Chapter Text
gabby is nine years old when she makes the arduous journey to long island. it's the beginning of summer and she complains to her mom that she's going to miss out on her last year of summer camp with all her school friends.
her mom tells her she'll make new friends at this other summer camp. gabby doesn't believe her; she doesn't think a summer camp across the country could be much better than the one she's been going to since she was four years old.
she remembers crying when her mom says she has to go. they're barely even into new york when her mom stops at a diner off the freeway exit in the middle of nowhere. another kid, who doesn't look much younger than her sits across from her in the diner with her father. she doesn't cry, but she looks like she's about to. her name is napheesa, but she tells gabby to just call her phee.
it takes them another day to reach camp half blood, with the help of a boy who looks like he's thirteen but says he's almost thirty. that didn’t make much sense to nine year old gabby.
phee is claimed after their first week at camp, a daughter of athena. gabby thinks of course, because it simply made sense, even only knowing the girl for a week, she seemed wise beyond her years.
gabby doesn't get claimed until her second year at camp, and that's fine. she complains to her friends at this new camp that she can't go back home to see her mother. no one explains why that is, because it doesn't make sense. she was unclaimed, probably a child of a minor god.
only a few dozen people are year round campers, and gabby didn't know she was one of them until summer ended, where she was almost ten and wanted to go back to school with her friends.
gabby didn't cry then, only said it didn't make sense, and then went back to visit the stables to be alone.
when she is claimed, everyone is shocked at who her godly parent was. it didn't make sense, the time or the place. she was only helping some injured campers back to the infirmary after capture the flag.
when she moves into her new cabin, looking at the trident at the entrance, and all the blue that adorned the walls, it made a little more sense. staying in the hermes cabin for the past two years had left her a little unsettled inside, and everything just sat a little better in her chest.
during supper time, instead of giving her burnt offerings to hestia, like she usually did, she scrapes off all the pork on her plate for her father. gabby doesn't usually talk aloud, but this time she says thank you, for recognizing her, and then mumbled an apology for refusing to learn how to swim when she was younger.
of course there are rumblings. gabby is a child of poseidon, who rarely ever has children, gabby has come to learn. there was an expectation now, that she'd be a great swordsman, good with water, etcetera.
there was the expectation that something would stand out, but nothing in particular did to the naked eye.
her friends told her not to worry about the expectations.
she's sparring with stewie out on the beach when a new camper arrives. it's december, the year has been bitterly cold throughout, and it's much worse in new york than nevada at this time of year.
she's helped off the ground, because stewie always wins whenever they spar. "isn't it an odd time of year for new campers?" gabby asks.
stewie had arrived the summer before gabby, but she was ten whereas gabby was nine when she arrived.
the taller girl nods, but still smiles as she skips towards the growing crowd.
the crowd is already loud by the time they arrive, and gabby quickly understood why. a glowing dove is above a girl's head, as she looks up in confusion.
gabby looks at the girl, blonde hair with a striking jawline, then back at the dove above her head. yeah, that made sense, gabby decided.
gabby is still eleven when she goes on a quest with phee and stewie. really, it's stewie's quest, and the three of them have become so close over the years that when she has to choose who goes with her, it's a no brainer.
when she summons a ten story tall tidal wave to protect the three of them from an onslaught of monsters, the daughter of poseidon thing makes a little more sense.
when they get back to camp two weeks later, everyone congratulates them, but they congratulate stewie and phee more than gabby. that's okay, gabby decides. she finally understood what she was capable of, and that was enough for her.
phee says she'll teach gabby to swim, or at least stay afloat.
"can children of poseidon even drown?" she asks as her sword clangs against phee's.
turns out they can. at least a little bit. phee and stewie laugh the first time she sinks, but gabby propels herself back up.
