Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

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The first thing he noticed when he woke up was how wet and cold his shoes felt. Finding that odd, since shoes aren’t normally wet when you wake up, he tried to open his eyes. Though he really regretted trying that a second later when the action only managed to make the absolutely splitting headache he’d just noticed pounding away in his head even worse. Taking a few deep breaths while trying to not pass back out from the sheer amount of pain his brain was in, he decided the best thing to do while he was lying there was to try and figure out where he was. Feeling around beside him he touched damp, cool sand, some pebbles, what he was hoping was washed up seaweed and not something living and-

Stumbling over onto his knees, he began to scramble up the shore away from the wave that just thoroughly soaked him. Coughing, he began to wretch up seawater and bile. All the sudden movement had gone straight to his head, causing the headache to worsen to the point where he vomited

“Hey!! Are you okay over there?” He heard suddenly from his right. Slowly he managed to look up to see a dark-haired boy running towards him down the beach.

Rolling back over, he let himself fall heavily back onto the sand. Coughing a little more he managed to choke out, his voice raw and strained from having just heaved saltwater out of his system, “Yah, I’m good”

The running boy flung himself down onto his knees next to him. The stranger grabbed the sweater he had tied around his waist and put it over him. He gladly accepted it, since he was shaking and really cold from having spent who knows how long getting smacked around by the freezing waves. 

“Are you sure, man? You look like you’re not doing too good right now.”

“Yes, I think a nap would be good, so just give me a sec…” was all he managed to deliriously say before he blacked out again.

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He was walking, walking and walking. His calves ached and burned, his feet blistered and bloody in his heavy, worn-out boots. But he kept walking. Where was he going? He couldn’t remember at this point. Was he going to stop? No, he had to keep moving forward. Why? He didn’t know, but the warning that was the hollow thrum of his racing heart in his ears told him he was scared. He was terrified, terrified of what was following him. It was stalking him, prowling in the shadows just behind him, just out of sight. And if he stopped, he knew this spectre would reach out its talons and rip him apart limb from limb. 

So forward he went, pushing on through whatever was thrown his way. Wavering in and out of consciousness, he continued, for gods knows how long. He walked. He didn’t know if he’d eaten anything, or been able to find something to drink. He felt weak and frail, like at any moment he’d collapse from exhaustion. He’d slip away from his mind again and find himself somewhere new that he’d barely register. He kept moving, fleeing his persecutor. He walked and walked until one day he stopped, and found himself staring into a pitch tunnel, that went down, down into the darkness. 

Hesitant, he stood at the edge, fearing what could be below. But he could feel the hot breath of the spectre, its jaws inches from his neck. Ready to bite down, tear his flesh, and snap his spine. In a moment of clarity, he took a deep breath. Reassured that whatever was after him couldn’t bother him down below he took a step, and then another, walking down as he felt the monster on his heels fall back, knowing what awaited beneath was much worse than even it. And it feared that too. So he did what he did best, he walked. Down into the shadows and for once in a long time feeling a comfort and control wash over him as he was swallowed by the darkness. 

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Waking once more with a start, happy to find he was dry this time and not half in the ocean. He winced at the headache that was still pounding in his head, though it was now beginning to fade. The edges of his vision were still a little blurred. The dream he’d just had faded as quickly as it came. Disappearing before his mind had any chance to take hold of what it had just shown him. Looking around he took in his unfamiliar surroundings.

He was lying in a cot, under a set of rather coarse, white sheets. His feet and legs were uncomfortably squished a bit to the side so they weren’t dangling off the edge of the cot, alerting the boy to the fact he must be rather tall. Above the bed he was lying in there was a window, moonlight filtering in through the curtains that fluttered gently in the night breeze. To his left was a white curtain, that was pulled forward from the wall obscuring the rest of the room. To his right was a wood panelled wall, covered in cheesy looking graphic posters that he was having a hard time reading what they said given the current state of his head. 

Across from the foot of the cot, there was a rather stiff-looking armchair, where the small, dark-haired boy from the beach had managed to compact himself into a comfortable enough position to doze off. His sudden awakening moments prior must have stirred the other boy from his sleep. As he lazily stretched he was quickly startled out of his post-sleep haze, remembering where he was. Jumping up from the chair he rushed away behind the curtain, turned on a lamp, and caused something heavy to fall to the floor in the process. In confusion, he lay there unsure what he was supposed to do. 

With a series of apologies and swears, the boy emerged a second later with a cup of viscous-looking gold liquid. The dark-haired boy knelt one knee onto the cot and held out the cup for the taller. Unsure, he hesitantly reached for the glass and took a small sip. Pleasantly surprised he found the drink tasted like the perfect glass of cold lemonade, with an aftertaste similar to a sugary cookie. Even better was immediately as the sweet liquid touched his tastebuds his headache vanished, the pressure in his head subsiding. He went to take another sip but the cup was snatched from his hand.

“Hey!” he called as the lemonade flavoured drink stealing boy rushed away with the drink “I wasn’t done with that.”

“Are you feeling better?” The boy asked as he rustled around behind the curtain, searching for something else.

“…Yes, but I-” he stuttered

“Then you’re done with the drink. If you have too much it will burn from the inside out.” He answered as he re-emerged from behind the curtain, completely straight faced like the last sentence he said was the most normal thing. As the boy returned with a first-aid kit and a damp towel, he found the taller just staring at him in shock and confusion at the previous sentence.

“Are you alright, you look like you’re about to pass out again?” He set the first aid kit down at the foot of the bed and began to remove fresh bandages.

“Did you just give me poison?!” 

“Shit,” he said under his breath, regretting that that was the first sentence he said to the stranger. Talking about spontaneous combustion might have not been the best move on his part. It was the middle of the night, and anyone who would have normally been around to help him he’d sent off to bed earlier (reassuring them he could totally handle the mysterious dude who just washed up on their shore that morning). He figured asking the one hundred eyed giant guarding the door for help would be more startling than helpful, and he never talked so there was really no point.

“I didn’t give you poison, you’re fine.” He reassured, holding out his hands like he was trying to calm a spooked animal that was about to bolt. Which was almost fitting because he could see the boy in front of him was on the verge of hyperventilating, or running. Or both. 

Looking marginally less like he was about to panic, he questioned “What do you…how…who…where am I anyway?” 

“You’re at a summer camp, but that’s about as much as I think I should explain at the moment.” He took a seat at the foot of the cot, momentarily abandoning the first aid supplies, “But just know you’re safe and no one here is going to try to kill you. Actually, there isn’t really anyone here anyway since summer starts next week.”

“Okay, umm who are you though.” He asked, still looking wary.

"I’m Toby, everyone calls me Tubbo though.” 

In the stillness that followed his introduction, the only movement in the room being the various sets of curtains that billowed softly, the tall boy was able to take fully in what the other looked like. Couldn’t have been more that thirteen, maybe a little older. It was hard to tell since his face still clung to its traces of youth. He had wild brown hair, some of it sticking out in untameable angles, and bangs that slightly obscured his wide eyes. They were a colour he couldn’t quite place in the mostly dark, and they seemed to shift in the soft lamplight. He wore a dark green hoodie, the zipper not fully done up which revealed a bright orange shirt and a string of 2 brightly coloured clay beads. He donned a pair of dark, slightly baggy jeans and a black pair of worn running shoes. He had an accent, though in the cloud and lack of much present at the moment in his memories he couldn’t determine where it was from.

“And you are?” Tubbo asked the mysterious stranger with a warm, friendly smile. 

“Oh,” the question moving him out of his observing, “I’m…” he trailed off, unsure of who he was or what his name was, the cloud of fog and fuzz in his mind blocking that somewhere in the back of his brain.

Seeing his face fall, and contort in confusion, Tubbo was quick to say, “Hey, that’s okay. Real names are overrated anyway. Do you have anything you want to be called?”

Unsure, he sat there for a long moment thinking, when he began, “Ummm…I’d like to be called…uh…R…Ran…boo? Maybe, I guess.”

“Alight Ranboo,” Tubbo smiled, elongating the oo at the end, “That’s a bit of a funny name.”

“I dunno, it was the only thing I could think of when you asked.”

Gently laughing, he smiled, “I like it, it’s fun. Do you know where you are from or where you were before here by any chance?” 

“Uhhhh…no? Sorry. I don’t remember much at the moment.” He answered, feeling like he was doing something wrong for not being able to pull anything up in his mind.

“No need to apologize, I’m sure you didn’t ask to get your memory messed with. And there are a few people here that I’m sure know how to fix that.” He reassured him. As the conversation paused momentarily, Tubbo looked over at the first aid kit and remembered he had something to do.

“Uh, hey.” He started, pulling Ranboo out from where he’s just been staring off into space, lost in thought, “On the beach, or in the water you hurt your right arm. It was a pretty nasty gash. When I brought you here I had one of the more medically gifted kids take a look at it and bandaged it up.”

Swiftly looking down at his arm he noticed that from his just below his elbow to his wrist was wrapped in a thick dressing, with one spot that was stained through with dried, dark blood, “She said it should be good now, and that drink you had earlier would have helped with it. She said I just needed to change the bandages sometime tonight. Is it alright if I do that? Or would you like to do it?”

A little hesitantly, Ranboo answered, “Yeah, that’s fine, you can do it. I’d probably mess it up anyway.”

Nodding he stood up and grabbed the bandages he’d previously removed and the towel from earlier and went over to the head of the cot, where he slowly began to unwrap the old one. Looking Ranboo saw it was indeed a very nasty gash. It was long, taking up most of his inner forearm. And it wasn’t a clean cut either, it was jagged and rough. He was thankful to see someone had stitched it up, and whatever drink thing he’d had earlier had done its job. The wound looked like it had already healed a week or so in a matter of minutes. Gently, Tubbo pressed the towel to the stitched up cut, cleaning it. Wincing, he realized that whatever was on that wasn’t just water.

“Sorry, I probably should have warned you about that.” He apologized as he sat back, waiting for the cut to dry before he put the fresh bandages on.

“It’s alright, just surprised me.” Yawing, he realized he was exhausted, and he asked, “Do you know what time is it?”

“The clock said two something when I went over there earlier.” He pointed to the curtain in the middle of the room as he said that, “You’ve been sleeping since this morning though,”

“Hmm, that was a long nap I had then.” Ranboo smiled, somehow managing to pull the last thing he said before he passed out on the beach that morning out of the fog that was his mind.

“Yep, twenty hour power nap,” he smiled back as he leaned over and began to re-wrap the gash.

Yawing again, this time he tried to stifle it a bit as he said, “I think almost drowning takes a lot out of a person.”

He reached back into the first aid kid and ripped off a piece of medical tape, “I’d imagine trying to fight the full force of the ocean would make you tired, wouldn’t it?”

“Only a bit. Could probably still go for a run or something, I feel like I’m in peak physical condition.”

“Do a full marathon, maybe even two like this,” he laughed, as he stuck down the tape and finished redressing the gash.

With that being done, Ranboo began to feel the overwhelming nature and confusion of his current situation fully hit him for the first time. But his body’s exhaustion was more powerful than the winding spiral of thoughts his brain was begging to make. As Tubbo put everything away and removed the first aid kit from his cot, Ranboo managed to get out as he lay down, “Thank you. I’m feeling really confused and tired, and I’m gonna go back to sleep. But I’m glad I met you, you seem like a nice guy. This is all so strange.”

“Glad I met you too, bossman. And I know how confusing this can all be, but you’ll get used to it.” He put everything away, and return to the occupied side of the room, “And you’ll want to get used to strange, that’s what we do here.” 

Though what he’d replied had fallen on deaf ears, as Ranboo had already found the peaceful oblivion of a thankfully dreamless sleep this time. Tubbo folded himself back into the chair and managed to find a position again to doze in once more. And as sleep overtook him as well, the last thought he managed to have was, “Man, this guy's in for a wild summer.”

Chapter Text

“I’m sorry, I’m a what now?” 

“A half-blood, a demigod.” A surley, middle aged man, in a rather unflattering cheetah print button-up shirt told him. He was nursing a can of coke like it was some sort of lifeline, while he lazily messed with a deck of cards that was set up for a game, one that Ranboo was unfamiliar with. “Why does every kid who walks out of that door need an godsdam explanation from me? Why does no one watch the orientation film?”

“I’m sorry, uh what film-“

“Gods, what’s your name, kid?” He asked, with clear disinterest and an exasperated sigh.

“Uh, it’s Ranboo-“

“Listen, Rainbow, one of your parents is a God. A Greek God, they exist. And you’re a demigod. You’ve got half of their divine blood, and half mortal. So you’re a Half-Blood. This is Camp Half-Blood, where kids like you come in the summer so you don’t all die. Got it?” The man explained, in possibly the most apathetic and nonchalant way he could have. Leaving pour Ranboo reeling, standing in the doorway to the big blue house he had just spent the night in. Confused and feeling a little overwhelmed, he looked back at the man, searching his face for any sign that he was joking. That he was just playing some sort of practical joke on him. But the man had already moved back to his cards and can of coke.

Panicking just a bit, he took a step towards the porch stairs. He began looking around for the new friend he’d made last night, but all he could see was a thicket of tall trees and a large field of a crop beyond that, though whatever it was had just begun to grow. A large hill, with a singular towering pine tree on it (with a weird-looking fence wrapped around its base), stood in the middle of the field. He took a seat on the bottom step, trying to ground himself. This was a lot. He’d woken up last night, with no memories, to find himself in a strange place with no one he knew, and a promise that he’d get an explanation in the morning. And when he’d woken up this morning to find Tubbo gone from the room, he decided to go see if he was close by. And then he wasn’t, and the only answers he’d gotten made no sense. And who even was that man? And why was he so serious about something he clearly must have been joking about? It had to be a joke though, that was too strange and…and why was he denying it so much? What if it’s true? 

He figured that Tubbo would actually have answers, and if this was the truth Ranboo knew he’d be willing to trust it if it came from his new friends mouth. So as he calmed down, he stood up and began walking down the path that led away from the blue house. Taking a right he began to walk down what he assumed was some sort of main path. Not paying particularly close attention to his surroundings, he passed a couple of building as he went. After about a minute of thought, he registered he’d reached a crossroad. Unsure of where he’d most likely find his friend, he decided that going right had been the best option before so he stuck with it. He kept walking. 

It was peaceful, the forest smelled fresh like pine and spruce, and all the deciduous trees had just begun to finish growing their leaves. The greens of the grass and the canopy were vibrant with their youthful, late-spring glow. And the life this place had was evident, with how many birds were singing in the morning light and all the squirrels that chattered above his head. If he wasn’t so stressed with the confusion of his current situation he would have been enjoying his search. He noticed the sound of running water, and as he rounded a bend of an outcropping of rock he saw a small bridge that ran over a creek. When he reached the pinnacle of the bridge, he stopped and peered into the water, deciding his questions could wait a moment for a short rest.

“Ranboo?” He heard a few minutes later someone ask as a rushed set of footsteps approached from the direction he’d come.

"Yes?" He asked hesitantly as they looked up to see a stranger jogging towards them. The girl had strawberry blonde hair that fell just above her ears but, was styled so it was more on top of her head than not. She had light skin, with freckles smattered across the bridge of her long nose and cheeks. And a scar ran from her forehead, through her eyebrow and down over her left eye. The girl was tall and a little lanky, but she looked rather fit. She must have been a few years older than Ranboo. And she wore a similar orange shirt to the one Ranboo had seen Tubbo had on under his sweater the night before, but the sleeves had been cut off. A scabbard was hooked to her belt and a necklace strung with colourful, clay beads bounced again her chest as she ran.

“Tubbo’s been looking for you for a while now. Had to get some help since Mr. D predictably didn’t do his job and let you wander off while everyone was getting breakfast.” When the stranger got to the bridge, she gently placed a hand on Ranboos shoulder and began to steer him back to the house the younger had come from before he’d ventured off to find his friend.

“Your arrival yesterday was pretty out of the blue and unexpected. Most kids don’t come to camp for another couple of weeks and and walk in through the front,” the stranger explained, “I mean, sometimes they run in but that’s not…that’s kind of happens a lot now that I’m thinking about it.”

“Uhhh…run?”

“Oh, we have a lot of…runners here. Yeah.” Smiling a little awkwardly she tried to backpedal out of whatever she’d started on.

“Right,” Ranboo answered, just feeling confused and definitely not buying whatever this kid was selling.

She sighed before she asked, “How much did Tubbo tell you last night? I overheard him at breakfast telling the Activities Director that you’re having some issues with your memory. Is that right?” 

“Tubbo didn’t tell me anything really. Said he’d explain it in the morning. And that’s right, I can’t remember anything right now.” Still feeling a little wary of the stranger, he figured he might as well talk to this girl. I mean, he’d been in this camp for 24 hours now, most of that he’d spent passed out or asleep. So if someone was going to hurt him they probably would have done it by now.

As he was walked back to the blue house he’d been in earlier, awkwardly Ranboo tried to break the silence they’d fallen into. “Uhhh, who are you anyway? You didn’t tell me your name.”

She laughed at himself, and as they turned left at the intersection he said “I'm Brandi. I’m the Head Counselor of the He-the cabin you’ll be staying in for a bit while you’re here.”

“Okay Brandi, why does a Camp Counselor need a sword?” Ranboo asked, pointing at the scabbard he’d noticed on her belt earlier as Brandi moved to try and hide it.

“It’s-” but before she could respond she was cut off by someone yelling Ranboo’s name loudly and rather urgently, causing them to both look up from their conversation to see Tubbo standing on the porch to the big house next to a…man…who was half horse?

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After he was brought back to the Big House, Tubbo and Chiron sat him down and explained that he was a demigod. That all the kids who were at camp, and those who’d be arriving within the next two weeks or so were just like him. They're half-mortal, and half Greek God. Half-Bloods. And this was where they came to train and be with others like them. As well as stay safe (that part kind of confused Ranboo a bit). It was pretty much everything the grumpy man from earlier had told him but told in a less blunt and apathetic way. And the fact that the man doing most of the explaining’s bottom half was actually one of a white stallion was some rather concrete evidence that this wasn’t some elaborate prank. And Tubbo was there, nodding along and occasionally helping explain something, so Ranboo was willing to trust him. 

After they’d given Ranboo the explanation of his current situation and existence as the kid of an immortal god or goddess, Chiron had spent the rest of the morning trying to help Ranboo with his memory. But anything before he arrived wasn’t coming back to him. There was a thick cloud of fog obscuring his mind, and he couldn’t figure out how to fix how fuzzy and odd his head felt. He could remember basic facts, and function like normal. But he didn’t know who he was.

“Well,” Chiron cleared his throat, “I think it would be best that we take a break from memory issue at the moment. Ranboo you must be hungry since you missed breakfast?”

“I’m okay, I don’t need to eat yet,” Ranboo said as he sat up from where he’d been lying against the back of the couch he was on. It was at that moment that his stomach decided to let out a loud growl, “Alright, I should probably eat then.”

“Lunch should be soon, but I think it would be best if you saw your cabin first. Tubbo, could you show Ranboo around a little, and take him to the camp store to get essentials and some new clothes,” Ranboo looked down and noticed how his pant legs and shoes were salt-stained from the ocean, and the hem of his black t-shirt was all torn up, “I don’t imagine that Brandi has gone too far away from here. She’d be able to help more with the cabin side of the tour.”

“Alright, I can do that.” Tubbo flung on his sweater then opened the front door, gesturing for Ranboo to come along. Ranboo mumbled out a quick thank you to Chiron on his way out, but the centaur had already slipped away into another room, one that Ranboo could just tell must have been some sort of private library judging by all the books he saw through the closing door.

“Lets go get you some new, un-ripped clothes. Then I’ll show you around a bit and the cabins,” Tubbo started, cutting across a lawn towards the neighbouring building to the big house, “Brandi will probably jump out of a tree along the path while we’re walking or something, so we don’t have to go looking for her. The girl is always doing stunt stuff.” He pushed open the door, setting off some of wind chimes. The pair walked in, and Tubbo immediately started grabbing various toiletries and clothing articles off the shelves and wracks.

“Hey Tubbo,” a monotone voice droned from the counter where a very bored-looking teen was sitting with their feet up, startling the living daylight out of poor Ranboo. They had a black bob, and half of their head was buzzed. They had on a spiked choker and black lipstick, and other than the black camp shirt they were wearing the rest of their outfit didn’t match the goth ascetic they were going for.

“Hi Dina, how’s your day been?” Tubbo asked from where he practically swept a whole shelf full of stuff into his arms as he continued his little shopping spree.

“Same as usual. Slow and boring.” They continued drawing, which they didn’t even look up from when the duo entered the store, “Don’t have any little Hermes brats to bust for stealing so this job isn’t fun, yet.”

“Well there’s only two weeks until camp starts, then you’ll have more Hermes kids to bust than you can dream of,” Tubbo appeared from around the corner, holding an orange long-sleeve up to Ranboo chest, before nodding as he concluded he’d grabbed the right size.

“Yay, so exciting, love having more people around,” They rolled their eyes, and glanced at Ranboo and asked, “Who’s the new kid?”

Tubbo started walking up to the counter, but he turned around and grabbed a few more things, “This is Ranboo, he washed up on the beach yesterday morning. I’m showing him around.”

“So that’s what all the fuss has been about,” they moved their feet just in time as Tubbo dumped the armload of stuff onto the counter. Dina took a few items and checked them on their list, dumping them into a bag. They did that for about a minute before they just swept the rest of the pile into the bag, “That’s 30 drachmae.”

“Oh come one Dina, I’m your friend. Could you make a discount for me? For me, please.” Tubbo said, and something about the way his tone shifted and how Dina’s icy glare softened slightly made Ranboo notice that Tubbo had done something to let Dina’s guard down.

“Fine, just because you’re my friend.” They smiled, in an uncharacteristically friendly way, “25 then.”

“Sweet! Put it on my tab.” Tubbo snatched up the bag and walked out, grabbing Ranboo’s arm and pulling him out of the store. “Thanks friend, you’re the best.”

“Anytime man, feel free to stop…” they paused as soon as the duo had completely left their line of sight before yelling “You little shit!”

“Thanks,” Tubbo yelled again, as he tried his best to hold back his laughter, and failed. He quickened his pace and set of down the path, Ranboo falling in beside him. And despite the fact he was a whole head taller than him he was having a hard time keeping up with the his new friend. Tubbo was moving incredibly fast, radiating a lot of unchecked energy.

He lauched into his tour speech, pointing out every little thing he knew something about. Every building and piece of flora they passed seemed to have an anecdote to follow. Ranboo found his new friends stories captivating, and he was drawn in by all the hijinks this boy managed to find himself in over the few years he’s been at camp.

“Hey Tubbo? What did you do to that Dina kid back there.” Ranboo asked, reminded of his confusion of what happened at the little store a few minutes prior when Tubbo mentioned he’d convinced, maybe more tricked, an kid named Jack into build paint bombs with him last summer while they passed the Arts and Crafts building.

“Oh,” Tubbo paused the next story he’d just begun to retell, “You know how Chiron explained that Demigods are half gods?”

“Yah,”

“Well being half god comes with some perks. All demigods are stronger and faster than mortals. But depending on who your parent is you get some other powers as well.” He kicked a rock down the path, and when they caught up to it he did it again, “I have something called Charmspeak from my mom. I can use magic that's controlled by my voice to convince people to do stuff for me. It’s pretty cool, and I don’t know any other kids who can do it.”

“Oh, who’s your mom?” Ranboo asked, as he reached his longer than average legs in front of Tubbo and kicked the rock before he could get another swing at it, making the shorter laugh.

“My mom A..." not enunciating the last part of the name he trailed off into a mumble.

“Sorry, what's her name?”

“My mom’s Aphrodite.” Tubbo gave Ranboo a little shove, and he got the rock first this time.

“She’s the Goddess of Love and Beauty, right?” They raced for the rock, Ranboo just getting to it first. He went to kick it, but managed to catch it with the outside of his foot and sent it flying off into the long grass by the path, “Oops.”

Laughing, the pair continued on the tour. Tubbo continued his stories, until he remembered something and it was his turn to ask, “How’d you know what my mom is the goddess of anyway? Most kids who come here don’t even know about the gods since we’re mostly all known for being really bad at paying attention in school.”

“My…” Ranboo trailed off as soon as he began. He knew the answer was just at the tip of his tongue, but the memory wouldn’t shift from behind the fog, “I can’t remember.”

The pair passed under a tree that's canopy stretched over the path, and a dark shadow moved overhead. Landing with the grace akin to that of a cat, Brandi was now directly in front of them in the middle of the path. Ranboo jumped back about 2 feet and Tubbo somehow remained unfazed. 

“See, I told you she does this stuff all the time.”

Chapter Text

It had been almost a week since Ranboo had arrived at camp. And he honestly couldn’t say he wasn’t having fun. After getting past the initial shock of having what the older man, who he now knew was called Mr.D, had said confirmed by Tubbo and Chiron, he hadn’t made any reality-shaking discoveries since so it was going well. After Brandi had nearly sent Ranboo back to the infirmary from the jumpscare, Tubbo and Brandi had quickly finished giving him a condensed tour of the camp. They showed him the archery range and the stables, as well as the amphitheatre, and some newer classrooms that the camp had added for the Demigods that stayed in the winter so they could continue to learn while training. Right before lunch was called, they finished off the tour with the cabins, all placed in what Ranboo could see was a Greek omega shape. Ranboo got temporarily settled in Cabin 11, the Hermes Cabin, where he'd be staying until his parent claimed him. Choosing a bunk closer to the door since Brandi had cautioned him that though they couldn’t technically reserve the bunks at the back, some of the older kids would probably hold a grudge against him if they took the one they used. 
 
“You don’t want to be on some Hermes kids' bad sides, things can get pretty petty pretty quickly in here.” The older blond warned.

As he began to unpack the bag of clothes and toiletries Tubbo had gotten for him magically discounted, he opened the trunk at the foot of his bed and found a small, but odd assortment of colourful button-ups sitting neatly folded at the bottom.

“Hey Brandi,” Ranboo called across the cabin, to where Brandi sat, “Who’s shirts are these?” 

“Shirts, what shirts?” She asked as she hopped off her bunk and went over, “Oh, this was Greg's bunk, no one must have used this trunk recently. He was the head of the Cabin before I took over when he left two summers ago. You can wear them if you want, he hasn’t been back for them so I don’t think he’s too worried.” She let Ranboo know before going outside to talk to Tubbo.

Quickly changing out of his ruined outfit into a plain camp shirt and light jeans, he gabbed a simple blue striped button-up and flung it on. Storing everything in the trunk he went outside to join the pair and they made their way to lunch.

On the second day, Ranboo was woken up by the feeling of being watched. Slowly he opened his eyes to find Tubbo kneeling by his bunk, resting his chin in his hands, with a wide and almost mischievous smile. 

“Hey, I’m going for a run and then doing a workout in half an hour if you want to join me,” 

“Good morning to you too,” he groggily mumbled, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and trying to get his bearings, finding that Brandi had already left the cabin, “What time is it anyway man?”

“5:45, you want to come or not?” 

“Uhhg, why so early?” He groaned and tried to hide under his blanket.

He stood up and began opening the curtains near Ranboos bed, hoping the soft orange rays of early morning light would maybe coax the other out of his blanket burrito, “If we don’t get done before 7 then the shower line gets long and all the hot water gets used up.” 

“Fine, but give me a bit to get ready,” his response was muffled by the layer of soft cloth between him and the rest of the room.

“Alright, meet me in the arena in 30. And here,” Ranboo peaked out of his cocoon just in time to see a tangerine land on his chest as Tubbo left the cabin, “Have a Pocket Orange.”

He rolled over with the intention of getting up but felt himself start to drift off again before he heard from the doorway, “That’s not getting ready,” 

With a sigh, he hauled himself up and got ready, eating the Pocket Orange on his short walk over. When he got to the arena, which Tubbo and Brandi had shown him along with the rest of camp after lunch the day before, he found Tubbo already in the middle of a warmup. He smiled and waved Ranboo over, where he joined in.

“Can I ask why we’re doing this?” Ranboo questioned after copying all the stuff Tubbo was doing. 

“The warmup or the run itself?” Tubbo brought his right arm across his body and began to stretch his shoulder while Ranboo followed.

“Both,” they moved on to the other arm.

“Well, the warmup is to wake up a bit and so we don’t pull a bunch of muscles.” He went over to the low wall that bordered the Chariot Track and the stands where he grabbed the water bottles he’d brought, handing one to Ranboo, “And the run is so the Ares kids will have a bit of a harder time picking on you when camp starts next week.” 

Taking a big sip, he followed Tubbo over to the stadium entrance, where he could see a little ways off, and up a hill was the Dining Pavilion, and the Forest beyond that.

“So we’re gonna run towards the Theatre, then on the shore of the Lake, across the Bridge and by the Big House, where I like to loudly say good morning to Mr. D since he hates it and is always up. I don’t think he sleeps),” Tubbo half-whispered the last part, before continuing, “Then we go by Half-Blood Hill, we’ll skip the Stables Route for today because that might be too long for you right now, back along the other creek until we get to the woods, then around the woods, down the beach to the dock and then back here for the workout. Got it?”

Shaking his head, the little shred of confidence he had at the beginning of this dwindling with every second the other spoke, “No, I don’t got it,”

“Just follow me, you’ll be alright.” He gave Ranboo a quick double pat on the back before they started their run.

And Tubbo was wrong, he was in fact not alright at all. He started out fine, keeping up with Tubbo’s pace until got the bridge, then Tubbo started to speed up (or he was slowing down, not quite sure which one it was). And even though every step he took was about two for the shorter, he was somehow constantly several steps behind. Around that time he also realized he drank too much water right before the run, and now he could feel the sharp sting of a stitch under his ribs on his right side. His eyes were watering, blurring his vision. He was thankful that Tubbo had stopped a few times to take quick rests after he’d looked over his shoulder to see Ranboo was looking like he was on the verge of throwing up. And by the end, Ranboo’s lungs felt like they were full of sharp fire and like his stomach was caught in his throat. As soon as they entered the arena, he managed to find a final (and only) burst of energy to sprint past Tubbo to where they left their waters, and he promptly collapsed. 

“Hey, look at that, we’re done.” Tubbo finished up the run, pressing stop on his stopwatch, “and it only took us 23 minutes and 48 seconds.”

Breathing heavily, Ranboo managed to wheeze out, “That was only 23 minutes? That felt way longer oh my god.”

Tubbo gave his tired friend's already messy hair a quick ruffle, before withdrawing his hand rapidly while inwardly cringing at how thoroughly sweat-soaked it was, “It’s not a bad time for a little over 2 and a half kilometres.”

“What’s that in miles?”

“Uhhhhh,” he paused, as he rapidly began to the conversion in his head, “I think that’s over 1 and a half miles? Maybe? Imperial’s shit though.”

“No, it’s not, it makes sense. ” 

“You and your Freedom Units are so confusing.” 

The pair sat and talked for a few minutes while Ranboo recovered. Well, it was mostly Tubbo talking since he seemed completely unfazed by the run and Ranboo was wheezing a bit. And even though he’d been sure his stitch wouldn’t fade and his lungs would never return to their normal, un-burning state he did eventually stop feeling like he was on the verge of dying, “I’m feeling a little better now.”

“Good, you ready for the workout?” Tubbo asked, jumping up with way too much energy. 

Tired and definitely not ready for a workout, Ranboo slid his back along the low wall he was leaning on, trying to sink himself into the Chariot Track dirt to avoid more physical activity. 

“Hey, I promise it gets easier quickly,” Tubbo said putting his hand out to help Ranboo up, “We’re Demigods, we’re pretty much meant to do this stuff.”

Reluctantly, and with a long sigh, slightly drawn out for dramatics, he took his new friends hand and let himself be pulled up with a little more ease than he was expecting, “I don’t believe you, but let’s get this over with before all the hot water gets stolen.”

They finished up the workout, which Tubbo claimed was an easier upper-body and core circuit. And it wasn’t easy, all the burning Ranboo was feeling was proving that. After that, they got ready for the day, and Ranboo had to admit that Tubbo getting him up so early had been the right move since as they left and started towards the Dining Pavilion a large line started to form for the showers. Because it was Ranboo’s first full day, Tubbo had managed to convince Chiron to let him sit at the Hermes table so he had a friend (even though it was just him, Brandi, and a younger girl who had been avoiding all social interaction with Ranboo at this point). Tubbo had gone on about how Demigods don’t often do well in mortal schools, and he always hated going to school. But here he was allowed to focus on what he wanted to learn, and how no one expected him to be able to read well or sit still and do nothing for an hour at a time. 

“I’ve been learning all about Astronomy this year and it’s so cool. I’ll have to show you the stars from Half-Blood hill where Chiron’s telescope is set up some time, I’m trying to memorize as many constellations as I can this summer.” He talked with so much passion about space, that even while Ranboo focused on eating his bowl of cereal he couldn’t not be drawn in, “Speaking of which, do you remember what school was like for you?”

Swallowing his bite, he felt his throat dry a bit and a heavy feeling sink in his gut. Laughing nervously he said, “Not great judging by how I just lost my appetite at the mention of it.” And even though the feeling he was having was related to school, his brain wasn’t providing any context from behind the hazy barrier.

“Oh, sorry about that.” Tubbo apologized, looking genuinely sorry as Ranboo pushed his bowl away and basically forced himself to have some more of his apple juice, “At least we now know you probably still have the memories, even if you can get them right now then.”

“Speaking of memories,” the sound of hooves against the cobbled stone floor was audible behind them, as Chiron made his way through the tables over to where they were sat, situating himself by Ranboo before asking, “I was thinking it would be wise to continue to work on your memory issue this morning whilst everyone is in classes.”

“Sounds good,” he awkwardly gave the Activities Director a thumbs up.

“Alright, I’ll meet you in the main room of the Big House after breakfast.” He gave a curt nod, before turning and heading back over the head table, where Mr.D was loudly complaining to a poor staff member about how unbearable breakfast is without wine. 

After finishing and cleaning up their table, Tubbo and the rest of the campers headed off to their classes. Tubbo had told Ranboo and since their final projects were due next Thursday, it probably wasn’t the smartest move to cut class and go with him to his memory session. Agreeing, since he didn’t want his friend to fail his class over him, the duo parted ways and Ranboo went off to try and fix his memory. 

__________________________________________

Tubbo had been right, the training had somehow gotten easier over the next few days. Ranboo was silently thanking whichever god made it so demigods adapted to physical situations so quickly. He was able to almost keep up with Tubbo in their runs and was able to complete a workout without the constant need to collapse (which Tubbo had insisted they do on the weekend as well, luckily a little later than 6:15 am). And even though he didn’t feel like it was much, he figured it would take mortal a few weeks to a month of solid training to come as far as he had so quickly. He was pretty proud of himself.

Frustratingly though, barely any progress had been made in his memory department. Every morning since the first session, he’d been meeting Chiron where they’d go over some mental exercises to strengthen his current memory, that Chiron had picked up over the millenniums. Being an immortal being, who’d been around for an amount of time he wasn’t even sure of himself, he’d seen and experienced his fair share of memories burying themselves with time. 

“I’ve found that journaling my thoughts and things I remember often helps me when I’m struggling to recall.” He said, scanning the bookshelves in his private study before pulling an assortment of books out and placing them on his desk in front of where Ranboo was sitting. He opened up a drawer and pulled out an empty, spiral-bound notebook, handing it to his student, “It would be best to try and write down every dream you have immediately after you wake until we can get a breakthrough. Even if it doesn’t seem significant, half-blood dreams are strange and often contain pieces of time and events that one would usually have no way of knowing.”

Nodding, he put the notebook into the bag he’d started bringing to the sessions, so he could carry all the different books and things he was been lent. 

They continued with their sessions and Ranboo was journaling all his dreams in what he was calling his Memory Book. A few had slipped away as soon as he’d woken up, but that was normal from what Tubbo had told him when he’d asked. Most of his dreams were standard fare. Weird nonsense and incoherent wishful thinking, as well as a few unpleasant but clearly not real nightmares. He had noticed that a lot of his dreams had a very specific recurring moment with a cracking wooden wall with an old, dusty grandfather clock up against it that made him feel uneasy and like he was being watched. He’d mentioned it to Chiron on their Wednesday session, five days before camp officially began who confirmed the image and feeling that came with it was too specific and consistent, so it must have been a part of a memory. But that was as far as they’d managed to come, they hadn't even confirmed what the source of his memory loss was. 

