Stephanie

Edit: Upon further discussion with the creator of this fic and the fact that I personally don't want the story banned, I have decided that I am going to tweak a bit of the prophecy so the characters can be older.

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Upon entering the arena, you noticed Percy - who you were hoping would help you out - was already sparring with a blond girl with a skill and speed that was frankly unfair. How the hell were you supposed to get to that level in any reasonable amount of time?

Well, then again, you weren’t quite sure HOW much time you had. Everyone was on edge, and sure you were new, but did that really mean that you could take it easy? Even you mother’s loss (and for a moment you hated yourself for trivializing something like your mom’s passing) probably wasn’t an uncommon occurence for people. You had heard plenty of stories of abusive parents or divorced families. Orphans that had been turned out on the street becuase they weren’t wanted. Some demigod’s probably had it worse. To their mother or father, they were a constant reminder of the lover who walked out on them, the person who they had loved and simply left.

You would bet money that sometimes the gods didn’t even explain why.

You weren’t lucky, but you certainly had it better than some.

Shaking off the morbid thoughts, you went back to scanning the arena for maybe another single demigod who needed a partner. You eyes landed on a familiar figure who was watching the pairings with a spear that almost looked to be made out of interwoven wood. She seemed to sense your gaze and looked up to meet it. You waved uncertainly and she returned the gesture; taking it as a good sign, you approached.

“Hey,” you greeted as she came into hearing range, “How are you doing?”

“Not bad.” She replied shrugging, “I was hoping to find someone free to spar with. I haven’t got alot of practice in these days and well... I should probably make sure I can still fight.”

You nodded and steeled yourself, “Well... Its fine if you don’t want to, but you mind sparring with me? I mean I know I probably won’t be much good, but I really need to learn and I don’t want to just barge into the middle of a fight and beg for some instructions -”

“Alright.” She replied, giving you an amused smile, “I won’t lie, I am pretty bad at using swords, but teaching you how to dodge and block a spear isn’t a bad start.”

You both moved to a free spot on the arena and got into a stance. She shifted so her side faced you and held her spear diagonally across her body, the spearhead tilted and held out towards you. Blushing slightly (since you were sure you looked like an idiot), you shifted so you were holding your kopis in your right hand and it was held out in front of you and drew your left hand back slightly. You bent your knees and let one foot slide forward and your other foot slide slightly back while you shifted so your right side faced her.

She blitzed towards you with a simple thrust and you backpedaled, swiping your Kopis through the air and knocking her spearhead aside. In a graceful spin on one foot, she used the momentum of the knocked-away attack to bring her spear down in a heavy overhead slash. You managed to get your weapon above your head in time to block the slash but she just simply stepped forward as you blocked and slammed the butt end of her spear up into your chest.

You fell back with a stunned cry and landed flat on your back. You blinked a couple of times and gently prodded your chest, wincing at the tender spot.

“Please tell me your not out of practice...” You groaned as you got back to you feet.

She giggled at your disgruntled look and smirked, “Maybe a bit.”

You sighed.

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It took about half an hour, but soon enough you were getting used to fighting. You were ducking away from thrusts, redirecting slashes away from your body, and even using your free hand to cut off some of her swipes and flinging your arm away to push her spear off before she could pull back the spearhead and slice open your arm. Granted, for every move you learned, you had ten times the bruises and cuts to show for it, but you figured you were at least learning.

She sat down on the bleachers and patted the spot next to her in an invitation. You smiled thankfully and sat next to her when she pulled out a bottle of water for you, you couldn’t help but grin. You sheathed your Kopis and took the bottle from her.

“You learn quick.” She commented casually.

“Mmm?” You hummed as you began to guzzle the water before letting out an explosive breath, “Thanks, I’m trying.”

“That’s all you need to do.” She replied, “So anything else before the breaks over?”

You nodded, “What’s going on with the camp? I mean when you gave me breakfast - thanks again for that - you said that normally you’d give me time to mourn but things are bad. I mean, I get we’re demigods and all, but what could possibly be worse than the monsters and all that?”

She sighed,expression strained, “It’s Thalia’s tree.”

Completely clueless, you asked, “Um... what’s so bad about this tree?”

She turned to give you a shocked stare before she facepalmed and shook her head, “Vlákas! I’m sorry I forgot your new.”

With that she began to talk about how Thalia was the name of a daughter of Zeus who had died right on the border of the camp by monsters. As a way to remember her and keep the camp safe, Zeus had anchored the barrier that kept the camp from being overrun by monsters to the tree. Problem was, someone had poisoned it.

“Why?” You asked, “If you all live here and it keeps you all safe, why kill it?”

She frowned and her shoulders squared, “Because some demigods decided it would be better to work for the Titans than the gods.”

You frowned, “The Titans are the ones who gave birth to the gods right?”

She nodded, “Yes. And the thing is, there is a prophecy and all we know is that it has to do with the child of either Zeus, Poseidon, or Hades reaching your second decade of life.”

You sudden felt the pit of your stomach evaporate, “You mean...”

She nodded solemly, “Considering you are a son of Posiedon, it could be talking about you.”

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You had excused yourself soon after, scared and confused (Stephanie gave your shoulder a comforting squeeze before you left). You, the subject of some huge prophecy? You couldn’t breathe right and staggered away to lean on a tree far enough away so you weren’t lost. You held the water bottle in your hand against your head and tried to be calm, breathing slowly and wrestling down your panic.

Then you were mad.

Ever since you got here it’s like life went out of it’s way to kick you while you were down. First, hey look, your a demigod! Second, oh too bad, your mom’s dead! Third, hey hey, this new home of yours might be overrun with monsters soon! Fourth, tough luck, you might be the guy who cause something at the ripe old age of twenty and up!

What the hell?

You accidentally crushed the bottle in your hand and the water splashed all over you. You flinched, expecting to be drenched when suddenly you felt stronger, more refreshed, and the water slid over your injuries, closing up your cuts and soothing away your bruises. You stared at yourself in wonder for a moment before leaning back against the tree and closing your eyes. You wanted to cry.

It just wasn’t fair.

“Jack?” A familiar voice asked.

You opened your eyes and saw Percy kneeling in front of you and giving you a worried look, “What’s wrong?”

You sighed and said, “I heard about the Prophecy about us.”

Percy’s expression blanked and he sighed before shifting over to sit shoulder to shoulder with you, “Oh yeah... That. I know how you feel.”

You made a noncommital noise.