looked solemn when she asked that, making Etho feel a little bad for asking about a way home now.

“N-not really? I just have people waiting for me at home..”

“A lover?”

Etho was caught off-guard by the question, meeting Calypso’s searching eyes awkwardly. He didn’t know why he seemed to hesitate for a while before he answered, “No, just friends I need to check in with.”

Calypso was placated by that. Why? Etho doesn’t know. Is he wrong about her kindness and she was actually some possessive Titaness who goes ‘finders, keepers’ to whoever lands on her island?

He, of course, didn’t say anything about those thoughts. He doesn’t really want to offend her when she’s been so welcoming to him.

“Maybe it’s best if you stay for a little while longer. The journey will be difficult if you leave while still hurt,” she advised, insistent on making the son of Hades stay.

Etho didn’t have the heart to tell her that he could probably carry the sky on behalf of her father with how healthy he feels right now, so he agreed and continued to silently eat his breakfast.

He spent the rest of his day helping out Calypso in her garden, seeing as there’s nothing else to do anyway except if he wanted to ask the invisible servants if they wanna play some board games. But after an awkward conversation between Etho and the Titaness where he had to explain what ‘board games’ were, he gave up on that idea.

Seeing that Etho was really just forced to work with her in the garden, Calypso allowed him to go and rest instead as she didn’t want to force him to do things he gets bored doing.

But instead of resting, Etho used this opportunity alone in the cave to try shadow traveling out of here. But that was when he realized that he couldn’t actually use it, leaving him to build up panic as he kept trying and trying until the sun set.

“Am I not attractive to you?” Calypso had suddenly asked when she called Etho out for dinner, causing him to stop chewing and stare at the girl dumbly. She stared back with a desperate look and Etho quickly swallowed his food uncomfortably to force out an answer, “I-I mean, you’re pretty?” That was objectively true.

Calypso wasn’t satisfied with that, “But you don’t seem to…” she was about to argue about something but trailed off in embarrassment.

“Seem to what..?” Etho encouraged her to continue speaking, but she shook her head and changed her sentence.

“Do you like me? At all?” she was genuinely confused about something, which didn’t help because Etho was also confused and didn’t know what kind of answer she wanted, “I mean, if you were my type, I’d probably have a crush on you?” his tone was doubtful of himself.

Calypso’s eyes were downcast, but she was relentless with her interrogation, “What would you consider is… ‘your type’ then?”

Etho went silent as he seriously considered that question. He never really was the one to think about romance. He didn’t see a future where he would have a partner at all when he looked like an angsty rebel teen but was actually just a tech nerd. That didn’t seem attractive to a lot of people. But if he were to actually consider his options…

“Brown hair…? Shorter than me– and good with plants?” since if they’re able to take care of vegetation properly, then it’s basically a guarantee that they’re just as caring when caring for a human being, right?

Calypso looked confused. She examined herself then looked back up at Etho.

It was then that he realized that she wasn’t too far off his type so the conversation was nonsensical to both of them. He quickly stuttered out more things to narrow it down, “I also like individuals that are able to fight for themselves and others. He’s not afraid to take criticism and better himself. He also does things in others’ best interests. He’s also quite an artist–”

“He?” Calypso cut him off.

Etho then stopped as he widened his eyes. He had been rambling without thinking, not knowing that his words weren’t listing down things he found attractive in someone. He was… straight up describing someone.

Dinner became awkward and the Titaness and the demigod stared at each other with wide eyes.

Calypso then looked away and nodded solemnly in understanding, “I see, so it’s like that,” she stood up and turned away from him, “It seems that you did have someone to go home to.”

She took a breath and smiled wearily at Etho, “Enjoy your dinner. I might need a moment to myself,” she then walked away, disappearing somewhere to another part of the island.

Etho sat there alone for a while, still quite flustered about his own doing.

Did he just come out to a Titaness?

He dreamed for the first time since he arrived on the island.

He was already expecting the worst out of it, but he did still end up getting caught off-guard when he was faced directly with his own face, but not one with the same heterochromic eyes he had. This version of him had golden eyes. Golden eyes that stared directly into his soul.

This version of him also disregarded a mask and was smiling ominously at him.

Unlike all the other nightmares, he’s able to feel himself move and speak in this one. He stared back at himself, disoriented by how similar yet unsimilar this version was from him, “Who are you?”

This version of him smiled wider and Etho had never felt more creeped out, “You should know who I am,” For something that was barely considered an answer, it somehow answered a lot of the questions he’s been holding back in the back of his head.

The scythe he’s been seeing himself wield in his dreams, the golden coffin/sarcophagus he was being forced into, and the prophecy.

“Kronos,” Etho spat out, which caused the Titan to laugh. It was weird, hearing a different voice in his not-entirely-similar body, “What do you want from me? Clearly your method of using runaway campers doesn’t seem to work well.”

Kronos scoffed, but kept up his haughty attitude, “Have you noticed as to where we are?” asking a question in favor of not answering the question. How expected.

Even so, Etho let it be and took the time to look around his dreamscape. It was the camp, as usual, but it wasn’t a scene of anything falling into ruins nor was it a happy scene where the campers were running around. No, it was empty and quiet. There were signs of people having been there, but it feels like they weren’t ever there at the same time.

“Pretty empty, isn’t it?” Kronos spoke up again, but Etho didn’t respond. His eyes stayed on Kronos’ figure as the Titan pretended to be just as interested in his surroundings as well. Etho kept his breath short like intaking too much air at the presence of the Titan Lord was going to kill him.

When he didn’t get a response, Kronos spoke once again with an arrogant tone, “It wasn’t hard to get it to this state.”

Etho was confused for a while before then realizing what the Titan was trying to get at. He glared at Kronos, even attempting to reach out to maybe choke the man, “You–!”

“You’ll come to regret being so far from home, demigod,” Kronos cackled. Etho didn’t get far with attacking dream Kronos. The sound of his loud laughter trailing off as Etho’s dreamscape slowly went dark and he was slowly coming back to consciousness, leaving behind the scene without even getting to snap back at the Titan.

He woke up in cold sweat once again, to the sight of Calypso staring down at him with worry in her eyes, “Young hero, are you okay?” she asked as she helped him sit up, patting his back in comfort as he hyperventilated.

“I need to– I need to go home–”

Calypso looked down solemnly, “I know, demigod. I know,” she said in a gentle tone.

She waited until Etho returned to a much more stable breathing pattern before she stood up and turned to leave the cave, “I have already settled the raft for you,” she told him, which made him look up in surprise.

Calypso looked back to smile at him, “Meet me by the shore when you’re ready,” she then left the cave.

Etho was surprised but relieved at the same time. He felt bad that he felt relieved, but this was an emergency. He dressed himself back into his clothes, the one the invisible servants kindly fixed up for him after noticing how some of it was dirtied and burnt, and hurried out of the cave.