"no cheating!"
it only takes a couple hours, thankfully. she's a natural learner at everything, and picking up swimming was one of the easiest things she's done yet.
she's twelve when she talks to marine for the first time. the other girl has been at camp for almost a year. it's thanksgiving day. some of the older year round campers make the risk to see their families for the one day of year, but gabby can't. it's too risky to fly, or leave earlier and risk being hunted on her way back home or on her journey back to camp. stewie and phee live close enough, and they're powerful enough to fend off any attackers.
gabby likes to think she's powerful enough too, but she doesn't want to test her theory out all that much either.
she's cleaning the stables when marine walks in, gabby's been aware of her presence the last year, but they've never spoken before. she was the one claimed right after she arrived, the daughter of aphrodite.
gabby's heard rumors about aphrodite kids, and she can believe some of them. most of the girls she sat near during supper time were the epitome of aphrodite children, vain, narcissistic, held impossible beauty standards of the guys at camp, while some of the boys she sparred with were fitting of the stereotype. she didn't want to judge, so she simply steered away.
they exchange pleasantries, and marine tells her she's never rode a pegasus before. gabby offers to teach her, because she has nothing else to do for the afternoon, and halle berry had been nagging her about getting out of the stables.
"she's really gentle, don't worry," gabby reassures her as marine hops on. marine only nods, steadying herself.
gabby learns that marine doesn't really like to talk that much, but the few words she does share are funny.
halle berry asks if it's okay to fly, and gabby has to ask marine, who vehemently says no. gabby promises to take the pegasus out to fly later.
later, when they get back to the stables, marine thanks gabby for the lesson with a quick smile and an even quicker hug. however brief it was, it was warm, and it felt nice to the daughter of poseidon. the warm tingly feeling that crept it's way up to her face didn't make sense to her, but that was okay.
in december, it's too cold to swim in the lake, the edges have even begun to freeze over. even so, gabby wouldn't feel much of a difference in temperature. it would be weird to be the only one swimming, she gets enough weird stares as is. she likes talking to her father though, or just near a body of water and hoping that he's somehow listening.
she tells him about her friends at camp, about how she misses azura, a daughter of apollo who was a summer camper and how she missed her stupid jokes, about how she missed her mom and brothers back in nevada, about how lonely she'd sometimes be when she thought about all of the other year round campers who had at least one sibling staying with them in their cabin. she would sometimes ask him if he missed her mom too if she was feeling particularly bold.
marine turns fourteen in january. this time gabby is actually paying attention because some of the other aphrodite kids are making more of a big deal of it than they did last year. at least that's what she's using as an excuse for paying attention.
marine usually kept to herself and her siblings, but every camper knew she wasn't like the rest of her siblings. never insistent on impossible beauty standards all aphrodite kids seemed to be determine to fulfill, but still effortlessly beautiful. she was not narcissistic like some of her older siblings seemed to always be. gabby liked that about her, among many other qualities.
there's a small bonfire after dinner to celebrate. some of the older campers snuck in some alcohol, gabby suspects some hermes kids helped, but she doesn't pay much mind. everyone sings happy birthday, gabby can tell marine hates the attention when she covers her face in her hands as her sisters bring a cake adorned in pink icing even closer to her.
when she does show her face again to blow out the candles, gabby notices the way the bonfire glow hits her face and wonders what she wished for when the candles go out.
it's almost midnight when gabby finally catches her alone, skipping stones on the lake. she gives the blonde her birthday gift, a pearl bracelet that she had made and wishing her a happy birthday. marine had hugged her, longer this time, saying she had been hoping to talk to her and telling her she didn’t have to get her anything.
the warm feeling that gabby had felt before made it's way back, and settled comfortably into her stomach. that feeling still didn't make sense to her yet, but it was starting to become a feeling that she liked more and more.
by the time summer rolls around again and all of her summer camper friends are back, gabby has settled into a rhythm. she knows what to expect when camp is more full, when there's always some activity happening everyday.
today, it's capture the flag. the air around camp is always charged whenever capture the flag day rolls around. she's almost always on the athena's cabin team, because their head counselor is inclined to listen to phee and her judgements. so despite being the only person in her cabin, she’s always picked first by athena.
luckily, this week, the river running through camp is actually in bounds, so naturally gabby is told to stay near it. she's mostly alone throughout the game, walking along the riverbank towards the other team's territory.
quickly, an arrow whizzes by her, barely nicking the edge of her shirt. gabby looks up to see azura smiling behind her bow.
