Ezra Blackwall's Story

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L E X A00A B E R N A T H Y

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# 6 4 6 9 A 1 // O U T F I T
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E Z R A00B L A C K W A L L

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# 9 9 B F A A // O U T F I T

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└Ezra blushed at the compliment from the girl beside him, though he tried to hide it well by coughing and shoving more food into his mouth. Its not like he had never been complimented before, he had had past girlfriends but, they had all been superficial and shallow. There was something different about Maya that made Ezra interested. Maybe it was because she was the first smart girl to ever acknowledge his existence? Whatever it is, Ezra was in no rush to find out… But he certainly would be sticking around her.

"I actually can't believe I managed so well.” The girl said and Ezra laughed. “What? C’mon, give yourself some more credit.” She looked rather confused as she admitted the next sentence, “It was… It was fun.” Ezra snorted and took a sip from his goblet. It sounded like she had never had fun before. “Stick around me kid, I have plenty of fun. Nothing like a little rough housing and bruising to get you stoked.” Ezra was a jock, what could he say. He got a kick from any physical activity; his body and mind was hardwired for the flight and fight.

He would have continued the conversation longer, as he had actually been enjoying it, if the world hadn’t seemed to be thrown into chaos around him.

***

Lexa had been having a pretty good time with another human being for once in a very long time. Lexa was usually prone to sitting in the soothing darkness of Cabin Thirteen, reading books under the light of the green fire sconces scattered on the walls… But instead, today she found herself chuckling at a joke related to the horrid excuse of fiction otherwise known as Twilight.

"Why does that make me feel like I'm Edward Cullen?" Beckett said as he pressed his goblet close to his mouth before continuing, ”If I start sparkling I give you the right to kill me." He smirked slightly before taking a drink. Lexa rolled her eyes and tried to hide her laughter from such a ridiculous joke. It was terrible, and yet made her amused at the same time. What an odd feeling.

“Trust me, you wouldn’t have to ask. If you start giving me that vampire-y constipated look of emotional anguish, I’ll end you in an instant. Much faster if you actually sparkled.” She shook her head and slid her fingers over the pages of her shortly abandoned book. This conversation was actually turning out to be much more fascinating than she had first thought. She had yet to meet someone with such witty comebacks.

After eating for a while longer in a pleasant silence, and Lexa’s compliment to him, he returned the gesture. "Well they're stupid. It was just as much you as it was me.” He said as he looked at his food. She looked at her plate with a twitch of a smile. She rarely got compliments and even half-assed, hard-come-by ones were slightly touching. Not thats she would ever admit that.

She caught him staring at the sword on his hip and a slight wince came over her features. That was going to be a touchy subject for the campers, she knew it. And if Percy and Annabeth saw it… Well there would definitely be some questions. Someone would have to explain it to him, and she was sure it was too scary for most, so she silently volunteered as the one to break it to him. “Listen, about the sword-“ She said as she looked up from her book completely. Before she could say anything though, the image of a scythe appeared over his head and Lexa froze, though her expression didn’t waver. She was rather good at hiding emotions; in this case it was an overwhelming amount of shock. The yellow scythe. That explained a lot.

It was a surprising realization, and despite the gasps of terror around them, Beckett seemed the most shocked. He stumbled from his bench and jumped up, trying to rush from the pavilion, pushing through campers. Unfortunately his efforts were for naught and he was caught by Chiron. Of course, that was not what Lexa was looking at though, rather she turned at the scream of a girl, to see Rachel stumbling through the crowd towards the burning campfire.

Rachel's mouth opened and out poured a green smoke that snaked its way through the crowd before she spoke. Her voice masked by a deeper more ancient voice that spoke in unison with her own; Lexa had never seen this before, but she knew that it was the Oracle that resided inside of Rachel.

Lexa listened carefully to the prophecy; one of the few that had come since Percy and Annabeth’s time. “Child of water, daughter not son.” She looked over to her cousin who looked frightened. It was obvious that was her.

“Another of death, second to none.” Lexa’s breath caught in her throat and she shot up from her seat with a glare. That was… That was talking about her. The other campers could tell too and looked straight at her.

“Wisdoms daughter, a chance of the dice,” So the fourth one in this prophecy was a female, and obviously from Athena. She looked around to see girls whispering to each other, obviously trying to pick out which daughter of Athena it would be.

“And winter’s son, not of fire but ice.” The new kid she had seen earlier. Child of Kihone. One look at him showed Lexa that he was far more scared and confused than most of the campers there. After him came, “A wanderer to keep a watchful eye,” which was a bit more tricky. Logically thinking it could be referring to a child of Hermes, as he was the only one who travelled much like a wanderer, but honestly it could be anyone.

“And where it all comes together, one shall die.
An eternal feud, the final fight,
The end of the world in endless night.”

One of them would die? She looked from Beckett to Reagan and Ezra. One of them could be dead… Or even Lexa herself could be dead. The oracle never lied.