He arrived for their final session on Thursday morning, since all the campers who’d gone home for the winter (as well as all the new kids) would be arriving the next day and on the weekend so Chiron would be extra busy and he'd have no time too meet. Walking into the study, expecting to see Chiron reading at his desk like normal, he found a note sitting where he usually sat, addressed to him in very elegant and well-practiced writing saying:

Good-morning, 
My apologies, but some young half-bloods arrived early today and I have been tasked with explaining their situation and showing them around. I’ll come to check on you before lunch but I have asked The Oracle to help you today. I hope she’s maybe had a vision pertaining a clue to your current predicament. You’ll find her in the attic.

Now he was a little nervous, since he’d never met the Oracle before and from what he’d heard from Tubbo, she was scary and cryptic. He’d told Ranboo he’d only ever seen her talk once, and that was last summer when she appeared during one of their campfires, eyes, and mouth glowing green as acid coloured smoke rolled off her and over the crowd of demigods as she told them in seemingly a thousand voices the prophecy for that summers quest, that ended up in the death of one of Tubbo’s close friends. Who Ranboo could tell everyone at the camp was still mourning his loss, but he didn’t want to ask about this kid and bring up something so painful.

Making his way through the house and upstairs to the attic, he took a deep breath before he grabbed the cord that opened the hatch in the roof. A ladder unfolded and with leaden feet, he slowly climbed up. Peeking his head through the hatch, he stayed ducked in the opening as he took in the room. The attic had a few windows, but most were all covered with thin, colourful scarfs that made the light that was streaming in almost like a kaleidoscope. In the corner directly in front of him was a well-organized couple of shelves full of all kinds of weapons and various magical and non-magical items (and a few monster heads and body parts). And hung along all the walls and drying on easels and tables was a myriad of painted canvases, depicting all sorts of scenes. Some were old, chariots to horse-drawn carriages as well as old classical to Victorian architecture framed the backgrounds. And the newer scenes had cars and skylines full of glass and concrete skyscrapers. 

Finishing the last few steps up the rungs, Ranboo felt himself draw to some larger canvases that took an almost centre stage like role in the room where they were placed along the wall. The first was of a dark-haired boy with a sword, not much older than Ranboo, in a camp shirt leading an army in the streets of New York, moving towards another boy. This one was haloed in a golden glow, a massive dark scythe resting ready in his grip and army, much larger and way more intimidating following in his wake. He walked along the wall to the right, seeing the other paintings. The dark-haired boy kept reappearing for a while, continuing to be added to scenes with more demigods. Another caught Ranboo's eye in particular. It was of a flying ship, the sunset illuminating the bronze hull and dragon figurehead from behind. Impressed by how detailed each painting was he got lost in examining them.

“I prefer the ongoing mural I have in the cave, I find it’s a lot more fluid and more like one history than a bunch of little fragments.” the voice of a friendly sounding women spoke from near the trap door, causing Ranboo to wheel around so fast he almost sent an easel and a drying painting to the floor. Startled and a little embarrassed by how easily he got scared he steadied the off-balance tripod as who he presumed was the Oracle tried to hold in her laughter, to not embarrass the boy further.

While he was still recovering, she made her way over to the back part of the room, which Ranboo hadn’t seen before he got distracted by the paintings. I had a bed and a dresser, a little kitchenette as well as two loveseats around a coffee table. Compared to the other side of the attic, this corner was homely and not just storage space and a mini art gallery. She cleared off the loveseats, moving the empty canvases and painting supplies onto the coffee table, before moving to the kitchenette.

“Sorry about the mess, this is my Winter Home and I’m packing to move today. I live in a cave in the summer, but it get’s too cold to be out there year-round.”she explained, before asking as she took her ancient-looking kettle off and grabbed two mugs, “Do you want some tea?”

“Sure, please,” Ranboo replied, as she motioned for him to take a seat on a couch. He went across the room and took a seat, feeling too awkward and unsure to ask for some water since he didn’t know if he liked tea or not.

“Any particular type you want?” She took a teabag from a large assortment on her counter and poured some steaming water into a blue mug with ‘Need Caffeine before I Predict your Doom’ painted on it.

“I’ll just have whatever is sweet.” He replied as he took a moment now that she had slowed down to make tea Ranboo to take in her appearance. Seemingly in her mid twenties, she had shoulder length, mane-like copper red curls. Some of them was pulled back into an attempt of a bun, with a single, thin paintbrush managing to hold the wild mass in place. She had pale skin, dotted with a tapestry of freckles and vivid green eyes, with knowledge visible in their shine. Her overalls were completely spattered with paint, and the knees and lower legs were covered in doodles. Under that she had on a cozy looking, purple sweater, but she was walking around completely barefoot.

Nodding, she made another mug. Leaving them to steep she stated, “So, Chiron told you’ve been having memory loss issues. Have you not made a whole lot of progress so far?”

“No, I haven’t been able to remember anything from before I got to camp yet.”

“Interesting,” she added, in an impartial and pretty unreadable tone, “And I assume you’ve been journaling your dreams?”

“Yeah, how’d you kn-”

“Not a weird Oracle thing. Chiron suggested the same thing to me when I started losing track off all my visions. So I've been keeping all of my visions sorted and accounted for by sketching some of the more minor ones, and painting the bigger ones.” She pulled out a mid-size sketchbook and pencil, before making her way over and sitting down on the couch opposite of Ranboo, “Do you want to start by telling me about all your dreams, doesn’t matter how big or small?”

“I’ve already told Chiron about them, but might as well see if it does anything different.” He shrugged and launched into recounting all of his recent dreams, and at some point, the Oracle had begun doodling in her sketchbook, but was clearly still intently listening to the boys words. He came to the one about the clock, and the Oracle seemed to react to that. She began to scribble even more furiously, as Ranboo told her, “It’s so strange. There’s nothing visibly wrong with it but every time I see it it makes me feel so-”

“Creeped out, unsafe, uneasy, like it’s staring at you, judging you?”

“Yes, how’d you-”

She turned the sketchbook around, showing Ranboo the detailed rendition she’d created of what he’d described. But not only that, every little crack and scuff mark were perfectly in place. So perfect that all the feelings Ranboo felt when he saw the clock in the dream felt amplified and so, so much more real.

Trembling in fear a little as the Oracle spoke, “This just came to me as you described it. This is a weird Oracle thing.” She smiled, looking up from the paper at Ranboo, her face falling upon seeing how frightened he looked. Quickly, stuffing the notebook away she reassured, “Hey, it’s okay. Whatever this is can’t hurt you and isn’t here. Do you want to just talk for a bit with the tea before trying anything again?” 

Nodding, Ranboo felt himself calm down a bit, still feeling a little shaken, as she went over to the kitchen and removed the teabags. Fetching the mugs, she handed one of the steaming drinks to Ranboo. Blowing on the liquid to cool it off a bit, he took a sip and immediately decided he wasn’t a fan of tea. It was bitter, tasting like plants and there was a sweetness to this cup he could chalk up to some type of flower petal and a hint of vanilla. He figured it was one of those things that adults sometimes said you needed a “sophisticated palate” to like. Overall he wasn’t enjoying his cup, but he grimaced and took another sip, not wanting to be impolite.

“You don’t have to drink it you don’t like it, you know?” The oracle added, laughing a little at the face Ranboo pulled after about his fifth sip of tea.

“Sorry,” he apologized, setting the cup down on the coffee table, and pulling another face at the even more bitter aftertaste.

“No worries, would you like a glass of water?”

“Please,” 

“I’m Rachel by the way, I completely forgot to introduce myself. I knew your name from Chiron and forgot you might not know mine.”

After she returned with the water, and Ranboo took a large sip trying to get the tea out of his mouth, they settled into comfortable conversation. Avoiding the memory subject for a bit, Ranboo told Rachel about this first week at camp and how Tubbo had been torturing him with excise every morning. He talked a bit about Brandi and some of the elders friends who he’d met. He’d found out the grumpy camp store worker, Dina, was surprisingly a child or Iris, Goddess of Rainbows, and how that was seemingly a bit of contradiction. And he’d also befriended the head of the Hekate Cabin, Eret, after he’d almost wrecked a spell she was practising by the forest.

“It sounds like you’ve had an eventful week, and camp hasn’t even started yet. Are you excited for the next few days and Monday?” her eyes closing as gently as she asked.

“Very excited. Tubbo’s been telling me all week how excited he is for me to meet all his friends that went home over the winter. He’s been dying to introduce me to his best friend, he thinks we’ll get along.” He frowned, continuing, “I’m pretty nervous though, they’ve all had so much experience with camp, I’m worried they’ll just think I’m the weird new-kid who can’t remember anything and all hate me or something.”

“Well, the great thing about this camp is that there are new campers every year.” Her eyes opened, blinking a few times she brought herself out of whatever it was she'd just felt, “Do you know how old you are?”

A little shocked but the rapid change in topic, he answered, “I wish I knew.”

“And tell me, Ranboo, what do you know about the underworld?”

“Not-not much really. I know it’s where spirits go when they die, I think, and that’s about it.”

“Okay, something about you is giving me an aura of darkness and death. It’s not like actually dying or the bad omen kind.” She reassured quickly when Ranboo’s eyes widened, “It’s more like you’ve been near something from there recently or consistently.”

“Is it-is it bad?”

“Not necessarily. I don’t think you've been to the underworld a lot, I think this might be something to do with your memory.”

“Really?” he was relieved that they’d maybe made some progress since he wouldn’t admit it but he was getting a little frustrated with his own lack of getting better.

“Yeah, I’m not an expert on names and stuff, and the vision I just had wasn’t full, so this is probably a question for Chiron.”

“A question for me about what?” Chiron called, from where he was standing at the bottom of the ladder, since this was the only part of the house that wasn’t easily accessible for him when he was walking around hooved or sitting in his mist-enchanted wheelchair. 

“Oh, perfect timing,” Rachel stood up, taking the mugs and putting them in the sink before she moved over to the hatch, “I was just wondering if you knew of anything in the underworld that could cause memory loss, since I just had a vision of Ranboo’s aura and it was pretty, uh, deathy.”

Pausing to think, it only took a second for the immortal to remember and sigh, “Of course, the River Lethe.”

“What about a leaf river?” Ranboo asked, coming over to join the others at the hatch.

“No, the River Lethe, it’s one of the five rivers of the underworld. It’s the river of oblivion, and every soul that gets reincarnated drinks from it to forget all of their previous mortal life.” He explained as the pair made their way down to the same floor, “You must have recently drunk from the Lethe, which is another question entirely. But good news, there is a way to reverse its effects. It’s to drink from the Mnemosyne, the river of memory. But, bad news, the location is a secret that’s been lost to time.”

“Hey, maybe that’ll be the quest this summer. Find the Mnemosyne, and bring water back for Ranboo. A secret, forgotten river would probably have a lot of monsters guarding it.”

“You’re perhaps right. But summer hasn’t even begun so I doubt the Fates would have set a quest in motion yet.” Chiron agreed, before remembering, “Oh right, I came up here not only to check on you but upon Tubbo’s request.” 

“Tubbo? Is everything okay?” Ranboo asked. He knew he had his final astronomy project presentation this morning, so he hopped everything had gone well with that.

“Everything is quite fine. He asked me to find you since a few of his friends arrived early about half an hour ago and he wanted to introduce you before they got swept up in all their cabin setup.” Chiron motioned towards the stairs.

“Oh that’s great, he’s been wanting to introduce me to them all week. Bye Rachel, thank you for the help.”

“I’ll keep an eye out for rivers and memories in my visions. Have fun Ranboo, I have to finish moving to my cave now. Feel free to stop by to chat, or to try tea again. It’s just past the arena.” Rachel smiled and gave Ranboo a wave as she disappeared into the attic, closing the hatch behind her. 

Outside, from the porch, Ranboo spotted Tubbo sitting at the picnic table near the lake. He was laughing, talking excitedly to 3 kids. Making his way over, he noticed there were two guys and one girl. The girl and one of the guys were probabaly siblings, maybe twins. Though they didn’t quite seem like it. They both had piercing blue eyes and pale skin. The girl had rosy pink hair, with two blonde streaks framing her soft face. Some of it was pulled into little double buns on the top of her head while the rest fell around her shoulders and she wore a white sweater. Though she and her brother were a little older than Ranboo and Tubbo, the girl was still taller than her brother, who seemingly hadn’t had a growth spurt yet. She was smiling and laughing, while her brother looked a lot more serious, though he was laughing too. He had very angular, sharp features, and his dark hair was buzzed close to his scalp. He had a dual coloured pair of sunglasses resting on top of his head, and he wore a blue and black striped sweater and a pair of khakis, as well as a very obvious Xiphos hanging from his belt in a scabbard.

The other guy was facing away from Ranboo where he was sat next to Tubbo, so Ranboo couldn’t see his face at the moment. He was tall and lanky (though Ranboo was taller and his lankiness couldn’t be beat by anyone at the camp) and had a mop of curly, pale blonde hair. He was wearing a red and white, short-sleeved baseball style shirt. When the girl waved Ranboo over as she saw him slowly approaching their group, Tubbo and the boy beside him turned his way and Ranboo saw the other boys face. He had bright, sky-blue eyes, a cleft chin and a fading scar on the left corner of his bottom lip. He was smiling, but when he locked eyes with Ranboo, his stare hardened to a murderous glare and he set his jaw. Crossing his arms, his body language was radiating, “Go away”. Taken aback a little by the sudden change in demeanour from the kid he considered taking a hard left and hiding in the canoe shed. But a quick glance over at how excited Tubbo looked as he patted the space on the bench beside him, telling him to come sit, made him continue forward a little awkwardly and he took his seat.

“Ranboo, how was the memory session?” Tubbo asked excitedly. 

“It went well. I-I was with the Oracle this morning, actually.” Ranboo told him, looking down at his hands, which suddenly got very interesting with all the eyes on him.

“Rachel’s very nice, I help her sometimes with errands during my Free Time slot.” The girl added smiling, “I hope she was able to help you with the memory problems Tubbo was telling us about.”

“We made a little bit of progress. How was your project?” Ranboo asked in return, desperate to turn everyone's attention off him.

Tubbo’s face lit up, and the corner of his eyes smiled with excitement, “Amazing, I think I might have got full marks. I’ve been mapping the stars all year, like I’ve been telling you,” he poked Ranboo in the shoulder as he said that, “And I made model of the sky above camp out of a black bowl and a light. Constellations and all.”

“Woah, that’s super cool. You have to show me that later.” The girl looked very intrigued, as she was about to say something else about stars she noticed awkward and uncomfortable Ranboo looked, “I’m Niki by the way, I don’t think I said it, sorry.”

“Oh I totally forgot we needed introductions,” Tubbo face palmed himself, “Ranboo, this is Jack and Niki, they’re twins and heads of the Nemesis Cabin as of this summer,”

“Ayup,” Jack greeted curtly, still looking very stern. But Ranboo recognized his name from all of Tubbo’s stories about the hijinks they’d gotten up to over the last 2 summers, so he knew he wasn’t as serious as he was acting.

“And this is Tommy, he’s an Apollo kid and my best friend.” Tubbo elbowed Tommy as he introduced him, causing the taller to let out a small “oof” as he got hit. When Ranboo turned to look at him he was surprised to see how happy Tommy looked as he grabbed Tubbo’s arm and pulled him into a quick scuffle, compared to the glare he’d been giving him moments ago.

“Hello,” Tommy welcomed Ranboo loudly as he pulled a laughing Tubbo into a friendly headlock.

“I’m Ranboo, I think Tubbo already introduced me before I got here, but hi.”

After the introductions, they sat in the late morning sun talking for a while. Ranboo found out that Tommy, even though he was youngest of the four, had been at camp the longest, only just having gone home to England for the first time since he was 8 this past winter. He’s been at camp since he was 10, and he just turned 14 a few months ago. And out of all of them, he was the only one who had been on a quest before. Jack and Niki had arrived when they were 13 and were now 16. Niki asked Ranboo about his memory and how he’d been enjoying camp so far. After a while some kids came and stole Niki and Jack away to help with some Head Counselors camp prep stuff, leaving just Tubbo, Tommy, and Ranboo sitting together on a picnic table bench. 

Tubbo opened his mouth, about to say something when a familiar, monotone voice spoke from right behind them, making them all jump a bit at how quietly Dina had snuck up on them, “Hey, Tubbo, can you help me carry some boxes in from the road. A new shipment of camp clothes just came in,” Dina asked, “And since you keep using your stupid charm shit to steal from me, you owe me.”

“If you clear my tab I’ll carry all the boxes for you,” Tubbo smirked, Ranboo didn’t feel the pull of his magic lacing his words, this was just plain old-fashioned bargaining.

“Hmmm, I’m lazy but not that lazy. How about, if you don’t help me I’ll tell Chiron you’ve been using your power for personal gain on another camper outside of camp sanctioned activities. I don’t think he’ll be too happy about that, since you know, it breaks a pretty big rule.”

Tubbo’s smirk faded, and he sighed while standing up, “Well played, Harris. Well played.”

“Hey, I just want help with these 30 boxes.”

“Uggh, 30? Why’d we order 30 boxes of camp clothes?” Tubbo groaned as he followed Dina towards the hill, and the farm road a ways beyond that, as Dina said something about an extra big bulk shipping sale. 

Laughing a bit at his friends antics, Ranboo turned to Tommy to see he was staring right at him again, glare harsh and full of malice. 

Awkwardly and feeling very unwanted at this table Ranboo said, “Uhhhh, I feel like I’ve done something to offend you-”

“Listen, Ranboob was it?” Tommy asked jabbing his index finder at Ranboo’s chest, completely ignoring the tallers correction and protest at the somewhat rude butchering of his name, “Tubbo is my best friend, you hear me?”

“I never said he wasn’t y-”

“It’s been me and him since his first day at camp. We’ve been through a lot, and I don’t want a wrong’un like you messing with him. We don’t trust you.” Tommy stated, sizing Ranboo up like he was getting ready to fight him. 

“We? Who’s we-” Ranboo cut himself off as he noticed a rustling in the branches of the nearby trees and bushes. Upon first glance, everything seemed normal but when he looked closer, he saw dozens of pairs of black eyes staring at him from every direction. 

Suddenly feeling very cornered, Ranboo put his hands up defensively, “Look, I-I don’t want any trouble okay? He helped me on my first day when I washed up on the beach, and he’s been training me a bit since I’ve never had any experience with swords and stuff.” Ranboo told Tommy, as he felt something furry brush past his leg and an angry looking raccoon climbed onto the table and then onto Tommy’s shoulders where he sat. His glare matching Tommy’s as he peaked at the confused teen over a poof of golden hair.

“Hmmmm…” Tommy sounded unsure, still staring sharply at Ranboo.

“He’s just my friend, not best friend” he reassured, but Tommy looked like he was about to argue something before Ranboo added, “He’s an acquaintance really, if you think about it. I've only know him for a week.”

Seeming to accept this answer, Tommy’s gaze softened slightly, “I still don’t trust you one bit, but I trust Tubbo and I know I can't pick who he hangs out with, even if I think you're a bitch. You’re weird with your mysterious backstory, you know that?”

“I know, I’m trying to fix that part.” Ranboo added, very quietly, trying not to set Tommy off again.

The raccoon chittered quietly like he was whispering to Tommy. Which he somehow was as Tommy said, “This is Thrasher, Destroyer of Worlds. Or Chat, that’s his informal title. He doesn’t trust you either, and he’s gonna be keepin’ an eye on you. He says if he catches you being shady he’ll steal all your socks. Got it?” Ranboo nodded, looking at Chat, who gave him a very harsh and very clear “I’m watching you gesture”.

With that, Tommy abruptly stood up and stalked away, Chat following him closely as the other raccoons in the trees and bushes dispersed, leaving a very confused and threatened Ranboo by himself at the table.

Chapter Text

The Hermes Cabin finally began to fill up. Immediately on Friday morning, new campers started to be brought to camp, either by satyr’s or parents who were driving up and dropping their kids off by the border. And by the time they’d all finished supper and some campfire songs, there were about thirty kids all piled into the cabin. Brandi made a bunch of the older kids who knew each other from the past couple of summers bunk together for the night. It took a lot of coaxing, complaining, and some threats of a prank war but she eventually got them to do it.

“Is the Hermes Cabin always this crowded?” Ranboo asked Brandi in the line for breakfast the next morning. He’s been sticking to Brandi a bit, feeling a bit lost with the large crowd of kids milling around and eating at their tables. He’d meant to go talk with Tubbo, but he figured he’d let the brunet catch up some more with all his half-siblings. And he could feel a pair of eyes burning a hole in the back of his skull, coming from the direction of the Apollo table.

“It’s always a little crowded for the first few days, but then all the new kids get claimed by their parents and go to their cabins. Or stay, if they’re a Hermes kid.” Brandi explained while grabbing herself a bowl of fruit and some yogurt, “I heard from one of the old heads of the cabin it was constantly overcrowded a few years before I got here.”

“Why was it so crowded?” Ranboo asked, loading up his plate with several waffles and some bacon before following Brandi through the pavilion to their table.

“Long story, but the gods used to not claim all their kids and there were no cabins for minor gods. So every kid who wasn’t claimed would just stay in Cabin 11. A hero fixed it, made the gods vow to claim all their children, and the minor gods and Hades got cabins.”

It was 9:30 am on Saturday morning, so not everyone was up yet. Buut Ranboo was pretty sure he was the reason almost everyone in the Hermes Cabin was up, and giving him side-eyes as he and the Cabin Head took a seat. His lanky limbs lacked a lot of coordination regularly, but it got a little worse when he was tired and trying to be quiet while getting ready at 8 am to go train with Tubbo. Every movement he made he managed to step on the wrong floorboard, or knock over a metal bottle of some girl's hairspray while brushing his teeth, or embarrassingly hit his head on the frame of the top bunk while standing up from putting on his shoes. He’d been avoiding speaking with most kids at the camp so far, only interacting with Tubbo, Brandi, and their friends who were making an effort to talk to him. But from the way people glanced his way while whispering, he could already tell that some rumours about him were beginning circle. Lots of crazy things happen at Camp Half-Blood, but a kid with no memory of how he got there or who he was wasn’t that common. And when it did happen, it usually meant something big was going to happen that summer.

As breakfast came to a close and kids started to disperse, the various cabin heads gathered all the newcomers from the Hermes table to stay behind for instructions on how the summer would work. Everyone would get their schedules the next day at the campfire, as Chiron was still busy adjusting and finalizing them. Weekdays were all planned out for the campers as they would do various different activities to train them how to fight monsters and survive in a harsh world outside the safety of the borders of the camp. But weekends were up to them. There would be activities running and fun things planned, but they could choose if they wanted to participate.

“How do we know who our godly parent is?” A girl with dark skin and ringlets of black curls asked.

“Good question, we probably should have gone over this first,” Brandi said, half whispering the last part to the cabin heads that were with her, “Over the next few days, your godly parent will claim you. They do this in a couple of different ways since some gods have special things they like to do, but you will get a glowing symbol over your head that tells everyone who you’re the child of.”

“Every god must claim all their children, so you will all get to go to your permanent cabins with your half-siblings as soon as you find out.” A serious-looking girl, with black hair and silver, monolid eyes explained. She was wearing a full set of ornate armour and had a Corinthian-style helmet with a blue plume tucked under her arm. She looked like she was ready for battle at any moment. Her left hand inches away from the handle of her Falcata, ready to be drawn at the first sign of danger. Ranboo recognized her as the Athena Cabin Head, though he hadn’t learned her name yet.

“If anyone has any questions don’t hesitate to ask Brandi, or any of the Cabin Heads. And if you can’t find any of us some of the older campers should have answers.” Niki told all the kids, and judging by how overwhelmed some of them had been looking for the past day Ranboo could tell Niki was trying to make everyone feel more comfortable.

“But if there are no questions right now, there should be a fun volleyball tournament starting up soon, a couple of Nike kids run them every weekend. And the Canoe Lake is a fun spot to hang out. I’d avoid the woods, there’s a few monsters in there so be careful. The Demeter Cabin will be leading a hike around 1 if anyone is interested.” Brandi finished up, and all the new Half-Bloods got up and ready to leave the dining pavilion, “That’s all. Ask questions if you’re not sure and go have fun.”

While walking down the stairs out of the pavilion and onto the path towards the cabins, Ranboo was content to just spend the rest of his day off inside doing nothing, he was tackled from behind. Luckily he managed to somehow keep his balance enough to not go barrelling into the kids in front of him, but he was pushed off to the side of the path where he stumbled before falling into a patch of long grass.

“Is that how you usually say hi unsuspecting people? By attacking them from behind?” Ranboo complained while rolling out the shoulder that had taken the brunt of Tubbo’s tackle.

“Just my friends, or enemies if I need to get the upper hand.” Tubbo smiled as he stood up, extending his hand to help Ranboo up.

“Remind me to never get on your bad side then, sounds like a bad time.” He took the hand, and the pair started to walk down the path again, now thoroughly behind the new campers.

“Yeah, I’ll break all your bones one at a time if you ever double-cross me.” Tubbo threatened, in his way that Ranboo had learned sounded like it might be empty, but the cheerful undertone to the dark threat made Ranboo never want to find out if he would follow through.

“So,” Tubbo asked, after a minute of walking in silence, “Got any plans for the rest of the day?”

“I was on my way back to the Hermes Cabin to do some reading Chiron gave to me since I’m not making any progress with my head or the location of the Memory River so-”

“Come on, we should have some fun. There’s so much to do now that people are here and you have all summer to figure your memory out, it’s not going anywhere.”

“I have all summer to have fun. And that’s kind of the issue, that it’s not going anywhere,” Ranboo stated, feeling equal parts frustrated at his brain and its refusal to cooperate and tempted to go do fun stuff with Tubbo.

Tubbo turned to Ranboo, and even before he spoke Ranboo felt the melodic lull of his magic reach out and grip his thoughts. He’d felt the sheer power of it just from proximity before when he’d used it on Dina, but that was what he now realized was only a light crackle compared to the high voltage current of magic that ran through his mind. And Tubbo’s next words came out dripping with reassurance like sweet honey and the warmth of a gentle summer breeze, “Come on, it will be fun. You should come have a great day with me and our friends, instead of staying copped up inside. How does that sound?”

“Sounds good,” Ranboo smiled, his mind not forgetting the magic he’d felt a moment earlier, but opted to ignore it and just go with Tubbo. He could work on his memory stuff later, right now he was going to go have fun, “Alright, I’ll go do stuff with you today. Only today though, tomorrow I have to read.”

“Perfect, just for today.” Tubbo agreed, returning the smile before grabbing Ranboo’s arm and dragging him off, “I want to show you all my favourite things to do now that there’s people here.”

They went around for the rest of the morning, Tubbo introducing Ranboo to even more people who’d arrived and the entire Aphrodite Cabin. Convinced there was no way he was going to remember the names of all thirteen of Tubbo’s godly half-siblings, he focused on the few that seemed close with Tubbo. There was Kleo, the oldest and the current head, Dylan who only briefly said hi when Ranboo was introduced before going back to his drawing, but Tubbo kept bugging him the whole time they were there, and Marie who was the same age as Tubbo and they’d both arrived at camp about the same time. After lunch when all the people who wanted to go on the hike had left, they snuck into the arts and crafts building, where Tubbo carefully showed Ranboo how to make a paint bomb and also friendship bracelets after almost getting caught by the head of the Apollo Cabin. Finishing up they made it out just in time to see a larger crowd of kids beginning to gather around the beach volleyball court.

“Oh this is fun,” Tubbo told Ranboo as he began to walk over to join the crowd, Ranboo following behind him, “The Ares and Athena kids, like with most things, have a huge rivalry in this. It gets even worse in the official Monday League so this should just be like a warmup for them, should be a good game.”

Managing to sneak his way through the crowd Tubbo got two spots at the front of the wooden bleachers for them to sit. And taking a seat in the refs chair was Dina, who Ranboo could see was pocketing a fistful of drachmae as they took a whistle and blew into it, the piercing screech calling the players who were warming up on the sandy court and the crowd to attention.

“Alright, listen up,” they yelled in a surprisingly animated way for how monotone they usually were when they talked, “Let’s make this quick, I’ve only been paid for 2 hours so each round will be first to twelve. Winners move on, losers are eliminated. This is a fun tournament and not for the league so we’ll be playing with 4 on each side, and substitutions are allowed just for today. Got it?”

Pretty much everyone nodded, and the head of the Nike Cabin stepped up by the net, pulling out a clipboard they yelled, “First up we have Nemesis against Hecate, and then it’s Hermes against Ares.” At that, the Hermes kids who were warming up on the far end of the court all collectively threw their hands up and sighed, a lot of ‘come on’s’ following, “I want to see a fair game, and if I see anyone cheating I will curse you to never win at anything ever again.”

The tournament started and for the most part, nothing went wrong. The first game was hard-fought, but the Hecate cabin managed to just pull out victorious against the Nemesis cabin. And the second game went by quickly, the Hermes kids were doing their best, but even though the Ares cabin wasn’t known for its strategy, the team on the court played a solid game. And it helped that every time their captain with a mop of jet hair would set it to the girl with red hair to spike it, one of the younger Hermes kids would dive out of the way. Also, surprising no one the Athena cabin was mopping the floor with every team they’d played so far, calling out trick plays with multiple and confusing names so no one was able to catch on to what they would do next. It was quite impressive.

When it came time for the semi-finals, the Ares and Hephaestus Cabin’s were going head to head in a back and forth round. Around ten minutes it, when it was tied five-five, the Ares girl with short red hair team went up to spike it, a nice set from the captain, landing the hit and scoring the point. But on the way down she landed funny, her right ankle rolling to the outside and foot rolling inward, spraining it badly.

“Fuck!!” she screamed after she fell, equal parts in pain and in frustration as she slammed her fists in the sand and sent a spry of it flying into the air.

All her teammates and the medically gifted Apollo kids, who’d been on standby in case of an incident like this, rushed over, and quickly she was ushered off the court and towards the Big House. Dina, who was doing a good job at crowd control managed to keep everyone around calm as this happened, but as soon as the girl who got hurt was gone the Ares Captain started yelling.

“Where’s Ava? She said she’d be here in case we needed a sub.” He seemed frustrated, and there was a definite nervous air about him at the prospect of having to forfeit on account of a missing player.

“She’s in the arena, some younger kids wanted some sword demos.” Someone in the stands yelled.

“Can we play with three? Or does last point win or something?” the captain asked the Nike Cabin Head.

“Sorry,” the Nike Cabin Head apologized while flipping through their clipboard of rules, “You’ll have to forfeit if you don’t have enough players.”

He started scanning the crowd, his eyes landing on someone he knew, and pointed at them, “Go get Ava, and tell her Cody got hurt and we need her otherwise we have to forfeit,” the kid nodded before running off in the direction of the arena. The captain went back to scanning the crowd before his eyes fell on Ranboo, “You. Have you played volleyball before?”

People started whispering, as Ranboo looked to Tubbo who gave him a smile and thumbs up in a sort of, “Sure, good luck man,” gesture. Figuring he couldn’t not do it since he was charmed, Ranboo got up and approached the captain, “I’ve never played before, but I-I’ve passed the ball around with Tubbo a-a bit last week.”

“Good enough, you’re really tall and the only unclaimed kid here right now. So,” He shrugged, and grabbed Ranboo’s shoulder as he turned to the Nike Cabin Head and Dina, “He’s our sub for the time being.”

“You can’t do that!” A tall girl on the Hephaestus Team yelled, “That has to be against the rules?!”

“I mean,” the Nike Cabin Head started flipping through their clipboard quickly, scanning for anything saying this wasn’t allowed, “There’s nothing in here saying an unclaimed camper can’t play for another team, so I’ll allow it for now.”

Looking thoroughly pissed, the Hephaestus Captain called a quick timeout and their team huddled up, discussing their next play.

“Do you know the rules or anything about volleyball, kid?” The captain asked as the Ares team huddled up. Ranboo noticed that even though he had a few inches of height on all of them, they were all really strong and he was beginning to feel quite nervous.

“Not really, I’ve been watching the games today so I know you can pass 3 times before you have to hit it to the other side, and it has to land in the lines.”

“Yah that’s about it. If I set the ball to you hit it over, and if you need to, try to dive for it, we really don’t want to lose,” he smiled, though Ranboo could tell he was trying to be more friendly than he normally would be, “You’re Ranboo, right?”

Confused by how he knew, he went to ask but got his answer before he even said anything, “Brandi one of my best friends. We came to camp at the same time when she was twelve, I was eleven.” Ranboo nodded, as he looked over to where Dina blew their whistle signalling the end of the timeout, the Captain getting in one last sentence as they all took their places on the sand court, “I’m Cyrus by the way. And this is Ira and Joel. And relax, you’ll do fine.”

“Thanks,” he added as he took the spot to Cyrus’s right. The whistle blew, and the ball was tossed to Ira, who served it over. Realizing he should do what the others were doing he bent his knees and got ready for the ball to be hit. And hit it was, the Hephaestus Captain spiked it right towards Ranboo, who panicked and flung an arm toward it. It stung a lot, and he could already see his arm was turning red and splotchy where the contact was, but he surprised himself when his single arm managed to get it up and back to Joel, who set it Cyrus who set it over. Cyrus quickly glanced at Ranboo and made eye contact, as the ball came back over to Ira, who set it Cyrus, who set it Ranboo who…hit it right into the net.

Thrilled at the prospect of an unusually easy win over the Ares team, the Hephaestus team looked a lot happier than they’d been a few minutes ago. Quickly Cyrus called their time-out and gave Ranboo a quick demo on how to spike. They also told him if the ball was coming over towards him and he had the chance he could run up to the net and block it, as long as he didn’t touch the next or cross the line. The Hephaestus Team continued with the strategy of hitting every ball and every serve in Ranboo’s direction, but he did figure out how to spike it enough to get it over and his height was giving him an advantage for the blocking he started doing. And after a close back and forth game, Ira set it to Cyrus, who faked the set to Ranboo and touched it over, landing the ball in-between the two rows, the back player having almost no time to turn their stance away from Ranboo’s direction to dive for it, winning the game.

Getting swept up in the big celebration pile of fist and chest bumps, Ranboo managed to glance over and see Tubbo cheering from the stands. And that was when he realized the warmth of Tubbo’s magic wasn’t holding his will anymore, and it hadn’t been for most of the day. Reading the look on Ranboo’s face, Tubbo seemed to be able to tell Ranboo had figured out the secret, he smiled wider before he was lost in the crowd, letting Ranboo finish his big moment.

“Hey,” Cyrus clapped Ranboo on the back, it was a friendly gesture but the strength he put behind it was rather painful, “You did well, if you ever want to play or practice with us you’re welcome too.”

“Thanks,” Ranboo smiled, rubbing his shoulder that was taking a lot of abuse that day, “I might take you guys up on it sometime.”

“Yeah, and hey, maybe you’re be an Ares kid, then you can play with us all the time.” He said as the Ares team walked themselves off the court, moving so the next semi-final round of Athena vs Tyche could begin.

Looking over the group of Ares kids, he could tell immediately by how a lot of them seemed to be made up of at least 99% muscle he probably wasn’t a son of the war god. But he agreed anyway, he wouldn’t mind being half-siblings with them. And when Ava finally showed up, a little out of breath with the kid who’d gone to get her earlier in tow, Ranboo excused himself and went to find Tubbo, who was sitting at the table nearby where he’d met Tommy at the prior day, the aforementioned boy sitting there as well. They were chatting and Tubbo was laughing, and not wanting to upset Tommy with his presence and ruin their conversation with unnecessary conflict Ranboo turned and walked away. Figuring Tubbo might come looking for him and he didn’t want to explain why he didn’t come to find him after the volleyball game he decided against going back to the cabins.

Making his way to the arena, not sure where else to spend the rest of his day, he grabbed his spear from the armoury. He’d picked it out with Tubbo a few days ago. It was a simple make, celestial bronze, and almost as tall as he was. It was lightweight and felt right in Ranboo’s hands as he swung it at the very beat-up dummy he’d set himself up by for the rest of the afternoon. He was behind one of the massive marble pillars, trying his best to hide from the sun, but mostly anyone wanting to talk to him. He had no clue what he was doing when it came to fighting with a spear, so he did his best to approximate something useful as he hit the dummy.