"daydreaming!?" she asks gabby. the girl in question heals her wound, washing away the blood. gabby knows she must be close because the ares cabin always leaves the apollo cabin to defend the flag, no matter how much better it'd be for some of the apollo campers to be on the offensive.
when she actually looks up, she can clearly see a number of bows with their arrows pointed at her.
"come on guys, we don't have to do this," she sighs, pulling her sword out of its sheath.
she makes quick work of the apollo kids, using the water from the river to her advantage.
when a group of athena kids emerge from the forest following phee with the opposing team’s flag, gabby helps azura off the river bank with a grinning smile.
“i can’t believe they used you as a bait this time.”
she spends most of her time during the summer making her days busy. she spends more and more time on the beach at night, talking to her father. she doesn't fully understand why, but it feels nice to let her thoughts out, even if she knows he probably isn't listening.
the fourth of july is always a big day, hermes cabin somehow always sneak in a truckload of alcohol into camp, and the older kids drink more than they can handle. partying with demigods is bound to be rowdy, but she's always found a way to sneak out towards the quiet end of the beach.
"room for one more?" a french accented voice asks. gabby looks up to see marine and nods, patting the sand next to her.
at twelve, she's still shy, but she's happy to talk to marine about anything. she feels gradually more confident throughout the night, especially when she can get the blonde to laugh at her horrible jokes.
marine mutters under her breath in french sometimes, which leaves gabby scrambling to translate. she knows all children of aphrodite know how to speak french, but marine's family is actually from france as well. gabby's grandparents are french, so she's picked up a little bit here and there.
her attempt to speak french to the daughter of aphrodite elicits even more laughs, and then complaints about her american accent.
that feeling of making marine laugh, even smile, is starting to make a little more sense.
gabby spends much of the next year or so honing her skills. she picks up a lot of new things, the hephaestus kids teach her how to forge her own sword, which by their words was surprisingly good for someone whose never forged before. she starts teaching pegasus riding to those who want to learn. she's always been a good rider, and it helps that she can talk to the equines.
the summer before her fourteenth birthday is the most eventful yet. it starts off unassuming, the same campers returning for the summer. a few new campers who are claimed by their minor god parents, confused at the new world they've been thrust into.
then the camp is under fire, wild boars, which attack every now and then. it's once every week, but then it becomes every night. it becomes a pattern, and every seasoned camper knows its a sign from ares. he's unhappy, and he's not afraid to show it. they become more directed towards the hephaestus cabin, and gabby puts the pieces together. he's stolen something, and ares is taking it out on his children.
gabby has spent more than a few nights helping the hephaestus kids, defending them when necessary, and cleaning up their cabin after a ransacking from the ares cabin while everyone was out playing capture the flag. she spends more of her nights being posted by the camp's edge, on watch with phee and stewie for more unwelcome visitors now that the ares children have forgone their usual shifts.
a trio of ares children are then sent out on a quest to reclaim what was stolen from their father, including their counselor. the stalemate lasts about two weeks until they return, and the younger ares children seem to cool down. they ride the high of the conflict for the rest of the summer, even after their head counselor had moved on.
when they return from their quest, they don't apologize, but everything returns back to normal. everyone knows they completed their quest, however simple or difficult it was, they don’t share the details to the rest of camp. gabby's just glad she gets some of her friends back.
that same summer, gabby kisses marine for the first time. looking back on it, she wished it was in a better place, but kissing in the pegasi stables wasn't that bad either because in that moment, everything made more sense.
marine is a year round camper as well because she couldn't exactly cross the atlantic in a hurry if anything were to go wrong, and she's made a life for herself at camp half blood. she's respected by her siblings and everyone at camp. she's a capable fighter, a great mentor for her younger siblings even at her age, and despite her not wanting to be, she's popular in terms of the social hierarchy that has been built over the years here.
