Archive of Our Own ^beta

It was raining. Again.

Yuwen tugged his jacket closer around his shoulders with a scowl.

It was supposed to be his turn to keep watch now, but Kai had wanted to stay outside as long as it was still raining.

(His concern for her sanity was growing by the minute.)

And, okay- it wasn't like he was complaining about getting to sleep longer. It was just-

…he really hated the rain.

Hated the damp heaviness in the air, hated the sting of freezing droplets flying into his face. Hated that he couldn't feel the sun through the watery chill.

It felt-

…empty. Like there was a piece of him that went hollow as soon as the air shifted.

Yuwen glanced outside, view somewhat obscured by the equipment shed's splintered window.

Kai was still leaning against the wall, softball bat resting within arms-reach. Knees drawn up to her chest, one hand splayed out against the soaked concrete- she looked more awake than she had earlier.

He stared at the window until his eyes started to unfocus. Then he dropped his head back onto his backpack, trying to get somewhat comfortable again.

About five minutes later, he had just about given up; he wasn't getting back to sleep.

Yuwen struggled to his feet, glancing around the shed as he did.

They had been using this as a place to come back to when they couldn't find anywhere better. Easy to get to, easy to guard, and mostly unused. For now, anyways- they both knew it was getting riskier the longer they stayed.

Eyes finally landing on Kai's backpack - the one that held their limited supply of granola bars - Yuwen picked it up, and pulled out a double-chocolate-chunk flavor.

A moment later, he had slipped outside, holding back a shiver at the cold air. "Kai."

She glanced at him. "It's still my turn."

"I know. Catch." He tossed the granola bar in the general direction of her shoulder.

She caught it, shooting him a grin.

He returned the grin; it was an impressive catch.

As Kai neatly ripped the granola bar wrapper open, Yuwen slumped down next to her. "Ugh. It's been raining forever."

"Yeah, and I-" Kai started responding before she had finished the bite of granola bar, swallowed, then continued. "-have been waiting for it forever. Do not jinx this for me, Yuwen."

He huffed. "Has anyone ever told you you're incredibly weird?"

Kai snorted in response, and handed him the second half of the granola bar. "Really? The rain thing is weirder than the flying thing?"

"Uh, yes? Flying's just-" He gestured with his free hand. "-up and down, side to side- oh look, Kai's breaking the laws of gravity. Normal Tuesday. Rain's evil."

Kai hummed in mock-seriousness, nodding solemnly for about three seconds before cracking with a laugh. "Yeah, no. I'm pretty sure the grudge against rain is a you thing."

To avoid dignifying that with a response, Yuwen took a bite of granola bar. By the time he was done chewing it, Kai had settled back against the wall, eyes still bright with amusement.

Like- literally bright, though. Kinda reflective, actually; when Kai glanced back towards him, he caught a glimpse of his own face reflected in her irises, clear as a mirror. Which…yeah. Kinda weird. He was pretty sure her eyes hadn't been doing that earlier.

If he had more energy, he probably would have mentioned it. Made it a whole dramatic thing- Uh. Kai, I know we already ruled out the ghost possession theory, but your eyes are kind of literally glowing right now, so, you know. We might want to revisit that one.

That would have been fun. Unfortunately, the steady drone of the rain was kind of sapping away most of his motivation to talk at the moment, so he kept the observation to himself.

Yuwen popped the last bit of the granola bar into his mouth, stifling a yawn around it. Then he shoved his now-empty hand back into his jacket, rolling his hand around in the fabric to press the chill out of his fingers.

Kai glanced at him again, brows furrowed slightly. "You didn't want to sleep more?"

Yuwen shrugged with one shoulder, and mustered up just enough effort for a non-committal hum.

She seemed to accept that answer, turning her gaze back to the trees ahead of them.

The two of them slipped back into an easy silence.

Eventually, a bit of sun started nudging its way through the rainclouds; gradually, the hollowness biting at his chest started to ease.

Stretching one arm out, just to feel the muscles waking up from the stiff tiredness that had weighed them down all morning, Yuwen let his mind wander for a moment before opening his mouth. "Hey, Kai?"

"Hm?"

"Ten minutes ago. Your eyes were glowing. It was creepy."

"…like. Actually glowing, or-?"

"Yeah. Like a phone screen."

"…huh. Weird."

Yuwen nodded in agreement.

(Not much else to say on that topic, after all; he had a sneaking suspicion that the concept of weird was well on its way to losing all sense of meaning for them.)

 

Maisy cleared her throat, and stepped back into the cabin, clearly holding something behind her back. "I have an announcement to make."

Most of her siblings glanced over just in time to see Maisy pull a white dove out from behind her back with the flourish of a magician. "This is Dovey. She's mine now and she loves me-"

Don snorted. "That's a stupid name."

Maisy glared at him. "Sure. Tell me more about stupid names, Donald Duck."

"That's not-"

"Ronald McDonald. Donatello the ninja turtle."

Someone was stifling giggles in the background, Don could clearly hear them, and- oh, Taylor knew this wasn't going to end well. She started to sit up in her bunk, hoping to change the topic before Don got annoyed enough to-

Too late. He shifted into Maisy, pitching his voice as obnoxiously as possible. "Blah, blah, blah, I'm Maisy and my mom gave me a bird because she forgot to give me any actual powers-"

Maisy kicked him in the shins - hopefully that wasn't her full strength, Maisy could kick hard when she wanted to-

"Ow!"