He met up with Calypso who was staring out into the sea longingly before turning to look at him.

Etho stood awkwardly, focusing his attention on the raft instead. It was fairly small and he doubts that it could survive in rough seas, but he’ll just have to assume that magic will keep him alive. He approached the raft, but didn’t yet board.

“So, this is goodbye?”

Calypso nodded slowly, trying her best to keep a happy face, “It was not fair of me to keep you here, especially when you’ve got better things to save other than stay with me,” she then reached out to take Etho’s hand as she gave a pouch of seeds, “I apologize for being selfish.”

Etho looked down at the pouch, noticing that they were labeled to be seeds for moonlace flowers. He gripped at it gratefully, “You were far from selfish. I would be desperate for company too if I had to live here alone for thousands upon thousands of years,” he said honestly.

Calypso laughed and stepped back, “I hope you and your lover would enjoy those,” she referred to the moonlace seeds, having remembered that Etho mentioned that his ‘type’ was good at gardening as well, “Although our meeting was short, I hope you could find the time to still appreciate its beauty even outside of here.”

The son of Hades’ heart softened at how genuine Calypso was being, but he also couldn’t help but flush red at the mention of his supposed ‘lover’.

“Uhm, sure- right, thank you for this, and for having me,” He hurriedly boarded the raft.

As if it detected Etho’s presence on it, the raft started to move away from the island, giving him no time to react. He was already a distance away from the shore when he looked back to see Calypso waving goodbye at him. He waved back as he disappeared into the fog along with the raft.

When he arrived at camp, he was met with silence. Despite having expected this from his dream, it didn’t fail to give Etho a sense of dread, especially when he approached without feeling the familiar pressure of the camp border on his skin. His raft washed up on the shore of the camp. He doesn’t dare understand the magic behind that as he quickly got off and ran up the sandy beach.

There wasn’t a single sound of the usual noise of summer, of campers shouting over at each other, of children singing around a campfire, of the scratchy noises of the swords clashing over at the arena. There was absolutely nothing, and Etho was soon to find out why.

He had reached the main areas where campers would usually frequent.

By the Big House, he could see Xisuma in his bee form frozen in the air, in a position that looked like it was going to sting someone but that someone wasn’t there. Right beside him was Beef who was in a frozen position that looked like he was going to run towards other areas, or away from whatever was supposed to be chasing them.

Seeing this, Etho picked up his speed again, he passed by the strawberry fields to see Joe stuck in the air with a look that showed that he was mid-screaming before he froze. He couldn’t even find it in himself to laugh at the position as he continued on to run around camp.

He passed by Cub and Zedaph who were frozen back to back with each other, their arms positioned to look like they were casting spells before they were frozen in time.

The son of Hades finally found his way to where the cabins were and it looked a lot more chaotic than what he has been passing by so far, especially when everyone’s living quarters were here and they were most likely lounging around here.

He passed by Jevin whose body looked like they were scattering from a hit he took, floating slime pieces all around him. Hypno was beside him with a look of surprise. Impulse wasn’t too far away from them but he looked like he was about to fall backwards from whatever jumped on him.

His eyes followed the surrounding area, magneting towards the Hephaestus cabin where Bdubs, Tango and Mumbo seem to be frozen in front of it. Etho clenched his fist and ignored everything to run over to check on them with a closer view.

Bdubs was in front, his arms reaching out from both his sides in what seems to be an attempt to protect anxious, crouched Mumbo behind him and an equally panicked looking Tango who was hugging his little half-brother to comfort him.

None of them moved and the situation they were protecting themselves from was already done days before he arrived, but Etho stared at them in pity like he could still see their desperate attempts at protecting each other.

He didn’t know how long he stayed in place just staring at his three loved ones, but he can assume that he’s been there for too long since someone seems to have passed by and noticed his unusual appearance.

“E-Etho?” the familiar voice of False gasped behind him.

Etho looked back to see the girl’s look of disbelief and surprise, her steps towards him stuttered in hesitance. She looked like she was genuinely doubting he was a real person, “But Cleo and Doc said you…”

“What happened here?” Etho was quick to demand an answer, internally surprised at how angry he sounded for a moment.

False didn’t take offense to it as she forced herself to get over her surprise. She turned back, “I’ll get the others,” she didn’t respond to his question, preferring to get someone else to explain properly as she ran off to most likely get whoever was left of this battlefield.

He waited at the same spot and it didn’t take long for him to see a small crowd all running towards him. Cleo ran up to him to give him a tight hug while Doc also joined in. They both took turns in questioning him and scolding him.

“Where have you been?!” “We thought you were dead!” “Don’t ever do that again or I’ll hunt you down in Elysium and resurrect you to kill you again!!” and all those worried statements were spat out.

Etho didn’t even bother to respond to any of them, just patting Doc and Cleo on their backs in hope they would magically forget his self-sacrificial and stupid actions. While this went on, he noticed the presence of three other unaffected campers.

False, Ren, and Keralis looked tired and equally worried about what had happened to the camp. They let the three have their moment before catching Etho up on what had happened to them, “Someone sneaked in and poisoned the pine tree a few days after you three left for the Underworld. The camp borders became weaker and everyone started to get anxious. Everyone was taking turns patrolling so a lot of us were missing out on sleep.”

Poisoned? Why hadn’t Bdubs mentioned this? Well, considering that he was the type to do things so people wouldn’t be worried, Etho can annoyingly assume he kept it from him in hopes Etho could focus on his own quest.

Cleo visibly shook in anger at the mention of the pine tree poisoning, but Keralis continued to talk, not feeling the need to keep anything secret even if it meant getting some hateful reactions, “False, Ren, and I volunteered to go out and get a cure for it. Get the golden fleece as Sheshwamy suggested.”

“We hurried back after getting it, but we only came back to this scene. They used the weak borders to raid the camp. I don’t know how useful the golden fleece would be anymore, considering there’s no use of the border when everyone is frozen in time like this, but at least it’ll prevent any monsters from strolling in and making themselves at home.”

False was holding Cleo’s hands and trying to get her to calm down, seeing as anger and worriedness yielded no results in this kind of situation. Ren had a steady look on his face, but his confidence or optimism from before wasn’t there. He may be calm, but it’s not that he wasn't paranoid and scared. His first year in camp and he was already put against something bigger than all of them combined.

For some reason, Etho thought to take the blame for this. If he had just gone ahead and died, would things have turned out better? If he hadn’t been here, Bdubs wouldn’t have to risk his life a second time. Ren would’ve had a proper summer. Cleo wouldn’t have had to almost mourn her friend once again. All of this just happened because Hades decided to show his son’s presence to the world.

But thinking through this, is he just saying this because he truly feels bad for his friends or is it because he wanted to run away from the heavy responsibility of having to possibly save the lives of an entire summer camp?

