Chapter Text
(aiden’s pov)
I always thought summer smelled like pine needles and lake water—the kind of scent that gets into your clothes and makes you wonder if you’ll ever smell normal again. It's a weird, comforting smell, though, like nature’s hug… if nature had questionable hygiene.
And for the most part, summer had been like that. Six years of camp, six years of weirdness slowly cranking up like a broken radio stuck between static and bad luck. Monsters? Check. People thinking I’m schizophrenic? Double check. I had long since accepted that my life was basically a never-ending episode of ‘’Aiden vs. Reality’’, and reality was absolutely kicking my ass.
When I first arrived at Camp Half-Blood, I thought things would get better. I got claimed by Hermes within a week, which seemed like a win at first—until I realized the Hermes cabin was already bursting at the seams with kids who were exactly like me but somehow... not like me at all. I was certain I’d find a friend.
Spoiler alert: I didn’t.
Most of the Hermes kids thought I was weird. Maybe it was the fried, bleach-blond hair or the red contacts that made my eyes itch like I was allergic to existence. Either way, nobody was exactly rolling out the welcome mat. Well, nobody except Ben kind of.
Ben was an Ares kid. He didn’t talk. Ever. But I was 98% sure that if he did, his first words would be something like “Fuck off.” But here’s the thing—he never actually told me to leave. So, in my weird little logic-filled world, that made us best friends.
Six years later, we're still best friends. Took Ben a while to warm up to me—by “a while,” I mean two years of him silently glaring at me while I babbled about whatever weird thought popped into my head—but hey, progress is progress.
Then four years ago, this girl with long ginger hair showed up at camp. I remember watching her get claimed, but if I’m honest, I hadn’t really noticed her before that. She was quiet. Not like, Ben-level of “don’t talk to me or I’ll set you on fire with my mind” quiet. Getting more than three words out of her was like trying to pull a confession from a statue, but it did sometimes work.
Every time I tried to talk to her, she either looked like she wanted to run away or punch me in the face—maybe both. But I knew one thing: sooner or later, we were going to be friends. Whether she liked it or not.
Ash was an interesting case. She acted like she didn’t care about much, but I could tell she really wanted to go on a quest. I saw it the third time one of Athena’s kids got picked by the Oracle for a “life-changing, epic adventure,” and Ash sat there, watching them leave with a look in her eyes that was somewhere between heartbreak and murder-ish. It was… unsettling.
Then, of course, one night, I woke up in the middle of the night. And this wasn’t super weird. I had a serious talent for waking up at inconvenient times. But what was weird was that everyone else was asleep.
I mean, nobody was up. Which was rare, like finding gold at camp or someone liking camp food. Normally, there was at least one kid sneaking around or someone dealing with harpy-related trauma. But no. Just dead silence.
And an awful smell.
Like the kind of smell that makes you question every decision you’ve ever made, including the one that led you to this camp. So, naturally, I decided to follow it. As one does.
I was hoping it was just some poor kid messing up a spell or burning his breakfast, because, you know, that’s a typical Tuesday at camp. But deep down, I knew it wasn’t. And of course, I was right.
The smell led me straight to the Oracle. Or more accurately, to its decaying, putrid, absolutely revolting body. As soon as I saw it, I knew I was doomed. And of course, the Oracle said the words I feared the most.
"Boi, guess what, you gonna go to Savannah, Georgia, and fight the Aloadae twins, Otus and Ephialtes, in an epic Beyblade battle to free Ares, the god of war, now for the riddle, is it true or false? La di da di da." *idk how the oracle talks
I just stared.
The Oracle, in its spooky, mummy-ish glory, looked at me like I was supposed to take this seriously. I didn’t. I laughed so hard I almost fell over. A Beyblade battle? In Georgia? To rescue Ares? I was losing it. I mean, what was next? A riddle involving limericks and spaghetti?
The Oracle was not amused. It glared at me. Or, well, as much as a half-rotted corpse could glare. Then it demanded an answer. I mean, how could I say no? There was no way I was letting anyone else take this quest. This was too good to pass up.
Plus, I already had the perfect two people in mind to drag into this disaster with me.
So, naturally, the first thing I did the next morning was sprint straight to Ben. I had to tell him. He was my best friend, and if anyone was going to help me with this mess, it was him.
Ben didn’t look impressed. He looked like he wanted to punch me, curse me, and also laugh until his face turned blue. So, basically, all the expressions that say “I’m reconsidering this friendship.”
"No way you're serious," he signed at me, hoping this was some elaborate prank. But I just grinned my best “I'm totally serious, and this is going to be hilariously stupid” grin and shot back a cocky “Nope.”
He stared at me for a second before I hit him with, “So... do you wanna come along?”
Now, Ben was the easy one. He was my only friend, and I’m pretty sure the gods would rather see me get eaten by a Hydra than let me go on this quest solo. Besides, after a sigh and a subtle eye-roll, I figured his response was basically, “I can’t wait, Aiden. When do we leave?”
But now came the tricky part. Ash.
Ash wanted to go on a quest more than anything, but she probably didn’t want to be trapped with me, Ben, and all of our unhelpful incompetence. I mean, we were more “how-not-to” than “how-to-survive” when it came to these kinds of things.
But hey, what’s a little bit of annoying Ash if it means we get to have a Beyblade battle to save Ares? I mean, it’s basically the most epic quest ever.
I found Ash by the armory, aggressively sharpening the killies like they owed her money. Excellent. I strolled up, hands in my pockets, and hit her with my best, I’m-totally-not-about-to-ruin-your-day smile.
“Hey, Ash! So, great news—I got a quest! Even better news—it involves Beyblades, Georgia, and rescuing Ares. And the best news—you’re coming with me.”
She didn’t even look up. “No.”
Okay. Plan B.
“Hear me out. One, you want to go on a quest. Two, Ben and I will absolutely die without you. Three, do you really trust me to handle this alone? And four, PLS PLS PLS PLS PLS PLS PLS…”
That got her. She froze mid-sharpen, side-eyed me, then glanced at Ben, who was standing behind me with his usual “Why am I friends with this idiot?” expression. After a long, agonizing pause, she sighed.
“If I say yes, will you shut up?”
I grinned. “Oh, absolutely not.”