“How was your trip, mate? I’ve heard from the others there’s been some strange stuff in the East, did you run into anything?” Two men Ranboo had never seen before entered the Arena, walking over towards the armoury, past where Ranboo was training and not seeming to notice him. They were walking slowly, as one was leaning heavily on a cane. He had large, dark circles under his eyes and was wearing a forest green coat despite the hot weather, The brim of his green and white striped hat pulled low, hiding his eyes from the sun. He couldn’t have been much older than Rachel, but he looked exhausted and much older than he should. The other wore a brown, fur-lined leather jacket and rectangular glasses, with his long hair pulled into a loose braid that stopped around his lower back. It was dyed a light shade of pink, but the roots were growing back in a soft brown. He looked fierce, and the array of weapons he had on view strapped to his clothes and belt gave away the open threat of a highly trained warrior, ready to use whatever he could grab first with deadly precision.

“The trip was good, just keeping an eye out and unruly harpy colonies in check, like normal. Nothing too strange, I did run into a chimera in Bulgaria and sphinx outside of Prague. But nothing weird no,” the man with the pink hair said as they approached the armoury, “What have the others been seeing on their trips?”

“It’s not one thing, it’s more of a collection. Minor earthquakes in places that don’t often get them, lots of reports of mortals supposedly seeing ghosts.”

“If it's mortals, it's probably nothing. How’s camp been, anyway? Anything exciting happen in the past few months?” The pink-haired man asked as he opened the door to the armoury, and slipped inside.

The man with the cane leaned up again the wall beside the door, enjoying the shade the building provided as he reached up and removed his hat, moving the shorter strands of his sand blond hair that had fallen from his low bun out of his eyes, before putting it back on, “Noting too exciting. A kid with no memory got here last week, washed up on the shore, and has been worrying Chiron ever since. He’s mates with Tubbo now. And Tommy came back, despite what he said last summer.”

The other man emerged, most of the weapons now put away and exchanged for a simple longsword and a crossbow, “That little traitor? He’s lucky I don’t-”

The man with the cane interrupted as pushed himself up off the wall and they started to walk towards the exit, “Techno, don’t hold that against him. He was devastated, we all were. He lost his-”

“So did I!” Techno, what he was seemingly called, said heatedly as pent-up emotion clearly bubbled up close to the surface, “No one ever thinks of that? And I didn’t almost-“

“You know he doesn’t-”

“You’re making excuses for him again, Phil!”

“You’re right, but you have to remember he’s still a child-”

“We’re Half-Bloods, we don’t GET to be kids, you’d know that better than anyone.”

Phil took Techno in, deep sorrow clear in his tired eyes as he opened his mouth to speak but his words were knocked out of him as he dissolved into a violent coughing fit. All anger Techno had been showing a second earlier melted away as he rushed forward to help his friend, who used the hand unoccupied by the cane to hold himself up on the others arm as his whole frame was wracked by the violence of the coughs. After what seemed like an eternity, probably only less than a minute in reality, Phil eventually managed to stop the fit and straighten himself up so he could continue to walk again. He took a step, stumbling as he did so, but managed to catch himself before he could fall to the ground, Techno reaching out to try and help but the other waved him off, “It’s fine, this is what I deserve after all,”

“It wasn’t your fault, you don’t deserve this,” Techno said, with a surprising softness.

“Well, you can take it up with Erinyes next time you see them. I’m about as bad as they come in their eyes,” He laughed slightly at his own terrible predicament.

“There was nothing you could have done.” Techno stated firmly, and Ranboo wasn’t sure if he was trying to convince Phil or himself, “Do you think you can get back to the Big House fine, I have to grab something from my Cabin quickly?”

“Should be fine, you can catch up easily anyway,” Phil said as they left the arena, Ranboo let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, waiting a minute before trying to finish up his attempt at learning spear fighting before supper was called. He swung at the dummy and then he swung again, winding up again to swing and-

“Your form is terrible and your technique is completely wrong.”

Jumping what must have been 3 feet in the air, Ranboo dropped the spear abruptly as he was startled out of his mind, “Gods, why does everyone keep scaring me geeze.”

“It’s because you’re not on guard or alert, it’s easier to sneak up you than sleeping Hypnos,” Techno said from where he was standing a few feet in front of Ranboo, arms crossed and an unimpressed and yet slightly amused expression on his face.

“You didn’t have to sneak up on me,” Ranboo complained, heart still racing as he bent down and picked up his spear, only to have Techno lunge forward before he could react and knock it out of his hands, sending it flying into the dirt a few steps away, “Hey!”

“Always be on guard, you don’t know what an enemy will do,” Techno said, observing as Ranboo went to pick up the spear again. When Ranboo had it in his hands once more Techno motioned for him to follow. Figuring no probably wasn’t an option he did so, as they walked down the stands and into the bowl of the arena. Techno picked a staff from the rack of training weapons, handling the beat-up wood to Ranboo in exchange for his shiny bronze one.

“I can tell you haven't done any weapon safety yet, so you get the wood stick so you don’t poke my eye out.” He stated, as he got into what he explained was basic ready stance, right hand on the end of the spear near his hip and the other about halfway up the middle of the stick part, the point in line with his face, “The head is the pointed part, the shaft is the part you hold and the sauroter is the little point at the end. This is a dory, it’s usually used by hoplites over a hoplon, but since you won’t be fighting in Phalanx you don’t have to worry about that,” Ranboo agreed, pretending like he understood half the words that were being said to him.

“Spears, like knives, are stab-based weapons. You can slash, but it’s not the primary attack, it’s more for blocking and you were doing it wrong before.” He pushed his bottom hand up to his chest, and extend his top hand out as he stabbed the air with the point of the spear, motioning for Ranboo to follow, which he attempted to do using the training stick, “And unlike the knife, you have a lot of reach with a spear. You can be a few feet away and still stab a monster, without having to get in close. That seems like something you’d prefer, I take it?”

Ranboo nodded, not liking the idea of having to be right up in the personal space of something trying to kill him. Techno pulled the spear back in with practiced near perfection, returning to his original potion, keeping the head level with his face as he explained that you keep it high so you can protect yourself with a block if something tries to attack. He then pushed out the spear again, but this time his bottom hand came up and across his chest, ending near his armpit and extending the reach of the spear further. Ranboo mimicked again, and then they returned to ready, repeating these 2 motions until his arms started to burn a bit with fatigue from the repetitive and currently unfamiliar motions. After a while of this, much longer than Ranboo’s arms agreed with and were beginning to shake, Techno stopped them. Giving a nod, and with a flourish that definitely wasn’t necessary but impressive nonetheless, drove the spearhead into the redish dirt of the arena ground and extended a hand for Ranboo to shake, “I like you, you’re a good student. What are your thoughts on governments?”

“Ummm…I don’t think much about governments if I’m gonna be honest.” he said, before adding without any real thought into why, “I don’t like empires, though.”

“Bit of weird answer, I usually get a good, bad or a straight ‘never thought about it’, specifically empires is a new one but alright.” They shook hands, Techno returning the spear, “If you want to learn more past the basics come find me when you have free time. I’m usually around here or the Big House, sometimes the Staff house. Now, excuse me, I have an old friend to go find, but you already know that.”

Meaning old friend literally, he left Ranboo to go find Phil, who in all honesty probably hadn’t made it too far in his condition. Ranboo was glad there were a lot of benches and tables around he could have a seat on if he needed a rest on the way to the Big House.

After putting his spear back in the little open locker type space that he’s been assigned to keep his weapons, no symbol of his parentage beside his name yet like other kids name tags. He left the spear next to the brand new set of simple celestial bronze gauntlets and greaves, chest-plate with attached pauldrons and helmet with a currently white plume. They were unblemished and shiny, he was able to catch a glimpse of his reflection in the dim light of the two low burning torches by the door to the armoury as he turned away and left to go join the rest of the campers for supper and that night’s festivities.

The next day, the Sunday before the first official day of camp, passed rather uneventfully. The only thing that really happened was his run-in with Chat after he'd wadded into the lake a bit to cool off and saw the raccoon was in the process of trying to yoink his socks. And when that evening rolled around and everyone finally get fully settled in did the camp start to come alive with summer energy. At the Campfire that night a group of satyrs went around distributing everyone's schedules. Quickly Tubbo rushed over to Ranboo, excited to compare what slots their cabins were together for. But Ranboo had already checked, and Cabin 10 and 11 were only together for their noon Greek Mythology Lessons and all cabin activities.

“Hey that’s okay,” Tubbo said, smiling to hide the disappointment he felt, “We can hang out at lunch and free time. Oh, and hopefully we’ll be together for a lot of Capture the Flag games and tournament games and you can always get up really early to train and sneak out to make star maps with me.”

“Yeah,” Ranboo smiled back, “We’ll find a way to hang out. It's not the end of the world, it’s not like we won’t be able to hang out at all. We can find time.”

Tubbo opened his mouth, about to add something to their conversation, but he wasn’t able to finish because a hush fell over the crowd that had all gathered around the fire. Turning around to look, the source of the disturbance was clear. On the other side of the fire, the outgoing girl with dark ringlets was chatting with a small freckled boy who were also starting to get the memo about the current silence and simultaneously noticed the glowing symbols that had just materialized above the other. The girl was radiating a warm light, the blinding outline of a sunlit lyre floating gently over her head. And the flickering shadows cast by the fire swelled and the night somehow wanted to crawl closer to the boy as a set of purple touches appeared.

And Chiron, who’d been having a conversation over by the staff area, lowered the front legs and fell into a deep bow, the rest of the camp following suite (to Ranboo’s confusion, but he followed anyway) as he said, “Hail Dawn, daughter of Bright Apollo. And Hail Corvus, son Saffron Cloaked Hekate.”

And with that, the first of this summer’s unclaimed children were claimed, finding their new group of siblings and family as well as their places in camp. Tubbo disappeared for a moment, only to return with a stolen bag of marshmallows and 2 sticks for roasting them as he took a seat next to Ranboo. He tossed a few marshmallows into the fire as a sign of respect to the gods. Ranboo chose to ignore the glare he was getting from Tommy, who was busy with the rest of his cabin welcoming their new sister. He figured there was nothing wrong with just having fun with his friend for the evening. So they fell into comfortable conversation and quips, poking fun at one another but never going to far. They talked of their hopes for the summer, Ranboo's nervousness about all the activities, Tubbo's love of stars and how curious they both were to find out who Ranboo's godly parent would be in then next few days. And as the night's festivities of song and stories resumed, a palpable excitement could be felt in the air as everyone laughed and joked. It was clear by the loud sound of kids having fun that filled the grounds of the camp that had summer officially began.

Chapter Text

Ranboo was having the time of his life. Camp was busy and a lot of hard work sure, but it was fun work. And he’s a Half-Blood. So even though it was tiring, his body recovered quickly and he was able to keep going. Every day started with an 8 am wakeup time, followed by a quick cleanup, cabin inspections, and breakfast. Every few days he would meet Tubbo at 6:15 to go on a run and finish with a workout, and he was proud to say that he was able to keep up with Tubbo now in the runs. He still had a hard time with the workouts immediately afterwards, but he was doing his best to not fall when they were doing exercises. 

He enjoyed all the activities they got to do, but his favourite had to be his Greek Mythology Lessons. Not only because he got to be with Tubbo for that, but he genuinely enjoyed learning about all the gods and monsters in the world, and about the heroes and demigods of old. Unlike a lot of other kids, he found that he didn’t have a big problem with reading in English, so he often asked Techno and the heavily armed girl who was the current head of the Athena Cabin (who Ranboo had learned was called Sky) for extra books to read while they taught. And so far his least favourite slot was his 1:30 activities slot. He was with the Tyche and Apollo Cabins for this, and despite all his attempts to make conversation and peace with Tommy, he wouldn’t say much. Just give one-word responses and never elaborate or ask questions back. Ranboo tried his best to talk with him, which was hard for Ranboo since was terrible at small talk and talking to new people in general. But it became increasingly frustrating when he noticed how loud and brash Tommy could be when he was talking to the Tyche Cabin Head, Quackity, and pretty much everyone else he talked too. At first, he thought maybe he was just shy around new people, but it became clear almost immediately that his silence and ignoring were just a Ranboo specific thing. But despite that and his memory issues, he was having a lot of fun, and summer was going well so far.

He’d been meeting with Techno during his spare Free Time slots when Tubbo was busy or Chiron wasn’t able to meet with him to try and make progress on finding the location of the Mnemosyne. He’d been improving on his spear techniques, learning how to block, how to slash properly and when to do so. And eventually, he was able to put everything together. He was a fast learner and was becoming an excellent fighter.  

“Alight,” Techno said after Ranboo had shown up to the arena about 2 weeks into summer and their training to find Techno dressed up in his full armour, staff and Ranboo’s spear in hand, “Today I think it’s time you try and fight a live enemy.”

Nervously Ranboo replied, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Why not? You’ve learned all the basics and you’ve picked them all up quickly. You’re ready to try this.” He handed Ranboo his spear and took a few steps back, lowering into a neutral stance. 

“But, what if I do something wrong or I hurt you-”

“Hurt me?” Techno cut Ranboo off with a scoff as he smirked, “Trust me, kid, you’re going to have a hard time even landing a hit on me.” 

Jumping into action Techno swung the staff out with scary speed, trying to knock Ranboo off his feet. Reacting with about a millisecond left before he ended up on his back in the dirt, he twisted the spear down and blocked the blow before it hit him. They continued like this, Techno trying to knock Ranboo down, Ranboo blocking, and trying to land a hit back. He could tell this was barely a challenge for Techno and he was clearly going easy on him, but he was exhausted and sweating from all the movement after about thirty seconds. Techno had ended the fight by knocking Ranboo over when he went to block and missed, shoving the staff directly into his ribs and sending him tumbling back, several of the intercostal rib muscles getting pulled in the process. 

Laying there for a moment, winded from the impact Techno went over to his bag and pulled out a saran-wrapped square of Ambrosia, Ranboo had learned what that and Nectar were in Weapon and Combat Safety. Techno broke off a super small crumb and handed it to Ranboo. It tasted like a soft, fluffy sugar cake and melted in his mouth, the constancy turning syrupy as he ate it. His ribs felt better almost immediately after eating the ambrosia. And no longer winded he was able to stand up and grab his spear.

“I think that’s enough for today, we’ll do this again tomorrow and we’ll continue until you can land a hit on me, and then we’ll have a true duel.”

“I don’t think I will ever be able to do that, I’m not any good-”
 
“Believe in yourself a bit, kid. You’ve been at this for 2 weeks, and you’ve already come a long way. Practice makes permanence, not perfection. There’s always something to learn.”

And so that’s what Ranboo did, or tried to do anyway. He worked hard to try and beat Techno, and even though every fight ended up with a variation of him on his back or face on the ground, he could see that as their training went on Techno started to have to try a little harder to defend himself, and then even harder to knock Ranboo over. And as summer went on he was getting better at combat and all his training to get stronger was paying off. He was starting to feel a little bit of confidence in himself and his abilities.

But there was a problem. He hadn’t noticed that it was a problem at first because it wasn’t. He wasn’t the only new kid who hadn’t been claimed yet, and there was only one or two that were claimed a day. It wasn’t a problem. He’d be claimed by his parent any day now. But the days turned to a week, and a week turned to a month, and before he knew it was mid-July and he hadn't been claimed yet. And he wasn’t the only one who noticed. The whispers that followed him around the dining pavilion got louder and whenever he was around a large group for an activity he’d usually be asked a question he didn’t know the answer to or how to answer it. He was supposed to get claimed, every Half-Blood was supposed to get claimed. So why wasn’t he?

“Who’s his godly parent, then?”

“Maybe he was claimed already and just doesn’t remember it?”

“He might not be a Half-Blood then if he’s not claimed by now.”

“What if his parent doesn’t want him?”

The whispers followed, echoing some of the worst fears he began to think, not daring to say them out loud because he didn’t want to give them a chance at making them true. But hearing other people have the same doubts wasn’t helping his own thinking at all. What if they were all right, what if he wasn’t a Half-Blood? Or almost worse, what if he wasn’t wanted by his parent?

He was spiralling into worse self-doubt rapidly, his thoughts playing on his anxieties about himself and everything that was so unknown. And none of it was getting better, and it wasn’t going to get better and he was never going to find his godly parent and he maybe wasn’t even a Half-Blood or he just wasn’t wanted and-

“Hey, bossman, are you okay?” Tubbo asked softly having just knelt by where Ranboo was sitting near the pine tree, Peleus the Dragon sleeping nearby guarding the golden fleece. It was a quiet Thursday night, and Tubbo had gotten permission from Chiron to come work on his ever-growing star map during the campfire since it was a perfect, clear night. Ranboo had been allowed to tag along. While Tubbo had been studying the stars through his telescope, Ranboo had taken time to look out at the view. The beautiful blanket of the visible milky way and the scattering of millions of spilled stars decorating the dark sky was more visible here at camp than any other place this close to the light pollution of New York City. The magic here bringing the area within the borders closer to life and everything natural. And as well as the breathtaking view of the sky, he could see all of camp from the hill. The light of the forge to his left, somewhat obscured by the smattering of trees below in between them, he could barely make out the lights from the Big House and beyond that, the distant light of the blazing campfire where all the other campers were gathered, laughing and signing. Having fun without him, no one whispering and he wasn’t ruining their normal conversations with his weirdness and he started thinking more and spiralling more into his thoughts until Tubbo had pulled him out of his head. 

“I-I’m…I’m…” Ranboo tried to speak but he noticed now tears had started to silently roll down his cheeks, and he was breathing heavily and shallowly like he’d been winded in a sparring match with Techno, but he hadn't been hit with anything. Unable to say any words, he shook his head as he pulled his knees closer to his chest.

“Can I sit next to you?” Ranboo nodded as Tubbo took a seat to his right as he gently lay a hand on Ranboo’s shoulder, “I’m not the best at dealing with emotions, but I’ll listen when you’re ready if you want to talk. Or we can just sit here, say nothing.”

Feeling calmed by just having his friend there, he took a while to slow his breathing a bit, finding himself slipping back into the panic a few times before he finally managed to calm down enough to say, “Tubbo…who do you think my godly parent might be?”

“I mean, you can never really tell since every kid is different, but I think you might be an Athena kid. You’re really smart and I know you like reading. You’re also good with weapons and a fast learner. And you also have grey eyes, which is a big Athena kid thing,” Tubbo started to think out loud, rambling as he thought of different gods Ranboo could be related to, “Or maybe we’re siblings, you could be an Aphrodite kid. Or Hermes could be your dad. And you could always be the son of a bunch of non-Olympian gods. But I think you’re an Athena kid.”

Ranboo smiled, happy that his friend could at least see more than what he or anyone else at camp could seemingly see in him. But he got a little choked up as he tried to ask the next question, “Do you-Do you think they don’t want me?”

Looking almost shocked at the notion, Tubbo shook his head almost violently, “I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t want you as their kid. You’re kind. You care about others and everyone around you. It’s really weird that you haven’t been claimed yet, sure. But you arrived at camp in a really weird way so maybe your parent just doesn’t know you’re here or something like that. I mean, all Half-Bloods are a little unwanted in our own ways. But we all have each other to lean on.”

Ranboo sniffled, and whipped his nose on his orange long-sleeve, “Thanks, that was nice.”

“Any time, bossman. Now I think I have something we can do that will cheer you up,” Tubbo smiled as he hauled himself up to his feet and the look of what Ranboo called ‘this is probably a bad idea’ gleamed in his eyes as he started to make his way down the hill and towards camp.

“Oh boy,” Ranboo thought as he followed Tubbo down the hill.

__________________________________________

If he was being honest this wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. It was definitely against camp rules, and if they got caught he was pretty sure they would get double stable and dish duty for the rest of summer, but Tubbo was reassuring him that this was something he and some of his siblings did when one of them was really upset and needed cheering up. 

So first, they snuck into the Aphrodite cabin, which wasn’t very hard since everyone was still at the fire. Tubbo asked him what colours as he rummaged through a bathroom drawer and grabbed a bag full of supplies. Still not knowing what was happening he replied red and green on a whim. Tubbo nodded before he grabbed two tubes of something and they left the cabins. Making their way over to the Arts and Crafts building, they were lucky that the door was unlocked so they could just walk right in. 

“I forgot to grab my lock picking stuff,” Tubbo explained nonchalantly as they made their way to the backroom full of all the craft supplies, pulling on the string that turned on the light. 

“You have lock picking stuff ?!” Ranboo whisper yelled aggressively as he was sat down on a large box of what was probably paper. 

Tubbo shrugged as he grabbed a sheet of plastic that was used on the tables when kids were painting and started laying out all the supplies he’d brought, “Yeah, doesn’t everyone have lock picks?” 

“No!”

“Bummer, really missing out.” He laughed as he grabbed a large bowl in the corner and left the back room for a minute, returning with it filled with water and a roll of paper towels.

“You haven’t told me what we're doing yet,” Ranboo stated. Having just a sliver of well-placed mistrust in his friend he knew he should probably ask before they got started.

Tubbo smiled, as he picked up the tubes of what Ranboo could now tell in the light was hair dye, “Trust me, this will be great.”

And after about an hour of worryingly on Ranboo’s part later Tubbo was right, against all odds this went well. They’d managed to keep the mess confined to the plastic sheet, bowl, and paper towels and not get any supplies or their clothes covered in hair dye. They cleaned up and washed all the excess dye out of his hair and by the time it had dried Tubbo had found a mirror buried away somewhere in the backroom for Ranboo to see Tubbo had split-dyed the lower back part of his dirty blonde hair red and green, getting the tips of his bangs as well. Green on his right, red on his left. Tubbo had done a good job, and he was enjoying it a lot more than he thought he would. 

“Thank you, for everything tonight.” 

“No problem. This is what friends are for.” He smiled as he disposed of the rubber dish gloves he’s found, relieved to see they’d worked better than he thought they might and his hands were unstained, “And don’t let the gossip make you think you’re unwanted by anyone, kids can be real dicks when it comes to this shit.”

“I’ll try to not let it bug me so much, I just wish I knew what was up with everything about me.” He sighed, hiding the mirror again and turning off the light.

“I mean, it’s kind of nice that you don’t have any past weighing you down. Everyone here has something from before they got to camp weighing them down, in a way you’re free from all that baggage you can’t remember.”

Ranboo smiled at his friend as they left the Arts and Crafts building, just in time too as he could see a large crowd of campers was moving towards the cabins. Ranboo thanked Tubbo several more times as they walked, they said goodnight and parted ways for their separate cabins. 

__________________________________________

The next morning Ranboo woke up feeling better than he had the night before. Happy that he had followed Tubbo’s advice and slept with a towel on his pillow (which was now thoroughly covered in hair dye). He also took his other piece of advice and avoided wearing his favourite dual colour button-up that day to avoid staining the white side with any red dye. Opting for a black camp t-shirt instead since he could already feel the heat wafting in through the open windows even though it was early in the day.

He was having a normal Friday, he started with Ancient Greek Lessons with Sky after breakfast, where off to the side Eret (who he’d been getting to know more as the summer went on) came up to him where he was sitting in the classroom, writing in his notebook while waiting for Sky to arrive. 

“Hey Ranboo, how are you?” She said, taking a seat a few feet away.

Ranboo put away his memory journal, “Pretty good today, how are you?”

“I’ve been good,” they adjusted their sunglasses before continuing, “I finished the new concealment spell I was working on when you asked me about it last week, and I hope you don’t mind but I tested it out on your spear. I can reverse it in a few minutes if you don’t want it, but spears are pretty hard to carry around so I thought it might work well.” 

“My spear? How’d you conceal it?”

Eret pulled one of the several rings he was wearing off his right hand, letting it rest in his left palm before tossing it back to his right one. As the ring flew in the air it shifted and stretched, and by the time Eret caught it the bronze had morphed into his spear and was now resting in his right hand, ready to be used. 

“Woah, that’s cool” Eret spurn the spear in their left hand twice, the bronze morphing again rapidly as it shrank back down into its new ring form. Ranboo grabbed the ring when Eret offered it out. He put it on his right hand and tried the motions the Eret had done a moment prior. Even though it was less than a second in length, the ring's transformation was fascinating to watch. 

“Thank you, this is much better than having to get it from the armoury whenever I need it.” He twirled it twice, with a lot less grace than Eret had, and manage to drop the ring when it transformed, but he still got it on his finger without losing it.

“No problem, if you ever need anything else feel free to ask.” She gave a little wave before leaving and going off to join the group of Hekate kids off to the side.

After the lesson, it was Ranboo’s group's turn to clean the stables and polish armour that morning. He wouldn’t have minded this too much, it all had to get done, but he got stuck feeding the Pegasi and he’d discovered early on in the summer that the flying horses really didn’t like having him around. He wasn’t sure what it was, but his presence seemed to unnerve them. Like every move he made was too unpredictable and he’d often spook them by just taking a step or trying to pour feed into their troughs. But he managed to finish the task, not without a group of satyrs having to calm the horses down as he went by but they made it work. 

It was Fun Friday in Greek Mythology according to Techno, which meant that everyone got to pick a book or various form of media they could learn from and then share something useful at the end of the slot. So Ranboo continued his reading of the Iliad, having picked it out of the stack at the start of the summer. The copy he had was pretty old, dusty, and falling apart a little but he liked it. It had both the original Ancient Greek version and an English translation that wasn’t as dry as the old paper it was made of. So if he got stuck on a word in English that he couldn’t figure out, he’d just switch to the Greek version and keep going, or vice versa. At some point in the past few weeks Tubbo, who was avoiding his own Fun Friday learning, had come over to where Ranboo was doing his work in a corner of the classroom and needled him into reading it out loud. He surprised himself with how much he didn’t stutter and how he got into the performance of the poetry. So this Fun Friday that’s what they were doing. 

Reading for the whole hour and a half they finished all of Book 7 and 8 but were cut off at the start of 9 by Techno asking everyone to share what they learned. When it was their turn Tubbo shared that the gods can easily change who’s winning in a battle. After everyone had shared, Techno let them know it was lunchtime and they were dismissed. Making their way over to the dining pavilion, Ranboo showed Tubbo the new enchantment Eret had put on his spear. Trying out the ring a few times, Tubbo agreed it was very cool. And that it would be a lot easier to have it on him at all time, in a form that didn’t get in the way so much. 

Smiling, Tubbo unsheathed the twin pair of daggers he kept strapped to his belt and handed them both to Ranboo. They were very finely made, and as light as a feather in his hands. The blades were thin and the handles were wrapped in a red leather grip. 

“Throw them, as far as you can,” Tubbo instructed.

“What?”

“Throw the daggers away.” Tubbo repeated, as he motioned it.

Confused Ranboo chucked them away, off the path and into a thicket of bushed a few feet away. He moved to go grab them, but Tubbo put his hand out to stop him and they walked right past.

“Your-”

“Give it a bit.”

More confused they continued walking to go get lunch, and right as they started walking up the stairs that led up a hill to the pavilion Tubbo said, “Look,”

Looking down Ranboo saw that Tubbo was gesturing to his dagger sheathes, where the gleaming bronze handle and a flash of red leather stuck out newly returned to him.

“That’s cool.” 

“Yeah, my mother gave them to me after she claimed me. Said they belonged to my half-brother Aeneas.” 

After eating lunch it was time for their 1:30 activities slot, Ranboo’s least favourite of the day. Tubbo went off for his Arts and Crafts time and Ranboo went to go find his Wrestling and Martial Combat Class. When he walked into the arena, he found almost everyone from the Hermes, Tyche, and Apollo cabins were already there and warming up in the stands. 

Getting a long and harsh side-eye from Tommy as he went and found himself a spot to sit up and off to the side, and Tommy went back to joking loudly with Quackity and a few other kids who had gathered around. The satyrs who were in charge of the lesson that day explain they would be working on how to fight hand-to-hand against humanoid monsters with high intelligence and any bipedal foe one could face.

“Any volunteers to help with the demonstration, and to go first in a fight?” The older satyr asked.
 
Tommy’s hand immediately shot up. A smug smirk of pure, unbridled confidence on his face as he stood up, “I will!”

“Perfect, any other volunteers,” he asked as Tommy went to join the pair in the centre of the arena floor. When no one else raised their hand he said, “’Right, looks like I’ll choose.”

Ranboo had the misfortune of looking up from the Iliad, which he had pulled out thinking he could read while the fights were happening, at the exact moment the satyr in charge was scanning the crowd of kids looking for someone to choose and they made eye contact.

“Crap,” he mumbled and put his book away as the satyr motioned for him to join them. Standing he made his way down the marble stairs, feeling eyes burning on his neck, and a few whispers followed as he went. 

“Okay, so you’ll be the stand-in monster in this demo,” the satyr said, pointing at Tommy as the two boys got into ready stances, “The first thing you have to do with a monster like this is locating a weakness. Whether that’s physical or something you’ve learned in Monster Assault Techniques depends on the situation. You have to think quickly and make sure you don’t give the monster time to strike first because that’s…”

Ranboo was trying hard to avoid looking Tommy in the eye, which was difficult since in the ready stances they’d taken the other boy was most of his field of vision. When he eventually did cross his gaze, Tommy was looking at him with contempt. Ranboo smiled, trying to break the other's anger but was met with an even harsher glare. 

“Alright, that should be everything,” the Satyr concluded his instructions, Ranboo completely missing what they were supposed to be doing, “On your marks, get set…Go!”

Tommy lunged forward, going to try and grapple him. Ranboo quickly managed to sidestep him, his reflexes in a fight sharpened from all his extra training with Techno and Tubbo. But Tommy was naturally very fast and as soon as Ranboo had dodged his first attack he pivoted mid-stride and grabbed out for his arm. 

Having missed the majority of the instructions, Ranboo frantically tried to think back to anything the coach had just said.  

“Find the weakness,” was what he remembered as he steadied himself and took a deep breath while he continued to dodge. Quickly assessing and taking in his movement and what Tubbo had told him about his best friend. 

“Tommy’s great, I have a lot of fun with him when we hang out,” Tubbo had told him while they discussed their friends one night while Tubbo was working on his star map, “He doesn’t tend to think what he does through sometimes, though.”

So he waited a second, managed to dodge another blow, and when Tommy turned again and charged at him he set his feet and let Tommy run directly at him. Tommy looked surprised as he barrelled into Ranboo. As they tumbled backward Ranboo managed to get the upper hand in his shock and pinned Tommy to the ground, winning the match. 

“Good job. Now what was the weakness you found?” asked the younger of the two Satyrs who hadn’t contributed much yet.

“Recklessness.” Ranboo answered as he stood up and offered a hand to Tommy, who batted it away aggressively while looking rather pissed as he picked himself up. 

“Excellent first round. Now, who would like to go next?” the older satyr said as the two boys left the arena floor, Tommy going back over to his friends and sitting down heavily with an angry huff and Ranboo returned to his solitary spot. Opting to continue his reading instead of paying attention to the lesson, he was doing so until he heard the class get dismissed. He went to go put his book away but he dropped it when he felt a large hand meet his shoulder. It wasn’t hard, he just wasn’t expecting it and he was startled.

“What’s the first piece of advice I gave you?” Techno asked a he took a seat a bit to the right of Ranboo on the bench. 

“Stay alert.” Ranboo picked his book up off the ground and deposited it in his bag.

“Yes, monsters can take advantage of even the slightest shift in your vigilance. Don’t let-”

“Techno, mate, you know you can relax a bit sometimes, right? Is this why I haven’t seen you smile in a few years?” Phil joked as he slowly took a seat to Ranboo’s left. He looked a bit better today, a little less pale and the dark circles under his eyes had faded slightly, he still looked very unstable on his feet though. Phil was one of the few fellow Half-Bloods who’d made an effort to get to know Ranboo over the summer. They got along quite well, and Ranboo did prefer to hang out mostly with the older Half-Bloods since he felt them judging him a lot less. And Philza was REALLY old. He was 26, and the only other person at camp that came close to him in age that wasn’t some sort of Immortal being or the literal God of Wine was Rachel, who was a year younger.

“I’m, I - I smile,” Techno stammered, looking a Phil with annoyed displeasure in his grey eyes.

“Do it right now then, prove it.” Phil teased.

Never one to back down from any sort of challenge, Techno moved his face into a very, very forced smile. It was an awkward facial expression since his face normally was in a neutral and somewhat permanent scowl or a disappointed frown. And the effort needed combined with the weird look of the expression made both Ranboo and Phil burst into laughter, Techno joining in with a bit of a chuckle.

Though Ranboo’s laughter was cut short when he heard a squeak a few rows down the bleachers. He looked up to see Tommy standing there, his gaggle of friends a few feet away joking and roughhousing a bit as they made their way out of the arena to go to their next and final activity of the day. It looked like Tommy had run back to grab his bag since he was mid-way through the motions of grabbing it off the seat. But he’d frozen. He was dead still, staring right at Ranboo. But it wasn’t the usually cold contempt or silent fury he expressed when regarding Ranboo. He looked anguished. A heavy grief written clearly in his eyes as he looked over each of them individually in turn. And right as his eyes began to well up, he looked away and ran. Right out of the arena, past the armoury, and towards the eastern edge of camp. 

At that point, Phil and Techno had noticed his presence too. And when he took off Phil stood up quickly like he wanted to give chase, but the sudden movement caused him to double over in the most violent coughing fit Ranboo had heard him have yet. Techno practically jumped over Ranboo to get to Phil, and he tried to help by offering the older some water, but he was shaking too much for that to be any help. The coughing eventually subsided enough to get Phil on his feet, but it didn’t quite stop fully like normal. His breath was coming in shallow and quickly (when he could take a breath), and he now looked in a lot worse shape than Ranboo had seen him in. And his eyes were unfocused and darting like he was seeing something that wasn’t there. It was scary, and Ranboo could see that fear reflected in Techno’s eyes, which almost unnerved him more than the actual situation at hand. But he could see the determination too as Techno hastily let Ranboo know he needed to go as he rushed off with Phil towards the Big House. 

Not knowing what else to do, Ranboo went to his next activity, feeling worried about both Tommy and Phil as he helped clean the Hermes Cabin. And after, he went to find Tubbo during their Free Time before supper to fill him in on what happened. But while he was looking around he found out that the Aphrodite Cabin had been picked to lead a team in tonight's Capture the Flag game, so Tubbo would be busy drafting cabins for the next little while. Feeling now worried and lonely, Ranboo made the trek over to go see Rachel, knowing she’d be there. Handing him a glass of the lemonade she now kept around in case of a visit from him, he talked about everything that had just happened in the past hour. She closed her eyes for a minute and then reassured Ranboo that Phil was going to be okay and that Tommy was still somewhere in camp so he was safe. The chat and lemonade did manage to calm him down before he heard the chime of the supper bell, calling all the campers to the Dining Pavilion. So thanking Rachel for her help he left her to continue her painting as he went to go get food.

Upon his late arrival to supper, he was ambushed by Tubbo, letting him know that the Aphrodite Cabin had managed to get the Hermes Cabin on their team, but in exchange, the Ares Cabin had got the Apollo Cabin. At the mention of that Ranboo nervously glanced over to Table 7, expecting to see a pissed-off Tommy, but to his relief and guilt, he was nowhere to be seen. Tubbo was really excited about them being on a team, and after they had done their sacrifice for the meal and Tubbo forced Ranboo to scarf down his chicken and rice and take the roll and brownie to go, they went over to the Athena Cabin, where an intense strategy session was in full swing as the Hermes, Athena, Nemesis, Hekate, Nike, and Hypnos Cabins prepared to help win Aphrodite their victory.

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Ranboo was sneaking his way along the south side of the Forest. He’d been told to sneak towards the other side more towards the middle, but out of slight annoyance he’d decided to go further south than instructed. He had no idea why he was chosen to be a runner today, considering his track record on this job was 0 in 4, getting beat up and tagged in the 4 games he’d been given this role. He realized it was probably him just getting lumped in with the Hermes kids and their knack for speed and stealth, which didn’t do anything to improve his annoyance at being told to do this despite his protests. But hey, he figured it was good that he was at least too peeved at the moment to feel more sad about his parent problems. 

It was really warm in the forest today, which was odd since it was usually a little cooler than the rest of camp. But it had been sunny all day so Ranboo wasn’t going to question it. But the muggy, pressing heat was making sweat pool in his armour, leaving him feeling uncomfortable as it chafed against the skin of his wrists and ankles where there wasn’t a barrier created by his clothes. He was all sticky and gross, some of the sweat had soaked into the leather making it heavier than normal. So he continued his sneak with increasing difficulty. But he did manage to get through the clearing around the Zephyros Creek and over it without getting noticed or falling in it so he was already doing better than his first game.