After Rachel’s fainting spell, Lexa looked over to Beckett and caught his glance. He looked scared and confused, and he was looking at her in… pity? She assumed he must have thought this was his fault, dragging her into this… But it was not his fault at all. The fates had a funny way of playing games.

“Campers! Return to your cabins immediately!" Chiron called to the crowd in a no-nonsense kind of tone. He motioned them away before turning to Percy and Annabeth. "Percy. Annabeth. Get Rachel to the med hut, then get Mr. D and meet me in the house." He then turned his attention to his next targets; Beckett, Lexa, Raegan and Ezra. "You four! In the house, now!” He demanded before galloping off.

Lexa took in a deep breath to steady herself before walking forward to Beckett. She looked up at him with a serious face. “Before you apologize… Don't. It was only a matter of time before I was played by The Fates. They don’t particularly like the spawn of the Deathlord. There is one thing you must know though… I am Lexa Abernathy, daughter of Hades and I am not afraid of death.” She said to him in a serious tone. She meant every word. Her older sister Bianca, a child of Hades, had died for her cause before and Lexa would do the same. Death was not an issue to her, though she would never admit her true fear of what, or who, she would would face in the afterlife. Lexa looked up to him, “If I have to, I will be the one to die. There is no need to worry.”

***

Ezra felt the beginning of a painful headache. He couldn’t keep up with everything that was going on. Creepy green mist like a snake, weird old woman voice, awfully cryptic slam poetry that seemed to include him and the possibility of death… Yeah, his head wasn’t able to comprehend this. He turned to Maya in hopes she may have more answered.

“You’re smart… So can I please ask you a favour? Come with me? Explain this all to me?” He begged. “I may not be able to figure it all out otherwise.”

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M A Y A00B R A E D E N

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# 9 6 0 8 4 9 // O U T F I T
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C A S S I D Y00D A L Y

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# 5 C 2 8 3 6 // O U T F I T

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x

"Maya right?" Reagans attention had turned to her for the moment, Maya nodded shyly. Reaching out for the fist bump, before withdrawing again. "Kick ass out there! You should totally train with Ezra and I sometime." Maya turned back to Ezra, contemplative. "Take back our rightful stand from the red team."

“Stick around me kid, I have plenty of fun. Nothing like a little rough housing and bruising to get you stoked.” Maya raised her eyebrows, half amused, half unsure of what she's getting herself into here. Seems like she'll - in the least - have new stories to tell if she ever decides to visit home. As unlikely as that is.

"I'd like that," she says, almost more so to herself. Her thoughts clouding over her usual judgment just a bit. Maybe this place really would be her second chance at everything. She felt herself getting lost in thought, snapping out of it just as a barrage of hushed whispers began to flicker through the campers. Maya half turned, expecting something, another claiming? The other camper that had arrived today, who had taken his place beside Lexa was being claimed. By who, Maya couldn't pinpoint. Her knowledge may have been vast, but limited by what she could easily find out through the books here. Curiosity lit up her eyes, she needs to know.

Unfortunately, her time to ask passes as the attention is suddenly, forcefully shifted onto matters of even graver importance. The campers have gathered, almost horrified as the Prophecy is named. Maya, unsure of herself feels small, invisible among this crowd. But something about it feels off. Wrong in a way that has her more curious than ever. The drive to follow the others to the big house would have been enough alone to get her moving. But its Ezra that cements her choice.

“You’re smart… So can I please ask you a favour? Come with me? Explain this all to me?” He begged, and she found herself incapable of denying. Even if she wanted to - which, she did not. “I may not be able to figure it all out otherwise.”

She swallows back the mild anxiety that clogs up her throat for a moment, the atmosphere of the formerly cheerful camp dampened by the events that occurred. It rubbed off on her in a way that had her palms sweating. "Of course," She tries for quiet but winds up somewhere between high pitched and too loud, "I'll try my best to help." and she certainly would, so long as she got the key to this mystery in the end.

~*~

Sometime between good-natured fun and a pointed glare the camp had exploded into chaos. Cas looked around, his annoyance apparent underneath the shock and awe of it. This was why they trained, he should be prepared. But instead, he felt strangely useless. One of the new ducks had caused this, and he oddly enough couldn't hate him for it. At least things were getting spicy around here, who knew what would happen next. Cas tried to take it in stride, just like everything else. Although the fact that this something spelled trouble for Reagan made him want to rip his hair out and scream.

"Cas?" she whispered and he realized that he had been digging his fingernails into his other palm, the one that didn't grip tight to her hand, a little too hard. He felt himself sinking, yet he hadn't moved at all. Slowly, he relaxed both of his hands, though he kept hers slotted firmly in his own. "It's going to be alright," He doesn't know if he's assuring her, or assuring himself. Whatever came next he'd be by her side no matter what, he refused to entertain the idea of letting her out of his sight.