After everything, Etho had a lot of things to do and fight for, all before this year’s summer could end. It was nerve wracking. Pressuring. Fate set this prophecy upon him like they didn’t care that he was too young for this. That all they knew was that he needed to fight.

After all, the Big Three kids of all people shouldn’t be complaining when they are descended from such strong gods, right?

Etho looked back at Bdubs, eyes stinging the longer he looked at him. His shoulders shook and he absolutely couldn’t help himself. Vulnerability be damned. Non-existent reputation be damned.

Pushing himself forward, he engulfed the immobilized Bdubs in his arms. He hunched over and buried his face into the crook of Bdubs neck. If someone noticed him shaking as he suppressed his ugly cries. No one said anything as both Doc and Cleo went up beside him, rubbing his back as he let it out.

Gods, if Bdubs hadn’t been frozen in time, he’d be making fun of Etho right now. But even if he waited, Etho didn’t get the honor of hearing any of it.

The group of six decided to stay in camp for a little while, get some rest and get Etho up to speed before deciding their next course of action.

Kronos has made himself actively known during the week Etho was out like a light over at Ogygia, making obvious signs of preparing for a war against Olympus. The gods thought to, as always, blame it on Etho. As if the prophecy wouldn’t have started if he had just laid low and all that.

The demigod Etho pushed into that coffin in replace of himself had apparently become a vessel for the Titan. So he supposes that maybe it is his fault. Maybe.

Adding to that stress, because of the earthquake he caused at Mt. Saint Helens, Typhon was on the verge of breaking free from his prison. So not only do they have to worry about the Titan lord himself, they even have to worry about the rise of the Storm Giant.

Etho really wishes he could go back in time and smack himself in the face for making decisions that led to this many problems. He was literally making more work for himself without meaning to.

After a bit of talking, as if the gods had been taking them for fools for giving themselves time to rejuvenate both their physical and mental healths, Hermes himself came to visit with a message from the Olympian gods.

When he had caught himself up on what happened while he was with Calypso, Etho immediately went to go back and inspect the entire camp once again, as if seeing them all frozen the first time wasn’t enough to convince him of their situation. And with anxiety in his heart, he doubts he could rest well anyway.

His little Camp Hermitcraft statue museum tour came to a stop in front of Bdubs again. He really doesn’t know why he keeps coming back to him like he’s still delusional of the fact that maybe the child of Demeter would snap out of it and start moving, knowing that it won’t ever happen.

Etho took the pouch of pine leaves off his own neck and put it around Bdubs instead. Those pine leaves really weren't that magical, but it’s helped keep Etho alive so far. At least, that’s what he believes. He hoped it would keep Bdubs safe too while he was in his current state.

It was at that time that Hermes decided to appear beside him, watching him watch Bdubs, “You seem to have grown close,” the god pointed out. Etho’s shoulders jumped slightly from the sudden appearance of a companion, moving to the side as he wearily stared at Hermes.

Etho wanted to do his usual silent treatment, but he knew he couldn’t be rude to a god, so he begrudgingly replied, “Not really. I’m just a little out of it so I’m nicer.”

The trickster god smiled knowingly, but Etho pretended to not have seen it, keeping his eyes forward instead of looking at the deity beside him.

“I’m here to bring a message from the gods.”

The son of Hades sighed and shut his eyes, “I sure hope so,” Otherwise, what else is Hermes here for except to judge them for their misery?

“Choose where you put your faith wisely, boy. Either way, you will gain an enemy. Prepare for war and train harshly for what’s to come,” Hermes’ tone took on a deeper pitch, like he was trying to copy one of the gods while he delivered the message. Etho can only assume that it was an attempt at copying Zeus.

“Remember, these are the consequences of your own actions. But despite this, the gods will be beside you,” was what seems to be the end of the message, but Etho sincerely doubts the genuinity behind the ironic sentence.

The demigod and god pair went into a moment of silence. Hermes seemed to dislike the lack of response and continued to speak, with a normal pitch this time, “The fate of the world is on your shoulders, Etho.”

“Oh, because the gods don’t seem to like taking action themselves despite being almighty beings, I see,” Etho sassed, having half the mind to regret it seconds later. Hermes’ face twitched in response, but didn’t fully acknowledge his sarcasm, “You will not be able to take down Kronos’ army on your own.”

Etho shrugged and gave a sarcastic look towards the deity, “Obviously.”

“I have children that may be able to aid you.”

Etho blinked and looked over at the Hermes cabin, where a lot of the campers were tripping over each other at the porch as they struggled to run out, frozen mid-fall. He pursed his lips and wondered what children Hermes was talking about considering most of his children and non-children seem to have met the same fate as the rest.

Hermes noticed his pensive expression and snorted, “I have children outside of camp. Although they’re quite hard to catch. Suppose that’s how you know they’re mine,” he said, making Etho even more doubtful.

“But you’ll meet them if The Fates wills it, just look out for a short boy and a tall girl,” the deity turns to leave, “I’d trust that you know how to care for your teammates, if my observations of you do not fail me.”

Etho turned around to ask more questions about this vague description of his children, but the spot beside him was empty after one blink.

Gods and their communication problems. Etho wonders if that’s where he inherited his lack of social skills from.

Etho was quick to bring the message of the gods to the others, comforted by the fact that they had reacted the same as he was; tiredly and disgustedly. After all, no one would really like to receive a message from their parents that basically says; ‘Oh, this is all your fault so have fun dealing with it. Have some words of encouragement and good luck!’

But the lack of energy from the gods didn’t deter them. It was the looming danger that got them moving and motivated, not the lack of parental attention.

While Etho was speaking to Hermes, Keralis went to Iris Message Chiron, informing the centaur about Etho’s return. He tried to ask for help regarding the upcoming war and anxiousness over the lack of people they need to be able to hold against Kronos’ army, but Chiron simply told the acting activity director to not worry.

It wasn’t really much of a help, but Keralis could only sadly report this as Chiron seemed too busy. He also said that he would have talked to his dad about asking for help, but Dionysus was called to Olympus as soon as Typhon showed signs of rising so no one could reach him.

Keralis looked incredibly tired. Xisuma did most of the thinking and strategizing between the two of them so doing this much was probably tiring him out more than it should, added to the stress of knowing that his partner was just frozen in time and he was at a loss on what to do.

Etho let him be with a reassuring pat on the back before they moved the topic of their meeting to what they should be doing next.

Obviously, their number one problem was numbers. Fighting against a Titan Lord and his hidden number of followers with just the six of them was not enough. Going with that was basically suicide.

Etho told the group about how Hermes suggested that they find his two other children outside camp, but everyone seemed to hesitate on actually moving through with it. As desperate as they are to get people to help them, they couldn’t just beg some children who possibly don’t have any battle experience to go to war with them. It went against their morals.

So Doc offered an option that he said only Etho could fulfill.

“Why not ask your father?”