He was also glad that the sun was below the tree line at this point in the evening so it wasn’t beating down through the canopy and making this worse. Even though when the sun set visibility would get difficult, he really hoped at this point it would cool off drastically and there would be a reprieve that night from the oppressive heat. As he moved through the forest he kept getting farther and farther past different points where he knew he had been tagged and captured previously. And he eventually got to a point where he wasn’t entirely sure what to do now since he'd expected to be tagged at this point. 

Tubbo had told him before the horn blew to start the game he needed to, “Sneak as far as you can and try not to get caught. And wait in position for the signal.” 

Lots of their strategy that day had been based around the intel one of the Hekate kids had gathered before the round with a spell that made a young Ares kid she’d cornered tell her that the Ares team was planning on hanging their flag on the north side today and making him unable to say he had told her. A lot of kids didn’t agree with her method of information gathering, but no one could deny this hadn’t given them an advantage. So they’d made a plan to send most of their runners down the south side or the middle to hopefully trick the Ares team into thinking that they were mounting their assault from those directions. They hoped the distraction would create a hole in their defence on the north for the fastest kids to slip through. And now that had crept into his position, not much was happening. 

Unsure if he was somehow the first one here he began to move around a bit, hoping to catch a glimpse somewhere in the underbrush of one of the light pink plumes his teammates were donning. The sun was begging to set, and the last light was currently coming in sideways through the trees. He didn’t get too far before something caught the corner of his eye. It was the glint of a sword. He looked over and noticed a clearing, and in there was a makeshift tower. It looked like something one of the Hephaestus kids had made hastily, sturdy but not permanent. And hanging from one of the railings was a thin, crimson, and gold banner, the large helmet crest of Ares on proud display.

Freezing, Ranboo immediately figured out they’d been played. The reason he wasn’t hearing much or a signal was probably because all their runners must have stumbled right into ambushes. They had sent over half the team out today, thinking they were the ones with an advantage they needed to capitalize on. He could very well be the only one left, maybe that the Ares team hadn’t accounted for someone sneaking in so far south. Weighing his options while his head was running a mile a minute wasn’t a great thing to do, but he had to think fast. He could head back, see who was left, and hope he can get there in time to help defend the flag. Or he could try and take the one in front of him. There were only 3 patrols at the moment, he could maybe take them. He could at least try, what does he have to lose in the game at this point his whole team is probably down-

Hearing the snap of a stick behind him, he managed to turn his torso around just in time to get his ring off and spear shaft up to meet the slash of a sword. The impact of their weapons meeting and the banging of metal on metal had enough force that he felt it rattle his teeth. Since he barely had time to get his weapon up he didn’t have time to set his feet properly so he went rolling backwards out of the safety of the tree line and into the open of the clearing, alerting the patrols of his presence. 

Stepping out of the trees on his own accord after Ranboo had come tumbling through against his will was Cyrus. The golden glow of the setting sun made his bronze armour look like he was wreathed in flame. And even more alarming was that as he approached his sword actually set itself on fire as he walked.

“Sorry, kid, it’s nothing personal. Just trying to win,” he said, as he raised his sword and readied to attack.  

Just managing to roll to the side as a slash and jet of flame hit the ground where he just was, he pushed himself up and took his ready stance. Light on his feet so he could move and spearhead up protecting his face. Ranboo took in his surroundings and assessed his situation. The patrols were drawing their weapons, ready to come to the aid of their Captain. But they were on the other side of the clearing so their distance would buy the younger boy a moment before this got even more unfair. And Cyrus was strong. His slashes were powerful, he was skilled and a strategic thinker. But he wasn’t anywhere close to as fast in his attacks and quick thinking as Techno. 

“It’s also nothing personal, I’m just trying to win too,” Ranboo added, which made Cyrus smirk. He swung down, expecting to hit Ranboo, but he deflected the sword harmlessly off to the side, and while he was open and off-balance Ranboo took a step forward and thrust the spear towards his chest. He knew it wouldn’t be able to break through the armour (not that he wanted it to hurt him), but it was enough to send the older more off balance and leave a bit of a dent in his chest plate. 

Looking momentarily shocked since he’d assumed Ranboo would be an easy victory, he smiled and rolled his shoulders as he decided he’d have to take this seriously. And his next attack came at Ranboo with a lot more force behind it and a lot faster than the first. But he still didn’t even come close to how fast Techno was. So Ranboo parried easily and attacked with the opening in Cyrus’s defence he created for himself. And as he kept doing this as rage began to mount on his opponent's face. And in his anger, he began to get more rushed and un-calculated with his attacks. Taking the opportunity Ranboo moved forward, ducked, and rolled under one of Cyrus's slashes that put him too far off balance to recover quick enough to swing back the other way at Ranboo. He popped up and using the blunt end of his spear he cracked it across Cyrus’s helmet. The clang of the bronze meeting was loud, and the older stumbled backwards and fell to the ground, unconscious. 

Not expecting that to happen at all Ranboo panicked. He didn’t realize he would clock him THAT hard. He thought he would just maybe get him hurting enough to back off and give Ranboo an openeing to try and retrive the flag. He kept panicking and he felt really bad but he did remember 3 other kids were charging towards him and they were getting close. Starting a dead sprint he went to the tower and he jumped up to tried to grab the flag. Realizing he wasn't going to make it he swung his spear up to attempt to knock it down. Landing, he surprised himself with the fact that he didn’t fall over or roll his ankle on a root, but he was even more surprised when the flag landed on his head. 

So he grabbed it and balled it up in his fist, and he took off towards the Zephyros Creek and the East Side as fast as could, the patrols hot on his tail. The sun was sinking below the horizon at that point, and he could hear the birds begin their usual sunset songs. A low horn sounded out twice, signaling to the rest of the Ares Team and forest that their team's flag had been stolen. Running faster than he thought he could, Ranboo just crashed his way through the trees and bushes, not caring about where he stepped and the fact he could run into something dangerous. Fuelled by adrenaline, blood was rushing in his ears as he repeated, “Don’t stop! Don’t fail!” over and over in his head as he ran. 

This was the fastest he’d ever run for the longest period of time, and he felt like puking. His sides and lungs were burning. But he managed to keep himself moving knowing he was so close to winning this for his team and that if he stopped now he would get caught and he would fail. And when the Creek came into view, he managed to find a final burst of energy in his jellied legs to push towards his goal. 

His concentration was broken when he just caught the sound of air breaking as a projectile was shot towards him. He manage to stop himself just in time as an arrow went whistling right past his eyes and embedded itself into a tree just barely an arm's length away from him. The whole forest seemed to be holding its breath. The birds that had been singing a moment ago had all quieted and the breeze had fully died off so the trees held an eerie and total stillness. And the heat was so intense. Despite the sun having fully set now, the air had tripled in temperature. All the moisture seemed to have gone so it was almost painful dry to the point where he could feel it stinging his eyes and nose. 

Startled and panting from his run, he turned to his left to see the source of the attack. Standing about ten feet away was Tommy, golden bow held in his outstretched left hand as his right hand was already moving back towards his quiver to grab another arrow to notch. Tommy looked absolutely enraged. All the looks of anger and hatred the other boy had given him throughout the summer paled in comparison to the intensity and pure unabashed loathing that was being directed at him now. His face was tear-streaked and a bit blotchy, like he had been crying for a long time. And eyes were dark with fury, so much so that Ranboo swore they were all black. And after a second of looking, he realized that’s because they were. The iris and sclera had disappeared entirely and dark veins were extending from his eyes and down parts of his face. And so were his hands. They looked almost charred and skeletal, and the same black veins were extending up his forearms.

He raised his spear up a bit in fear and uncertainty, the flag forgotten at his feet. He opened his mouth to say something but he was cut off before any sound other than a choked breath made it out of his throat. It was strange, he wasn’t necessarily being choked. But it felt like all the moisture had been suddenly sucked from his throat and mouth, his airways closing quickly now that every shallow breath he could draw in felt like it was coming in through a sandpaper straw. 

“Asshole!!” Tommy yelled, tears welling in his unsettlingly blank eyes as he took a step forward. He flicked his bow arm, and with a gold shimmer, the bow transformed itself into a longsword, “You’ve taken everything from me! You stole my best friend when I needed him the most! And just when I thought I couldn’t HATE you more, you went and took my family too!!” 

As he drew closer to Ranboo, he felt the heat increase tenfold. He dropped to his knees, letting go of his spear since it was heating up and burning his hands. His skin felt clammy and feverish, his head was pounding. And his throat closed more. Clawing at it desperate to try and make it stop, but he had to pull away suddenly since he felt his hands burning when he touched his own skin. His fingers immediately started to blister and the very tips were beginning to turn black as he began to lose function in them. 

“Why you!! Was I not good enough?! Why’d you have to steal my life from me?!” He got closer, and Ranboo’s eyes began to fill with tears. But as soon as they spillid out, they evaporated as they touched his burning cheeks, 

“Ahk…Tommy…pl-ahhh…sto-”

“I want it back! I want them back!!” Through his bleary and half-conscious eyes Ranboo could just barely make out Tommy had raised his sword and was ready to strike. 

Ranboo fully doubled over, feeling so overwhelmed as he began to succumb to the heat and lack of oxygen. But as he buckled over his own knees and his fists hit the ground he screamed. He screamed so loud his exhausted and fevered mind believed he’d done it with so much force that the ground was cracking and shaking beneath him. Pillars of stone broke up as Tommy was flung away so he couldn’t keep hurting him. Trees were uprooted and toppled as the earth around him roiled as he banged his fists and screamed before his mind gave out and he fell to the side, passed out cold.

Chapter Text

He was once again sitting in front of the grandfather clock. It was a beautiful piece of craftsmanship, the wood was stained and glossy. The detail in the scenes of the various fairy tales and fables that decorated the base and wrapped themselves up the sides and front was perfect and a great undertaking would have been needed to create something so intricate. But the scenes carved into the wood weren’t any of the moments of triumph or happily ever afters the protagonists got, they were only the moments of sadness or defeat. Snow White eating the apple, Little Red Riding Hood finding out her grandmother had been eaten, The Little Mermaid turning to sea foam, Hansel and Gretle locked in the Witch's house, and so on. It was beautiful, very unsettling, and clearly expensive. He felt panic begin to rise. He couldn’t move. He just wanted to walk away, get as far away from it as possible but he was stuck in place, staring as the hands ticked as they moved, and the pendulum swung back and forth. Back and forth, back and forth. Tick, toc, tick, toc, tick, toc. And then he saw the hands approaching noon, the point where he always woke up at. He braced himself for the inevitable. But he was glad to leave the judgmental, evil presence of the clock. But before the clock stuck he heard his name, or what used to be his name, being called from somewhere behind him. 

Finding he could now move, he turned and ran out the door, away from the clock as fast as possible. The details of wherever he was were clouded in darkness and warped, but he wasn’t focusing on his surroundings anyway. He needed to find the source of the voice. So he began to open doors and look in rooms, but the source of the calling was nowhere to be found. And just as he began to believe his search was to no avail and he should just give up, he leaned over a banister in a last-ditch attempt. And there, standing in the open entryway to this place was the silhouette of a woman. She was haloed in white light, the brightness making it hard to discern details about her. But he could see her warm smile, plain as day. 

Something in him swelled up, and he wanted to run to her and hug her. She’d come back, come back for him. So taking off towards her, he took a step down the stairs. And as he did, they gave out beneath his feet to a black void. And he started falling. He reached out to try and grab her but the doorway and her hands were too far away now. And he felt angry all over as she was ripped away from him. He felt himself falling for what felt like forever and no time at all. The endlessness was suddenly broken when he hit water with a loud crash and the terrible sound of crumpling and snapping metal and shattering glass as the current swept him up and pulled him away and under.

__________________________________________

Shooting up in a cold sweat and actual panic, Ranboo leaned over to grab his Memory Book from where he kept it next to his bunk. Disoriented and confused when he couldn’t find it, it took him a moment to get his bearings and realize he’d woken up again in the same bed in the Infirmary for the second time this summer. Trying to ignore what was going on he focused on the dream he’d just had, replaying it in his mind a few times to make sure he didn’t forget it since he didn’t have his journal to write it down in. But he could still feel the vividness of it all so plainly he was certain even with his bad memory this was something he'd have a hard time forgetting.

After a few moment he managed to calm himself down enough so he wasn’t hyperventilating and his mind wasn’t racing anymore. He looked around. It was night, and the same window was open letting in the cool night air and the white sheets he was under were still just as scratchy. The curtain was pulled out on his left, still obscuring that side of the room and the wood wall was to his right. He could now see the posters were of cheesy, colourful cartoon versions of various monsters giving simple medical and sanitary advice, with a bad pun thrown into what they were saying. And in front of him where he expected to see Tubbo in the stiff armchair he’d first met him was instead a woman. She was sitting unnaturally still and her posture was perfect. At first, Ranboo thought she might be some sort of ghost when he noticed the light from the lap didn’t seem to reach her, but he realized he was probably wrong about that notion since he could see the rhythmic rise and fall of her breath. She was tall, probably well over seven feet but it was a little hard to tell since she was sitting. She had a long, loose braid of black curls and she wore a shimmering, black peplos. Her face was obscured by a dark veil, which was embroidered with a silver design of the cycle of the moon waxing and waning. At first, Ranboo thought she might be one of the goddesses since there was something unnatural and ethereal about her, but he noticed the helixes of her ears came to a sharp point like those of the Dryads he’d seen around camp every so often. But she seemed a lot different than them. Her ears were tipped purple, and all the shadows that touched her skin were oddly a similar shade of violet. 

He tried to say something, but he wasn’t entirely sure what to say and all that ended up coming out was, “What are you?”

She laughed, it was light and airy and seemed to echo a bit unnaturally, but it did make her posture a bit less perfect. Ranboo was pretty mortified when he realized that was the first thing he’s just said to this immortal lady, and he quickly apologized, “I’m so sorry, that was super rude of me.”

“No worries, I often get questions like that in the Mortal Realm,” he couldn’t see, but the could hear the smile in her voice, “I’m a Lampad, a nymph of the Underworld. My name is Lady Trixenn, but most call me Kristen. ”

“Oh,” Ranboo smiled back, now sort of understanding why the light didn’t want to touch her and the shadows in the room seemed to bend to her, “That’s cool. I’m Ranboo.”

It took a moment for the underworld part to hit him, and then he realized, “Ummm, am I in trouble? Or dead? Is that why you’re here?”

“Oh no, don’t worry you’re fine now,” she reassured him, “Phil and I have been watching over you for the past several hours. I sent him off to get some rest though since I sleep during the day most of the time. And I don’t technically need sleep.”

“You’ve been watching over me?”

“Being of the underworld and having spent most of my life there so far has given me the ability to sense how shades, or how close a soul is to being a shade. Phil is able to do that as well, but that’s due to his parentage.”

“Sense how close a soul is to becoming a shade?” Ranboo asked, still not fully understanding what she meant.

“I’m able to tell how close a mortal is to death, ooooh…” she trailed off realizing what exactly she’d just revealed to the young Half-Blood. Noticing how scared Ranboo was at her words she moved over and sat at the foot of his cot. Her veil shifted as she went, but Ranboo still couldn’t make out her face.

“Was I that bad, huh?” Ranboo asked as the sequence of events that lead to him being in the infirmary rushed back to him.

“I’ve seen worse. You weren’t very close, but we were mostly keeping an eye on you and Tommy to make sure your conditions didn’t begin to decline further. Speaking of which, are you able to take a deep breath? And how are you feeling?”

Ranboo sucked in a deep breath in through his nose and released it out through his mouth. He did it a couple of times, “A little sore, but not too bad.”

“That’s good. If you were coughing and couldn’t take a deep breath that would have meant Tommy was able to curse you- 

“Tommy was here?” Ranboo asked as he realized that she’d mentioned she’d been watching over him as well, “What happened to him? Is he okay?”

“He’s fine now. He was just banged up and bruised, I think he might have fractured his wrist but it was nothing some Ambrosia and rest couldn’t heal up almost fully. He left a few hours ago, went to go get a good sleep in his own bed now that he’d calmed down.” She explained, fiddling with the folds in the fabric of her dress in a very mortal way Ranboo wouldn’t have expected from a immortal being, “He got a bit tossed around in the little earthquake you caused.”

“Earthquake? I thought I imagined that?”

“It was very real. It was concentrated on yourself in the forest, so luckily no one was hurt other than Tommy. And other than a few trees no other property damage was caused.” Kristen explained, 

“How could I cause an earthquake,” Ranboo asked, but he could feel he already knew the answer as some unexplained dread strarted to bubble up in his chest and throat.

“Well, there are only two gods who are given the epithet of ‘Earthshaker’ and one of them is kind of my sort-of-boss,” she reached into the long pockets of her peplos and pulled out a handful of what Ranboo could see were small uncut rubies and emeralds, “And judging by how the earth you pulled up in your earthquake was full of these I’m pretty sure you’re a son of his.”

“Hades is my dad then?” 

“It would seem so, but it’s strange,” Kristen added, “You would have had to have been born before The Three Kings let their pact go, and the Unseen One isn’t an Oath Breaker and is usually very faithful to his word and Queen, unlike his miscreants of Brothers,” Ranboo could hear the blatant passive agressivness in her voice as she said the last part.

And a little unsure of where she was going with this, Ranboo waited for her to continue.

“There are many pieces at play here, and it wouldn’t yet be time to know all of what’s being spun. But I’ve seen a few mortal lives come and go in my life, and I know that whatever the fates are designing will all be revealed in due time,”

He found her words somewhat comforting and a little bit cryptic at the same time, he thanked her for her advice anyway, before asking, “Do you think there’s a reason my father hasn’t claimed me yet?”

“I mean, there’s always a reason for everything in this realm. But it’s not always the worst possibility,” she gently lay her hand on Ranboo’s knee before she looked at him directly in the eyes, and though he couldn’t quite see them he could feel the warmth in them, “I’ve been watching your soul closely for the past few hours, and I’ve seen that it’s kind and genuine. Try not to let yourself think you’re not worthy of others, Little Prince.”

Letting her words sink in, Ranboo could feel his mind struggling to wrap itself around what she had said and let himself believe it. He was bad at letting himself take compliments to heart, his mind latching onto the negative and forgetting to remember the positives too. 

“Well,” she stood up after the moment of silence, “I think it would be best for you to try and get some rest. Sunrise is in a few hours and I can presume much will happen in this next day,”

“Thank you, will I see you around camp more often now?” He asked as she moved to turn off the lamp. As she did and darkness completely filled the room, and the shadows seemed to begin to dance and swirl around her. Now the only faint source of light in the room was from the stars and a faint sliver of the waxing moon. 

“Maybe, I’m sure our paths will cross again when they’re meant to,” she made her way over to the chair where she retook her seat, and her stillness in the dark made her almost invisible, “Sleep well, and may the Oneiroi guide you to good dreams.”

__________________________________________

Ranboo awoke a few hours later to the light of the sunrise filtering in through the window along with the sound of birds chirping. It was earlier than he would have liked it to be since he knew he had a free pass for a sleep in this morning considering he’d been close enough to going to meet his recently realized father in person that his condition had warranted monitoring his soul. But after a few minutes of keeping his eyes shut and trying to find sleep again, Ranboo knew it wasn’t going to happen and decided he might as well get up.

Making his way out of the infirmary, he decided he should probably give Chiron an update on the dream he’d had a few hours ago. So he went through the scene again. The clock, the women, falling. It was all harrowing, but he needed advice. So standing outside the door to Chiron’s study he was about to knock when he heard several voices he didn’t recognize. Waiting a moment, he put his ear to the door and tried to listen in. He knew he probably shouldn’t, but he didn’t want to interrupt if it was important. He also didn’t want to miss anything. 

The door muffled most of what was happening, but Ranboo could hear the pacing of heavier shoes and whenever that person got closer to the door he could hear a bit of what they were saying.

“I just think it’s odd…No, he’s never said anything about this…I haven’t spoken to him in years, it’s not like I go…Chiron, I have no clue how…with everything happening in the East the timing can’t be a coincidence…No! This is a lot right now-”

“Hey, it’s okay, just breath a bit, we’ll figure this out,” another person interrupted, “Chiron, is it okay if we…promised we’d try to…yeah I know, we’ll stay as safe as we can. And thank you…come on…”

Hearing footsteps approach the door, Ranboo turned quickly and tried to hide around the corner before he got spotted spying. But he didn’t hear the door open, and after a moment he crept back around the corner. Confused he figured he should start the conversation he came to have so he knocked on the door.

“Come in,” Chiron called from where Ranboo could see when he opened the door he was standing behind his desk where he was placing a couple of books back onto one of his many bookshelves, “Oh, Ranboo I didn’t expect you to be up yet. How are you feeling?”

“Okay, a little sore but okay.”

“That’s excellent to hear, you gave everyone quite the fright yesterday evening,” He finished putting away the books and gestured for Ranboo to come have a seat at his usual spot in the chair in front of the desk.

“Who was just here talking with you? I heard voices before I knocked to come in,” Ranboo asked as he took the seat.

“Voices? It’s just been me in here so far this morning, I had quite the late night spent reading after everything that transpired,” Chiron smiled, and even though Ranboo had a bad memory he knew he’d just heard voices, and the centaur was not telling him the truth, “Speaking of which, what brings you here so early?”

Ranboo figured he might as well say what he came to say and not cause conflict by further pressing the eternal mentor on who he’d just been speaking to, so he told Chiron about the dream he’d had earlier that night. He’d already gone over the first part with Chiron in previous memory sessions since the Clock had been an unpleasant recurring staple of his dreams so far this summer. But the part where the clock didn’t strike 12, his name being called, searching for and finding the women, the falling, crashing, and getting taken by a current were all new. 

Chiron looked deep in thought as he mulled over what he’d just been told. Nodding slowly, he turned and reached for a book. Placing it down on the desk in front of him Ranboo saw it was called 'Documented North American Car and Plane Crashes in the Last Two Decades'. Deciding not to question him on why he had this he let the centaur continue

“This won’t be easy trying to narrow anything down since your place of residence before coming here is unknown, but I believe reading a few descriptions and seeing if anything triggers any feelings of familiarity would be worth a shot,” Chiron told him as he turned back to the shelf to search for something else, but as he did he noticed Ranboo’s hesitancy, “You’ve been through quite a lot in the past 24 hours though, so I understand if you’re not up to reading about this. If you would like to go rest some more I can get ahead start for you and note down the page numbers of water-related crashes for you to come back and read later when you’re ready if you would like?”

He nodded, feeling relieved that he didn’t have to do this now since he wasn’t ready for that. He was a big fan of reading, but this was a bit too much for him at this exact moment, “Could I come back tomorrow morning and could we go over this then?”

The corners of Chiron’s eyes crinkled as he gave the younger a knowing and soft smile, “Of course, if there’s more you’d like to discuss we can do so. But if you would just like to take the rest of the day to yourself you are free to do as you see fit.”

Ranboo nodded, he definitely wanted to go relax and go find a spot in the shade to sit and journal. He wanted to bring up everything with his father, and ask if Chiron knew anything. But he didn’t have the energy to deal with that right then so he excused himself since he figured he’d go find somewhere to hang out for the day. As he passed through the living room on his way out he saw that it was a little before quarter to seven. It was a lot earlier than he thought and he knew practically no one was going to be up since it was Saturday, though he wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing yet. 

Sighing, he decided to go over to the lake. He passed Mr. D who was on the porch in his regular chair he rarely seemed to leave and luckily he didn’t acknowledge “Rambo’s” presence as he went by. There was a gentle breeze and it was early so the sun wasn’t very high in the sky heating things up too much yet. When he got to the lake he made his way over towards a thicket of trees, he figured he’d go for a walk in the trees to see if could find a quiet spot to sit and rest away from everyone for a while, or at least until he got hungry enough to go get something to eat. Pushing through the branches Ranboo found himself in a fairly large clearing. It was a nice spot, fully hidden from the sides and a bit secluded from the lake, though he could still see the water and all the lily pads that were scattered along this shore. The last of the water lilies that were still holding on at this point in the summer dotted the water. And in the middle of the clearing was a bench. He took a step forward, but as he did he realized he wasn’t alone. 

He couldn’t see his face since the bench was facing away from where he stood at the edge of the clearing, but sitting there on the bench was Tommy. Raccoon curled up in his lap and he wore a blue sweater in the early morning breeze. About ten feet in front of the bench was a headstone, but from this distance, Ranboo couldn’t make out what it said.

Ranboo couldn’t tell if he was sleeping, but regardless he didn’t want to deal with the other boy after yesterday. So he backed up trying to leave back the way he came, but before he could he must have made a noise because Tommy turned his head towards him.

He was a mess. His golden hair was very knotted up with unrest, the bags under his eyes were massive and betrayed he’d barely slept. He had a splint cast holding his healing left wrist and also looked like he’d been crying sometime fairly recently. He looked almost hopeful as he turned, but as soon as he noticed it was Ranboo his expression changed. And for one of the the first time that summer, Tommy looked at Ranboo with something other than anger and contempt. It was raw guilt, shame, and regret.  

“I…” Ranboo started gesturing back the way he came since he was about to leave but was unable to think of anything else to say as soon as took in Tommy’s expression. 

“I’m sorry,” Tommy said, unable to meet Ranboo’s gaze. Even Chat, who’d perched his front paws on the back of the bench to see who’d come into the clearing, looked sad somehow. 

When Ranboo didn’t respond Tommy continued, “If you want to take a seat you can. I know you probably won’t forgive me and you don’t have to. But I owe you an apology and I can try to explain, but there’s no excusing what I did.”

Unsure of what to say or do, Ranboo just stood there frozen. When he didn’t do anything Tommy nodded solemnly as he turned away, Chat moving back into his lap. Ranboo stood there for a while before he decided he might as well approach. He took a seat on the far end of the bench, Tommy still not looking up from his lap where he was gently petting Chat. Now that he was closer he could see the headstone more clearly. It was made of a light grey granite that sparkled with flakes of gold in the light, polished to a shine. Placed near the base was a bouquet of rhododendrons that weren’t quite newly picked and were just starting to dry out slightly. And engraved on the front was an inscription that read:

☀  
Wilbur Soot
September 14, 1998
August 7, 2017
Son, Brother, Friend 
Hero of 
Camp Half-Blood
☀

They sat in the silence, the absence of words hanging heavily between the two. The forest was alive though, and the gentle lapping of the waves against the small ridge of sand that surrounded the lake was peaceful. It was a nice place to rest.

“Me and Tubbo used to come here all the time the first summer we were here together,” Tommy started after a while, still avoiding looking at Ranboo, “We’d come here and hang out during free time, just the two of us away from everything else. We’d take turns playing each other songs on my lyre and we’d laugh at whatever prank we’d pulled on Techno or our other friends that day. It was nice.” 

He smiled fondly at the memories, but he cleared his throat and continued, “But things haven’t been the same since last summer. My half-brother, Wilbur, got chosen to go on a quest. Me, Phil, and Techno were chosen to go with. At first it was exciting, I finally got to see more of the world again for the first time since I was 10 and we had so much fun traveling and fighting together like old times. Everything was going fine until there was some sort of accident and Wilbur ended up dead,” he had to pause for a second to and hold back his tears, and Ranboo could hear the strain in his voice. He wanted to reach his hand out and try to comfort the other but didn’t want to make anything worse.

“Everything has been hard and strange since. I miss him so fucking much. I know he’s gone but it doesn’t feel real still. I was there, I saw him die and I saw his damn pyre. But I feel like I’m going to walk into our cabin and find him playing guitar like he used to, or see him laughing around the fire,” sniffling he pulled chat a little closer, “It’s no big secret I’m not handling this well. And it’s my fault I drove all my closest friends away. I left last summer without a goodbye. And I don’t know why I expected everything to be the same as I left it, but I thought I would at least have Tubbo even though I pushed Phil and Techno away. I didn’t expect him to have made a new best friend though. And I got jealous, and I’ve been taking out all my grief and anger on you. You don’t deserve it.”

Ranboo spoke up for the first time in this conversation, “Me and Tubbo aren’t best-”

“Trust me, man, as Tubbo’s former best friend I know it. Who do you think gave him his tour, taught him how to make paint bombs, snuck out to go star gazing when he first discovered he likes that astrology shit-”

“I think it’s astronomy,”

“It’s, shit, you get my point,” Tommy huffed, but he turned and met Ranboo’s eye and saw the other was smiling a bit, before looking towards Wilbur's grave, “He’s your best friend now,”

“I mean, who makes the rules on how many best friends are allowed anyway. Why can’t he be both our best friends?” Ranboo suggested.

Tommy smiled, “I guess, though I don’t think we want to anger the Goddess of Friendship,”

“There’s a Goddess of Friendship?”

“Probably, there’s like a God for almost everything,” Tommy laughed as they fell into a more comfortable silence.

But after a few moments Ranboo decided to break it, “Look, you haven’t really been nice to me all summer, even though I was trying. I’ve been so lost this whole time, and the people who you’re close with were the ones to reach out to me and tried to help. I didn’t mean to ‘steal your life from you’, I never meant to do that and I’m sorry.”

“Geez, did I say that shit to you yesterday?” Tommy asked as he palmed his forehead, and when Ranboo nodded he scowled, before looking at his hand. It looked almost completely normal, except the very tips of his fingers still looked a little charred, “My powers are weird. Chiron said theirs some rediculously high odds, like 1 in like 2,000 Apollo kids can get our fathers more weird traits. He’s a God of lots of cool shit like the Sun, archery, music, prophecy, poetry, and healing. But he’s also the God of plagues and diseases.”

Ranboo nodded slowly, understanding. 

“I’ve gotten really good at holding back my powers so there isn’t like a big ‘death bubble’ around me all the time. But I’m not great a controlling that when I get really upset, and they sort of take control of me. Chiron thinks it’s because I don’t use them enough so they’re more powerful when they come out. Like pressure building up against a damn. Yesterday I got really upset, and I took myself away because I could feel the damn breaking. But it was so bad my powers managed to get me to the forest where I attacked you,” he looked sincere and very guilty as he relayed this information to Ranboo, “I hate what I can do. I’ve never meant to hurt anyone or you. And I’m sorry, I don’t expect you to forgive me.”

“What you did yesterday was really scary, it was a close call for me. I accept you’ve apologized, but I think it will take me a while to forgive you.”

“I understand, I really fucked up-”

“You did, but I wouldn’t be against starting again,” Tommy looked a bit confused so he added, “I’m Ranboo, it’s nice to meet you.”

Tommy smiled and wiped his eyes before he said, “Tom Simons, you can call me Tommy though.”

Ranboo extended his hand, and Tommy shook it. They both smiled. The moment was interrupted by a disgruntled chitter from Chat, who readjusted his position and tried to get comfy again,

“Hey, shut it you,” Tommy shot him a look, and Ranboo couldn’t quite tell but he was pretty sure the Raccoon just smirked.

It was a nice place to rest.

__________________________________________

The two boys eventually left to go get food since their hunger eventually got too much to ignore. They split up after that, and the rest of Ranboo’s day passed in a haze of resting, reading, and a bit of journaling. 

By the time supper rolled around Ranboo was feeling better. Though at the meal there was a bit of confusion on where he was supposed to sit now that everyone at camp seemed to have caught wind of who his godly parent was. Since he hadn’t been officially claimed no one was certain if he should sit at his father's table or move into his cabin as well. Though Mr. D did insist he should just sit there and change cabins. Ranboo thought his insistence was a little odd since Mr. D wasn’t nice ever, he figured he probably wanted to piss his father off or something. So he eventually decided against it, much to Mr. D’s disappointment, and sat at the Hermes table where he quietly avoided talking with anyone.  

He didn’t do much after supper, and considered trying to find a way out of going to the campfire and just going to sleep early. But being dragged out of his bed by Tubbo who had just barged in got him up and moving pretty quickly. 

“I haven’t seen you all day, bossman. Yesterday was pretty wild, how are you doing?” Tubbo asked as Ranboo put on a hoodie as they left the Hermes Cabin. 

It was a little cooler of an evening compared to how it had been for most of the summer so far. The dew-covered grass rippled in the breeze and a fair cloud covering rolled through the sky, obscuring the stars and faint moon. 

“I’m doing okay,” Ranboo shivered a bit from the cool wind so he tucked his hands in his pockets, “A bit sore, a bit tired. Scratch that, I’m a lot tired.”

“Will sugar wake you up?” Tubbo asked as he pulled yet another stolen bag of marshmallows out from somewhere.

“Tubbo, where do you keep getting these?” Ranboo asked as Tubbo ripped open a hole in the soft plastic bag and stuffed a couple of marshmallows into his mouth, “And ewww, at least roast them first, uck.”

“Hey! There’s nothing wrong with non-roasted marshmallows,” Tubbo defended, mouth still mostly full.

“Nope, they’re gross,”

“Alright, suit yourself” Tubbo took some more from the bag, “More for me then.”

When they arrived at the fire the songs and stories had already begun. Tommy, who was among his siblings, gave a small wave as the pair sat down before he turned back and continued to listen avidly. One of the older Apollo kids, Ranboo wasn’t quite sure what their name was, was singing legends and myths of demigods and heroes of old. Their flair for the dramatic was like honey on the stories many of the kids gathered around the fire had heard a hundred times before. Drawing them in as if the lyrics that reached their ears were novel and none knew the fates that befell the long gone heroes. 

Ranboo listened intently too, enjoying the stillness and calm the seemingly endless stories carried. He enjoyed reading of the heroes in books, but to have them brought to life out loud too him was an entirely different experience. He felt he could almost see their faces and deeds moving in the flames, every word drawing some of their long-gone lives into the fire’s dance. 

But Ranboo felt the moment his brief luck ran out. A wave of cold washed over the crowd, interrupting the peace and respite he’d found sitting with his friends in awe of the bard’s tales. The fire flickered and the flames seemed to shrink in the bone-chilling frost that rolled through, drowning out the summer's night air. Even the stars and moon themselves seemed to dim as acid green smoke rolled in, spreading a faint light that illuminated the faces of the young demigods a sickly green. He turned to Tubbo about to ask him what was happening, but he could see his face had blanched and he looked like he’d seen a ghost. In some way, he might as well have. Because as Ranboo wracked his brain trying to think of what was going on and he remembered Tubbo had described this to him very briefly near the very begging of the summer. A prophecy was coming.

He felt her presence come before he even looked up, her power moved over them in a frigid tide as she seemed to float in on the smoke that rolled off her. Rachel’s eyes and mouth glowed with the same acid light. Her long tangles of wild red hair were free from their paintbrush, floating in the air behind her. Her normally kind face, smattered with freckles and holding the wisdom of knowing looked horribly different in the green glow of all her power commanding her being. The normally reassuring knowledge that waited on her tongue hung heavy like Damocles’ sword over all their heads, waiting to see who it would damn with its strike. They all held their breaths as they waited for who it was, but most could guess already.

The familiar face he’d sought reassurance and had tea with several times over the summer was barely her own as her eyes snapped onto Ranboo, locking him in place and cementing his fate. And the camp around him melted away, only the bitter green smoke and glow of her eyes remained. And when she spoke he could almost see and hear all the past faces of the spirit of the Oracle of Delphi of speaking with her:

Drinker of the Lethe must travel East
To a place of death and foes that sleep
Two brothers in arms by their side
A sacrifice needed to raise the tide
Through monsters, storms and daylights end
A sun will fall to the blade of a friend 

Wispy green visions of the prophecy were blasted into his mind, as cold as the air around him. Like ice they ran slowly through him, matching the unnatural cadence and hollow echo of the Oracle’s voices. They were unclear. Lots of piece were still smokey and not fully formed, through some words made a sharper scene in his mind. He saw himself, the Drinker of the Lethe, aboard a boat as he sailed eastward towards some sort of fortress, the towering walls obscuring the darkness he could feel laid within. He saw two figures beside him on the ship, though their faces were unformed wisps of smoke. The rest was faint. He saw a beach, roiling waves and claws. At the end of the prophecy, it didn’t seem possible but his blood ran colder with the clarity of the next vision. As he saw a blade driven through the chest of a figure. Though they were shrouded in light, he could tell they were golden and bright. A sun. Of the sun.

And as soon as it came, everything subsided at once. Like the blinking of an eye, like it never happened. The fire leapt to life, the stars twinkled back in. Rachel, now herself, was caught by some nearby Half-Bloods as she fainted. Ranboo sat frozen, eyes unseeing staring straight ahead as he replayed everything he had just seen over and over, his mind moving a million seconds a minute. All the eyes in the world were on him. But he didn’t feel them as he took advantage of the moment of shock as he jumped up and ran as fast as his clumsy feet could carry him back to the Hermes cabin, ignoring Tubbo and Tommy and the others calls as he fled.