"Campers!" Chiron's voice did not so much startle Cas as it did further agitate him. "Return to your cabins immediately!" He didn't move an inch, knowing instinctively what came next.

"You four!" He had pointed in their direction, though he didn't include Cas as one of those four. "In the house, now!" He felt his pulse quicken, and he stared at Chiron until he trotted away.

"Don't leave me," she didn't have to beg, he had no plans of going anywhere that she wasn't. He smiled, trying to be reassuring as he squeezed her hands. "I won't." He promises, as he begins to lead her alongside him towards the House.

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R E A G A N00D A V E N P O R T

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# 2 C C 6 C 4 // O U T F I T
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B E C K E T T00C A S T E L L A N

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# 6 7 8 7 7 3 // O U T F I T

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L E X A00A B E R N A T H Y

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# 6 4 6 9 A 1 // O U T F I T
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# 9 9 B F A A // O U T F I T

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└Lexa looked at Beckett with a composed face, though everything inside of her was constricting. She wasn't afraid per se, but nothing about this situation was comforting. "It's a brave thought, but something tells me the daughter of death would be the least likely to die." Beckett responded to her before looking over at Chiron who had beckoned them to go to the Big House. He began to walk away from her before pausing and saying, "But that won't happen unless I die first." Their gazes held for a few moment longer before he turned away. Lexa stared at his back as he walked away, letting out her own sigh. She didn't know what to make of this. Her eyes briefly caught sight of her cousin who seemed to be in much worse condition that Lexa was. There was nothing Lexa could do to comfort the girl, even if she had wanted to, and so she just moved forward.

The situation at the big house was a mess. Percy was yelling and getting in Beckett's face while Annabeth tried to pull him away. Beckett himself didn't hold back, yelling back at the hard-headed water breather. And then it was all let loose; the big old secret was finally put into words. Beckett was the son of Luke, and in turn, also Ouranos. The quest that had been given to them entailed something to do with Ouranos stirring, and a possible death of one of the children present in the room.

Lexa felt like she should say something, or do something rather, but even if she could think of what to say there was hardly any room for her words in such a tense situation. The whole debacle ended in them being ushered out of the big house and sentenced to their cabins until further notice, whenever that happened to be, no one knew.

Beckett was being sent to Hermes' cabin for the time being and Lexa knew that wouldn't be good. Hermes' cabin was always the most rowdy and overpopulated, and they weren't the messengers kids for no reason; they gossiped and their gossip spread like wildfire. The events of that night would be known to everyone by now and Lexa didn't dare think about the wild mis-spun stories that were going to be out there. She wished she could help... She knew she would be uncomfortable in a situation like that.

When they stepped out on the porch of the big house and the others had wandered off to their respective areas, Lexa took a deep breath and looked at him. "Let me be frank with you; this is the shittiest of shitty situations." She mumbled. "I understand if you dont want to talk, so you don't have to. Hermes' cabin is going to be filled with gossip mongers, so if you would rather not spend the night there, you are welcome in Hades' cabin. I won't even talk to you, I'm good at that." She sighed and rubbed her eyes. This was the most talking she had done in a long time. "Un-Lucky cabin thirteen if it suits your fancy." Lexa said and reached out to squeeze his arm but decided against the physical contact, rather she just nodded at him, took two steps down the stairs and disappeared completely in the dark of the night.

Conveniently for Lexa, she was able to teleport herself around when it was dark out, so she winded herself walking straight into her Cabin. The sconces on the walls flickered on, the green fire burning quietly. What did she do now? She wouldn't be able to sleep after all that and her mind wouldn't be able to focus on her books. Instead she stuck to pacing her room and thinking.

***

Ezra walked from the big house with one of the worst headaches he had ever felt before. He had gone into the room with Maya close beside him, but as soon as he had seen how the adults reacted to seeing Cas there, he quickly pushed her smaller body behind his so that she wasn't seen. He didn't particularly want to bring her into this but she was his only chance at understanding what was going on. So while she was hidden behind him, she would still be able to hear everything that was happening.

Ezra couldn't say anything the entire time because quite frankly he had no clue what was happening. He cursed the fact that he was kind of dull at this point. When they were sent back to their cabins, he made sure no one noticed him shielding Maya on the way out. He waited until they were out of sight of the big house before pulling away from close proximity of her. He groaned and rubbed his head.

"Okay, so let me get this straight. Tall freckled kid who is all broody and shit is the son of someone important... important and bad? And then there was that lady with the vomit breath saying that someone was going to die and I might be that person? And then the horse man said something about not following the quest and Cas and Raegan looked like they would rather be off making out than being in that room... And whats with that gloomy girl who looks like she could kill you with her stare alone?" Ezra ranted, all in one long breath. He looked down at Maya as he panted for air. "What the fuck, right? Do you understand any of this!?"