gabby has slowly risen up on those rankings, being a child of poseidon helped, then her overall attitude around camp gained the respect of the older kids. she was a hard worker, and was friends with many of the more popular campers, such as stewie. plus it helped that she volunteered to clean up the stables more often so that other campers wouldn't have to.
at the end of the summer, the rumor that marine is seeing someone spreads quickly. the blonde only blushes whenever it's brought up and then tells her siblings to shut up in embarrassment. gabby has grown to love the shy smile and her rosy cheeks whenever someone brings it up to the aphrodite daughter.
and when gabby herself teases the blonde about it, she's shut up with a quick kiss and a smack on the arm, which is exactly what she's looking for each time.
"did you hear marine has a boyfriend?" azura asks her excitedly the next summer. she's just returned to camp, and of course the rumors are still around because marine is even more beautiful, now sixteen, she's grown to be the spitting image of grace. the aphrodite cabin's counselor is going off to college this summer, and everyone knows he's going to choose marine to be their next head.
gabby almost laughs out loud, because she knows for a fact it isn't true. she's been spending almost everyday with marine, at the stables, flying pegasi above canoe lake, lying in the strawberry fields when the sun sets. stealing kisses in front of the poseidon cabin when it's past curfew. azura tells her one of her older brothers is claiming to be with her.
to gabby's surprise, marine is the next person to bring the rumor up to her. she sits across from her at the mess hall, which she usually did with some of her friends and siblings. this time, she's alone, with a frown on her face, telling gabby the rumors of her with the apollo boy are untrue. gabby tells her she knows, and then teases her for thinking she'd be worried with such lies.
that summer, gabby starts having vivid dreams. the first time it happens, she's underwater, thinking it's real but still confused at how she ended up in the situation when she wakes up freezing at three in the morning in her own bed.
the dreams quickly escalate, one by one, to the point where she's scared to sleep at all in fears that they'll become real. especially the ones where she's stranded in the middle of the ocean, without the guide of her powers, feeling alone, vulnerable and abandoned by her father.
marine can tell something is wrong with her, gabby acts more erratic than usual, and the sleep deprivation isn't doing much wonders to help her. it becomes clear when gabby almost maims herself leaning into marine's swinging sword; they were sparring against one another for practice, but gabby is far too tired to be using celestial bronze and much too stressed to pay any real attention. marine stops her swing right before it hits gabby's stomach.
gabby is usually one to say she's fine, and brush things off easily, but when marine implores her to explain what's going on, gabby spills the truth out a little too easily in a way she’d be worried if she were telling anyone else but marine.
a week later, everything starts to make more sense. gabby's been getting better sleep, she's been taking better care of herself, as instructed by her girlfriend, and the dreams become more clear. something has been stolen, gabby's not sure what exactly, but it's her father's and it's important to him. the sea has become more chaotic by the day, certainly not the summer calm everyone is used to.
a hippocampus arrives in the early morning, a bunch of campers crowd by the beach basking in it's beauty. gabby wakes up late to the party, having spent the night before with marine in the strawberry fields. the hippocampus only speaks when she arrives, and only to her directly, while the other campers listen in worry.
gabby is sent on a quest to find a missing pearl of some sort, the message from the hippocampus is clear: return what has been stolen to her father. it's a direct message from her father. she chooses phee and a friend from the hephaestus cabin, katie. she knows she'll need them both if she wants to succeed.
that night, she tells marine she loves her, not because she was afraid she was never going to see the girl again, but because everything made sense with her; she made things make sense, and that was what gabby needed.
she's more scared of what the blonde's reaction is to her saying that than potentially dying anyways. it’s written all over her face and marine can read her like a book now.
marine smacks her chest, kissing her softly before pressing her forehead against gabby’s and telling her that she loves her too. she makes her promise to come back safely. it's the easiest promise gabby makes yet.