The suggestion had everyone gasping and exclaiming in disbelief. Asking Hades directly for help? The Olympian gods wouldn’t even bat an eye to help them, what makes Doc think that the Lord of the Underworld would?

Even Etho was caught off-guard by the suggestion, but because he considers Doc to be one of his smarter friends, he at least tried to consider it.

In the end, despite the doubts of everyone, Etho decided to give it a try. He just hopes that Hades had at least a tiny bit of pity left for him to at least hear him out.

It was easier to get into the Underworld now that Etho knew that nothing there except Tartarus monsters were actually gonna hurt him, especially when he had this status as a descendant of Hades. The difficult part of doing what he’s meant to do here is actually meeting his father face to face for once.

This would probably be their first interaction with each other, as Etho had long assumed that his first quest that was supposed to be assigned by ‘Hades’ wasn’t actually from Hades. He had hoped that his father was aware of his existence at least, aware of what he’s been doing so that the conversation could just be direct and concise and they wouldn’t have to make their negotiations any longer than it should.

But Etho really overestimated his father. Sure, Hades willingly let him waltz into his palace and even have Persephone come in to coo at him, but actually asking a deity for a favor was a different kind of challenge.

He didn’t even get to defend himself properly before the god immediately said no to helping the camp out with taking down Kronos, as doing so would basically count as helping Olympus. And gods forbid you help out the same people who exiled you down in the Underworld.

But they were both stubborn. Whoever was unfortunate enough to be in Hades’ palace during that time was unfortunate enough to experience motion sickness as their loud argument constantly caused the entire Underworld to shake.

The argument went something like this:

“Because you’d rather see Olympus fall than to regain honor!” Etho jabbed.

“I don’t think you understand what honor is, boy.” Hades growled out.

Etho proceeded to mock him,“Oh, but I do know enough to know that gaining honor the way you’re doing is a coward’s way.”

“You’re afraid to fight. Aren’t you, Father? Has the Lord of the Underworld sunken this low? Even Tartarus dwellers are proud to be at a level higher than you–” Etho was then cut off by a shout.

“You stop that, boy! You dare disrespect a god? We may be family, but I will not stand such insolence.”

Etho glares at the god one last time before turning to leave, murmuring on his way out, “If mother were still here, she’d show how no deity could be braver than her. She’d have to see how much of a coward her lover had become,” he tried not to cringe when he said those words purposefully aloud while he made a show of slowly stomping away.

Before he could reach the doors of Hades’ palace however, Hades groaned and ordered him to stop, to which Etho followed and turned around snappily, silently celebrating already his win over this petty battle.

Hades made a show of showing his disappointment and stress, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he begrudgingly compromised, “I’ll consider gathering everyone to help out,” Etho internally cheered, “But only if you could take care of the trespassers in the dungeons,” Etho’s internal cheer died down.

“Trespassers?” Etho blurted out.

Hades didn’t say anything and gave him a glare, obviously not keen on repeating himself twice. The son of Hades suppressed a sigh and agreed, “I’ll see to it.”

When Hades had mentioned trespassers in the dungeons, Etho had expected Tartarus monsters that Kronos had brought along with him and sent to bother the Underworld ruler, but whatever he opened up in the dungeons was far from what Tartarus monsters are supposed to look like.

Instead, Etho was faced with two children who were holding each other in fear, the smaller boy glaring at him while he had an arm out to protect his sister behind him, who had an arrow readily aimed at him.

The son of Hades raised his arms in surrender and didn’t move forward, “Woah there, I’m not here to hurt you–”

“If you think you’re gonna feed us to the hellhounds, you thought wrong!” the smaller boy shouted bravely despite the trembling of his figure.

Etho deadpanned at him and continued to attempt to reassure them, “No one is getting fed to the hellhounds–”

He was then cut off again, “Then you’ll eat us yourselves? You monsters!”

Etho sighed exasperatedly, “Look, kid, did anyone ever tell you to stop being rude to your elders?”

It seemed the smaller boy took that as an attack again, “Oh, so you’re judging us for being orphans now?”

The older teen genuinely didn’t know whether to praise the kid or scold him for being witty with his responses or for being good at being purposefully annoying. Either way, he relented to this behavior since he found it amusing, “Nothing of the sort. You’re Hermes’ kids, aren’t you?” he asked, causing the two children to freeze in place.

A short boy and a tall girl. One with wings on his shoes. He thought he was taking a shot in the dark, but judging from their reactions, he assumes he hit the shot.

This made his job much easier, “Your dad told me to come find you. We need your help.”

The kids shared a look with one another before lowering down their guard. Good. Looks like Etho wouldn’t have to fist fight a child.

The group didn’t know what to expect out of Etho’s visit to his father, but they definitely did not expect him to come back with two children in tow.

Especially not with one that seems keen on making trouble as soon as he arrives in camp. Etho had never seen Doc so exasperated by Grian and he felt bad for being so amused about it.

Well, at least Pearl was much tamer. False, although she was one of the ones who was against searching for the Hermes kids, warmed up to the girl and gave her a proper bow to practice with.

With new additions and a possibly new alliance with the Underworld, it was time to move on to more preparations. None of them slept a full 8 hours as they all constantly worked themselves to the bone everyday until the sign of doomsday.

Doc took a violence-motivated Grian to the forge to come up with automatons that could possibly replace their lack of manpower. Etho came to help.

Keralis focused more on reaching out to outside groups to help them. Chiron is confirmed to have negotiated with his family to help them on the day itself. The Huntress of Artemis surprisingly had a good relationship with Keralis and agreed to travel back to New York to help.

False and Cleo took on the duty of training Pearl and Grian while also stocking up supplies they might need.

Ren took on the dangerous duty of going out to scout out where and who the followers of Kronos are. Though the group told him to not engage in such dangerous activities, he was only let go when he promised them that he was only going out to gather information they desperately need, additionally promising that he’d keep a low profile.

Etho really doubts that Ren is the type to keep a low profile, but they were desperately in need of information on their enemies. Knowledge is power, after all.

So, in hopes that he would actually move through with his promise, Ren took on the responsibility of going in and out of camp to get information, with False coming along out of worry and also out of pure distrust for the teen’s abilities.

There was a moment in between their preparations where Keralis came over to bring Etho out of the forge to talk to him about a message from his father. Etho thought that the message was something bad because Keralis looked a little shaken when he gave him a rolled up scroll containing the message, but apparently the son of Dionysus was just as he is because Hades told one of the Furies of all Underworld servants to give the message.

Keralis had the gall to joke about how Etho must be that important to Hades to leave such a message to a Fury to deliver, but the son of Hades didn’t react positively to that.

Currently, Etho was traveling through the Underworld once again but with Ren by his side this time. The message Hades sent went something like this; ‘The Underworld is still deciding whether to entrust themselves to your side. In a possible situation where they do not agree to serve you, I will entrust you this information…..” And the instructions inside were what got Etho immediately asking Ren to escort him outside of camp.