"You're actually the worst- and your name is stupid- and I bet your mom didn't even-"

"Newsflash, idiot: we have the same mom-"

"Not your mom who's my mom, obviously, your mom who's gay and has a motorcycle-"

"Both my moms are gay, that's why I was born-"

"If Aphrodite was gay, then how come she dated my dad-"

Taylor groaned, tossing the nearest small pillow at them to get their attention. "Guys. Please stop yelling about Aphrodite's dating life."

"But-"

"She's had men and women as mortal lovers. She doesn't care. She's also immortal and unfathomably powerful, and probably doesn’t want her kids getting her attention by screaming her name at 4 AM."

Don paused. "…like Laurie?"

"…what?"

"Laurie likes Kai and Yuwen."

"I- how would you even-"

"Because mom gave me powers instead of a bird-" He started smugly.

Oh, gods, here they go again.

Maisy whirled around. "Yeah, well- Laurie's not immortal, Ronald McDonald- ow!" Don was the one to kick her in the shins that time.

One of the older kids slammed his head into his pillow with a loud sigh. "Laurie's not immortal, she's just bisexual. They're not connected. Go to sleep."

Maisy huffed. "I'm sleeping on the porch. With Dovey."

"I hope the harpies eat you." Don snapped.

"Cut it out, Don." Taylor muttered. "Maisy, don't leave the porch, okay? The harpies might-"

"Dovey can take a harpy in a fight, don't worry!" Maisy opened the door again, stepping outside. "Goodnight, guys! Except for Don. I hope you die in your sleep, Don. But, goodnight, everyone else!"

Before anyone could respond to that, Maisy had already shut the door behind her.

Don muttered something under his breath, but flopped onto his bunk a moment later.

The Aphrodite cabin breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"I have one grenade left, Rochelle! One!"

"I know. Just- keep it ready, in case-"

"In case what? That thing's too close, if he tries to throw it from here, we're all gonna be-"

"I get it!" Rochelle shot Luciana a glare, because- she did. She got it. She knew exactly what the situation was.

Kai might get back soon, but they couldn't count on that.

Yuwen couldn't use the grenade at this distance.

Luciana didn't have her bow, Laurie didn't have her spear, and Rochelle- she knew she was good with a sword, but even she didn't stand a chance against something this size.

And it was getting closer and closer to the ledge they were all huddled on.

Crouched beside her, Laurie drew in a shaky breath. "Wait, so- we just need it farther away, right? Then Yuwen can hit it?"

"Uh- yeah, but we're kind of out of anything we could-"

Laurie let out the breath, steadier now. "Okay." She jumped up, and turned to Yuwen. "Hit it before it gets too close, okay?"

Yuwen blinked. "Wait, what-"

Before Yuwen could finish the sentence, before Rochelle could process what was happening, before anyone could even react-

Laurie jumped off the ledge, feet skidding against loose rocks as she slid into the ravine.

"Laurie-!"

She hit the ground running - running away from the ledge.

The monster turned its head towards her, and-

It started bounding after her, snarling.

"She- she's leading it away." Luciana muttered. "She's-" She whirled around to face Yuwen, whose grip on the grenade had gone white-knuckled as he stared down into the ravine with wide eyes. "Get ready to throw it. Don't miss. You can't miss-"

"Be quiet." Rochelle hissed. "Don't distract him."

A beat.

Rochelle glanced at Yuwen- he could not be panicking right now, not when Laurie's life was literally- okay, his eyes had narrowed. He was focusing. Good.

She glanced back into the ravine, eyes locked on Laurie - she was still running. The monster was still following.

The distance between the two was getting smaller.

The gap was starting to close.

Closer.

Closer.

Yuwen drew his arm back.

Unblinking, unable to look away from Laurie, Rochelle silently, frantically prayed to Athena.

Please. Mother, please. Don't let Laurie die because of me.

Closer.

Rochelle added in a prayer to Apollo.

Don't let him miss. You gave him your blessing, you gave him this gift, now don't. Let. Him. Miss.

Closer.

A last, desperate prayer to Hermes.

That's your daughter. That's your daughter, and she has to live. She has to. Please.

Yuwen snapped his arm forward, and-

She knew in the split-second before it landed that it was a perfect shot.

The explosion hit the monster directly in the head; it burst into a cloud of golden dust.

Laurie stopped running, turning back towards them; she was okay. The explosion hadn't been close enough to touch her.

Rochelle exhaled, hit by a wave of relief so overwhelming that it threatened to knock the wind out of her.

Everything after that kind of blurred together. Luciana sitting down with a shuddering sigh. Yuwen's hands shaking as he reached for his water. Laurie walking back over to the ledge, giving them a thumbs up that seemed a bit unsteady. Kai showing up. Filling her in on what she had missed. Starting the walk back to the rest of the group. Getting there. Everyone dispersing into different conversations.

…she was so exhausted.

Well. Horrifying moments of adrenaline rush will do that to a person, she supposed.

Every part of her mind still feeling vague and distant, Rochelle leaned against a tree, and tried to get her thoughts together.