When he crashed through the door he grabbed his journal and scribbled down every detail of what he saw. He did it twice before he stopped to breathe and look around. He could still feel the cold and uncertainty clinging to his bones. In a moment of what he couldn’t call clarity, he quickly packed up a backpack with the little belongings he had and carefully hid it under his bunk just as the door to the cabin flew open behind him. 

On the threshold was Tubbo, the grim expression he wore marred his usually bright eyes. And a bit behind him, looking sorrowful was Tommy. 

“Uh, hey. Chiron sent us to get you. There’s a council being held, and since you’ve been given this summer’s quest they kind of need you to be there.”

Ranboo grabbed his notebook, nodding with resolve as he stepped to follow them. They walked silently, the burden of what was happening hung thick between the three. “Two brothers in arms,” Ranboo thought, looking at his friends. He hoped it wasn’t them.

Tommy had just been on a dangerous and harrowing quest. He’d seen his brother die, and didn’t need to go through a quest again. And even though he knew Tubbo could easily handle himself and the weight of the world twice over, he didn’t want his friend to have to go too. They both shouldn’t have to face his prophesied burden. 

And as they walked, drawing closer to the Big House, Ranboo remembered the end of the vision. “‘A sun will fall to the blade of a friend',” he dared a glance over at Tommy, “He’s of the sun.”

Chapter Text

It was late. Or early, Ranboo supposed. The horizon down the beach to the right had turned a navy grey as the sun had just begun its earliest stage of rising. He stumbled a lot when he slipped out of bed about a half hour ago. A chill still clung to him from the events earlier in the night, and sleep had not found him at all while he lay in the darkness. He was groggy and he could feel the tiredness fogged up his brain. But he had made up his mind, he had to leave before anyone else woke up. He thought back to what had transpired at the council that had been held before he'd gone off to bed. 

They gathered in the basement Rec Room. Chiron was there along with Mr. D, Rachel (who looked overtired and wasn’t talking much), and all the Cabin Heads. And among them was Techno and Phil, who were off in a corner. Techno leaned against a wall, arms crossed and Phil sat on a chair that had been set out for him. And off in another corner were Tubbo and Tommy, who looked so young compared to all the older teens, adults, and the few immortals that surrounded them.

Chiron rolled out a map onto the Ping Pong table that was being used as a makeshift War Table in the absence of a real one. He marked Camp Half-Blood and then in a red pen he circled a larger area to the East. It held all of Greece, Macedonia, Albania, and parts of Bulgaria, Serbia, Italy, and Turkey within it's red border.

“I’ve encircled the area I believe is most likely to be the ‘East’ the prophecy speaks of. For the past few months, my scouts have been reporting disturbances that centre on this area. Irregular earthquakes, harsh and unseasonable weather, increases in mortal sittings of monsters, and an occasional shade. It’s all out of order and this ‘place of death and foes that sleep’ is presumably somewhere within this area.” He explained.

“There’s a lot of places that could fit that description in Ancient History or modern times.” Taylor, the head of the Nike cabin said.

“Considering the nature of our very existence I’d suggest the threat here would probably be Ancient. That doesn’t rule out much though, the places that fit what we need in this area are numerous.” Sky suggested, surprisingly not in her full armour. She was still wearing her chest plate though, and her hand was resting on the handle of her Falcata. 

“What about Troy?” Tubbo suggested from the corner, taking a small step forward as he spoke, “The part about ‘A sacrifice needed to raise the tide’ sounds a bit like the beginning of the Trojan War. Ranboo just read that to me the other day.”

“Hasn’t Troy been destroyed for a couple thousand years now?”

“The ruins remain, and plausibly ‘foes that sleep’ could have made a home there in the rock,” Chiron added. He took a pin and placed it on the northernmost part of Turkey’s Mediterranean coast, well within the circle he had just marked out.

“I saw walls,” Ranboo added, he had been quite the majority of the meeting so far, “It was one of the couple things that were clear when Rachel gave me the prophecy.”

“Are you certain it was the walls of Troy because those are long destroyed?” The eternal mentor asked,

“Now that we're talking about it, Troy feels right,” Rachel spoke up, still looking drained,

“Well, that settles the location I suppose, onto the rest of the prophecy.”

They moved through it line by line, deciding the meanings as they went. Ranboo tried to stay as quiet as possible, trying not to draw everyone's eyes to him. But he knew everyone was looking, the pity some people in that room had for him was palpable. 

They discussed what the best method of getting to Troy would be. Flying was off the table immediately considering who Ranboo’s father was they decided that travelling by boat would be the better of the 2 options. Chiron let everyone know he had a way of ensuring Ranboo and his companions had safe passage across the sea, but he didn’t elaborate any further. Moving on they deciphered the ‘daylights end’ line easily. Chiron tracked the cycles of the sky and knew there was a total solar eclipse in the area on the 11th of August and it gave them a time frame to work with. Whatever was going to happen would be on that day. It was the 21st of July, and after plotting out a course by sea they determined they would get there just in time for the eclipse if they took a fast enough boat. 

The next part was when they decided who would accompany Ranboo on his quest. And to his dismay, everyone seemed to think it was Tubbo and Tommy who were supposed to go along.

“But what about the last line?” Ranboo said, trying to keep his voice steady.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s pretty clear, we can’t send Tommy.”

“Well all three of you are sons,” Chiron and everyone else looked a little confused at Ranboo’s concern, “It doesn’t necessarily mean any of you will fall to another blade, there’s no way of knowing exactly what prophecies-”

“No it’s sun like the one in the sky, not the kid,” Ranboo explained, “If an Apollo kid goes, they will die. That was the clearest part of what I saw.”

“Alright, we must rethink who the ‘brothers in arms’ are then, we will not-”

“I’ll go,” Tommy interrupted, voice firm and expression stony. When everyone tried to raise protest he shook his head and continued, “It needs to be me and Tubbo, there’s no question about that at this point. We all know what happens when someone tries to avoid a prophecy. It never turns out good, I have to go.”

A silence fell over everyone as all eyes turned to Chiron, waiting for his final say. And even though his body was ageless the grief of seeing so many young heroes make this choice over his eternity was clear as day in his golden and often unreadable eyes. That weight made him look ancient. And with a solemn nod, he said, “It is your decision to face this. Though it seems now like you won’t return, prophecies are known well for being not quite what they appear to be. Let us hope that's the case. We must make sure you three are prepared for your voyage and whatever awaits at your destination.”

He rose from his chair, mist parting as he did so and he stood to his full height. His face, which was usually full of warmth was resolved and closed off as he spoke, “Ranboo, you will sail eastward to the ruins of Troy. Accompanied by Tommy and Tubbo you will face whatever challenges befall you on your way and arrive in time for the eclipse where you will meet whatever foe lurks there. And let’s all pray the last line of the prophecy isn’t what it seems.” He dismissed the council, and everyone rose, “Tomorrow, at dawn, you will be escorted to the city by Argus. There he will aid you in finding a boat to take for your passage the Atlantic. We’ll see you off and make sure you have everything needed for your quest.”

After that Ranboo rushed off to bed, avoiding his friends as he went. The beginnings of a plan were starting to form. He knew there was no way he could convince Tommy not to go, he knew from Tubbo that his friend was stubborn if he set his mind to something. So that’s how he found himself sneaking the bag of his belongings he'd packed earlier out from under his bed. And he did manage to make his way to the kitchens without waking anyone up despite all his stumbling. He grabbed an extra backpack and filled it with all the dried food and non-perishables he could find. And he remembered to grab as many bottles of water as he could fit into his bag and carry. 

He got down to the beach just as the first signs of sunrise crested the horizon and, he found the camp boat sitting pretty much unused in its usual spot in the boathouse.

“Did you really think you could leave without us?” Tubbo asked arms crossed as he startled Ranboo, who whipped around to find him and Tommy a few feet away on the beach.

“Uh hey, and no. I couldn’t sleep so I was just…just trying to load up the boat before everyone else got up, yeah.” Ranboo tried to lie. 

“Really? ’Cause I remember we were supposed to go with Argus to New York in a few hours to find an actual boat to take,” Tommy turned to Tubbo, clearly teasing Ranboo.

 Tubbo smirked, “You’re right. I don’t even know what Ranboo’s plan is here, I don’t think he knows how to sail even.”

“Yeah, and he probably didn’t even grab a Quest Bag or enough food and water rations or fuel for a trip this long-”

“Okay, okay,” Ranboo sighed in defeat, “This wasn’t a good idea. I just don’t want you two to have to deal with this. And Tommy you-”

“Ranboo, if we didn’t want ‘to deal with this’ we would have said no last night,” Tommy said as he clapped Ranboo on the shoulder. 

“And besides, Tommy’s been on a quest before and I learned how to sail when I was really little. In the nicest way possible, you don’t know what the fuck you're doing. And you're probably going to drown or die before you even get there if you try this alone. We know the ropes and we’ll help you, bossman.”

“I just didn’t want to burden you-”

“Nope stop right there. You’re not burdening us with this and you don’t have to do this alone. We’ll help you, okay?” Tubbo cut Ranboo off.

“Okay,” Ranboo smiled at them, “Should we wait to leave when we’re supposed-”

“Oh no, we’re taking the camp boat now that you’ve started this,” Tubbo said, tossing his bag of clothes and the Quest Bag he’d grabbed over the railing of the sailboat.

“Definitely. Though this is more boat theft now.” Tommy flung his bag onto the ship as well, and Ranboo was glad he didn’t throw the several extra boxes of food and water rations the two had brought. He went to get onboard, but a rustle from behind them made Tommy stop mid-step. Approaching out of the brush was Chat, who Tommy immediately ran to and knelt in front of.

Chat chittered. Tommy nodded before he said, “I know, I know. But you’re needed more here, little man. But who’s going to lead the battalion if whatever danger we’re going to face gets by us and here if you’re not guarding camp?” 

The raccoon chittered in annoyance, but Tommy continued, “I know you’re my sworn protector and you think Frenzy and Unyielding Tyranny can man the troops just fine but I trust you, little man-”

Interrupted by an angry series of what probably weren’t the most polite words to ever leave a raccoon's mouth, Tommy sighed and relented, “Fine, you can join. As long as you promise to let me put a water wing or something on you when you’re on the deck, ’kay?” 

Chat hopped up onto Tommy's shoulders and the three boys boarded the boat.

“We should be quick, we definitely want to be gone before people start to wake up,” Tubbo added as he began to untie ropes and get the sailboat ready to set sail. Ranboo tried to follow Tubbo’s lead as he went around the deck doing his thing, but after a minute Tubbo asked Ranboo if he could maybe go below the deck and store all their stuff. So he took the bags and food down the rather steep ladder and into the cabin. 

The cabin wasn’t overly spacious. But luckily for them, they didn’t need too much space since they weren’t very big yet themselves. Cozy was a good way to describe it. The walls had a few windows near the roof of the cabin, and there was a skylight in the middle of the space. There, right at the bottom of the steps was a little kitchenette with cupboards and a self-levelling stove. Then past the kitchenette on the other side of a half-wall was two cushioned benches that ran parallel to each other along the walls. The bigger of the benches had a table that could pop in and out to make the larger bed. At the far end of the cabin towards the stern was the storage space underneath a larger bed. 

Ranboo put away their food, finding a little fridge in the storage space where he stowed a few of the more perishable items and some of their water rations. And he tucked their bags into the space, making sure the quest bag was properly stowed before he returned to the top deck to find that Tubbo was almost done and the boat was about to unmoor. He noticed Tommy was over in the cockpit by the wheel, trying to start the engine.

“Hey,” Ranboo asked as he went over and sat on the cushioned bench next to him. He was still feeling a little hesitant around Tommy, “How did you guys know what I was doing this morning?”

“Oh, Phil told us,” Tommy said, not even looking up from what he was doing as he pointed towards the camp. And surely enough, standing exantly where Tommy pointed at the tree line that marked the edge of the Camp Borders was the dark outline of a familiar man. When he noticed Ranboo had seen him, he tipped his hat and gave a little wave. The boy waved back, but he was surprised and having trouble processing that the older half-blood had a massive pair of black wings protruding from his back. It was dark but he was sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, he could see the way the crow-like feather glistened in the growing light. He closed his eyes and shook his head a few times, trying to clear his vision. But when he looked back up the only sign that the man had been there was a rustle of the tree leaves and brush where he’d just been standing. 

Ranboo looked at Tommy, for some sort of confirmation and answers on what he’d seen. But the other boy just shrugged as he fired up the engine, the boat coming alive with a jolt and the steady thrum of the motor started up.

“Alright Tubzo, ships all yours,” He laughed as Ranboo looked at him confused and mad that he didn’t answer his questions as he gestured for Tubbo to take his place at the helm.

Tubbo took the wheel a gave Tommy a mock salute, and with a smile he said, “Boys, to Troy we set sail for on this fine morning.”

__________________________________________

The sun rose over the sound as they sailed away from camp, undoubtedly leaving behind a good bit of chaos at their unsanctioned usage and departure in the camp boat. But Ranboo was quickly remembering as the day went on chaos was Tommy and Tubbo’s specialty when they were together. They were very loud. Ranboo was content to often just observe their conversations, and he was beginning to get a sense of how much they must have been a pair of menaces in the previous few summers. 

They had been sailing for a while, following the coastline as they sailed eastward before Tommy had the sudden realization randomly in the middle of another thought that they had no clue where they were going. But luckily for Ranboo and Tommy, Tubbo had enough foresight to pack a bunch of nautical charts, star maps, and some plotting gear he’d learned how to use from his father. And the boat had a built in compass right behind the wheel so going East wasn’t an issue.

Tubbo was an avid sailor and had been sailing with his dad ever since he was super little. He’d grown up right near the ocean, and according to him he always had an affinity for the waves, “My mom's not an ocean goddess, but she rose from sea foam created when the Titan Ouranos’ blood hit the ocean-”

“The blood was from his balls,” Tommy interrupted, mouth full of a bite of a PB and J sandwich as he emerged from below deck, carrying another two poorly made sandwiches for his friends. 

Ranboo stared at him for a moment, just questioning his life decisions that had lead to this point. But Tommy mistook the stare for confusion and continued, “Yeah, his son Kronos cut off his balls and that’s what-”

“Thanks, man. I was avoiding that part because it wasn’t important to the story,” Tubbo took one of the sad sandwiches with a glare.

“Just giving the details,” Tommy said through another bite as he handed a good portion of his sandwich to Chat.

“Like I was saying. My mom's not an ocean goddess, but she’s strongly connected to the ocean. I’m pretty sure I’m so good on the water because of that.”

Ranboo nodded, understanding what Tubbo meant. He was enjoying being on the water so far. The cool, salty wind, the sun, the seagulls, and the calming sounds of the waves all felt so familiar and peaceful. He thought he wasn’t going to like being on the water, due to his very ground-related parentage. And by nightfall when they’d reached what Tubbo had pointed out on the map was Chatham, Massachusetts, he’d come to the conclusion that seafaring was a part of him. Half his blood came from gods who originally ruled over a sea-faring culture and time.

But by the next morning, the start of day two, he rescinded everything about his previous statements as he woke up horribly seasick. The boat's heeling, which he hadn’t minded yesterday, was making him very uncomfortable as they cut through the water. The wind had picked up and that certainly wasn’t helping his stomach. Any particularly big jolt and jostle caused by the waves had Ranboo wrenching over the rails and wanting to go back to solid ground very badly. Like a sixth sense nagging at the back of his mind, he could feel the stability and comfort of the solid cost he couldn't reach. Almost if he tried hard enough he could will the ground to come to him. Pretty upset at the current situation, Ranboo tried to go below deck to rest but Tubbo strongly warned him against that. He knew from experience that that wasn’t what you wanted to do when you’re sick on a ship. So he was escorted to the bow of the ship where Tommy somewhat reluctantly got him set up with a couple of cushions, a blanket, crackers, lots of water, and a bucket.

“I don’t know, try and sleep this off maybe. I’m not very good at medicine stuff like most Apollo kids, but I’ll go see if we have a Dramamine or something. Just drink some water.”

They were just passing Boston at this point, and Ranboo tried very hard to stomach some water and a few saltine crackers before taking the Dramamine. And after that, he promptly passed the heck out in the cushion pile and proceeded to sleep through the entire day’s journey. When he woke up he found someonw had put a hat over his face to keep him from getting a sunburn. And Chat had curled up a few feet away, sleeping in a little ball with a Life Ring tied to a rope around his belly.

Ranboo still felt quite sick. Though he found a little silver lining in how the waves had died down. Though unfortunately, his throat felt super dry and raw like someone had taken a cheese grater to it. So he started chugging all the water Tommy had given him earlier, and when Tubbo found Ranboo was awake he brought him some more water and some actual food to try eating. 

The sun had set now and they were passing Portland, Maine. Tubbo had also just woken up. He’d switched off with Tommy earlier in the day and went to have a nap, he’d been mostly refusing to sleep ever since they started their quest.

“How are you feeling?” Tubbo asked Ranboo, as he took a seat near the helm where Tubbo was steering the boat.

“Eh, not great,” Ranboo shrugged, “Was worse this morning though so that’s good, I guess.”

“Yeah, I don’t remember ever getting seasick.” Tubbo gave him a sympathetic smile.

“You’re lucky then, this sucks. Dramamine helps though.” 

“Are you still tired?” Tubbo asked as he looked up at the wind arrow and noticed the winds were changing directions. He started to undo a rope and adjust the jib accordingly.

“Not really,” Ranboo stayed sitting out of Tubbos way, letting him work unobstructed. 

Tubbo winched and retied  the rope on the other side of the cockpit. He went back to the helm, where he tied the rope connected to the windvane to the wheel, to keep the ship on course as he stepped away, “I'm not tired either. Did you bring some books?”

“Yep, which one should we read?” Ranboo asked. Tubbo thought for a moment before he asked if they could read more of The Iliad. Ranboo nodded and stood up. Then he snuck below deck, moving as quietly as possible to not wake Tommy up.

Grabbing The Iliad, the pair climbed up onto the roof of the cabin, and they sat near the base of the mast. And as Ranboo read into the night by the starlight, Tubbo pointed out different constellations that they couldn’t normally see from camp. 

“That’s The Huntress, I keep finding star maps in the Chiron’s collection from before we were born that don’t have her in it. What do you make of that?”

“That’s weird.” Ranboo thought for a moment before he said, “The Gods used to put people in the sky all the time, maybe she’s new.”

“Would you want to be a constellation?” Tubbo asked. The stars were shinig in his bright, wide eyes, and Ranboo still couldn't figure out what colour they were.

“What?”

“You know, lots of weird things happen to Half-Bloods when we go. I’d want to be stars, that sounds better than a plant. Don’t you think?” Tubbo said as he sat up from where he was laying down.

“I don’t know, a plant doesn't sound too bad. Maybe a flower would be nice.” Ranboo thought, this conversation turning quite a bit more existential than he’d been prepared for.

“Flowers? Really? Wouldn’t you want to be in the sky, something everyone could see and remember? Maybe there’d be a story about you too.” Tubbo asked, also deep in thought.

“I don’t know, what would I even be if I was a constellation? The Weird Kid? No Memory Man?” Ranboo smiled as Tubbo laughed, “I think a flower would be better for me. Something quiet, something people don’t notice unless they’re looking for it.”

“Well, what flower would you be then?” Tubbo asked.

Ranboo was silent for a moment before he answered, “Allium, I think. What about you?” 

“Well I would prefer the stars, but a Sunflower would be nice. Maybe a big oak tree like the one I used to climb as a kid.”

“Sounds peaceful,” Ranboo closed the book, figuring they were probably done reading.

“Yeah, I hope whenever I go it’s at least a little peaceful. I know that’s rare for us though.”

Ranboo nodded solemnly, every Half-Blood learned quickly that their divine blood made them burn brighter than mortals, but the Fates snuffed them out quicker because of it. None of them could live a “normal life”, they’re all always tangled in some prophecy, some war, or fight with monsters that took them down to Hades all too quickly. But they also learned quickly to live in the moment.

And in that moment the two boys sat in comfortable silence as the wind pushed them northeastward on their journey, the only sound they could hear as they rested was the rhythmic breaking of the waves as they lapped against the hull.

__________________________________________

The third day came and went rather uneventfully. Ranboo woke the next morning on the roof of the cabin, not remembering when he'd fallen asleep but Tubbo and Tommy were already up. His stomach was feeling much better now, but he felt absolutely dehydrated and starving. So after he chugged too much of their water stores for anyone's comfort, Tubbo made the call that before they fully set sail out into the middle of the Atlantic they should make a stop and stock up on water and maybe some food. And fuel, fuel’s important. 

So Tubbo set their course due east, and they sailed the rest of the day away from the continental United States and towards the southern coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. And by the time the sun was just beginning to sink below the now distant East Coast, Tubbo steered them into a quiet bay that was tucked behind an island. There was a large beach that was currently not in use. The golden sand almost glowed in the sinking pink light and it was very inviting to the young Half-Bloods, Ranboo in particular.

Bringing down the sails, the Son of Aphrodite let their remaining momentum push their boat up the sand. They beached it just enough out the water that the waves wouldn't carry it away while they slept for the night.  

“Alright, what should we do first?” Ranboo asked as he collected rocks from around the beach to make a ring around the fire Tommy was determined to make. 

“I was thinking you and me could head to see if there’s a road nearby. Looking at the map I’m pretty sure there’s a town a little ways north of here. We can see if we can find a store or something to get water from?” Tubbo suggested as he threw a backpack over the side of the ship at Ranboo. He was glad he caught it and it didn’t hit him in the face when he felt the heft and heard the clinking of quite a few Drachmae inside.

“Sure, we can do that. Tommy, are you good to stay here and watch the boat for a little bit by yourself?” Ranboo asked, turning to the other boy to find him sitting near the newly and very quickly made fire.

“Yeah, I’ll be alright. Do you guys want deer for supper?” He asked as he flicked his wrist and in a flash of bright light his golden, sun embossed bracelet transformed into his bow.

“What?” Tubbo asked as he jumped up and over the ship railing, landing unnaturally soft on his feet in the sand next to Ranboo. 

“I saw a deer trail while gathering the firewood and some pretty newly broken branches so there’s not one too far-”

“No, I understood you. But what?” Tubbo looked about as confused as Ranboo felt.

“I can go hunt us a deer for supper. I’m a great hunter, I had to learn when I was by myself as a kid. I might even be a better hunter than my Aunt -”

“Tommy I don’t think that’s a good idea-” Ranboo tried to say but Tommy continued anyways, 

“Seriously, I’m probably even better then-”

“Don’t say that, man. Are you trying to get your Aunt to fuck us over?” Tommy’s boast was quickly cut off by Tubbo, “And we don’t need deer or whatever, you might get caught by a monster if you wander alone in the woods while we’re gone. Can’t you just make supper with some of our rations?”

“Fine,” Tommy sighed before winning, “You guys are no fun. And I don’t want to hear you complaining if we run out of food in the middle of the Ocean because of this.”

“We’ll buy more food while we’re out, man. Just don’t be stupid while we’re gone.” Tubbo said, and Tommy’s shoulders slumped as he sat down to tend the fire.

The pair made their way up the beach until they found a somewhat unkept trail. They walked down it for a few minutes until the path lead them to a road. Tubbo pulled out a rag he’d taken off the ship and tied it to a tree to mark the path for themselves on the way back. And they set off down the road heading north. They walked for what was beggining to feel like too long of a time and it was getting pretty dark now. There hadn’t been a single sign of human life so far, and Ranboo was starting to worry they were going the wrong way or something. But just when he started to worry they turned a corner and up ahead was a pair of signs. The first read:

Now leaving Upper Woods Provincial Park. 
Thank you for visiting.

And the second read:

Welcome to Silver Hill Harbour. Pop. 1927

Walking on, they passed a few driveways cut through the forest and they eventually got to the a stretch of street lights. And then not even a minute after that, they found what they were looking for on the edge of the town. Ranboo and Tubbo walked across the tiny but well-illuminated parking lot, past the gas pumps and canopy roof, and up to the door. 

“I think you should do most of the talking in this one,” Ranboo suggested, stopping Tubbo as he was midway through grabbing the door handle and entering Joe’s Gas and Grocery.

Tubbo nodded and Ranboo breathed a sigh of relief as his friend opened the door, a soft series of chimes echoed through the empty store announcing their arrival. 

Stepping inside, the boys were immediately drawn to the colourful myriad of snacks that lined the shelves off to the right. Their eyes met, and in silent agreement, they went and filled their arms to the brim with as much and as many different kinds of junk food they could hold. Dropping everything onto the counter, Tubbo went back to grab some actual food and an extra large case of water bottles for them. Ranboo gave a small smile to the attendant, then tried to look busy as he looked at the cheap lighters, packs of gum, and scratch lottery tickets that lined the counter.

“So what brings you to the area, bud? Camping in the Park?” The man, presumably Joe and confirmed by the name tag, asked as he started to ring up the snacks.

Immediately failing at not doing the talking Ranboo tried to keep it brief, “Yep, camping.”

“Your boy’s parents send you for snacks?” He asked, and Ranboo wished he could melt into the floor maybe right now.

“They did, we’re here for snacks and waters. Oh and a can of gas for our sailboat too, please.” Ranboo was thankful that Tubbo came back at that moment with the large case of waters and some other food in hand.

“Oh, you guys are sailing? Where you off to?” He asked as he scanned and bagged the last of the snacks. He moved onto the waters and punched in the gas and can.

“We’re just on a trip up and down the coast for a few days, we’re from New York,” Tubbo said, smiling.

“No kidding? How’s the water been?” He asked as he finished up with the bags.

“It’s been good. It got rough on the second day and my brother Mark here got quite seasick. Right Mark?” Tubbo elbowed Ranboo in the ribs.

“Yeah, it sucked.” Ranboo said, shooting Tubbo a wide-eyed glare trying to convey his sense of,  “Hey man, what the heck?”

Joe laughed, “Well hope you’re feeling better, Mark. And how will you boys be paying? Cash or card?”

Tubbo slung his bag off one shoulder and around to the front as he started to look for the money he'd brought, “Cash, please. You take American, right?”

“No, sorry, only Canadian. And that will come to a total of 105 dollars and 71 cents with tax.”

The boys looked at each other, and Ranboo saw his panic momentarily reflected in Tubbo’s eyes before Tubbo looked away and took a deep breath. Ranboo felt the surge of the honeyed and buzzing electric static that was Tubbo’s magic as he spoke his next words and pulled out a handful of Drachmae, “What about these? You take these right?”

“Oh yeah, of course. I’ll take those funny-looking Lonnies. My kid’s into coin collection so I’m sure she’ll know about them.” He smiled, his whole demeanour softening as all the tension Ranboo hadn't even noticed in the room as desolved as Tubbo’s words reached his ears. Ranboo had felt Tubbo use his power, one time personally, but this was more powerful than anything he’d ever done with Ranboo nearby before. Even standing next to him right now was making a buzzing noise in his brain that was causing Ranboo to feel lightheaded and sleepy. 

“Hey!” Tubbo yelled and Ranboo snapped out of the trance he’d fallen into, “Bossman, we gotta go!”

“What?” Ranboo asked, disoriented at having just lost a few moments. Tubbo was now standing by the door, eyebrows knitted and sweat beading on his forehead. He had all their groceries stuffed in Ranboo’s bag, waters in his, and an orange, plastic jerrycan of fuel in his hands. Joe was standing at the register, face an unsettlingly blank stare. 

Getting his bearings and sense back, Ranboo took off after Tubbo out of the store. They sprinted down the road and back the way they came out and town. When they got to the signs Tubbo finally slowed down, and when Ranboo caught up to him for the first time he saw his friend tired after running. Tubbo held up a finger, signalling to Ranboo that he just needed a moment. Ranboo nodded and the other closed his eye, and when he opened them again a few seconds later it looked like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders and mind.

“Okay,” Tubbo rasped, still struggling to breathe a bit, “That should do it,”

“Do what?” Ranboo asked as he passed one of the newly purchased waters to him.

“I’ve hopefully convinced him we were never there. Kind of erased the whole conversation,” He took a big sip of water before continuing, “I’ve never done something that big before so I wasn’t sure how long I needed to hold my magic before it fully stuck, but I’m like 99% sure we’re good now. And, if not I guess we can never come back to Canada because we’ll be wanted for Grande Theft Gas Station.”

“Good thing we’re about to sail into the middle of the Atlantic, then.” Ranboo laughed as he tried to take the gas can but Tubbo just waved his hand away gently and picked it up himself with relative ease now that he didn’t have the weight of his magic hauling him down.

“Won’t be the first Half-Bloods to commit a crime on a quest and we certainly wouldn’t be the last,” Tubbo said as they continued their walk away from Silver Hill Harbour and back to their camp for the night. 

The walk felt shorter on the way back, but Ranboo still got the uncomfortable feeling that they had been walking for too long before Tubbo spotted the rag he’d tied to the tree earlier. The duo cut through the brush and found their way back to the beach and to where Tommy was sitting with Chat, still tending the fire. He was still a little butthurt over Tubbo telling him not to hunt earlier. But when Tubbo tossed a bag of chips and a Coke his way he tried to not let the other two see his excitement and how his eyes lit up. And the pair appreciated the Mac and Cheese he’d made for them in their absence, even if it was a little cold now. 

After enjoying their snacks, the boys decided to take turns on watch that night. Tubbo volunteered to go first. Tommy also relayed Chats insistance on doing a perimeter check every few hours. So after grabbing their sleeping bags, Tommy and Ranboo went to sleep.

Ranboo was grateful his sleep was dreamless. He slept peacefully throughout the night until he was unceremoniously woken up by Tommy shaking him aggressively and shouting his name. He figured it must be his turn for the watch, but Tommy's urgency wasn’t adding up in his mostly asleep brain.

“Ranboo, Tubbo, wake up! Somethings wrong! I fell asleep on watch and I don’t know-I don’t know what’s going on.” Tommy said, panicked.

Ranboo rubbed his eyes, and as he sat up he froze. The first thing he noticed was the still, dry heat of the air. It was uncomfortably too similar to what he’d felt in the forest a few days prior. Reaching for his ring, he was about to pull it off, but when he saw Tommy the only thing off about him was how scared he looked. 

Before Ranboo could figure out what was wrong, Tubbo was up on his feet with his daggers drawn and readied. He stepped in front of Ranboo and Tommy as he scanned the forest, expecting something to come charging out of the eerily still trees at any second.

Ranboo looked back at their ship, and that’s when he noticed the water had receded down off the sand so far their boat was fully beached and stuck. And hanging low in the sky over the bay, like a threat, was a shining full moon that seemed to be almost getting closer. 

Sure it hadn’t been full when he’d fallen asleep, Ranboo turned back to Tubbo just in time to see the first sign of a disturbance in the forest. The first that came were the wolves and hounds. Massive and snarling, Ranboo pulled off his ring as the large dogs pushed out of the trees. But he hesitated when the girls came out of the trees next. Bows drawn and arrows nocked, they looked deadlier than their scary hunting dogs, but Ranboo’s confusion made him stop. Some were mortal or Half-Blood and some were nymphs. But they were all dressed in silver and around the same age as the boys. Leading them was a girl with cropped, black hair that was being held out of her stormy, blue eyes by a silver circlet and a white leather jacket covered her broad shoulders. She looked very serious, but when she saw the boy's fear the corner of her mouth cracked into a small smirk as she stepped aside for their true leader. 

The goddess’s skin was crackling with moonlight and raw energy. Her form seemed to dance and shift with the power coming off her, like a mirage. Even though she assumed the form of a young girl, there was no mistaking that she was an ancient and powerful being that could simply make them cease to exist if she wanted to. With her anger, Ranboo could feel the danger of her full Divine Form barely being contained beneath her chosen form. Her raven hair floated softly around her shoulders in a very gentle that wasn’t consitant to how royally pissed was.

“Hello, little Nephew,” Artemis said, annoyance and disdain dripping from her words as her fully silver eyes seemed to pass right through Tubbo to find Tommy, who tried to hide behind Ranboo, “I think we need to have a conversation about your manners.”

Chapter Text

The three young Half-Bloods felt very out of place. They were sitting near the remnants of the fire Tommy had made the evening prior. As soon as the Hunters had arrived they began to efficiently and meticulously set up their camp. Quickly, the beach was filled up with several large, canvas tents, a large bonfire was made, and a few girls began preparing food and some began to restring bows and sharpen knives. The girls kept a very wide berth around the three as they worked swiftly, eyeing them warily as they went. That was what the Hunters were all doing. With the exception of one girl.

“So what are you all up to? Going on an exciting quest? Daring adventure?” The girl with the circlet and white leather jacket asked, her tone was sarcastic as she leaned against the side of their ship.

The three just looked at each other. Still processing everything that had happened in the span of ten minutes. They looked back at the girl, and all they did was nod. 

She laughed and shook her head, “You guys can speak, we don’t bite. Usually.” Ranboo couldn’t tell if that was a joke or not.

“We're on a quest,” Tubbo finally spoke up. 

She nodded before she stated, “I’m Thalia, Daughter of Zeus. You?”

“I’m Tubbo, Son of Aphrodite,” Tubbo replied, looking equally as intimidated as Ranboo felt.

“I’m R-Ranboo,” he said, quietly.

They all turned to Tommy, but he was sitting with his knees pulled close to his chest, and hand on Chat’s head. He was too deep in thought to hear a word of what was being said around him.

“Where are you going that needs a boat?” She continued, looking back at Tubbo and tapping the hull.

“We’re going to Troy,” Ranboo managed to squeak out.

Before she could answer, a look of curiosity and almost shock on her face, she was cut off by the approach of another hunter. She had waves of dark hair draping over her left shoulder, but the other side of her hair was stark white. And her left eye was as dark as her hair, but her right eye was as blue as the ocean and the pupil was rectangular and horizontal like a ram’s, “Thalia, Lady Artemis has sent me to retrieve the three half-bloods. They are to have an audience with her.”

Nodding, Thalia shot them a stern stare, and Ranboo and Tubbo were up on their feet faster than they thought possible. Tubbo had to nudge Tommy before he realized what was going on and got up too.

Thalia turned to the other Hunter, before saying in a much softer tone than how she’d been speaking to the boys, “Thank you very much, Puffy. I will continue to help the others with our duties.” 

She turned back to the boys, and she teased, “Good luck on your quest and audience, you’re going to need it.” 

She directed the last part at Tommy, referring to the audience. He shrunk a little further in on himself at her words. She gave him a quick and friendly pat on the back before she turned and walked back into the camp, giving a little wave over her shoulder as she went.

The boys followed Puffy through the camp. The hunters they passed steered clear, and the ones that deigned to acknowledge them glared or looked at them with mistrust. And though Puffy didn’t speak to them much on their walk through the camp, she seemed very kind. As she opened the flap of Lady Artemis’ tent to let them inside she quietly wished them good luck. And the tent flap closed behind them, the candles that lined the room shuddering with the change of air pressure. 

After a moment of his eyes adjusting to the change in light, Ranboo took in the tent. It was more spacious than it had appeared on the outside. And cooler too, like the unnaturally still, muggy air outside had no effect on the interior. There were tables set up to one side, piled with beaten bronze bowls full of olives and grapes, and platters of fine cheese and recently hunted game. And some more modern food was placed out too. On the other side, there was a beautiful array of bows. They were polished to a mirror shine and seemed to radiate their own moonlight. And the whole tent was decorated with trophies of her hunts over the millennia. Huge deer antlers and horns of every variety decorated the walls. And wolf, bear, and lion skins bigger than any that existed in the world today were draped over chairs and lined the floor. Some trophies were from species of animals Ranboo knew were extinct. There were trophies from some monsters too, their scaly skins and eerie heads were among the animals. And in the centre of the room, steadily burning in a brazier was a hearth fire, the smoke escaping through a hole in the canvas roof. 

The Goddess of the Hunt sat there, scratching the ear of one of the silver wolves that sat near her feet. She looked calmer than she had earlier, and the crackling of her divine form had ceased. The glowing and floating of her raven hair had stopped too. She was impossible to read at that moment. The smooth, olive planes of her face looked like they’d been carved from marble by the finest sculptor to ever exist. And it was a little too flawless, her divine nature showing in the absence of little mortal imperfections. 

Her voice was just as stony and unreadable as her face as she said, “I apologize if my Hunters were blunt, men are rarely around our camp. And many of them have had less than pleasant experiences with the menfolk of our world over our various spans of existence.”