They lingered around a much emptier part of the Underworld, to where the River Styx runs through. Ren kept away from the river in disgust of the pollution that built up there, “Etho, dude, I know this is your home and all, but it’s not exactly homey to… uh- me, you know?” He tried to be nice about it, but he obviously didn’t like being in the Underworld.

Etho snorted and crouched by the riverbank of Styx and looked inside the murky waters, wondering if he should start regretting his choices when the river looked far from safe. Ren noticed that the son of Hades looked as if he was just leisurely looking towards the river and decided to ask his questions.

“What exactly did you want to do here? Surely it’s not to sightsee while everyone is out there working their butt off, right?”

“I’m going to swim in the River Styx.”

Ren choked on air and widened his eyes at Etho in disbelief, “You’re going to what?!” he exclaimed, looking around to see if anyone heard that before continuing to shout at Etho, “Isn’t that dangerous?!” He got over his fear of the river and went to place a hand on the son of Hades’ shoulder, hoping to prevent any thoughts of jumping in.

Etho expected that reaction and it didn’t deter him. He stood up and shrugged off Ren’s hand. Instead of answering, he started listing down instructions for Ren, “I will be submerged in there for a while, but hopefully not too long. I just need you to keep on a lookout out here just in case.”

Ren’s head swam in confusion, disbelief, and irritation, “What do you mean?! Are you telling me to basically watch you commit suicide?!”

The son of Hades sighed exasperatedly, “It’s not suicide. I’m sure I’ll live.”

“Oh, because swimming in a polluted magical Underworld river is definitely safe,” the demigod snapped sarcastically, making Etho feel even more exasperated.

“I promise you. I won’t die. This is essential for us to win.”

Ren crossed his arms and glared, switching from glaring at the river to glaring at Etho. When it looked like the son of Hades really wouldn’t relent, he stomped his feet and forced himself to accept the promise, “Don’t take too long, or else I’ll jump in after you.”

Etho shook his head, “Please don’t.”

And Etho sure hopes Ren didn’t because, oh snappers, swimming in a polluted magical Underworld river hurt . He felt like his skin was burning up despite being underwater. Surely he won’t get a disease instead from doing this, right?

He kept holding his breath in and he struggled to open his eyes. With the knowledge of how polluted this water was and how painful it felt on his skin, it was really quite the struggle.

But eventually, he squinted them open enough to see the faint hallucination of his friends' faces all around him. He looked around the water a bit more but stopped to look at the familiar face of his mother. Etho could barely remember what she looked like anymore, so the image was faint, but he could see her gentle smile through the water.

He didn’t know if the stinging on his eyes was an attempt at crying or if opening his eyes underwater was truly a dangerous idea.

Eventually, he felt some kind of tug over at the side of his temple, and he shivered from the feeling. It hurt to move his limbs so he let the river do whatever magic it was meant to do. He shut his eyes in anticipation and tried to ignore the uncomfortable feeling on his neck.

Soon enough, his surroundings change. His body felt cold before it suddenly felt warm. He gasped and opened his eyes.

“You rascals! Stop bullyin’ the guy!”

Etho found himself face first into someone’s chest, their arms wrapped around him protectively with one hand covering his hair and one hand on his back. The person moved away and Etho looked up to see the annoyed yet worried look of Bdubs staring down at him, “Geez, you– Look at what they’ve done to ya!”

The son of Hades looked down at himself and saw he was drenched from head to toe. He remembered this faintly, though he wonders why the River Styx chose it of all things. He was getting bullied by campers who decided to throw an entire tub of water over him in this memory.

He involuntarily shivered when wind blew past, causing Bdubs to sigh and reach out a hand.

“Alright, come on– Get up, ya wet cat.”

Etho didn’t even think twice as he reached out to take his hand.

“We still need you.”

When Etho was rudely spat out of the river, he started coughing painfully, feeling his skin sizzling up and steaming. He didn’t even get a chance to slowly orient himself on his surroundings before Ren tugged at his arm and pulled him away from further the river. Etho groaned as his body uncomfortably rubbed against the ground, but Ren decidedly ignored it and started checking on his vitals.

“Etho, you with me?!” he shouted right into Etho’s ears, causing him to wince and move up a hand to cover his ear.

“I’m with you. Stop shouting my brain off,” he grumbled and sat up with the help of Ren, who couldn’t help but worry even when Etho was obviously alive and well.

“Well, thank gods, dude! After this weird Greek warrior approached me scolding my ear off about how wrong I was to let you swim in there, I thought I would actually have to live with your death over my head for eternity!”

Greek warrior? Etho wondered who that was, but he didn’t want the topic to continue so he focused on comforting Ren, “Well, I’m fine, and stronger.”

He stretched his limbs out then grinned up at Ren after confirming that he wasn’t fully injured, “How about a spar after we get back?”

War was chaotic and unmerciful. While the Olympus gods were fighting off Typhon in the stormy sky, everyone had gathered around the Empire State Building, letting themselves get drenched by rain as they fought off monsters as best as they could.

The large goat hybrid looking automatons Doc and Etho made was insane. It definitely helped them push a lot of the smaller monsters back and away, but inevitably, they were still powerless against the Titan Lord’s power. Doc was devastated when one out of three of the large automatons went down after one hit from Kronos, but they didn’t have time to mourn for it.

Although he was a bit late, Hades took on his side of the deal and appeared with an entire army of undead with him. He was even in a get up that looked like he was going to be fighting alongside them himself, which Etho didn’t expect. It hurts to admit, but even he can’t help but be slightly proud of his father for coming around.

The Hunters of Artemis were stationed all around, mostly in higher angles. Pearl went to join them as she was mostly helpful in long range. Though she did force herself to leave the side of the huntresses when she spotted Grian impulsively trying to piss off Kronos who was placed on a chariot.

She hurriedly took position in a nearby building as she anxiously watched her brother fly around and shoot at every moving thing with a crossbow. It was when Kronos waved his hand that everything around him suddenly slowed in time, including Grian who was still flying nearby. That was enough to get Pearl’s heart beating fast.

“O goddess of Artemis, please help me,” Pearl muttered under her breath as she shakily aimed a bow towards where Kronos was slowly approaching with a bunch of monsters.

Throw him off. Delay him. She just needs to catch the Titan off-guard. That should be easy enough, right? Especially when the said divine being is in a mere half-mortal shell.

She breathed in and breathed out, flashing a determined look on her face, “Now,” she whispered to herself and let go of the string of her bow, watching as her arrow changed from a simple one to one that glowed, picking up speed as it was able to hit Kronos at least right in the waist, making the Titan shout.

The Titan didn’t dare focus on the demigod trying to annoy him anymore, instead moving his venomous gaze towards where Pearl was stationed on a rooftop of a building, “You damn trickster children–!” He waved his hand in an attempt to summon something after her, but Grian, who had been unslowed and freed from his brief moment of distraction, pepper sprayed the mortal vessel of Kronos.