the quest is difficult, as expected. gabby has never had as many close encounters with death before, especially not in her previous quest. that one with stewie and phee seemed miles easier than this one had been. there are too many death traps to count; phee had been equally as careful as gabby, and katie has spent more time dismantling them than getting sleep.
the trail of breadcrumbs left behind by the thief leads them underwater, which phee immediately has a bad feeling about. after gabby casts bubbles to allow her companions to breathe underwater, the daughter of athena swears she's never going to swim again as they dive deeper.
gabby is the only one that is still agile underwater, so when they're ambushed upon reaching an abandoned city, she has to work double time both defending her friends and attacking monsters.
her return to camp is not what she had hoped it to be, at all. gabby carries a passed out katie in her arms, phee is barely conscious as she steps onto the beach. there was no time to call a hippocampus, or any sea creature for that matter to hitch a ride back to camp, so gabby propelled them out of sheer will to get back home.
it's late at night, with only the patrol out, but the commotion starts when they see two figures staggering towards camp. when gabby sees marine among the campers, she finally passes out, exhaustion overcoming her. her father's coveted heart of the ocean rolls out from her backpack as she hits the sand.
she wakes up in the infirmary two weeks later. an apollo healer who can't be older than eleven is hovering over her before his head counselor pushes him aside, telling him to get chiron. gabby is bummed to hear she missed out on the july fourth celebrations, she was hoping to have a special date with marine this year.
marine sees her immediately after her release from the infirmary, visiting her cabin as soon as gabby gets settled back in. she tells gabby that she was worried during the quest, and then after she collapsed on the beach.
"you almost scared me to death."
"good thing you're still alive."
gabby gets a lot more props from the campers after her quest. katie has always had a loose mouth; apparently she had been singing gabby's praises for her efforts, and even phee had been telling her siblings how crucial it was that gabby was with them. so more people talk about her, that's okay. newer campers stare in awe because she's the daughter of poseidon and seasoned campers respect her battling capability now. her friends still treat her the same, because they know she doesn't want to be treated any differently.
she meets her father for the first time a few days before her fifteenth birthday. she's by the beach, waiting on marine because she promised the blonde a make-up date for the one they missed during the summer. she's thinking about a lot of different things, but he appears when she's thinking of him.
he doesn't say anything first, so they sort of stare at each other for a few seconds before gabby finally tells him that she imagined him different, not as ugly, as she put it bluntly. he laughs, because of course he does.
he tells her how proud of her she is, and thankful, which gabby assumes most demigods don't hear from their godly parents much. gabby asks him if he ever hears the things she tells or asks him, and he nods. gabby feels relieved for a moment, before more questions start popping up. she tells herself she deserves this, after fifteen years of silence and retrieving his prized heart of the ocean, she deserved this much.
then she asks if she's been watched over ever since she got to camp, and he shakes his head. gabby's heart sinks to her stomach. he tells her she's been watching her since before she was born.
gabby has to take a moment. she recalls every birthday spent with her mom and brothers in that tiny two bedroom apartment. every horrible situation she knew her mom went through during the day, only to take care of three kids under 10 when the night fell.
she remembers blowing out the candles on her homemade birthday cakes, wishing for everything, anything, to start making sense.
she asks him why he never helped, never reached out. she asks him if he ever loved her mom. she's not angry, not necessarily. she just wants to understand, she wants it to make sense.
he doesn't say anything for a while. then he apologizes. his head dips in shame. gabby doesn't think she'll ever see a god dip their head in shame, or admit defeat, but in that moment, her father does.
he apologizes for not being more present, and he acknowledges it isn't fair, and that none of it should have made sense. he says he hopes to do better, he doesn't promise to do better; gabby is grateful he doesn't because they both know it'd be a flimsy promise at best.
then he tells her he's proud of the woman she's becoming, and she's more than just his daughter, more than just a demigod. gabby can't say much in response but a small thank you, because it meant more than she'd care to admit and she doesn't want to cry in front of him. he says he doesn't want to delay her date any longer, and gabby's face grows red in embarrassment. how much watching had her father really been doing all these years?