She gestured to them to take a seat on some of the furs and pillows that were set up around the small hearth, opposite where she sat. 

“I hope by now you have realized why I uprooted my hunt in the Rockies and travelled all this way here to speak to you,” She was now speaking directly to Tommy, and her eyes betrayed the anger she was hiding as they bore straight into him, “You insulted my honour, Little Nephew, insinuating that your skill in a gift that resides in my domain might rival what I possess.”

Tommy nodded but kept his eyes down. Artemis gave a curt nod, like she had expected him to try and argue with her or talk back, but respected that he kept his mouth shut.

“I’m glad to see you respect the gravity of your offence. And since you’re my brother's son I’m willing to lessen the sacrifice you must make to me then.”

“Excuse me, Lady Artemis, I don’t mean to intrude on the conversation. But did you say a sacrifice? Like what sort?” Tubbo spoke up, very politely but confused.

“The sacrifice must be something big. A libation would be too small for this offence, but I might accept a cow. But I do see how a cow or any other animal would be difficult for you considering you’re three children in the middle of nowhere,” She thought for a moment, Tubbo and Ranboo shot each other concerned looks, before Artemis spoke again, “If one of you can come up with a suitable sacrifice to appease me I’m willing to hear you’re offer. If you need a moment to discuss amongst yourself go ahead.”

Tommy turned to them, panicked, as he spoke his voice wavered, “Guys, I don’t know what we can offer her-”

“If a sacrifice is too large of a task I can always turn you into a stag and have my hounds hunt you down.” She said, face not changing and like that was an offer on par with a sacrifice.

“No thank you, Lady Artemis, that won't be necessary. We'll think of something,” Tubbo replied with a smile, and pulled the other two closer so they could whisper. He was pretty sure she could still hear them though.

Ranboo wracked his brain, thinking of all he’d read and learned at camp. If she wouldn’t accept a libation, and a sacrificed cow was acceptable what could they offer?

“Why don’t we see if we can do her a favour? Maybe there’s something she’ll need in the future and we can do it-” Tommy suggested but was interrupted by Tubbo.

“I don’t think getting into debt with a god is a good idea,” 

Ranboo could see Tubbo’s mind was moving just as fast as his own. He knew his friend was clever, but he was protective and selfless. He needed to come up with something fast before his friend offered something he would regret.  And when he looked at Tubbo, an idea hit him.

“Lady Artemis, I have an offer.” He said, and before Tubbo could ask what it was, Ranboo spoke again, “But I wish to make it alone with you.”

She thought for a moment, before nodding, “Very well, I will hear your offer and accept your term. I request you two wait outside the tent, then.”

Tubbo looked shocked, pissed, and upset at the same time. He wanted to ask Ranboo what he was about to do but he didn’t want to make the goddess any angrier. So he left, Tommy in tow behind him, staring straight at Ranboo the whole time. Ranboo could almost hear what he would say if he dared to speak, “You’d better not do anything stupid or I will skin you, dumbass,”. But he could see the worry lining his face as the tent flap closed behind them heavily, cutting off Ranboo’s view of his friends and leaving him alone. Well, Artemis was there. But Ranboo felt now a bit like he’d flung himself into the den of a bear, and collapsed the exit behind himself.

Taking a deep breath, he steadied his thoughts and prepared to make one heck of an argument, “I know the story of Iphigenia, I know what you demanded last time your honour was offered like this and you didn’t let ships set sail to Troy. But Tommy didn’t follow through with his boast, and he didn’t kill a deer.”

Artemis listened, nodded, and gestured for him to continue, “What Tommy said was a huge slight, and I’m not defending it. But I’m proposing since his offence wasn’t as big and he’s your brother's son that you take a piece of something.”

Lady Artemis let out a laugh, “A piece? I don’t think I want a partial sacrifice but you’ve piqued my interest with this novel suggestion.”

He thought back to the conversation he’d had with Tubbo on the cabin roof two nights prior and made his offer.

__________________________________________

Tubbo was sitting on the little strip of grass that extended out of the forest right near the entrance to Artemis’ tent. He was pulling up and ripping strands of grass apart to try and calm his nerves. It wasn’t working. And just to his left Tommy was pacing, kicking at the sand, and being more active than he had been all morning so far. 

Ranboo was still in there. He was taking forever. Tubbo wasn’t sure exactly how long, since he wasn’t very good at keeping minutes when he was stressed, but it was taking way too long for his liking. And the heavy canvas of the tent was muffling all sound within, so he couldn’t even eavesdrop to make sure Ranboo wasn’t making a horrible mistake. He wasn’t even sure what his friend had to offer Artemis as a sacrifice.

“I can’t believe that idiot, why would he want to make the offer alone?” Tubbo threw his pile of grass shavings in frustration, the grass just fell back at him through the unnaturally still air.

Tommy dropped down onto the sand, sinking in defeat as he said, “I don’t know, but whatever he’s thought of I should be the one to do it since this is my fault.”

“Admitting you’re wrong, never heard you do that before. Who are you and what have you done with Tommy?” Tubbo teased, before realizing that was a bit harsh, “Sorry, that wasn’t necessary, I’m just nervous.”

“S’alright, I know I don’t often say when I’m wrong,” Tommy scooted over closer to Tubbo. 

As the two Half-Bloods sat there, time drawing out as the tent flap stayed still and no one exited, they both had a moment of realization that they hadn’t really been alone together in a while.Tommy sighed before he said, “Listen, I want to apologize.”

“For what?” Tubbo asked as he started to pick at the grass again.

“Oh you know, all the shitty things I’ve done recently. For leaving last summer without saying goodbye like a dick, being upset when I got back and you had a new friend, being rude to said new friend for weeks. Then letting my powers out of control and almost killing him. And to top it all off, getting us stuck on a beach in Canada because I was a dumbass and pissed off my Aunt.” Tommy listed, kind of morosely.

“Yeah, you’ve been fucking up lots lately, man.” Tubbo punched Tommy lightly in the shoulder as he continued, “I wish you hadn’t been so jealous of Ranboo, since no one could ever replace you. But I’ll forgive you since I can see you’re making an effort to be nicer. It’s been a wild ass year and a lot has happened, and I know you miss him. I miss him too.”

“Thank you, and I am really sorry. And got us into this mess today. We good?” Tommy extended an arm out, asking for a hug.

Tubbo nodded and they side hugged as he said, “Yeah, we’re good. You’ll always be like a brother to me, and I think that’s even better than a best friend.”

“Same, you too.” Tommy smiled.

As Tubbo opened his mouth to continue the tent opened and out stepped Ranboo with Lady Artemis.

Tubbo and Tommy were up quickly, as they went up to their friend. Tubbo scanned him, and he seemed fine. There was no arrow through his heart, blood anywhere and he seemed very non deer shaped so that was a good sign. He wasn’t hurt. But as he got closer, he began to notice the little differences. Ranboo was already taller than anyone his age that he knew, but now that he was near him he seemed even taller than he had when he’d stepped into the tent. And his jaw had lost some of the roundness it had held and sharpened slightly. He looked older.

It took Tubbo a moment to find his words, shocked by what he was seeing, but when he did they came out a little more angry than he had intended, “Hey, what the fuck did you offer? Some life force?”

“Uh, not really,” Ranboo said, turning to the Goddess for help in the explanation. And Tubbo noticed his voice was even a little deeper too, “I offered a piece of my life as the sacrifice.”

“You what?” Tommy asked, guilt written plain as day on his face.

“He gave me a year of his life as payment for the offence. And I will raise the tide and let you set sail.” The goddess said,  “He made a solid argument. Half-Bloods don’t often live long lives, and he doesn’t know how much of his life he’s lived already. So I’ve brought him one year closer to when the fates are planning to cut his string. It’s a sufficient sacrifice, and it isn’t very much time in the grand scheme.”

Tubbo’s chest was hollow, and the ground felt a bit like it was falling away from him. A year was a lot of time for a Half-Blood. He’d just met his friend only at the start of summer and a year of being able to know him was just taken away from them. His ears were rushing as he asked, “How old are you now, then?”

“I still don’t know,”

“I can help with that,” Artemis said as she closed her eyes and reached a hand out towards Ranboo’s forehead, stopping just a hairs length away. 

She held her hand there for a second, before she turned to Tubbo and asked, “How old are you?” 

Still reeling, Tubbo responded, “I’m fourteen, turning fifteen in December.”

“I can sense that you, Ranboo, are no more than a new moon older now, probably born near the beginning of November.” 

“Huh, at least I’m not super old,” Ranboo laughed to himself, trying to break the tension a bit, but Tubbo still felt a bit dizzy at this point from shock. He was no stranger to strange things, this was just upsetting.

And if Artemis noticed the tension, she didn’t acknowledge it as she stepped away from her tent and the three Half-Bloods. Floating up in the air a few feet, she raised her arms towards the unnaturally large moon that had been looming over the beach all morning. And as she closed her eyes, the moon began to shrink and return to its regular phase. And as it pulled away, a cool wind whistled back to life and the tide began to crawl back up the beach. 

Artemis landed, her eyes were fading from their fully silver state as she addressed them, “There. The slight has been repaid, I have been appeased and you three can continue on your quest and journey to Troy. I thank you, Ranboo, for your sacrifice and I do wish you all well on your quest from here.”

Tubbo turned his eyes away from his now older friend and dipped into a bow, the other boys thankfully followed his lead. Remembering his manners from a Godly Etiquette course he’d taken last winter, he thanked Lady Artemis and let her know they would leave as soon as their boat was back in the water. He managed to keep his voice level and anger at the goddess and friend concealed as he spoke. After they had moved from the bow, she turned wordlessly with a nod and made her way back into her tent. 

As soon as the flap fell behind her, Tubbo was speed walking towards the water and their sailboat. Ranboo and Tommy took off after him, Tommy once again avoiding all eye contact with Ranboo in guilt and they sped across the sand. 

Ranboo was confused, but he could tell Tubbo was mad at him. When he’d thought of this plan he’d only been thinking of how to keep his two friends from making a bad decision he realized he’d maybe not made a good decision himself. He didn’t regret what he’d done though, he would trade his life to save them in a heartbeat. He owed them so much for risking their lives on his quest. But as he jogged a bit he could feel a renewed and growing lack of coordination in his now even longer limbs. He could feel he was a bit stronger than he had been twenty minutes ago, but his brain hadn’t fully caught up to speed yet. He imagined this is what a fawn or foal felt a bit like when they tried walking for the first time.

“Tubbo, can slow down a bit, please. My legs are all weird and aren’t working right,” Ranboo said, stumbling a bit as they reached the water, Tubbo took off wading into the currently shallow but very cold ocean. Since the tide was returning to its normal state of high tide, the water was now encircling the boat and would begin to lift it at some point.

Stopping and turning suddenly, Tubbo yelled, “Who’s fault is that? Certainly not mine. Maybe you should have thought of the issues that come with giving away a whole YEAR of your life!”

“Tubbo, I-I…” Ranboo tried to explain as he stuttered, but he’d never seen his friend this angry and he was taken aback.

“We could have figured something out! Come up with something else to sacrifice that wasn’t a part of your life! Why did you think that was a good idea?! Do you even know how much you might have just lost?” He’d stomped back through the water and had a finger jabbed at Ranboo's chest. Ranboo tried to take a step backwards, mostly just out of surprise at seeing his normally calm and level-headed friend so furious, but he tripped and fell into the shallow water. Luckily, he caught himself as he fell backwards with his hands, but the sudden rush of cold water on his arms and legs was shocking.

“Tubzo, maybe you should-” Tommy tried to say as he waded into the water, raccoon on his shoulders, but Tubbo cut him off.

“No! You’re running out of time quicker than both of us are. You have a few weeks until this quest probably kills you and you’re just going along, barely even phased!” Tubbo tried to continue but as he took in Ranboo in the water and the shocked but pained look on Tommy’s face the reality of his outburst caught up to him, “I just-I can’t be left behind again! I…”

And with tears now streaming down his face, he turned and walked towards the ship. Leaving the other two stunned and watching him go.

__________________________________________

By the time the evening came, the three Half-Bloods were thoroughly out on the water. With no land in sight, Ranboo had spent most of the day writing in his journal and hiding in the bedroom/storage space. He wasn’t a fan of being below deck since the boat felt rockier there than above, but so far he was feeling okay. He figured he’d found his sea legs at this point, as they say. 

Ranboo could still feel the little nagging sense of the ground and earth drawing away from him as they sailed out into the open waters of the Atlantic, but it was getting fainter as the hours drew on. It was making him hyper aware of the depth of the ocean since he could almost feel the ocean floor below the same way he could almost still feel the land. But he was opting to ignore that crisis in the making by focusing on his writing instead. 

Tommy had appeared in the doorway a few times throughout the day, either with some food he’d attempted to prepare or to join Ranboo in hiding.

One of the latter times, the now younger Half-Blood asked, “Hey. How are you feeling?”

Ranboo gently shut his notebook, leaving his pencil in between the pages to keep his place, “I’m fine right now. It’s calm enough so I don’t feel like I’m about to throw u-”

“No, about the whole age thing.” Tommy corrected, avoiding looking at Ranboo as he did.

“Oh,” Ranboo took a moment before he responded, “I think my brain is finally catching up now. My legs feel less like jelly and I haven’t hit my head on any more doorframes, yet.” He laughed at the last part as he rubbed his forehead, but Tommy looked like he found that significantly less funny than he did.

“You should have let me make the sacrifice, you know that? That was all my fault for bragging.” Tommy said so quietly Ranboo almost didn’t hear him. He was wringing his hands as he spoke. 

“If I had let you do that you probably wouldn’t have stepped back onto this ship.”

When Tommy didn’t say anything, Ranboo continued softly, “I was given this quest and you guys got roped into coming along. Before you say anything, I know you volunteered,” Ranboo cut Tommy off before he was about to interrupt, then continued, “I know you didn’t have to come. But we both know that’s not fully true. If the fates didn’t want that, I don’t think Tubbo would have been the one to find me on the beach that morning.”

Tommy nodded, before saying even softer than before, “I’m not scared of death.” 

Ranboo wasn’t sure if he was trying to convince the other or himself, but he hesitantly and gently placed a hand on Tommy’s shoulder. When the other did seem to either notice or not care, he kept his hand there for a moment before Tommy stood up and said, “We should talk to Tubbo, right?”

“I mean, yeah, we should try to apologize,” Ranboo said, following Tommy up and out of the room.

So they made their way up to the top deck, to find that Tubbo wasn’t in his normal place at the helm. They both got worried for a second, but the windvane was tied to the wheel and they looked up and out toward the bow and saw Tubbo was sitting by the mast. His dark bangs were being flung around by the wind, hiding his ever-shifting eyes periodically. The sun had just fully sunk below the horizon line, and their first day of many in the week and a bit they had on the open water was drawing to a close. And as the two other Half-Bloods approached their friend they could see he must have been crying at some point recently.

“Hey,” Ranboo started, “We came to apologize-”

“No, I should apologize,” Tubbo wiped his eyes as he stood up and turned to them, “I’m sorry I blew up at you guys.”

“Hey, it’s okay to let it all out sometimes,” Tommy gave a halfhearted laugh, but Ranboo could tell he was remembering a lot as he continued, “Take it from the guy with emotion time bomb plague powers.” 

Tubbo gave them a watery smile, before nodding and pulling them both into a hug and saying, “I’d protect you both with my life and even more if I have to,” But then he turned serious but still said with a smile, “So stop being dumbasses, and don’t give gods pieces of your life.” He directed the last part at Ranboo.

Ranboo threw his hands up defensively  “Trust me, I’ll be avoiding that from now on. I’m more afraid of getting on your bad side than anything. I’ve seen what you can do, with and without your magic.”

“Damn right,” the now younger Half-Blood smirked and raised his fists like he was preparing to fight Ranboo. Tommy wrapped him in a playful headlock before he could land a mock blow, and started to ruffle up his hair.

Tubbo let it happen for about twenty seconds before he said laughing, “Ok, stop now or I’ll stab your shins.”

Tommy let him go, but not without ruffling his hair up one last time. The three moved back to the cockpit, where they set up blankets for the night, taking turns on watch as they sailed under the stars.

Chapter Text

Life on the sea was pretty boring, all things considered. Don’t get him wrong, Ranboo was definitely enjoying the waves more than he had been at the start of their voyage as he’d now grown accustomed to them. But after spending the past month learning and following a fairly rigorous schedule every day, now that there wasn’t a whole lot to do he was getting a little bored at times. But most of the time, Tommy and Tubbo were keeping him busy. Their chaos was barely being contained, and their own boredom with the slow trip wasn’t helping matters. 

By the start of their fourth full day on the open ocean, when their restlessness had begun to fill the air around their ship. Ranboo felt like he might explode at this point, to keep everyone occupied Tubbo took it upon himself to teach his fellow Half-Bloods the ins and outs of sailing. 

“It will help me out a lot since I’m currently the only one sailing our boat. And it will give you two something productive to do,” he gestured to where Tommy had set up pieces of rope into squares for Tic-Tac-Toe and was in the middle of a heated match with Chat. Ranboo was doodling random things in his notebook to try and make time pass faster.

Agreeing, they spent the next few hours following Tubbo around, listening to him explain and demonstrate how to sail. He taught them what he knew about the wind and how to untie and winch the sails, to keep the forty-five degrees, steer and connect the windvane for when no one was at the helm. He also showed them how to read the nautical charts he’d brought. Navigation wasn’t Tubbo's strong suit when it came to sailing but he showed them how to navigate the best he could. And by the end of the day, Tommy proved he had a bit of a knack for it though. He was good at using the charts to find their relative position and where they needed to go. He also claimed the sun helped, but he couldn’t exactly describe the aid it was providing well.

“Yeah, it’s like a big map! It’s kind of directional but not, and I can just tell…I’ve lost you two, haven’t I?” He paused from his excited explanation as he’d just come running up from below deck, charts in hand as he tried to explain what he’d done and figured out.

Tubbo was hiding his confusion well as he said, “Nope, definitely get it.”

He continued, Ranboo still feeling a bit lost on the sun thing. He did get a sense by the end of the description that it was similar to the way he felt the pull of the ground in the back of his mind, but unless he consciously thought about it he didn’t fully notice it.

Ranboo also figured out he enjoyed steering the ship. Something about the way he got to stand there, feeling the breeze and mist of sea spray as the waves broke against their hull was calming. He just had to make sure they were going in the right direction with the compass, and he could just enjoy it the rest of the time. And Tubbo’s strength made him the best at tacking the sails and hauling rope was easy for him. 

So by the end of the day, they’d slotted themselves into rolls aboard the boat. Knowing the “lingo” Tubbo informed them that Tommy was the Navigator, Ranboo was the Helmsman and Tubbo was of course their Captain. Tommy translated that Chat had objections to not being the Captain, but Tubbo said he could be their fuzzy First Mate and that seemed to appease the raccoon. 

And with rolls taken up, a new routine began to form. They’d wake up, and most mornings Tommy would attempt to make a nice breakfast, and after a few days of practice, the quality began to improve. Then Tubbo would adjust the sails according to the wind, and Ranboo would take his spot at the helm. He’d make sure they were sailing in the right direction and keep their ship on course. At some point during the morning, Tommy would emerge from below deck where he’d been looking at the charts. He’d turn his face to the sun, like a human sunflower, for a few seconds then nodded as if he confirming he had the right coordinates. He’d then show Tubbo and Ranboo where they were in the Atlantic Ocean and how much progress they’d made. Ranboo often tried to make lunch, but even though Tommy wasn’t a great cook he was still a lot better than Ranboo. He didn’t know what it was, but he almost felt cursed in the kitchen. He’d mess up fairly simple things, and often Tommy would have to attempt to rescue the dish he’d committed kitchen crimes against. The other pair of half-bloods thought his plight was amusing, and they were good sports about the subpar food, but Ranboo did feel bad he wasn’t very good at cooking. 

During the afternoons, to pass the time Tubbo would train, and often the other two would join. Tubbo was a phenomenal fighter, and even after facing off with Technoblade so many times this summer Tubbo’s speed was very impressive to Ranboo. He was light on his feet, and his precision with his movements and actions would be terrifying if he didn’t trust Tubbo as much as he did. And Tommy was an impressive fighter too. His sword work was a little flashy and sometimes he added unnecessary flourishes, but Ranboo couldn’t argue that the way he fought fit his personality. But his skill and precision with a bow were incredible. And with his sun bracelet, he was able to transition between the two weapons at ease.

Ranboo was glad they were taking time to train. Ever since he’d sacrificed part of his life and aged himself by a year he’d been having a feeling a little off. It was getting better as the days passed, but the progress was gradual. The only way he could describe it was like he was wearing clothes that were a few sizes too big for him, if clothes were his limbs. And if the clothes were just to big for his brain. He could feel he was stronger then he had been before, but all the training he’d done with Techno was taking the longest to catch back up to his limbs. So sparing with his friends was very helpful since he needed to be as ready as possible for whatever foes they were going to face on the way and when they finally arrived at Troy.

After a sparring match on their ninth day at sea, Ranboo asked Tommy where he’d gotten the bracelet. Based on the sun design he figured it was a gift from his father but he wanted to know if it had a story. As soon as the question left his mouth, Ranboo could see the way the words hit Tommy like a freight train. He went to backtrack and tell the younger it was okay and he didn’t have to say, but Tommy just took it off and offered it out to Ranboo. Taking it, Tommy said quietly, “Read the inside,”

Ranboo looked at it and found an inscription engraved into the warm metal. It read:

To my son, Wilbur, 
Happy 18th Birthday! I hope this gift will help with your challenges and also your aspirations. 

“Oh, I see…” Ranboo trailed off as he handed the bracelet back, and Tommy slipped it back onto his wrist.

“He left it to me when he passed,” Tommy looked somber as he reminisced, “I didn’t put it on until the day I got to camp this summer. It absorbed my sword, which was kind of cool. And my lyre.”

“You play the lyre?” Ranboo asked, figuring a shift of topic might be welcome, and he genuinely didn’t know his friend played the lyre. It made sense he’d play some sort of musical instrument, since his father was the God of Music, among many other things.

“I mean, not as well as some of my very musically gifted siblings, like Wilbur. But I’ve been playing for a long time so I’m not half bad.” He flicked his wrist, and the bracelet rematerialized in a form Ranboo hadn’t seen it take before. It was golden like the other two forms, but it looked delicate. It shone in the late afternoon sunlight, and on one side there was a similar sun design embossed on the metal.

“Could you play a song?” 

“I guess, I don’t know that many. I am better at playing the piano, but I don’t have one of those hidden in my bracelet.”

He took a seat on the cabin roof and began to play a beautiful, slowed-down rendition of what Ranboo thought might have been a song from a video game Tubbo had been telling him about and had briefly managed to show him a clip of earlier in the summer. And as Tommy got lost in playing the music, Ranboo could have sworn he began to emanate a faint, warm light. And once he finished the song Ranboo was stunned, his lyre playing was beautiful. And after that day, the three Half-Bloods added some music time to their routine. Tommy mostly played, but Tubbo was also quite gifted at playing the guitar Tommy had in his bracelet. Ranboo opted to just listen, but a few times he got peer pressured into trying out an instrument. And they all quickly found out music wasn’t his strength, but they all enjoyed it when he would read from one of the few books he’d brought with them. 

After their supper, which Tubbo made and it was always quite good, Tommy would often be first to fall asleep. He was often the first one up if Tubbo decided to sleep in, and neither of the others faulted him for wanting to rest after a long day. Chat also acted like a bedtime reminder, since Tommy let them know he was very adamant about keeping the Half-Blood and himself on a good sleep schedule, because “good warriors understand the importance of sleep”. So that left Ranboo and Tubbo to man the ship for while by themselves. Sometimes they’d stick in the cabin, Tubbo going to check on their course and the sails periodically, and Ranboo would read more of the Iliad or they’d play cards. But most of the time, when the sky was clear they’d go to deck with blankets and pillows, and they’d set up to sleep under the stars. Tubbo would point out all the constellations, and Ranboo would point out a few since he was starting to learn them from all the exposure he’d had this summer from his friend. Because it was late July and early August the further into their quest they got, the more and more shooting stars started to appear each night they were out. 

“Wow. I can’t believe we get to see the Perseids out here.” Tubbo said, on the eleventh night after a particularly large and bright shooting star had just passed right above them, “The Camp’s magic made them look incredible last year and helped with the light pollution, but this is a whole other level of amazing.”

“Got a wish?” Ranboo asked, they’d been out there for a while at this point and he could feel sleep start to take hold of his brain. 

“I do, but if I tell you then they won’t come true.” Tubbo smiled, as he continued to scan the dark sky for more shooting stars.

He nodded, and asked Tubbo, “Do you think shooting stars might actually grant wishes? Lots of weird things are possible.”

“I don’t think so, but I think holding onto hope that a wish gives can give you enough motivation to make it come true,” Tubbo said.

After mulling over Tubbo’s question Ranboo could feel the lethargy of sleep start to take hold of his mind, and his eyelids begin to close despite his attempts to keep them open. Before he let sleep take him, he managed to say, “Sometimes hope is all you need. Goodnight Tubbo.”

“Night, Ran.” He smiled at his friend as continued to watch for shooting starts well into the night while his friends slept peacefully before going to sleep himself. 

The next day, while Tubbo and Ranboo were on the deck, Tommy emerged from below with a chart and a notebook in hand, and a concerned look on his face, “Hey, Tubbo, you’re good at math right?”

Tubbo hopped down off the cabin roof where he had just finished adjusting the mainsail, “Yeah, I’m pretty good at math. Why?”

“Well, we’ve been sailing for over a week now. And the eclipse is happening on Saturday. I just figured out where we are this morning, and well…” Tommy paused and put the chart down on the bench to their left, “I don’t think we’ll make it in time.”

The other two looked at the chart, concern flooding their minds. It was a map of the Atlantic, and various numbered marks had been drawn along a line that showed their progress west across the ocean. Ranboo had seen it several times in the past few days since Tommy had been informing them of where they were. And today they were around what seemed to be a day of sailing north of the Azores from the looks of where Tommy placed their Day Twelve marker. 

Tommy handed Tubbo the notebook he’d done some math in, but looking at the map Ranboo could already guess what the math might tell them. And then after a few minutes of Tubbo doing some calculations of his own, he nodded, and said, “Yep, at the speed we’re going it’s going to take us another nineteen days to get to Troy.”

They were all silent for a few moments as the gravity of their situation sunk in. They only had five days before the eclipse.

Tommy spoke up and broke the uncomfortable silence that had fallen over them, “I see why Chiron wanted us to go to New York and find a boat now.”

Tubbo had his head in his hands, and he began to laugh, “Gods, we fucked this whole thing up, didn’t we.”

Ranboo, unsure of how to proceed or what to say, just nodded in agreement. They’d messed up their whole quest, and there was nothing they could do about it at this point. They weren’t going to make it to Troy on time to stop whatever was waking up. They’d failed.

__________________________________________

With urgency, the Half-Bloods set their course toward the Azores, and Tubbo took the helm and kept readjusting the sails so they could get as much speed as possible. None of them were sure what to do about their current situation, but they’d come to a consensus that trying to get passage on a faster ship was their best option at this point. None of them spoke Portuguese though, so they weren’t sure how much they could get across. Or how people would respond to three children on sailboat in the middle of the ocean by themselves. But Tubbo was pretty certain his magic worked even if the person he was trying to charm didn’t understand what he was saying. Or at least he hoped it did, he’d never had to try before. 

As the day went on and the sun rose in the sky to its apex, the harsh rays beating down on the deck were increasing the heat even with the strong winds. Ranboo and Tubbo were starting to feel uncomfortable in the overbearing swelter, but Tommy seemed to be doing just fine. Which made sense, considering his parentage. And even though he was uncomfortable because of the temperature, Tubbo was happy that the winds were still favourable and they hadn’t been losing speed or the precious time they had.

And by the time the evening came around even Tommy was thankful for the cloud cover that had rolled in fairly quickly and helped drop the temperature to a bearable degree. So after disappearing below deck and reemerging with some supper, Ranboo made Tubbo let him have a turn at the helm so he could rest and have some food. And though Ranboo knew Tubbo wouldn’t admit it, he could see his friend was thankful for the break as he took a seat to relax for a bit.

So as they sailed on through the evening, Ranboo continued to man the helm while Tubbo took a nap on the cushioned bench next to him. Tubbo seemingly hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but Ranboo figured if he needed some sleep he should just let him rest. They could swap out whenever Tubbo was ready again. While they sailed Tommy played a soft tune on his lyre. His concentration wasn’t fully on the instrument, and he seemed deep in thought as he played, occasionally stumbling over a note but he didn’t notice. The wind was still very strong and even without Tubbo’s expertise they hadn’t lost any speed or time. The clouds were getting darker too, but Ranboo figured it was because the sun was setting at this point.

The first blinding flash of fork lightning caused Ranboo’s vision to white out for a moment as it shot across the sky in front of their boat, and it was rapidly followed by a crack of thunder that broke the calm air. Out of shock he just stood stone still for a few seconds, before the first cold, heavy droplets of rain fell on his face and snapped him out of his shock at the same moment Tommy began to move. Tubbo shifted as he woke up, the confusion of his newly re-found consciousness keeping him from reacting until he got his bearings and shot up off the bench faster than the second streak of lightning that danced across the sky. The thunder followed even quicker than the previous strike.

“Shit, how long was I out?!” Tubbo yelled over the loud whistling of the winds through the sails as he stood.

“About two hours,” Tommy yelled back as he stumbled on the now slippery deck as it got drenched with the sudden torrential downpour. His normally fluffy, blonde hair was plastered to his forehead, and Ranboo couldn’t help but note in his panic his friend looked a bit like a soggy cat.

“Shit, shit…shit! Give me the wheel!” Tubbo yelled as he pretty much body-slammed Ranboo out of the way. “Get the lifejackets, and some rope.” 

“Already on it,” Tommy yelled as he flung himself down the ladder and disappeared below deck.

Ranboo looked out at the water, and he could see the ocean was roiling and twisting dangerously directly in their path. Turning to his friend he asked, “Have you ever sailed in a storm before?”

“No, my Dad always checked the weather before we went out,” he looked focused as he stared at the waves and abruptly began to turn them so they would hit a large incoming wave head-on instead of with the side of their hull, “But Chiron give us a crash course last summer!”

“I trust Chiron, but I don’t know how much I trust sailing advice from a centaur!” Ranboo yelled back over the wind as he was hit in the side with an incoming pair of lifejackets being harshly pushed at him. 

“It will have to be good enough,” Tubbo said as he managed to get their boat to crest over the wave and drop over onto the other side.  

They all put on their lifejackets hastily, Tubbo made them tie themselves to the rails with the rope as lifelines in case someone went overboard. Ranboo didn’t want to think about that possibility as they crested over the next wave, and he saw the oncoming onslaught of its larger kin that followed closely behind. Gods, he wasn’t sure they were going to be okay.

He held the rails with a white knuckle grip as they crested over another wave and he felt his feet leave the deck for a moment as they dropped a few feet over the other side. The lighting was still rolling through the dark clouds, the blinding flashes were the only things illuminating them and the surrounding storm. And with every strike, the thunder sounded ever quicker as they got closer to the centre of the storm. He looked over and saw Tommy holding onto the railing with just as much force as he was, but only with one hand since he had Chat held tightly in his other. The raccoon was stuffed into his life preserver and it was tied to Tommys lifejacket.

Ranboo couldn’t tell how much time was passing in this state. It felt like they’d been weathering the storm for hours at this point, even though he knew it probably wasn’t that long. The winds were deafening now, and he couldn’t even hear what Tubbo was shouting even though he was right next to him. He looked over, and he saw in the white flash the look of fear on his friend's face as they dropped down this wave and he could tell why, the next was coming too quickly and it was one of the biggest they’d encountered so far. Tubbo tried his best to keep them going straight as they met it, but despite all his effort they hit it at an angle and Ranboo felt his fear slow time as they began to list over and pushed back with the crashing wave. 

Their boat hit the water completely sideways, and Ranboo found himself staring at the water from about eleven feet up. Tommy’s side hit the water first, and Ranboo was horrified to see him lose his grip as he was pulled under the water, the force snapping his rope as he vanished below the dark, roiling waves. Their mast hit next, the wave crushing it and snapping it like it was only a toothpick. And Ranboo felt his grip slip as they continued to roll, his and Tubbo’s side begging to near the water. In the slowed moment of terror, he made eye contact with Tubbo as they hit the water, the cold of the Atlantic shocking him as he smacked into the waves and felt himself being sucked under. As he struggled against the force of the ocean, he managed to pull his head above the waves and got a glimpse of their destroyed ship and the disappearing flash of orange and green that was his friend as he called out.

__________________________________________

He struggled and struggled, but fighting the ocean wasn't a fight he could possibly win. As exhaustion and lack of oxygen began to get the best of him he felt the rush of the water overpowering him was a horribly familiar feeling. And in the blackness, Ranboo felt the water slip away from his senses and himself begin to fall. Down through the pitch he plummeted for what felt like an eternity. Until he felt himself slam back into the water, accompanied by the screaming of metal crumpling like flimsy paper and the shattering of glass. But this time in the dream he didn’t sink into the water and he wasn’t swept away and under like before. He hit a solid surface. After what felt like another eternity he dared open his eyes. He was lying on his back somewhere. It was still and as dark as the sky would be if all the stars and moon were taken away. But just out of his field of vision, he could see a faint golden light coming from the direction the top of his head was facing. 

Finding he could stand he slowly got to his feet, even though a fall like that should have shattered every bone in his body. He was on a reflective but cloudy and translucent surface that reminded him of frosted glass. Ranboo had no idea where he was, but the golden light was the only source he could see by, so he spun himself around to face it. And even though it was very faint he had to shield his eyes briefly to adjust to its shine in the dark. And when he removed his hands, Ranboo found himself looking at a wall of infinite golden threads. It was a ways away, but it went on as far as his eyes could see in the black void. Endlessly it stretched up, left and right. The only way it didn’t go was down. Ranboo was glad because if it went down he wasn’t sure he could enter the wall of threads, and something was already drawing him to walk forward, and his feet had started moving on their own accord. He was acutely aware this was a dream now, and he could feel he still had control. But it all felt very real.

Walking up to the wall, he took a moment to look up at the span. Taking in its endlessness from so close gave him a feeling not unlike vertigo. He pulled his eyes away from the dizzying view and pushed his way through the first dangling threads and into the mass. Now that he was in it, it felt more like a forest than a wall. Each thread was a different length, and none hung straight down. They looked like they were strung up from invisible hooks. The hooks pulled one up before it dipped and tangled with others before being pulled up again by another hook, and so forth until the thread eventually ended. And as Ranboo brushed past them he had expected them to be cool, like metal, but they were warm to the touch. And when he dared linger near one for a second, he could hear the faint thrum of a heartbeat coming from the strand. 

In normal circumstances, Ranboo knew he probably would have turned heel and run as fast as he could away from the strings with heartbeats, but the strange compulsion made him calm and he continued on. And he found himself not even panicking when one of the strings up and to his left turned a pale blue. It then turned to grey and gently fell off the invisible hooks, detangling with the other as it did. He expected it to land on the ground, but as soon as it got to the glassy surface it passed right through. Completely unobstructed like there wasn’t anything solid there. And once it was through it sunk like it was gently floating down in water, before it eventually got so far away Ranboo couldn’t make it out anymore.

As he walked forward a few more strings turned blue than grey and fell, and slowly faded into the inky depths beneath the glass. But he kept going, kept walking. And some part of him he couldn’t quite remember knew he was good at that. And after what felt like an endless stretch of time and no time at all he found himself at a place where the scenery changed. It was the end of the forest. Or what was currently the end, he knew it was growing even as he moved. And there at the end, surrounded by the new threads they spun, measured, cut, and hooked up into the web of lives were three women. Their backs were all turned to him, but he could see the peplos’s they wore shifted through all the colours erratically. And their hair shifted too, changing colour, texture, and length. And when they turned to face Ranboo, their faces began to shift. No face they wore was the same, always different. Whether they were old or young, had a thin face or round, bright eyes or ones sunken with age, it was always different. But even in the dizzyingly constantly changing differences, they seemed almost the same as each other every time. They were sisters, they were the Moirai. The Fates.

“Well, this is a surprise. We seldom get visitors.” The one holding the distaff and spindle said smiling as her face changed from a little girls, round and full of bright hope, to that of an older, more wise woman. The thread on her distaff was dull and clear, but as it ran towards her spindle it began to glow as it was imbued with life. 