“That’s my sister, old man!” Grian announced proudly before throwing the empty pepper spray at an approaching monster and quickly attempting to fly away. But before he could get some distance, Kronos blindly attacked him with a shockwave, causing Grian’s body to be pushed away harshly, his back colliding with the concrete wall of a building.

Pearl screamed desperately when she witnessed this, “Grian!” she didn’t think twice and she immediately started going down the fire exit stairs of the building she was on. But before she could move down any further, she was met with Minotaur looking up at her from the ground and trying to reach for her, causing some of the stairs to be destroyed as the monster attempted to grab at her.

The huntresses were alarmed by this and most of them actually left their stations to go and help out their future fellow huntress, not allowing the idea that Pearl was going to die before she could even be accepted as a huntress. Of course, some of them also went to check where Grian had landed, but either way, this was a terrible move.

“What are they doing?!” False shouted as she slashed away at a Telkhine, looking over to where Kronos’ army was now lessening the distance between them and the Empire State Building since there were no archers to defend certain areas.

Etho furrowed his eyebrows and didn’t respond. He couldn’t come up with a response, not even a witty or a logical one. He needed all his attention on whatever was tackling him as one moment of distraction could cost him a life. Kronos getting distracted from Pearl’s arrow was almost one example.

Inevitably, with many huntresses getting distracted and leaving their posts, a lot of them were susceptible to getting ambushed, forcing them to retreat. One of the only two GOAT automatons have also died down, leaving only one left out of the triplets Doc had put his effort into creating.

With Hades busy trying to lessen the amount of monsters so no one would get even more hurt than before, it wasn’t a surprise when Kronos easily reached the entrance of Olympus. Etho did try to delay him a bit more, but it only took one flick of Kronos’ wrist before he was sent flying away, landing roughly on the ground.

Kronos flashed him an arrogant smirk before entering Olympus.

Of course Etho couldn’t just stay down and helplessly watch as Kronos went in to destroy Olympus. He had already gotten this far, he has to commit no matter how much his body is screaming at him to give up.

He chased Kronos up to Olympus, almost finding the elevator music up to the 600th floor comical. Going up, he started thinking what would happen if the elevator ended up breaking down, if Etho was unable to stop Kronos even after getting this far. There were many possibilities of this going wrong and he doesn’t know if he’d be thankful for it or annoyed.

Etho found out quickly that negative delusion didn’t help his anxiety at the current moment so he changed his strategy.

He instead started wondering what his life would become if he did end up defeating Kronos.

After defeating Kronos, he would really like to treat Grian and Pearl to sweets as an apology for bringing them into this mess.

After defeating Kronos, he wants to attend one of Stress’ art classes.

After defeating Kronos, he would really want to rebuild the automatons with Doc.

After defeating Kronos, he would really like to at least have one win against Impulse during cabin game nights.

After defeating Kronos…

Etho snapped out of it as he heard the elevator ding to signal that he’s reached his destination. He inhaled and exhaled shakily as the doors slid open to reveal Olympus in ruins. Ignoring the fear building up in his chest, he took a step forward.

After defeating Kronos, he would really like to bid Bdubs ‘see you next summer’ again.

“S-stop! You don’- ugh, wanna do this! Please!” Kronos… No, the demigod vessel that Kronos took on cried as Etho continued to exchange hits with him. Compared to Kronos’ calculated parries, the blocks and parries devolved into inexperienced ones.

“What are you trying to do here, Kronos?” Etho asked wearily, wondering if the demigod vessel was actually able to fight against Kronos’ control and that this wasn’t an act to let his guard down.

The demigod sobbed. They tightened their grip on the scythe, unfamiliar as to how it was meant to be held, “If only you had just– ugh, complied!” They cried angrily, awkwardly pointing the scythe at Etho, “I would’ve been able to find my mom– I wouldn’t have to do this shi– agh!,” it’s like Etho didn’t even exist to them as they just swung around aimlessly and cried out their woes.

It honestly did make Etho’s guard lower down a bit. He did feel slightly kind of guilty for basically locking the demigod in the coffin with no remorse, but then again, they were the ones who wanted to push him in there in the first place. He was just defending himself.

But Etho convinces himself that everyone has reasons for their actions. That’s why he was able to empathize with whatever snotty monster he was faced with.

“You still have a choice.”

The demigod glared at him and shouted with spit and snot all over, “Don’t be ridiculous! Choices were made unavailable to me as soon as you pushed me into the sarcophagus!”

Etho pretended to not feel too guilty and continued to push, “But you were able to get ahold of your body in the end, didn’t you?”

“With difficulty!”

“But you did it. You have a hold of your body. You made the decision to fight against Kronos for control. That counts for something.”

The demigod paused and looked down at his hands as if just now realizing what he had done. He hesitantly moved his fingers and limbs. Then, as if relief hit them like a truck, he sank down onto the floor and held their head as they cried.

Etho let them, but then he made an incredibly stupid decision.

Thinking that, since Kronos doesn’t seem to be actively fighting for control over the body, he thought that maybe Kronos was properly put away by the demigod. He approached them with this thought in mind, hoping he could help the demigod up and that would be the end.

But instead, his hand was gripped tight as the demigod stared up at him with golden eyes once again.

“As I thought, demigods are still mortals by heart,” Kronos looked up with a maniacal grin, quickly raising his scythe as he slashed at Etho, who honestly should’ve expected such a thing.

He yells out in pain as he struggles out of Kronos’ grip, who mercifully and rudely swung him around like a ragdoll and threw him to the ground, getting blood all over the marble floor of the Olympus assembly.

Okay, he really should’ve expected that. He has no idea what in the right mind made him think it was gonna be that easy. Maybe he was just really hopeful that it was gonna be that easy. Cartoons make the power of friendship look too easy, now look at what’s happened to him.

Etho groaned as pain coursed through all parts of his body. He could swear that he could feel one of his bones are broken. Gods hope his legs aren’t injured AGAIN. It’d be real annoying if he went swimming in the River Styx for nothing.

His vision started blurring. The dried up blood all over his face wasn’t the most comfortable thing to feel. He supported a hand on the bloodied marble floor in an attempt to get up, but he kept slipping over himself. If he wasn’t dying from fatigue, he was dying from embarrassment.

“I can’t believe they thought you’d be the hero of Olympus,” Kronos sighed like he was actually disappointed. Etho struggled to crane his neck up to look up at the Titan that slowly approached him, “Too bad you didn’t even last as long as I’d expected.”

With Kronos fast approaching him, Etho once again attempted to get up from the ground, his arms trembling as it tried to support his weight. So much for having the Curse of Achilles. It definitely helped him live a little longer, but it couldn’t do anything when it came to overexertion.

“Well, you’ve lasted longer than the others, at least. That counts for something.”