“What a strange but excellent time for you to come, indeed, Child of the Unseen One. You are just about to witness a life being cut. Finalized.” The second one said, as her dark, ringlets shifted into locks of almost floor-length red hair. She meticulously measured out the life her first sister had just spun, before she handed the end of the thread to the final sister.

“Before we do so you should know, this life is dear to you,” the third held her large pair of shears out and the cold, sharp metal gently brushed against the fragile thread. Ranboo knew the slightest pressure would snap it. 

The first giggled lightly, but the sound didn’t match the older face she currently wore, “It’s someone you care about. You won’t know who, or when.”

“But heed, keep your time preciously. We only give you so much.” The second warned, her eyes conveyed her deep sense of caution as they shifted from forest green to a warm brown.

“We don’t take kindly to meddling with our designs. And remember, we always have the final say in life…” The third smiled sweetly, her face shifting back to that of a little girl and with a resounding echo the thread was cut and Ranboo felt the grief of finality hit him in the chest like a lead weight, “And death.”

__________________________________________

He woke up with a sudden start and in a cold sweat. And he was soaking wet. And on a beach for the second time this summer. But at least this time, after he took a moment to get his bearings, he knew who he was and what had just happened. The last thing he remembered was surfacing in the rolling, cold ocean. His head was being pelted with gouts of heavy rain as he called out for his friends one last time before the dark waves pulled him under and he blacked out after a brief and final struggle. He could recall snippets of his dream, but at the moment he disregarded that in favour of frantically searching for his aforementioned friends. Pulling himself up on the rocky beach, he could just see the sun was starting to begin its descent below the horizon to his left. 

And as he stumbled, he found his backpack was miraculously on his back. And after a few seconds of running, he was able to make out just a little ways away the green sweater and orange and white baseball t-shirt clad forms of Tubbo and Tommy. The pair were wearing their bags as well. He slowed his running for a brief moment to look at the currently pink and gentle waves, making a mental note to himself that whenever he got a chance to sacrifice some food again to add as many ocean gods and nymphs as he could think of to his list. But he took off full speed towards them, his mind just beginning to fear the worst since they weren’t stirring.

“Tubbo! Tommy! Wake up!” He flung himself onto the rocks between them, bruising his knees as he did so, and relief washed over him as he took in their gentle breathing, “We’re alive, guys, we’re okay.”

Tommy opened his eyes first, and he took in their surrounding. Ranboo had been so focused on making sure they were both okay, that in the minute of pause he finally let himself see where they were too. There was a giant pier to their left, the setting sun obscured the details of the buildings on its surface, silhouetting the whole thing in black. And behind them, at the end of the wide, rocky beach was a large town. What they could see from the beach looked mostly like condos and housing units, but behind that, there was an expanse of shops, businesses, and homes. 

And finally, when Tubbo woke up and took in what the other two had been seeing he gasped in shock. 

“What?” Both the other boys asked in unison, Ranboo adding, “Are you hurt?”

He shook his head. And after blinking a few times, almost in disbelief, Tubbo finally managed to say, “This is where my parents and sisters live. I grew up here.”

Chapter Text

Tubbo's family home was a little over two miles outside of the town they were in. It was in West Sussex on the southern coast of England, nestled in the middle of a small hamlet about an hour's walk from where they’d made landfall on the beach that evening. As they left the beach and made their way through the streets, most of the shops were closed or closing up for the night. But the ones that were open looked inviting. And after their shared harrowing experience in the storm, sitting in a warm shop and getting a bite to eat was very enticing to the young half-bloods. But Tubbo seemed very intent on getting to his house. Which was understandable, he’d left for Camp two summers ago and hadn’t been home since. 

He’d confided in Ranboo earlier that summer that he’d managed to deal with the ache of homesickness knowing he was keeping his family safe by staying far away. And because going home was such a journey, he felt like it was almost impossible and that helped ease the pain. Ranboo could tell that now it was only a few miles away, just barely out of reach, he wanted to see his family badly. The older Half-Blood noticed the way that Tubbo’s face would light up when they passed something familiar on their walk before he’d point it out to his friends.

“Look, there’s the ice cream place my Stepmum used to take me and my sisters to.” He pointed out a shop that was just closing its serving window up for the evening. And then he smiled and said, “There’s the movie theatre I saw Captain America: Civil War in with my Dad a few weeks before I left for camp.”

And that continued the further into the town they got and the closer they got to Tubbo’s family home. They passed a Tesco that was right near the edge of town and he let the other two know they were about halfway there. The sun had set by now, leaving only a faint orange glow on the western horizon that was disappearing quickly. The town itself had been well lit with street lamps and more densely packed buildings spilling out light illuminating their path. But once they got outside of town boundaries the frequency of bright houses got lesser, and even though the road they were next to had plenty of street lights on it, the Half-Bloods could feel the darkness pressing in. 

Ranboo hadn’t had the experience of being a Half-Blood at night not in the protection of the Camp border. Being on their boat had felt safe enough since most water-dwelling problems were drawn to the Sea of Monsters. And that was significantly further south in the Atlantic than they were. But from what he had learned this summer, monsters were everywhere and a Half-Blood had to be vigilant at all times since their divine blood acted like a local monster homing beacon. 

Shifting his focus to their surroundings, he started fiddling with his ring so he could take it off quickly if he needed to. His inner thoughts echoed in Techno’s voice from their training, “ Stay alert. Monsters can take advantage of even the slightest shift in your focus .”

So as they walked they stayed off to the side of the road, ducking into nearby tall grass and bushes when a car would drive by to hopefully not draw attention to themselves. Tubbo was the most alert, even though they were so close to his home he was hyper focused making sure they got there safely. And Tommy seemed a bit nervous, and Ranboo noticed that when someone occasionally stepped on a twig or an animal rustles something nearby his eyes would flash. Not unlike animal eyes in the dark, but it was more golden and he seemed to be fighting to keep the glow from spreading every time he got spooked. 

But eventually the light of a larger collection of houses could be seen in the sky from their view by the road. And after a few more minutes they entered the hamlet Tubbo put his hand up to stop the other two. Looking both ways he waved the forward and they dashed across the road and down a lane of quiet, red brick houses. He continued the run, the other two following suite, until he got to the front lawn of the sixth house down on the north side of the lane and then stopped abruptly at the end of the driveway. 

The light that filtered out from the bay window in what was presumably the living room made the tears that were begging to gather at the corners of his currently almost blue eyes shine, as he looked at Ranboo and Tommy with an expression that seemed to be asking for reassurance that this was real. Ranboo nodded, gently patting his shoulder before he took off to the front door. Knocking on it quickly, he took a step back and whipped his eyes with his sleeve as someone in the living room passed in front of the light, blocking it from the window for a split second.

The lock clicked as it was unlocked right before it opened outwards and bathed Tubbo in warm light. And standing behind the door was a middle aged woman with soft, light brown hair, that was beginning to grey at the roots ever so slightly. She had warm, green eyes and a momentarily questioning expression at who would be knocking on the door so late as she asked, “Hello, can I help-”

Cutting herself off she stepped through the door and pulled her stepson into a massive hug, and he hugged back with the same amount of force. Lifting him off the ground for a moment before setting him down, still wrapped in her arms as she said, “Toby! You’re back, it’s been so long since you’ve been here. Are you okay? You hadn’t written back after our last letter a few weeks ago so your father and I were starting to worry, and…you’re father! David. David, get out here right now!” She called into the house as she let him out of the hug so her husband could hear her better, but she kept both hands firmly on his shoulders like if she let him go he might vanish. 

Tubbo smiled and wiped the stray tears off his cheeks, “I’m alright mum. I got sent on a quest before I could write back and I’ve been sailing across the ocean with my two friends here so I couldn’t reply, sorry.”

“No need to be sorry. I’m just glad you’re safe. And friends?” She smiled and wiped her eyes as well, before looking out into the driveway to the two previously unnoticed Half-Bloods standing there. 

Ranboo gave a little wave and was about to say hello before he was interrupted by the arrival of a middle aged man. He looked almost exactly like an older version of Tubbo, except his face was a little longer in shape and his hair was shorter and almost completely grey. “Maya? Is everything okay I-” he stopped abruptly looking from his wife to his son and his face lit up as he said, “Toby?!” 

With somehow more love and excitement than Maya had, Tubbo’s dad stepped through the door and pulled him into an even bigger hug. Tubbo let out a watery laugh as he was enveloped in the warmth of his father's enthusiastic hug. He sniffled as he realized he hadn’t done so since he’d left his dad at the camp border over two years ago. When they finally pulled apart he could see tears were beginning to form at the corners of his father's eyes, but he turned his head and fought them back before saying, “I missed you, son.”

Tubbo wiped away his new tears, “I missed you too, dad.” 

“Toby, who are your friends? Wait, are you Tommy?” She asked as she spoke in Tommy’s direction, and when he nodded she spoke to Ranboo, “And you must be Ranboo then?”

“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Smith,” Ranboo said to Maya, smiling, “You as well Mr. Smith.”

“It’s nice to meet you both as well. Toby writes all about you in his letters. I’ve heard you’re both excellent fighters and occasional troublemakers.” He stated, a hand still on his son's shoulder.

“Well, Tubbo’s pretty good at trouble-making too. Did you know he stopped a whole rock climbing competition by setting off a-” Tommy started even though Tubbo was frantically making stop hand gestures before he cut the other boy off.

“Ha ha, well there will be lots of time for stories inside. Can we stay the night before continuing on our quest? We’re headed to Turkey so we weren’t actually meant to end up here.”

“Turkey? That’s a long way from New York for three children to be travelling on your own. And of course, sunflower, you can always stay if you ever need.” Maya beamed as she gestured for everyone to head inside, “Oh, and your sisters will be so happy to see you.”

“You three look like you’ve had quite a day,” David said, eyeing their salt-stained clothes and messed-up hair.

“Speaking of days, what’s the date today?” Tommy asked as he started up the front stairs.

“The seventh of August, why?” Maya asked as she moved out of the way to let the kids enter.

The three Half-bloods all signed in relief as they all stepped inside and David closed and locked the door behind them. They were okay, they were on track still. And more on track than they had been before waking up on the beach a few hours ago.

“Our quest is on a strict timeline,” Tubbo said as he shrugged his backpack off and hung it on a hook by the door, “We have to be in Turkey by Saturday. Good to know we only lost one day in getting here.”

“Lost a day? You’ll have to tell us everything about this quest. But first, let me get you something to eat.” She smiled and went further away from the entrance hall and into the kitchen where Ranboo heard her call up the stairs, “Teagan, Lani! Your brother is home!”

The inside of Tubbo’s family home was quite nice. Off to the right was the living room, or as Tubbo corrected Ranboo on their quick tour later it was the sitting room. It was cozy, with a smaller, mounted TV on the far wall above a fireplace. Surrounding a centrepiece red and white Persian rug were two beige couches (sofas as Tubbo again corrected) and two recliners, covered with some pillows and an assortment of nice blankets. Mid stretch on one of the blankets was an old, sleepy-looking, orange tabby cat. He had a white belly, paws, and what looked like a small white moustache. He yawed, and when he opened up his large eyes again Ranboo saw they were a shiny green. 

“Rocky!” Tubbo said as he went over, as scooped up the cat, who made a somewhat displeased mur at the sudden movement before he began to purr, “How have you been, old boy?"

“Hey, is it okay if I let my Raccoon out of my bag?” Tommy asked Tubbo’s dad.

Looking at Tommy like he almost didn’t understand the question, he hesitated before saying, “I suppose so.”

“Cool,” Tommy said as he gently placed his bag on the ground and unzipped the top, where Chat poked his head out and gave the blonde an angry chitter, no doubt being displeased at having to ride in the bag.

David made a slightly startled sound as he saw a whole raccoon appear from his son's friend’s bag. But before he could voice his questions Tommy said to Chat, “Hey! You’re the one that told me you ‘didn’ want your ol’ gang mates to get word of you bein’ back in the British streets’. As if we aren’t hours away from your old streets.” 

Chat glared and then chittered, and Tommy responded, “Yes, I know they have eyes everywhere, but I said you’d be fine. You insisted on the bag, you can suck it up.”

“Woah,” a young girl said from where she and her older sister had appeared at the doorway to the kitchen, “Can you talk to animals?”

She was a few years younger than Tubbo, probably close to around ten. She shared her brother's similar appearance with their father. But the bridge of her nose wasn’t as strong as Tubbo’s, and her brown hair was a little lighter.   

Tommy extended his arm and let Chat crawl onto his shoulders as he stood up and said, “Only some. Raccoons are the best, but I can hear mice, rats, possums, and ravens too. You don’t want to hear what ravens and possums talk about.”

“Is that a weird demigod thing? Like all the weird people who used to show up here?” Tubbo’s other sister said, looking a bit curious but concerned, “Can our brother talk to rodents now?” 

She was standing a little behind her younger sister. She looked very similar to her younger sister, with the same colour hair and nose shape. But Ranboo could see more of Maya in her face than her sister. And she wore a pair of black glasses. She looked a little more stunned at the scene of Tommy talking to a Raccoon than at the fascination her younger sister was showing. The calm, apprehensive expression with a bit of inquisitiveness hiding behind her eyes looked almost identical to the one Maya had had on her face a few moments ago when they were talking about their quest.

“Can I pet your raccoon?” The younger asked as she took a step forward.

Tommy nodded and she smiled as she came up, and Chat bent down to let her touch his head. 

“It’s only a certain demigod thing. Like how Poseidon kids can talk to horses. Other Apollo kids with powers like me can, but we're not very common.”

Chat chittered again and Tommy translated, “He says you seem to have the makings of a great warrior.”

Her already wide smile widened, and David cleared his throat. Everyone turned their head to him, but he gestured with his head towards Tubbo. Rocky was now back in his spot on the couch. He looked displeased but was seemingly too unbothered to care about Chat’s presence. And Tubbo was standing there, tears welling in the corners of his eyes again as he saw his sisters. And after the excitement of a friendly raccoon in their house, they ran up to their brother and all three exchanged a long, happy, tearful hug.

__________________________________________

While eating their snack they explained as much as possible about Ranboo’s quest and the eventful summer they were having. They took turns and interrupted each other a few times when someone left something out. When they finished, the three let Tubbo’s family take it all in for a second. Both Maya and David looked concerned, but they tried to smile anyway. 

“So, do you know what you’re going to have to fight when you get to Troy?” David asked after a moment. 

“We weren’t given that info, yet at least. All we know is it’s a ‘foe that sleeps’.” Ranboo answered.

Maya regarded her stepson intently but directed the question to all of them, “Do you have any idea what that could mean? Is it too dangerous?”

Tommy laughed a little. He was sort of sitting off to the side and hadn’t added as much to the recounting of their summer at this point since he had been avoiding Ranboo for most of that time. The laugh he had let out was sad sounding, and Ranboo could read the hurt on his face as he said, “My friends and I went on a quest last summer. The stakes of this one are already a lot higher. We were sent to go find something a god needed that they couldn’t get to. This will be dangerous, but most things Half-Bloods do are dangerous.” 

“We’re being very cautious,” Tubbo forced a smile to try and reassure them, “And based on the fact we got here we already have someone helping us, since we ended up here and not at the bottom of the ocean. I’m sure we’ll find out what we have to fight and maybe even get more help on the way.” 

“We’ll be as safe as we can,” Ranboo added, trying to help convince Tubbo’s parents but they were not looking very convinced about their efforts. And as he said that he saw Tommy’s face fall momentarily. They’d purposefully left out the last line of the prophecy, there was no being safe on this for him.

Lani, who had been petting a sleeping Chat, piped up, “Toby, when are you leaving?”

Tubbo smiled and said, “I think we should be off early tomorrow morning. Being here overnight is probably drawing too much attention and I don’t want anything to happen because I stayed too long.” 

“Oh,” she looked a little sad about that, but beamed as she said, “Can we play a game like we used to before you have to leave?”

Tubbo looked to his parents, and Maya nodded, “That’s a wonderful idea, dear. Why don’t you take your brother and sister and go pick out a board game we can all play before bed tonight.” 

She smiled and grabbed Tubbo’s hands and dragged him off the couch and through the kitchen door with Teagan in tow as they went up the stairs. And that left Ranboo and Tommy awkwardly sitting across the room from Tubbo’s very serious-looking parents. They sat in awkward silence for much longer than Ranboo would have liked before David finally said, “You are making sure he’s safe, right? Taking care of each other?”

Relieved that he didn’t get yelled at for endangering their son by just being his friend, Ranboo said, “I think you should worry about us two more, Tubbo’s far more capable at keeping himself safe than we are to him. But yes, we are taking care of each other.”

“Yeah, Tubbo’s one of the best fighters I’ve ever been friends with. Trust me, I’ve seen some pretty famous Half-Bloods visit camp and the best swordsman at camp in a decade is basically my older brother.” Tommy added to reassure his parents.

Maya nodded solemnly before saying, “That’s good to hear. I won’t make you promise because I know how hard this is for you kids, but please try to keep each other safe. Make it back to camp and your families after this week.”

Tensing at the mention of family, Ranboo tried to avoid thinking about it by letting the faces of all the friends he’d made at camp this summer pass before his eyes. He’d make it back for them. He knew he didn’t have to worry too much right now, but he met Tommy’s eyes and tried to let him know he meant it as he said, “We’ll try our best.”

Tommy nodded, as he said to Maya and David that they would do everything in their power to make it to next week. And right as he did the kitchen door flew open as Lani ran in excitedly waving a beat-up box containing a well-loved game of Cluedo. Setting it up at the dining room table, they all sat around and played two rounds. Tommy ended up getting paired with Ranboo to help him out with the rules since he admitted he’d never played before. This also helped since only six players can play, but he didn’t know what he was doing and needed the help anyway. 

“You’ve seriously never played Cluedo before at camp? Not even the Clue Game that’s missing a bunch of pieces that gets passed from Cabin to Cabin sometimes?” Tommy asked before the first round.

“Cabin Eleven mostly has cards and even if I have before I wouldn’t know.” Ranboo tapped his forehead twice to remind Tommy of his memory situation as he picked up the cards they were dealt. 

“Right, sorry.” 

“All good, what do we do now?” He asked. 

“What we have isn’t in the envelope so we know they’re not the answer to the mystery. Now we try to solve it.”

After both rounds had been played, Maya and then Tubbo emerged victorious. Maya had almost won the second round too.

“Hey, it’s not fair. You win almost every time we play.” Lani complained, stifling a yawn since it was probably past her bedtime at this point.

Maya laughed softly as she brushed the hair that had fallen in her daughter’s face behind her ear, “I’m sorry I’m competitive at Cluedo, dear. Your Grandma used to beat me every time we played though so just be glad she’s not here today. You should get you to bed, do you want to say goodnight to your brother?”

“Yes,” she said sleepily as she went over and gave Tubbo a big hug while whispering something in his ear. He smiled and whispered something back, which made her giggle. And she grabbed Maya’s hand and began to pull her towards the kitchen. 

“Oh, honey, can you grab some extra blankets and pillows and bring them to Tubbo’s room, please? Sorry, we don’t have any guest rooms, are you good to stay together tonight?” She asked and Andrew nodded before he went off.

Ranboo shrugged, they’d been on a boat together for a little over two weeks, and they would definitely be ok in one room for the night.

Tubbo went over to where Teagan was cleaning up the game while multitasking on her phone. He pulled her into a hug, and she grumbled a bit in fake protest but smiled all the same as they said goodnight to each other.

“Come on, I’ll show you guys to my room,” Tubbo said as he held the door to the kitchen open to let his friends through and to the stairs on the other side. 

At the top, Ranboo found a carpeted hallway with a few closed doors lining it. Immediately to the left one door was ajar and he could hear Maya’s soft voice through it. Tubbo lead them to the end of the hall and the last door on the right, where presumably his room was. He carefully turned the knob, before opening it up to his room. It was rather long, going back further than it was wide to form a cozy rectangle of a room. On the left were a long unused keyboard and two ukuleles sitting with it. A book of sheet music was open on the keyboard at the page Tubbo had stopped playing at before he left. To the right there was a window, looking out to the backyard where Ranboo was able to just make out with the light coming from the dining room a tree with a rope swing that was gently swaying in the night breeze. Right next to the window, there was a desk, piled with old school work and other things Tubbo hadn’t needed to take to camp with him. Also on the desk was a computer. 

He’d learned that Half-Bloods weren’t supposed to use technology because of how their usage attracted monsters, but he really wanted to try playing some of the games his two friends always talked about. What was it, Minemaker or something? The camp did have a computer in the big house, but it was almost as old as they were and it hadn’t been updated in a long time. It ran so slowly that it was mostly only used to send emails or occasional timed video calls to parents. “ I have no need for that ,” he’d thought to himself a little bitterly when it had been offered.

Tubbo walked further into the room and to the far end where his bed was in the far left corner and flopped onto it, his bag discarded to the side. The angled roof above his bed had little, green, glow-in-the-dark stars, arranged into the shapes of various constellations he’d been teaching to Ranboo over the summer. He lay there for a second, taking in his room before he pushed himself up and went towards the door, “I’m going to see if my dad needs help carrying the stuff up. You can get set up wherever you want, I’m sorry I don’t have an air mattress or anything.”

“All good,” Tommy said as he put his bag down, and Chat crawled off his shoulders and began to explore the room, “I’ve slept in worse places.”

Tubbo nodded and left, closing the door behind him as he went. Ranboo took a seat on the chair at the desk, and Tommy grabbed one of the ukuleles and began to tune it.

“Man, I wish my family had been as nice as Tubbo’s.” The younger Half-Blood said, and Ranboo could hear the hurt in his voice.

“Your family?” Ranboo asked, realizing he’d never heard much about his friend’s Mother or home before camp. He knew from conversation with Tubbo Tommy had come to camp with Phil, Wilbur, and Techno, and he’d been quite young when he’d done so.

“My mums amazing,” he was looking up at the stars as he gently tested the instrument in his hand, “She’s the funniest and sweetest lady I’ve ever met. She’s a writer and teaches music at the primary school a few streets over from our house. She never told me how or when she caught my dad’s eye, but I know that after the summer he had to leave and go back to America. She told me he was in a band when I was little, that he might tour near us again and I could meet him but he never did. I still regret running away from her, but I’m glad she's forgiven me.”

Ranboo tried to picture her, he assumed she looked a lot like Tommy, “She sounds lovely. Can I ask why you ran away then?”

“Yeah, the boyfriend she had when I was a kid was an asshole,” he grimaced at the memory and the unpleasant sound the ukulele made as he spoke, “He never did anything to her, but every time she wasn’t around he was really shitty to me. Said my mum didn’t deserve such a bad son, blamed me for all the weird stuff that happened to us and all the bad luck we had. My mom seemed to love him, and he was a good actor so she didn’t suspect he was so nasty to me. Hit me a few times too.”

His eyes looked pained at the memory but continued, “One day, I had had enough and he’d convinced me that I wasn’t good enough for my mum, that I didn’t deserve her. So I pretended to be sick one day, and my mum had rehearsals for the school’s spring concert so she couldn’t stay home with me. He said he could, but the minute she left he just left too. So I packed my school bag with clothes, took money out of his stash, and bought a ticket for the first train that left our city. Made it to Leeds, where I met Chat and eventually got found by Phil, who saved me from a starving Gryphon.”

Ranboo was silent before he finally let out a quiet, “Wow, I’m sorry.”

“Hey it’s all good now, they broke up a long time ago and her new fiance is great. I met him when I went home this past year and he does a lot of tech and video stuff so I got to carefully help him a little while I was there.”

“I’m glad she found someone better, she sounds like she deserves someone good.” He added.

“Me too,” Tommy finished with tuning the instrument, and began to play a soft melody, “I hope your mother has someone, wherever she might be. Have you thought about her much?”

“I only remember her as a warmth, nothing more has come to me in my dreams.” 

He gave Ranboo a sad look as he played, “I couldn’t imagine not remembering my mum,” his eyes looked cool as he added, “ I could live my whole life again without knowing my father. Maybe it wouldn’t be this messed up if I’d stayed in the dark, kept my scent weak enough to maybe live a normal life.”

Even though he knew who his father was, he’d never gotten the certainty of confirmation every Half-Blood was oath bound to receive. Tommy could be certain who to direct the blame at, maybe have even met and spoken, Ranboo wasn’t ever sure if his father had any idea he existed or something. And if he did know and was somehow managing to ignore him and his oath…that was a different and deeper kind of hurt Ranboo could feel playing at the edge of his mind.

“We’ve got the blankets!” Tubbo said loudly as he pushed open the door, it opened too far and it hit the keyboard stool, rating the metal.

“We weren’t sure how many you would need for the night so we brought as many as we could find,” David appeared from around the corner, wearing a large smile that faltered slightly at the sight of the two emotionally distraught kids already in the room, “Everything all right.”

“Yeah,” Tommy lied through a fake smile, “Just discussing how we’d like to stay longer, but we don’t want to put your family in danger.”

“You’ve been such good hosts,” Ranboo tried to back Tommy up with a fact, feeling bad for lying to Tubbo’s dad.

Not looking fully convinced, he nodded and placed the rest of the blankets and pillows in the room, before turning to Tubbo and saying, “We try, and it’s the least we can do for our sunflower and his friends,” he ruffled his sons as he spoke, “Goodnight, and let us know if you need anything else before you go to sleep.”

Tubbo reached out and pulled his father into a hug, before saying goodnight as well. As he left, he gently closed the door behind him.

“Oh hey, thanks for tuning my ukulele,” Tubbo remarked on the instrument in Tommy’s hand.

“No problem man, do you want me to try to add it to my bracelet?”

Tubbo nodded, figuring it would be nice to play a bit on the next part of their quest. So Tommy sat in a crossed-leg position on the foot of Tubbo’s bed with the ukulele in his lap while the other two began to unfold the blankets and make two makeshift places to sleep. After a few minutes, his eyes began to glow a soft, white light along with the bracket, and the instrument began to slowly dematerialize and fade. It looked like dust that was settling in a sunbeam. Eventually, the motes shifted and were sucked into the bracket, and all the glowing stopped. He shook his head and stood up, before flicking his wrist and the ukulele appeared in his hand, before he flicked it again and it vanished back into the bracket.

After they were all set up for bed Tubbo turned off the light and the three got comfy in their respective areas. It took Ranboo a while to find a comfortable position, even with all the blankets and pillows he was still on the floor. He eventually was able too, and he was hoping sleep would come quickly considering how tired he was, but he was wrong. As he lay there, he was plagued by thoughts of the mother he couldn’t really remember and the father he’d probably never met. He kept wondering about his mother, and what she was like. He imagined she was strong, and kind. She probably gave the best hugs and made him soup when he got sick. She’d have held him when he got hurt playing, and read him stories before bed. Maybe they’d played Cluedo and gone to get ice cream on warm summer days. He mourned the loss of her memory, but the warmth he felt in even his worst dreams was enough to make him feel almost safe. He felt loved, even if he couldn’t picture her face. And wrapped in the comfort of her love, he eventually was able to drift off while staring at the gentle, green fluorescence of the glow in the dark stars.

__________________________________________

Ranboo awoke early the next morning to the sound of birdsong right outside the window. The sun had barely begun to rise, and he tried to fall back asleep. But after a fairly restless sleep, he wasn’t able to find it again. So he lay there for a while and waited for the other two to wake up. He watched the sun slowly begin to creep in through the window, the first red rays crawling up the wall. He eventually heard shifting coming from the bed, and Tubbo rolled over to face where Ranboo was laying on his blankets. He rubbed his eyes, and after a moment he noticed his friend was awake as well so he gave him a little smile. Ranboo smiled back.

“Morning,” Tubbo whispered very quietly, conscious that Tommy was still snoring slightly where he was laying on his blankets.

“Hi. How was the bed?” Ranboo spoke softly back.

“Comfy, I didn’t even realize how solid the camp beds are until I slept in my bed again.” He grimaced at the thought, and Ranboo laughed under his breath.

“Good, because your floor is way less comfy than the bunks,” Ranboo crossed his arms and acted like he was mad.

“At least you have blankets and we’re not sleeping on a forest floor.” 

Ranboo stretched, his shoulders popping rather loudly as he did, “We should see if your parents are up, and see about some breakfast.”

Tubbo swung his legs off the bed, and softly tried to stand up without making the floorboards creak, “I was thinking I could take you guys to the bakery my parents always used to take us to for some breakfast before we leave,”

“That would be fun,” Ranboo said as he got up quietly as well and the two snuck out of the room past Tommy, the door only squeaking slightly.

Making their way down the stairs, careful not to wake Tubbo’s sisters as well, they walked into the kitchen where they found Maya preparing food for the remainder of their journey and David was packing it up.

“Good morning,” Maya cheerily said as she took off her oven mitts, “How did you two sleep?” 

“Not bad, definitely better than I have in a while,” Ranboo replied untruthfully, smelling the fresh bread she had just taken out of the oven.

“That’s good.” David continued to pack up other provisions they’d made this morning. 

“Dad, are you heading into town this morning for work?” Tubbo asked as he poured himself a glass of water and sat down at the small kitchen table. He glanced at the clock. It was just after six. 

“I am, why?”

“Do you think you could bring us into town with you? We’ll catch a train from there.” 

David nodded as he zipped up one of the bags and placed it by the door that led to the entranceway, “Sure, I can do that.”

A little while later, after Tubbo and Ranboo had gotten themselves ready to continue their quest, Tommy appeared at the bottom of the stairs. He looked quite sleepy still and after some complaint about the time he managed to get himself ready as well.

Now they were standing in the driveway, next to their family car with their bags all loaded up inside. Tubbo was trying his best not to cry, but Maya was tearing up so he was having a hard time keeping his own tears in. Teagan and Lani were outside as well, both still in their pyjamas on account of how early it was. They too were tearing up.

“Alright, now you three stay safe out there. Make sure you’re taking care of yourselves, and I don’t just mean with quest but also make sure you’re eating enough. I packed lots of snacks, some pounds, and the euros we had left from our trip to France last year.” She wrapped her stepson in the warmest hug before adding, “And make sure you drink lots of water too. I don’t want you getting dehydrated, I imagine fighting off monsters is hard if you haven’t been drinking water and-”

“Mum, it’s okay. We’ll be okay.” Tubbo gave her a watery smile and pulled her in tighter before they let each other go.

Exchanging hugs with his sisters, he whispered something to both of them, making them each laugh in turn. 

After another round of hugs, and Maya making sure they had everything they could need for the rest of the quest, Tubbo got into the car. Tommy and Ranboo thanked Maya one last time, and with waves out the windows, they drove away and towards town. Tubbo, who was sitting in the passenger seat next to his father, had his face turned toward the window. Ranboo saw every few moments a hand went to his eyes, and he would sniffle very quietly doing his best to conceal he was crying. 

The drive into town was much shorter than the walk they had taken the previous evening. And as they drove, Ranboo had a white knuckle grip on armrests the whole way. He knew he’d had to have been in a car before at some point as he was familiar with what they were, but something about having the experience buried and the unfamiliar sensation of going so fast was not something he was not a fan of. 

“You good?” Tommy asked after he looked over and noticed all the blood had drained from his friend's face. 

Nodding slowly, all he managed to squeak out was, “I don’t remember ever being in a car.”

Tommy, who looked confused at the notion, said, “Like at all?”

Shaking his head was all he managed to do.

“Weird,” Tommy added, unhelpfully.

Once they arrived at the park where the bakery was located, Ranboo opened the door as fast as he could and got out of the car.
“You seem to be bad with every method of transport we take. I’m afraid of what will happen on the train later.” Tommy teased as he came around from the other side of the car and started unloading their backpacks from the trunk.

“Please don’t make me think about it.”

Tubbo and David were on the other side of the car, so after Ranboo had recovered from his harrowing experience he and Tommy quietly unloaded the bags and let the two say goodbye and have their moment uninterrupted. Ranboo couldn’t quite make out their words, as they were speaking fairly quietly. He could hear David repeating similar things to what Maya had been saying before they left the house. And after a few moments, they exchanged a final hug before David peaked his head around the car and said goodbye to the other Half-Bloods.

Tubbo joined them on the curb and picked up his bags. David waved and pulled out of the parking lot, leaving the three in the park alone.  

The bakery wasn’t a very far walk from where they’d been dropped off. It was a nice morning as well, so they enjoyed the birds and sun as Tubbo guided them to where they were going. They passed bikers, a few joggers, and a playground that had quite a few children playing on it. 

After a few minutes of Tubbo guiding them, they made it to the outside of a little building. The front of the building had a large cafe patio setup that moved out towards the path. The walls and roof had vines that hung down and a few flowers were still in bloom in the planters even though it was quite late in the summer. Ranboo thought it was quaint and cozy. The smell of baked goods was also very enticing, and Ranboo was definitely in the mood for some breakfast.

So, the three walked up and got seated outside fairly quickly for how busy it was. Because it was so busy, it did take them a while to order. This was lucky for Ranboo and Tommy since it gave them plenty of time to decide what they would be getting from the selection on the large breakfast menu. And by the time a nice waitress was able to take their order, he’d finally decided on sourdough toast topped with avocado and two eggs. As they sat and chatted while waiting for their food, the cafe began to fill up more and more. By the time their meals had arrived, the place was packed. They began to eat, and every so often Tommy slipped little pieces of his breakfast sandwich into his bag for Chat. After a few minutes, from behind Ranboo they heard a sweet voice say, “Excuse me?”

Startling slightly at the unexpected interruption, Ranboo reached for his ring but by the time he had turned around to face who had spoken, he realized it wasn’t a threat. Standing a few feet from their table were two girls. They were about the same age than them, if not slightly older, and they were each holding a take-out bag and drinks. 

“Do you think we could sit with you three?” The second girl asked, “We had more time than we realized and now there aren’t really any tables left.”

Glancing at each other for a moment, Ranboo was about to suggest turning them away since they were in a bit of a hurry, but before he could say it Tommy shot his friends a look of “ I got this, ” before saying, “Of course, ladies.”

The first girl smiled as she took the open seat at their four-person table next to Tommy. Ranboo was sitting directly across from him with Tubbo to his left. The second girl borrowed a chair from a nearby table where another party of three was eating their breakfast. She dragged the chair over and put it on the end of the table next to Tommy and Ranboo.

Feeling awkward, Ranboo began to spin his ring while he resumed eating his toast. The two girls unwrapped their food, which turned out to be a pastry for one girl and a bagel for the other. The three Half-Bloods were almost done with their food now, and Ranboo’s mind started to wander a bit. The first thing he noticed about the two strangers was that they were both quite striking. With soft and very proportional features, they were reminiscent of statues. The first girl, the one who had spoken to get their attention, had dark hair and fairly dark skin. The second girl had black hair and her skin was paler. As he finished eating he eyed them a bit warily, and after a moment the second girl noticed him looking.

“What’s your name?” She asked, smiling.

“Oh, Ranboo. You?”

“Naomi. And this is my friend Holli.” 

“I’m Tubbo,” he added but seemed rather inconvenienced by their whole presence and interruption of their meal.

Tommy cleared his throat, “The name’s Tom. It’s a pleasure to meet you, ladies. Where were you guys headed when you ended up having time.”

“Oh, we’re off to visit my aunt in Brussels for the next week. We left early to give ourselves enough time to get to the station with our breakfast. But I guess we gave ourselves too much.” Holli answered and took a sip of her drink. But when she put it back down, Ranboo noticed the level of the liquid in the cup hadn’t changed.

“No way! We were just about to head in that direction ourselves-”

“Tommy!” Tubbo interrupted with a harsh whisper to try and get him to stop talking, but he continued anyway.

“Maybe we can accompany you there on the train before we continue on our way?”

“On your way? Where are you heading after that?” Naomi asked with a giggle, putting her hand on his arm. Ranboo couldn’t wrap his head around why her movement made him feel uncomfortable, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Tommy didn’t seem to mind her doing that.

At her question, all three gave a different answer in unison. Ranboo said Athens, trying to cover for him but Tommy began to say Troy very confidently before Tubbo in a panic said Vienna trying to drown him out.

“Wow, that’s a full trip,” Holli said as she put her hand on Ranboo’s shoulder and snapped his arm away like he’d been burned. She looked a little hurt at that, but let her hand come to rest on the table. And she seemed to be trying to get Ranboo to meet her eyes. 

Ranboo pulled his ring off as subtly as possible when Tommy began to talk to the two and hold their attention. Something about the way they were acting wasn’t sitting very well with him, he could feel it in his stomach. He couldn’t pinpoint exactly what though, and his brain felt a little muddy and light. Like his thoughts were thicker and slower than normal.

Tubbo kept asking more questions, but every time they answered they seemed to direct their answers to Ranboo and Tommy. Holli kept trying to get closer to Ranboo, and she looked a little hurt every time he pulled away. And after a while, she just turned her full gaze to Tommy, who was eating up all the attention. Ranboo had noticed over the summer that Tommy liked to talk to the ladies at camp. He claimed that all women loved him, and he was a bit of a lady's man. He’d often strike up conversations with nymphs and naiads, who would smile when he told them stories of his “daring feats”. He was kind and Ranboo could tell the girls thought he was sweet, but it was never like this. Especially the older girls. Naomi and Holli seemed…off.

“You’re so cute.” Naomi said, as she leaned in even closer to Tommy and asked, “So where did you say you were going again?”

“Oh, we’re on our way to Troy,” Tommy replied, his expression seemed to fall completely blank, and Ranboo’s muddy brain tried to find an answer in the sugary sludge.  

“Troy? How strange.” Holli giggled again and licked her lips, almost like a hungry cat. Both of their food was still sitting on the table, completely untouched and forgotten about since they unwrapped it.

“It doesn’t matter all that much, sister.” Naomi basically hissed, as she opened her mouth and also leaned in closer to Tommy, “Little godlings just means it’ll be an even sweeter snack for us.”

As she said that the sugary mud of their charmspeak seemed to drain from his brain lightning quick. And the mist that had been disguising their forms fell away as well. As Naomi leaned in her teeth lengthened and revealed themselves to be a full mouth of sharp fangs. Claws readying to strike and every muscle in her lithe form tensing like a coiling snake. Her red eyes and flaming hair seemed to burn brighter with her excitement at the prospect of an easy meal. Her extremely beautiful but uncanny and fundamentally wrong face was made from a patchwork of bronze pieces holding the thin, greying skin together over her uncomfortably visible veins and contour of her skull. One leg was made of celestial bronze and one was of a donkey.

As he figured out what was wrong, the next few seconds almost happened in slow motion. The adrenaline and fear kicked his brain into fight mode and he stood up rapidly, his chair falling back as he did. Ranboo transformed his ring and let it extend and hit the back of Tommy’s chair, putting something in between her dangerously close mouth and his soft throat, which she was intent on ripping out. As he did all this Tubbo seemed to have figured out the ruse at about the same time and he was up on his feet as well, daggers in hand.

“Empousai,” Tubbo said, and Ranboo understood. Vampires.

Chapter Text

Tubbo couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed these two girls weren’t mortal sooner. The charmspeak should have tipped him off immediately, but he hadn’t been sure that was what they were doing. Tommy’s reaction should have made him figure it out. The way he just disappeared from himself, the blank look that someone under the influence of a powerful charm had. Tubbo would always remember that look, it was haunting every time he saw it. But his personal hang-ups with his powers didn’t matter right now though, his friends were in danger and he need to focus. 

Naomi the Empousa was bearing down on his best friend about to kill him and he needed to act. His first priority was getting them away from Tommy while he recovered from the spell. As fast as he could he slid himself across the table. He sent her toppling backward while still in the chair with a solid slide-tackle to her sternum. He made sure to continue his momentum through the kick, sailing off the table and into her, landing on her chest as she fell. The broken wheeze she made at getting winded at hitting the ground combined with the crushing from him landing full force on her made him grimace when he heard it. He stopped feeling sorry the moment her sharp claws dug into his calves and she gave him a high-pitched shriek. Tubbo felt the piercing of the large, needle-sharp nails dig into his muscles, burning like hell as they sunk in. But the puncture wounds were the least of his worries at the moment because with a strength she visibly didn’t seem to possess she threw him to the side, flinging him into a table halfway across the patio and a party of confused brunch goers. 

He stood up as quickly as he could manage, now drenched in a pitcher of ice water and orange juice. Tubbo could already feel the bruises from hitting metal patio chairs that hard beginning to bloom along his back and shoulders. Ranboo was keeping Holli at bay for the moment, parrying with his spear as she tried to claw at him. The commotion seemed to have broken Tommy’s trance, he was getting his bearings back and had his bow in hand. All this commotion had begun to draw the attention of the other customers, and eyes were turning to them.

“Everyone, these girls are armed and dangerous!” Ranboo yelled as loudly as he could, and Tubbo was hoping the mist was on their side on that one. 

It apparently was because as soon as the words left his lips people were scattering and yelling about girls with knives. It was chaos, but it meant if every mortal ran none of them were in danger of getting hurt by the monsters. 

Sprinting full speed towards him, her bronze hoof rang as she stomped against the concrete, Naomi’s fiery hair danced in rage as she tried to claw out his eyes. But Tubbo took a deep breath and sidestepped her as she went by, his right-hand dagger catching her along the ribs as he went. Shrieking again in annoyance and pain, she ignored the wound in favour of trying to tear her assailant into shreds. 

“Little brat!” She screeched, her voice echoing unnaturally “You’ll regret resisting, we would have given you a painless death but now we won’t be so merciful!”

“I don’t think so, ὀνοπρόσωπος τέρας,” Tubbo smirked and with a flourish he wouldn’t normally use in a battle he spun his daggers around his index fingers as he took a ready stance, preparing himself for the fight now. 

The flames on her head began to race even faster and burned with a fierce intensity as Tubbo realized he’d never seen a being look this pissed as she renewed clawed assault with fervour. She clawed and clawed, her strength was evident as the force of her blow still shook his arms even as he managed to block with his daggers, cutting up her forearms as she got angrier and began to control her attacks less. She was moving with pure fury, her rage at the insult and brashness fuelling her fire.

Tubbo preferred a more straight forward almost clinical approach to fights, especially with monsters. If he didn’t win, he would die and that would be that. He didn’t need to taunt or be flashy. He just needed to be precise and calculated and he would make it out alive. But he’d learned in Monster Assault Techniques earlier that summer that Empousai were vain. They preferred easy victims under their charms that would praise their beauty right up until they were drained of their blood like a carton of juice and their flesh was being devoured like a five-star Michelin dish. Morbid, he had thought at the time, but he could use this to his advantage. They didn’t take kindly to insults, especially about their appearance, and would often lash out when slighted. And the rage was exactly what he could use.

 “Too slow, βδέλλα,” Tubbo smiled.

Her eyes, which had previously burned like the embers of dying fire, were blazing pits of smouldering fury as she fought with all her might to try and end Tubbo. For a moment he was sure this had been the wrong move and he’d earned himself a death sentence, he managed to calm his breathing as much as he could and he took in her actions. Her claws were a mess of flailing attacks and they were doing very little to harm him. Meanwhile, he was cutting up her forearms as she lashed out. So, he waited for the right chance, enduring more of her forceful onslaught for as long as his arms could bear. And as she lunged forward, thinking she must have had him on the ropes by now, he sliced upwards with all his might, severing her right hand clean off at the wrist. 

She didn’t even react as her hand thudded wetly against the ground, he figured the monster equivalent of adrenaline was keeping her in this fight. Snarling, she used Tubbo’s approach to tackle him to the ground. If she was going down, she was intending to take him with her. She lodged her now stub of an arm sharply against his throat, sinking all of her weight into his windpipe. And with her remaining hand, she tensed and stuck out to drive her claws right under his ribs. Having telegraphed her strike, Tubbo managed to get twist away just enough so that her claws grazed his skin, leaving deep scratches but not anything fatal. 

Having his airways crushed wasn’t ideal and he was beginning to see black sparks in his periphery as he tried to draw in some much-needed air. But he was lucky, in her rage she’d neglected to restrain his hands. So he swiftly stabbed up as hard as he could, daggers cutting sideways into her shoulders. Hoping he hit might hit an artery or something, he kept pushing the blades with all the force he could muster until the pain finally managed to register through her anger. She pulled away out of instinct and Tubbo got a gasp of air as she lurched backward. He kept his wrists locked as she pulled back and he let her pull free of the knives on her own. They exited out of the front, leaving two huge wounds as they went, slicing through muscle and tendon. Her shock left him with an opening, and he immediately pushed himself up enough to slit her throat. The fatal wound was the first thing to begin to turn to dust. The direction of the cloud of ash followed the slash of the knife and the motion of his arm as he followed through, and he ended up rolling over onto his side. 

He couldn’t see anything now that he’d turned away, but she was also nothing more than a swirling and settling pile of dust behind him, but the silent scream frozen on her dissolving face was still there even in the black behind his eyelids. Coughing from having been choked, he could feel panic begging to rise in his throat now that the imminent danger was gone. His breaths were coming in short and he wanted to just curl up or throw up. He wasn’t sure which would be first. But he couldn’t stop now, he still needed to help his friends. There was still one more monster left threatening Ranboo and Tommy. 

No time for this, he thought as he pushed himself up on shaky limbs, No time to let your fear get in the way. You have to protect them, can’t be selfish.

So despite the shallow, burning breaths, he was barely able to take and the panic he was desperately trying to suppress he pushed back towards their table. He’d been thrown a frankly ridiculous distance across the patio and it was now a maze of toppled chairs and broken dishware, so getting back to his friends was a bit of a struggle. Channelling what he’d learned in Agility Training races he managed to not slice himself as he hopped over shattered glass tables to get back to his friends.

Ranboo and Tommy were crouched behind their toppled table. Ranboo was using the rectangular surface like it was a very large phalanx to attack from behind and Tommy was sending volley after volley of glowing light arrows in her direction. Holli looked like a person-sized pincushion or a bipedal porcupine with the number of arrows that were sticking out of her arms and shoulders. She was so pissed off at being unable to get to them that she was almost completely on fire, making an approach like Tubbo had used to best her counterpart impossible without getting scorched.

Sliding up behind his friends, he startled them but asked what the plan of attack was. 

Looking relieved that the hand on his shoulder didn’t belong to Naomi and Tubbo had managed to not die Ranboo said, “Fan out and keep her distracted, I have an idea.”

Tommy was the first to move, darting to the right from out of their cover and away from the others, yelling a string of insults as he went. Holli’s head snapped in his direction, shrieking at him as she got ready to pounce. Taking a breath, Tubbo picked up a nearby plate with the remnants of someone’s meal still on it. As he started to run to the left, he hurled the ceramic right at her head as hard as he could. The dish shattered upon impact as she got thrown off balance mid-movement and she now turned to find the source of the snack attack.

“Catch me if you can, δυσειδής,” He smiled and jumped up onto the low, brick half-wall that surround the patio. He ran along it, with Holli moving towards him in hot pursuit. He threw a dagger, cutting her cheek and more flame licked out of the gash. She unhinged her jaw like an overgrown snake, contorting her face as her thin skin stretched to its limit and pulled taut over her skull as she shrieked at him and sped up into a dead sprint right towards him.

Just as she neared him and Tubbo could feel the heat begin to sear his back another arrow whistled through the air and pierced her shoulder, adding to the growing collection in her muscles. Tommy was hopping from table to table, drawing her ire with his arrows as he moved away from Tubbo. Enraged at both of them, she stopped dead in her tracks and struggled to choose which boy to tear to shreds first for their insults. Tubbo took her indecision to escape further down the wall, and his dagger returned to his empty hand.

Making up her mind she decided to try to attack Tommy, since Tubbo had slipped out of her reach. She turned to move towards him but Ranboo had also taken her moment of hesitation and the distraction to enact his plan. Having snuck up behind her he swung the heavy metal patio chair he was holding at her back, sending her sprawling to the ground where she hit the back of her head. He then slammed the chair down over her body, managing to get one leg of the chair above her shoulder and one under her arm other arm caging her in. 

Feeling trapped she began to lash out, claws and fists cutting through the air as she flailed. Having just carried the heavy chair and swung it with all his might Ranboo was slightly bent over for moment in exhaustion as she began to thrash and one of her punches found a path to his face. The fiery fist caught him square in the jaw, hard. His head snapped back violently with a resounding crack and the force sent him stumbling backwards. He shook his head a few times and blinked trying to clear his vision. Worried, Tubbo moved to rush towards them but Ranboo recovered from the blow faster than Tubbo had expected he could. 

In the brief moment Ranboo had been forcibly moved away from Holli and her chair prison she’d begun to pull herself up onto her elbows the best she could. Ranboo’s normally bright eyes looked dark as he sneered and kicked her chest, forcing her back down. She tried to grab for him, but Ranboo stepped on her wrist, leaning all his weight into her bones with an almost cruelty Tubbo certainly didn’t expect from his friend. She yelped and tried to pull her arm away, but he didn’t budge even as the heat of her flames began to singe the hem of his jeans and soften the rubber soles of his shoes. Staring directly at her he didn’t back down as he slammed his spear down next to her head, making her flinch. He said something to her, and she used her free hand to claw at him in a renewed fervour.

He didn’t give her a chance to do more than just flail as he plunged his bronze spear into her chest, aimed directly at her heart. The life drained from her burning, hungry eyes and as they turned to a dull coal Ranboo told her one last thing that Tubbo was too far away to make out. She crumbled to dust and whips of smoke, leaving only arrows behind. Ranboo collapsed, falling to the ground on unsteady legs as the adrenaline wore off. 

In momentary shock at what he’d just witnessed Tubbo hesitated on what to do. But seeing that his friend needed help he shook off his uncertainty and ran over, grabbing the backpack he knew the little ziplock baggie of ambrosia was stashed in. Tommy was also moving over, bow away and his bag in hand. Tubbo assessed the damage of Holli’s final blow. Her flaming skin had burned his chin and part of his left cheek enough that blisters were already forming and Tubbo couldn’t tell for certain if he’s been concussed. His eyes were dazed and unfocused, and he looked dizzy from the way he was holding himself up. 

Throwing himself down he unzipped the bag and rifled through their supplies with haste. He found the baggie and broke off a small piece of the sticky, lemon square-like bar and shoved it toward Ranboo. Seemingly haven just noticed Tubbo as he pushed the ambrosia at him, Ranboo’s hand shot up and grabbed Tubbo’s forearm with more force than Tubbo was sure he meant. He looked confused before he looked relieved and then panicked.

“You need to eat this-” Tubbo started, but Ranboo cut him off.

“No, look at yourself! You…” he trailed off, eyes scanning Tubbo.

Tubbo look at his arms and legs and took himself in. The stress and panic of the battle had kept him from noticing but he was bleeding profusely. The cuts and scratches on his arms were more or less superficial even if there was quite a lot of blood running down his arms. But the puncture wounds in his calves were very deep, and the scratch on his ribs was deeper still. Nothing fatal, he thought but wasn’t so sure how he would fair with all the injuries combined. 

He felt himself sway, as if somehow noticing the damage he’d sustained made it affect him even though he’d been moving just fine up until then. Ranboo guided his hand to his mouth, where he ate the ambrosia he’d intended for his friend. The gooey piece melted on his tongue and the taste of his dad's homemade pastries warmed him from the inside out. 

Feeling much less like he was on the verge of passing out, he managed to reach over and pull his water bottle out of his bag. His mum had been right, water was definitely good to have when you were fighting monsters. He tossed the baggie of ambrosia to his friend and he quickly pulled out some gauze. He began wrapping up his calves. The puncture wounds were now healed up mostly in an instant, but he didn’t want to bleed everywhere if one split open.

“We have to go. Now!” Tommy said as he came over and deposited their collection of bags near the two. 

Tubbo noticed what he meant. Police sirens had begun wailing in the distance, no doubt having been called to the scene of this breakfast cafe knife crime. The monsters were gone so if they stuck around they would no doubt take the blame and all that entailed. They didn’t have time to get thrown in jail, they only had a few days before they had to be at Troy for the eclipse. Tubbo figured out based on the way his head swum as he stood up he didn’t have it in him at the moment to charm his way out of the situation with the cops.

“I don’t think we can make it to the train station now, trying to board a train while the police are looking for suspects that fit our description feels like the worst option,” Tubbo said, leaving heavily on the chair Ranboo had just used to pin Holli down as he explained his current inability to get them out of trouble with the law and onto a train. 

“Where do we go then? How can we get to Turkey fast enough if we can’t catch a train?” Tommy asked, frustrated but impatient as the sirens began to get too loud for any of their comforts.
  
“How long do you think you’d need until you can Charm again?” Ranboo asked, his eyes still seemed slightly off as he quickly stuffed the ambrosia into his pocket, the square looking suspiciously untouched.

Tubbo managed to stand up to full height and prepared himself to move as fast as he could out of the park despite how gods awful he felt, “I might need an hour or two, but we can’t stick around for that long.”

Ranboo was silent for a moment, and Tubbo could almost see the wheels turning in his friend's head, “What are you thinking bossman?”

He looked at him, and Tubbo would have sworn it on the river Styx if he didn’t feel like such shit that the other half-blood's eyes flashed purple for a second before he said, “I think I have an idea.”

__________________________________________

The three were huddled in the trees on the outskirts of the closest airfield to Tubbo’s town that he knew about. They’d managed to catch a last-minute bus that had taken them in the right direction and got them to a little parish that he knew was as close as they could get on public transportation. The last leg of the trip had to be made on foot and even though it was only a thirty-minute walk Tubbo was thankful he’d been able to take an hour power nap on their bus ride.

He felt uneasy about resting so shortly after a monster attack, but Ranboo had reassured him that he could sleep while the other two kept watch. He’d also said after a few minutes on the bus that for his plan to work he would need to be able to use his charmspeak.

“I don’t know if I have the strength right now.” Tubbo yawned, still feeling more out of it than he wanted after losing just a little bit of blood. He was lying to himself, it was quite a lot of blood.

Ranboo studied him carefully before saying, “Just get some rest now. Hopefully you can soon.”

Tubbo reluctantly closed his eyes, and almost instantly he fell asleep. It was so quick the next thing he registered was Tommy shaking him awake now that they were at their stop. Chat had crawled into his lap and had been snoozing with him. He blinked a few times before he got his bearings. Even though the nap had seemed almost instantaneous he felt much better than he had before, the ambrosia working its magic. He informed Ranboo of this as they crouched in the brush, watching a small prop plane begin to taxi down the runway and prepare for takeoff.

Ranboo nodded as he observed the area, scanning the buildings and what Tubbo had figured out must have been the small airfields hangar.

Tommy was on Ranboo’s other side, looking skeptical as he asked, “What’s your plan here? I don’t think Tubbo has the strength right now to charm a pilot into flying us to Turkey. No offense, man.”

Tubbo shrugged, he was right. Under normal circumstances that would have been difficult to maintain for that long. And right now he wasn’t sure he could hold it long enough to convince someone they owed him money (which was surprisingly easy most of the time).

“We don’t need a pilot,” Ranboo said calmly and in a matter-of-fact sort of way Tubbo wasn’t accustomed to from his friend.

Tommy was beginning to look frustrated, “‘We don’t need a pilot’ my ass! Then why did you drag us-”

“I’ll fly the plane,” Ranboo stated. The prop plane finally started its ascent. The noise must have provided enough of a diversion because Ranboo got up and began to run toward the hangar and the smaller building beside it. 

The remaining two half-bloods in the bushes stared at each other for a few seconds, trying to decide if they’d both actually heard their friend say the most bat-shit crazy thing ever or they were both hallucinating. But Ranboo was booking it across the field and was making pretty good time with his long legs.

“What do you mean you?” Tubbo asked frantically as the pair took off after the other. 

Ranboo shook his head, “No time, let’s go.”

Tommy grumbled something about time but they kept running across the field until they got to the hangar. Ducking behind the steel walls they crept around the corner and moved out after Ranboo made sure the coast was clear. In between the runways and the hangar was a lawn area, and it was packed full of an array of antique planes. Old war planes ranging from World War One planes with their double wings to sixties fighter jets were spread about. It looked exactly like the place Tubbo would have loved to have come on a school field trip when he was little. 

They continued forward, moving slowly through the display of relics. They stopped in front of some old fighter jet, a famous type at that but Tubbo had always zoned out when his teachers had talked about military history stuff in school, finding it a little boring as a small child. Ranboo studied the old plane for a second, the green and grey paint job, and military symbols on the wings. He looked back at the other two and then at the single seat before he shook his head and continued moving forward through the maze of old aircraft.

On the other side of the display, they found where the up-to-date planes were being stored. Several rows of personal planes were lined up near the runway, ready to be flown. 

“This one,” Ranboo said as they stopped suddenly and pointed at a small plane in the lineup.

“Do we need a key? I don’t know how this works,” Tommy scowled, looking rather skeptical of this whole plan.

Ranboo nodded, “We need to steal it off the owner, the plane looks ready for take-off so whoever it is might be eating in the restaurant over there.” He pointed to the past the hangar and the administrative building to the where the main building of the estate this place was built on was located. Tubbo knew it had a fancy hotel and restaurant from living in the area, but he was a little unsure how Ranboo knew that.

“How exactly are you going to get it?” Tommy asked, arms crossed.

Ranboo smiled as opened the door to the plane, which wasn’t locked, and threw his bag in, “Easy, we turn on the charm.”

Tommy scoffed, “Tubbo doesn’t have the strength for this right now, man-”

“It’s okay, I think I can do a little bit right now.” Tubbo tried to look like he believed what he was saying, but he still felt awful. 

“Good, because we’ll need to move fast if we want to get out of here,” he said, and started towards the forested estate where the fancy dining accommodations were located, and then said to Tommy, “Stay hidden on the plane and make sure no one steals our stuff. Get off if someone tries to take off.”

“No shit!” Tommy yelled back as he climbed on board with a rather mad huff, pretty confused about this whole plan.

Tubbo followed Ranboo, having a bit of trouble keeping pace with his taller friend as they jogged as quickly and stealthily as possible through the rest of the field and towards the tree line. They found the path that led to the restaurant. Tubbo was relieved they only had to duck off the path when they heard a buggy approach, but it passed by without any of the riders noticing them. 

Once they got to the end of the path, the pair found the estate. It was an old, Jacobean house, with domed turrets, ivy-covered walls, and fancy colonnades. Tubbo had only been here once, and he couldn’t remember much but it had been for his Nan’s sixtieth birthday when he was little. If he was remembering correctly, the restaurant was in the west wing of the converted estate. Guiding Ranboo that way, they eventually made it there after having snuck around the fancy, trimmed hedges and trees. 

“What’s the plan now?” Tubbo asked as they watched a couple in significantly fancier clothes than what they were wearing enter the building. 

“Simple,” Ranboo said, “Your family owns the plane we’re trying to steal and I’m your American cousin here for summer vacation. We get in, you charm our way to find the guy, get his keys, run like hell for the plane, and try and take off before any problems happen.”

“Yeah, simple,” Tubbo mumbled, just the thought of how much energy he would have to use for this already made him feel sluggish.  

“I can do most of the talking if you need,” Ranboo suggested, and Tubbo found it a little odd his friend would volunteer to talk to a bunch of strangers. But he was just being nice since he could probably see how exhausted Tubbo was, he knew he wasn’t hiding his fatigue very well right now.

“Ok, let’s hope we don’t get caught,” Tubbo said as they made their approach to the doors and stepped inside. 

They were luckily greeted with a large directory of the estate in the centre of the entrance hall. From the brief glance, Tubbo managed to get on their way by the hotel was up the large staircase, and the restaurant was to the left. They walked down a long hallway, with massive windows that bathed the portraits and fancy decor in a soft, warm light. The smell of freshly made and expensive dishes got stronger as they approached. 

“Hello,” a hostess greeted them at the door, smiling even though she looked a little confused at the approach of two unaccompanied kids, “How can I help you this afternoon?”

“Yeah, we’re looking for my uncle. He said he would take us flying now and I’m getting really bored of this place.” Ranboo said, turning on an unexpectedly good act of an impatient, rich kid.

“Ah, I see,” the hostess said as she looked over at her monitor, “And your uncle would be?”

Ranboo scoffed, “You’re asking me who my uncle is? MY uncle? I’m sure you know him, it would be embarrassing for someone who works here not to know him.” 

Tubbo tried not to laugh, as he remembered a little bit more about this place from the history lesson his Nan had given him while eating here that one time, “Miss, my father is a close, personal friend of the Duke. It would be best if maybe we just went and found him ourselves, he doesn’t tolerate delays.”

The hostess sighed, and Tubbo could see she didn’t truly care enough to dig further at the moment, “Alright, go on in.”

 Ranboo scoffed again, with a little more attitude, and the two waltzed in as confidently as they could while trying not to break down laughing.

“We did good,” Ranboo whispered as they found themselves in the ballroom that had been converted into the restaurant floor. 

Tubbo followed Ranboo’s lead as he walked confidently across the restaurant and beelined to a lone man sitting at a table. He was about to take a sip of his drink when the two approached and he stopped with his glass hanging midair.

“Can I help you?” He asked, looking more shocked and confused than like he wanted to help two strange children who just walked up to him.

Putting on his spoiled act, Ranboo in probably the most long-winded and confusing way asked the man about his “uncle”. They needed to find him since they were going to go flying soon, and they were getting tired and super bored of waiting. The man looked confused, but still a bit shocked as Ranboo added, “My uncle flies the Cessna Skyhawk with the blue and green decals, you should know him.”

“It would be embarrassing if you didn’t,” Tubbo added, crossing his arms as he caught the man’s eyes and faced on convincing him what he was telling was the truth.

The man’s face went blank for a moment as the magic took hold before he started to stammer, embarrassed that they’d insinuate they didn’t know this uncle even though Tubbo could see that he was struggling to sort in his mind what he knew and what he was being convinced of.

“Of course, I know William, and he’s over there ordering his food now. I’d appreciate it if you two left me alone to finish my drink.”

They turned and saw the man they were looking for, just finishing speaking with a waiter who was turning away. He was probably a little older than Tubbo’s dad, and a little shorter too. He looked less fancy then Tubbo was expecting, just a rather normal middle-aged man ordering some lunch.

Ranboo moved over to his table with haste asked, “Are you the owner of the Cessna Skyhawk with the blue and green decals?”

He nodded but as he opened his mouth to say something Ranboo began to talk very quickly. He was speaking at a pace that was much faster then the man could follow and a bit faster then Tubbo could process at the moment. He wasn’t always the best at auditory processing under ideal circumstances, and his tired brain wasn’t being very helpful. The man looked confused and he tried to get a word in edgewise but Ranboo just kept going, saying a lot about taking the plane and needing to leave now. 

“…that’s why we need your keys to you plane, sir. Right, cousin?” He finished rambling, and turned to Tubbo expectantly.

Confused and having not caught any of that, Tubbo just rolled with it. He dug deep for his power and let the charm coat his words in as much honeyed magic he could well up inside himself, “Right, that why you need to give us your keys right now, please.” 

His face took a moment to fall, but when it did it was as blank as an empty sheet of paper. Just from proximity he saw Ranboo’s face momentarily fall before he shook his head and snapped out of it.

“Yeah, sure kids, just be careful.” He responded with no emotion as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his set of keys for his plane and headed them to Ranboo, who pocketed them.

“Thank you, sir, we’ll get them back to you right away.” Ranboo smiled before he turned and with casual confidence began to walk out of the restaurant. Tubbo got up, and he felt the charm begin to weaken the minute he turned away from William. He often didn’t have to push the limits of his magic, and he hadn’t held a charm this hard since the gas station in Nova Scotia at the begging of their quest, and he’s been at full energy and uninjured. He stole himself with a shaky breath, willed his magic to hold on a little longer and followed Ranboo out. 

As soon as they were out the restaurant doors, the hostess gave them a confused look but Ranboo reassured her they found his Uncle, and were just super board of the estate and were leaving. She sighed, but went back to her phone and let them go. They tried to act casual as they walked down the hall, but as soon as the two were out of her line of sight they stared sprinting towards the exit. As the burst through the doors, and onto the lawn Tubbo noticed that the buggy that had passed them earlier was near the door, the riders were on the lawn admiring a nearby topiary and receiving a speech from a staff member about the estate. 

Ranboo must have been thinking what Tubbo was thinking because he started to run and yelled, “Get to the golf cart!”

“The what?” Tubbo asked, and pointed at the buggy, “ You mean the buggy?”

“Yes, the golf cart! Go!” Ranboo looked more frantic then he had during this whole ordeal as they raced towards the buggy. Golf cart? It didn’t matter, not getting caught and arrested mattered.

Ranboo got there first and hopped into the drivers seat and started the engine, while Tubbo hopped onto the back-facing seat. As he sat down he felt the strain of holding the charm weigh on him like a he was carrying Tommy on his back again to the Big House from the climbing wall after he’d severely burned his leg that one time. His vision was swimming but he managed to keep himself upright. 

“Hey, what are you doing?!” The staff member who had been giving the speech yelled at them as he was startled out of his spiel by the sound of the buggy staring, and he started to run towards them while reaching for his radio. 

Oh fuck, Tubbo though as Ranboo started to speed away. He gripped the armrest and he tried to reach for the golden thread of energy he felt in his gut whenever he used his power, feeling the strain on his body get heavier as he called back, “It’s okay, we’ll be right back with it!!”

The man stopped in his tracks, looking more confused then Tubbo knew he normally would under his power, but he was spread so thin he knew it wasn’t working very well.  He hoped to the Gods this would buy them enough time as he felt the thread on William begin to slip slightly as they got further away. Both threads eventually fizzled out and failed as Ranboo skidded out of the forest and onto the airfield.

Now they were driving right across the field, in full view of anyone else on the airfield and Tubbo knew they were drawing attention to themselves. He took a deep breath as he turned around and watched their approach to the plane, while keeping an eye on the buildings he though Security would most likely come running from at any minute. But no horde of guard appeared by the time they had reached their getaway ride and Ranboo was helping him up into the plane. He sat down heavily onto the passenger seats. Tommy was already strapped in, and so was Chat beside him. Tommy began to yell at Ranboo about being reckless with Tubbo and his energy as he slammed the door and took his seat, but Ranboo seemed too focused to notice as he sat down in the pilots chair. He fastened his seatbelt, put on the headset sitting there and turned the plane on.

The machine hummed to life and the prop began to spin. All the lights on the control panel blinked on, confusing the hell out of himself and Tommy but Ranboo seemed to know how to make sense of it all as he started to move the plane towards the runway.

As they taxied to the runway he adjusted the radio channel before speaking a code into the mic, saying, “This is November Foxtrot Twenty-Seven, requesting the great Olympus Air Traffic Control please grant our craft permission to use the airways over Europe. I repeat this is November Foxtrot Twenty-Seven, requesting the great Olympus Air Traffic Control please grant us permission to use the airways over Europe.”

There was a pause and seemingly a response on the other end, and Ranboo stopped. He began to fiddle with the controls and check the plane’s flaps before he scanned the airfield then turned their stolen plane sharply to the left and onto the runway. Tubbo could hear a different channel cut in on the headset, and whoever was speaking was doing it loudly, and angrily and they were quite confused. Ranboo told Tommy and Tubbo to put in the passenger headsets as he turned off the radio and cut off whoever was shouting on the other end.

A hangar door opened and a security car pulled out, heading in their direction to try and stop them before they took off. But Ranboo sped them down the runway at full power. They went off and with an incredible calm Tubbo had never seen his friend possess they took off and over the line of trees they’d been hiding in earlier. In disbelief, the two younger half-bloods sat silently as they began to climb higher, higher, and eventually leveled off. Tubbo could see the surrounding fields and townships of the area he’d grown up in. After a while of flying, he could make out the Channel as they approached Continental Europe. It was around this time that Tubbo noticed Ranboo’s nose had begun to bleed, he looked rather sick and the burn from earlier was somehow looking worse. Even though he was still calm and focused, he looked like his earlier blow to the head had somehow begun to catch up to him long after it had happened. 

Tommy seemed to have noticed at around the same time and he lunged forward in his seat towards Ranboo, a piece of ambrosia in hand. Even though Ranboo was out of it he tried to twist away from Tommy’s hand and the lemon square. But the younger managed to grab his shoulder and give him the ambrosia, and it immediately began to do its work. His eyes lost the glassy, unfocused look and his pallor began to disappear. As soon as he began to look better, everything went wrong. He looked extremely confused and frazzled, and in his newfound panic, he leaned hard on the controls and sent the plane into a full nose dive. If Tommy had stood up he would have been flung to the back of the plane, but instead, he slammed hard into the back of his seat.

“What’s happening, what’s happening!?!” Ranboo yelled as he struggled to find his bearings, “Tommy, Tubbo? What’s going on?”

“You’re flying the getaway plane, man, what do you think is happening? This was your idea?” Tommy yelled into his passenger headset, angry and confused as they were flying straight towards the ground.

“What?! What…” Ranboo yelled and then he seemed to finally realize what was happening as he took in the sight of the water they were diving straight towards. 

 It took him another moment of panic before the flashing warning on the control panel and the robotic voice that warned him the ground was starting to get too close before he figured out how to level off the airplane again. They all sat for a moment, breathing heavily as they recovered from the scare. Ranboo still looked a bit confused, which was disconcerting, but he’d regained control of the plane and they were flying smoothly now. After a few minutes, Tubbo tried to ask him what had happened, but he found that Ranboo had switched off the passenger intercom and Tubbo’s words couldn’t be heard over the sounds of the plane. Unable to do anything, Tubbo just sighed and looked out the window as he watched their plane approach Brussels.

__________________________________________

Tubbo hadn’t meant to doze off on the plane, but after the brief moment of chaos Ranboo was a surprisingly good pilot and the ride was very smooth. After getting thoroughly beat up in the fight with the empousai and using more energy than he thought he was capable of to get them on the plane Tubbo slipped into sleep. Unlike the one he’d had on the bus earlier, this sleep wasn’t quick and dreamless, it was something he was more used to.

He’d learned when he got to Camp Half-Blood dreams often held clues and important information that they could use. His dreams had always been quite strong when they came, and he did everything he could to try and avoid dreaming. He fell asleep and woke up at the same time every day, exercised regularly. Sometimes it wasn’t enough, and now he found himself sitting in a cold, dark room. It was cramped and stuffy. Other than a chair he was sitting on the only other dominant feature of the room was an ornate, old grandfather clock. It was unsettling, but strangely beautiful. He sat and studied it, letting time slip away as he ignored the movement of the steel hands and got lost in the scenes that decorated it.

“Worthless!” He heard a woman with a shrill voice scream as the door to the room, or more accurately the closet, was flung open. Tubbo jumped aside as a small child was tossed into the space.

“Sister I-” the little boy tried through tears to say but he was cut off by more yelling and a heavy book was thrown at him. 

“You will stay in here until you can read this book!” What Tubbo could now see was a nun screamed at the young boy as she closed the door hard, and locked it shut with finality.

“No! No, no, no!! Please, I promise I will read in class please-” the little boy yelled, as he pounded his small fists against the door, sobbing as he tried to speak but the nun cut him off as she began to walk away.

“You’ll stay, Mr. Frazier, until you can finally read.” She dash off with a huff as Tubbo heard another door being slammed shut.

The little boy continued to sob uncontrollably as he banged on the door, pleading to be let out. He eventually got too tired and fell to the ground and just cried, his little frame shaking with his tears. His cloths were threadbare, and in the chill of the room he must have been horribly cold. Tubbo wanted to reach out. Help the little boy, but he was conscious of the fact he wasn’t really there and couldn’t help. No matter how much he wanted to. He couldn’t stop himself from reaching a hand out and placing it on the little boy’s shoulder, even though he couldn’t feel it.

After a long time, the little boy sat up and grabbed the book. The little sun that was able to slip in through the small, high-up window had slid along the wall over the course of however long he’d been there crying. He looked up and for the first time, Tubbo got a good look at his face. He gasped as much as his dream self could.

“Alright,” the little boy said to himself, his voice still shaky from crying as he wiped tears out of his eyes with his sleeve. He opened the book to page one, “I can do this, I can do this-”

“Tubbo, wake up!” He felt someone shake his shoulder and was tugged out of the closet and away from the boy. 

“What, what?” He asked as he shot up, and was trapped by his seatbelt as he tried to remember where he was.

“Tubbo, we’re here. We’re about to begin our descent.” Tommy, who’d just been shaking his shoulder, said.

It was dusk now, and the sun was setting out the left window. They were above a city, and the setting sun sparkled off the dark sea around the city and in front of them.

“Where’s here?”Tubbo asked,

“Welcome to Venice, Italy.” Ranboo said with a smile while adding, “This is about all the gas we have so this is where we’re stopping before we crash.”

Tubbo tried to return the smile, but after the dream he was feeling unsettled. It had been weird, but everything had been okay until he’d seen the boy’s face. He hadn’t been fully sure since he was so much younger, but now that he was awake he knew. The child in his dream had been Ranboo.