Etho could’ve sworn he heard an elevator ding ring out, but he didn’t get to confirm if he was hallucinating the noise or not because Kronos kicked him hard in the stomach before he could kneel up properly. Annoyingly enough, his body then gave up as he curled in the ground in pain, coughing up blood all over himself.

“Last longer than the others? Maybe you must’ve grown weak,” he decided to do a Grian tactic instead of making a show of his non-existent bravery when his body obviously couldn’t keep up. He needed to annoy Kronos enough to buy time and hopefully long enough for the gods to finish off Typhon and come back.

…How long does it take to take down a Storm Giant exactly?

Kronos is not as stupid as Etho was. He knew what he was trying to do. The Titan was just slightly egotistical enough to entertain him while he slowly died of fatigue on the floor, “I could crush you between my fingers if I was in my own form.”

Etho smiled, “Your own form? You mean the one that was left in pieces?”

“Would you like to experience being torn from limb to limb? Maybe I’ll make a treasure hunt out of it for your friends once I take over Olympus,” Kronos smiled angrily.

“I doubt that’d be fun, considering you didn’t seem to be good at hiding things anyway.”

“I was not hiding. Everything was done to instill fear into your measly little weak hearts.”

“How would you know what a weak heart is considering you don’t have one yourself?”

“I wouldn’t need one to know how weak you are compared to me.”

“Well it seems you don’t have a brain either if that’s your calculation.”

This felt stupidly petty for both of them. It felt almost unserious, even Kronos didn’t want to entertain a stupid argument this long, though Etho wished he did. Not that any of his wishes seem to come true as Kronos reaches out a hand to grip at Etho’s hair, “This has gone on for too long.”

He harshly forced the demigod to kneel and look up at him, “I should just take on your body while you’re still this healthy. It was meant to be my vessel to begin with.”

Whatever the Titan was about to do or say next died in his throat as a Himalayan Brown Bear suddenly jumped over Etho and tackled Kronos to the ground, proceeding to then fight each other off.

With nothing holding him up, Etho almost face planted on the floor, only to be caught in someone’s arms.

“We’ve got you, bud. We’ve got you.”

Etho lets himself be maneuvered to lean on someone’s body, which he now can see is Tango’s. His body felt like it turned into jelly from the comforting feeling of being held up gently. Kronos should take notes.

With support, he was now able to get a good look at what’s happening. The elevator ding definitely wasn’t a hallucination. At some point, it seems most of his friends had been unfrozen and had made their way here when Chiron was running by with the centaurs.

Was it during the time Kronos let his vessel take front to bait Etho or was it during the time Pearl landed a hit on him and caught him off-guard from actually being able to hit him? Either way, he was thankful. From this, he could assume that everyone fighting down there had the proper back up, and so did he.

The bear, which he assumes is Xisuma, was thrown off Kronos and he was pushed back to almost fall off Olympus. It was a good thing that he acted quick enough to transform into a bee and buzz back in for another round.

Of course, he wasn’t alone. Aside from Tango who was currently helping Etho to stand up, Beef was trying to support the acting camp director by playing on his flute, causing vines to constantly grow and try to entangle Kronos in them. But where did the vines come from? Well, despite Bdubs’ dislike for violence, it seems he came to help with the fight. He focused on growing vines out of nowhere while Beef focused on multiplying their effectiveness.

False was apparently also there to help out, probably because she thinks she’s needed here rather than below, which should be a good sign that everything was okay down there.

The child of Nike tried to get some hits in, but alas, fighting against a Titan Lord was impossible. She looked like she was going to explode in annoyance if she had to deal with being slowed in time again.

While they fought off Kronos, Tango helped Etho up to his feet, positioning his arm around his shoulder while he held the son of Hades up by his waist, “Let’s get you somewhere safer. Letting Kronos get to you miiiiight be a bad idea,” and Etho couldn’t help but agree so he worked with the Hephaestus counselor to limp away to a part of Olympus that hasn’t broken down yet.

But before they could fully flee, screams sounded out from behind them and they both stopped to look at what happened. Kronos seems to have finally snapped and he was crushing Xisuma’s bee form under his feet. The pressure of it must’ve been great as Xisuma forced himself to turn back to his original form as he screamed. Etho could’ve sworn he could hear bones crushing.

In just a few seconds, the tables were turned and the situation was back into a dire state. False directly had to attempt to push Kronos off Xisuma to save him, but it was in sacrifice of being injured by Kronos’ scythe. Beef went to help the daughter of Nike up when Kronos almost threw her off Olympus, hanging by the side, threatening to almost fall from the sky.

Almost as if he felt Etho’s eyes, Kronos looked over to make eye contact with him. The son of Hades felt dread as the Titan raised his scythe. It was then that Etho noticed Bdubs who rushed to drag Xisuma out of there, only to be stabbed on the side by Kronos.

Etho felt as if time had slowed for him then.

His eyes were hyper focused on the way that a lot of his friends were injured and scattered all over the place, his eyes especially focused on the way Bdubs’ face was scrunched up in pain as he bled from his injury. He couldn’t hear anything except the ringing in his ears and the way his heartbeat slowly picked up speed the more he watched the scene.

Everything felt like a blur after that.

All he knew was that he was suddenly face to face with Kronos once again with nothing but bloodlust coursing through his veins. It was like he was fighting against Ren again, but no amount of Ares kid powers were capable of equaling the amount of rage he felt at that moment.

Etho didn’t even react or snap out of it anymore even when his sword was stabbed into Kronos’ vessel without any Doc or Xisuma to hold his hands back.

All before he felt his consciousness leave him.

Etho doesn’t know how long he’d been in comatose, but he assumes that he’s been out for a long time since the first thing he saw when he woke up was a child in a wheelchair looking over at him while Mumbo and Grian seem to be bantering in the background.

When did those two become friends? Who in the three realms is this kid? Which year was he in?

The child who was looking over at him gasped in surprise when Etho’s eyes met his green ones, “T-t-t-the dead man has come to life!” he stuttered fearfully.

The bantering happening in the background came to a stop, and instead of one child looming over him, there were now three. Etho kept quiet to let them stare as much as they wanted, but he eventually got too bored from this and spoke up.

“Good morning.”

Mumbo, as expected, started sputtering weirdly out of panic while Grian screamed his ear off, followed by the unfamiliar child. It was a deafening choir. Sirens would be embarrassed to be compared to this.

1/10 wake up experience. This was worse than Bdubs shouting his ear off when he first woke up in camp.

After the whole ordeal with Grian, Mumbo, and their new friend Scar, Etho was then bombarded with a bunch of visiting friends who were more than grateful to see him awake. Some even have cried and screamed louder than Grian had.

Those some being Ren, which was unsurprising as Etho had already accepted that the man was quite the dramatic person as a lover of theater.

Cleo came by to cry as well, but Etho was convinced that they were mostly tears of anger rather than tears of relief. She sat beside him and started scolding him again. She even made reference to her past threat in which, if Etho had actually died, she would go down to Elysium to resurrect him and kill him off again.

Good thing that she didn’t have to actually go through the trouble of doing so.

Pearl came to visit along with Grian who came back to apologize to him for screaming. She excitedly told him that she was joining the Hunters of Artemis and she was honestly waiting for him to wake up to tell him the news before she leaves. Etho felt that she didn’t need to do such a thing when they had barely interacted, but apparently she just wanted to since she was still grateful for him for saving them from Hades.

The son of Hades honestly didn’t want to accept such gratitude when it was his father that threw them in the dungeons, but she insisted on her thanks.

His next visitors were the Hephaestus kids. They came to show trinkets they had been working on while Etho was passed out. Mumbo sheepishly showed him the small bird automaton he made, admitting that it wasn’t much compared to Etho’s and Doc’s stuff, but he was still proud of making it so he thought to show it to Etho. Tango didn’t have much to show but he did whisper to him to immediately check a specific box at the forge after he gets discharged from the infirmary, something about an item they picked off during the war against Kronos.

After that was the Hermes kids, Impulse and Hypno were a lot more chill and they didn’t have much to say and boast about except talk to him about how Xisuma kindly asked the Olympian gods to give him a cabin of his own on his behalf, along with some of the minor gods as well. They also came to joke about how Doc wasn’t his protector anymore now that Scar had been brought to camp. Etho entertained them by pretending to be hurt by this information.

And that was all of his visitors, he assumes. Etho was honestly looking forward to a certain visitor, but Cleo had told him that most of the camp had already left for home. His friends had just decided to stay a little longer before planning to go home as well because they wanted to wait for him to wake up, which was honestly nice of them.

So Etho sucked up his disappointment and just shrugged it off. He was tired from socializing anyway.

Etho took a nap after getting through his visitors, as if being asleep up until the end of summer hadn’t been enough for him already.

He had expected to be alone when he woke up, only to jump in surprise when Bdubs was beside his bed glaring down at him. The child of Demeter was leaning his elbow on the side of his bed, so he was a lot closer to Etho’s face than both of them would expect.

Bdubs quickly leaned back when Etho’s eyes opened and he tried to play off his embarrassment from being caught watching him nap, “S-so you’ve decided to wake up!” he forced an impatient tone, but Etho didn’t take offense.

He sat up to properly acknowledge Bdubs presence, “And you’ve decided to show up,” he bantered back, “I thought you went home? Don’t you have school?”

Bdubs avoided his gaze, “I already dropped out last year,” he answered honestly, “And my foster home gave me up so I’m going to be in camp all year from now on.”

Etho felt surprised before he felt pity. He tried to offer words of comfort, but Bdubs shook his head at them, “School sucks anyway. I’d rather help out with taking care of the new kids here,” to whom Etho can only assume was Grian and Scar.

“Enough of that though. Don’t think ya can escape interrogation.” Bdubs crossed his arms and forced a serious attitude, “What in the right mind made ya think you could take on Kronos on your own? I mean, congratulations on being able to defeat a Titan, but have you no idea how dangerous that was?”

The son of Hades blinked dumbly, “I defeated him?” He barely remembers what happened before he passed out. There were bits and pieces, but it was difficult to be completely sure of what happened.

“You completely snapped and went ballistic on him, dude. Ya didn’t stop slashing at him up until you fainted!”

“Oh, nice,” was all Etho could say. He doesn’t remember all those things at all.

“....” Bdubs deadpanned at him when he barely reacted, “Are you dumb?”

“Only dumb in love with you,” Etho blurted out.

The son of Demeter went red, “See, now you’ve just gone completely insane, have ya?”

“I’m sorry,” Etho was quick to back down when Bdubs reacted that way, apologizing genuinely.

Bdubs softened up at that and sighed. He suddenly leaned over and pressed their foreheads together, eyelids closed. Etho was flustered and confused briefly before following Bdubs action. They stayed like that before both of them opened up their eyes to look into each other’s eyes.

“Well, at least you’re home safe?”

Etho smiled and leaned towards Bdubs even more.

“Yeah, I’m glad to be home.”

“Ah, right. I forgot to ask…” Bdubs started when he was cleaning up the strawberries they’ve harvested after a day in the field. Etho came to help with cleaning since he wasn’t exactly trusted to be healed enough to help with hard work.

“How were you able to hold against Kronos so well?”

Etho glanced over at Bdubs who stopped his work to curiously stare at him. He smiled from underneath his mask and didn’t keep eye contact as he continued on with his work, “I bathed in the River Styx.”

The same way Ren had reacted when Etho revealed the plan to bathe in the River Styx, Bdubs exclaimed at him in disbelief, “You what?!”

“I bathed in the River Styx,” he repeated casually. Bdubs’ jaw went slack and he scoldingly hit Etho by the side of his arm, “Why would you do that?! That’s dangerous! Not to mention, disgusting! It’s polluted there!”

The son of Hades shrugged and put away the strawberries he just finished washing, “It was the best bet I had against Kronos. Unless I wanted to go ahead and die as is,” he answered honestly and shook the water off his hands to dry off, “Besides, I’m still alive even after that. I’m invulnerable to a lot of attacks, save for my weak spot.”

Bdubs raised an eyebrow, “A weak spot?”

“The Curse of Achilles.”

The child of Demeter frowned in worry, but his eyes sparkled in curiosity, “Where’s your weak spot?”

Etho pulled down his mask after drying his hand, openly smiling at the other teen ominously, “You really wanna know?” Bdubs hesitated before nodding excitedly.

The son of Hades then put a hand on Bdubs cheek as he leaned in to gently press his lips against his, causing the son of Demeter to flush and freeze in place flusteredly, but he didn’t pull away. The kiss lasted for a while, nothing crazy, just a simple action of lips pressed together.

Etho pulled away and didn’t say anything, staring down at Bdubs as if expecting something.

As cute as that was, that left Bdubs even more confused. After stammering his initial embarrassment away, he questioned Etho again, “W-what? What was that supposed to be?”

Etho suppressed his laughter, “My Achilles heel,” Bdubs glanced at Etho’s lips then back into Etho’s eyes, “Your lips???” he asked doubtfully.

“Nah, my love for you.”

“...”

It was then that Etho decided to not even attempt to suppress his laughter as Bdubs kicked him hard in the shin with a red face. Etho started to tear up, but he didn't know whether it was from laughing too hard or from the pain on his leg.

His laughter made Bdubs even more annoyed and the shorter teen turned to stomp away, “Since you’re healthy enough to joke around, you should be healthy enough to wash the rest on your own!” he yelled before running off.

Etho tried to reach out an arm to stop the man, but he couldn’t move as he held his stomach from laughing too hard, “Pff– Ha- Bdubs! Wait– Haha! I was joking!”

Chapter Text