「008. could her day get any worse? 」

IT TOOK a lot of inner strength for barbie not to kill kenji ito. of course, she had no idea if she was even capable of killing a demigod. but the death of somebody as close to her as herry seemed to make that line very thin.she watched as kenji sobbed, muttering to himself as he stared down at cherry's body. he looked broken, to say the least. but barbie couldn't help but think that was what he deserved.

"i didn't mean to kill her," he whispered finally, speaking to barbie direct after a while, "it was never meant to happen like this."

"you were meant to kill me, blue boy, i don't think it makes it any better," snapped barbie, a dome of protective mist around them so they could safely get back the demigods base. she paused for a moment, before her brain suddenly had an idea and she spoke, "kronos."

"what about him?" whispered kenji sadly.

"he must have a way of communicating to you, right?" she spoke, her voice harsh, "well?"

"uh- yes, we all have scythe charms. i- i charmed them myself," whispered kenji in a disappointed tone.

"you charmed them yourself?" questioned barbie.

"i'm a son of hecate," he spoke, his voice cracking, "i guess you want me to destroy mine?"

"yes," she nodded curtly, "hand it over."

"i- fine," mumbled kenji, shuffling slightly before he handed barbie a scythe bracelet. barbie looked at the charm before looking at a nearby gutter and she dropped them down, not even bothering to look where it went.

after a few deep breaths, barbie seemed to have calm down a bit. and it seemed most of the overwhelming rage she felt seemed to change into sadness. but she refused to let herself cry. instead, she took a shaky breath before her gaze hardened slightly and she murmured, "you're going to tell us everything you know about kronos, kenji. and you're gonna help us."

by the time she'd made it back to their base. she'd decided to herself she was going to be civil to kenji. it actually seemed pretty stupid to be civil to him. but he already looked so guilty and sad, and was constantly on the edge of having another mental breakdown. and she knew he wasn't lying when he said he didn't mean to kill her,she could feel the truth radiating form his voice. she'd deny as much as she could, but she didn't want to hate kenji.

maybe her past self would have taken no prisoners, just killed him or beat him until he was in unbearable pain. but after seeing cherry die... it was like barbie had had an epiphany of sorts. life was too short. not only that, but you only had one shot at it. if barbie spent the whole of her life, simply hating a fifteen-year-old kid for throwing a knife wrong (of course there was the fact he was trying to kill her) then she'd just feel... wrong. don't get her wrong, she's not gonna become fast friends with him, and that would likely take her a while to even look at him without feeling some sort of rage. but for now, she was going to be civil, and also force him to tell her everything he knew about kronos.

she'd led kenji all the way to will solace in the infirmary, who's eyes were wide when he saw cherry's dead body.

"no-" he murmured, "no it can't be-"

"killed in front of my eyes," whispered barbie in a broken tone, "clean her up... will, we'll see about doing a memorial service for her soon. but at least give her a drachma so she can pass freely to the underworld."

will solace nodded sadly, quickly cleaning cherry's dead body up before wrapping her in a green fabric. he fumbled for two drachma's and placed them over both her eyes before he muttered a few words in ancient greek, before looking back up at them, tears in his eyes.

"what's he doing here?" will spoke, as if suddenly realising kenji was there, "who's he?"

"i'm-"

"he's a prisoner from kronos' side. i found him trying to set fire to something with magic," lied barbie, "he's a son of hecate."

well, at least that was true.

"you want me to keep him here?" asked will, wincing as he looked at cherry's body.

"apollo's the god of truth? right?" asked barbie, "do you have any powers of sorts for that?"

"most apollo kids do... but we usually never use them unless we really mean to. so like, if you lied right now but i didn't know it- i'd have no clue and assume it's the truth. but if you told me to tell you if it was a lie or aa truth, then i'd know," will spoke as he ran around, grabbing antiseptics for another fallen demigod, "i can ask him a few questions if you want?"

"good," nodded barbie, before she turned to kenji, charmspeak strong in her voice as she spoke, "you are not to try escape."

it seemed most of barbie's friends were relatively close to where their camp or base was in manhattan. and after the death of one of her friends, she really just needed to check if they were all ok. she hadn't seen percy since the start of the battle, nor annabeth or val. thankfully, within a few moments, she spotted val. she ran to him, practically bolting before hugging his taller frame tightly, crying softly. he was hurt, but not too much. just a few bruises and no deep wounds. thank the gods.

"you're ok," she whispered in relief, "you're ok-"

a horn sounded. she turned around to find percy and annabeth a few meters away from them. almost immediately, val left her hold and ran to annabeth, engulfing her in a huge hug. barbie walked quickly after him, greeting percy with a small hug. he smiled at her and annabeth laughed loudly at something val said.

annabeth grinned,letting go of him before she spoke, "hey... where's cherry?"

"oh yeah," nodded val, "where's she? i wanna give her a hug."

"she's in the infirmary," barbie managed to get out.

her friends faces morphed to worry as annabeth began to ask, "what? is she hurt-? is she ok-?"

"she..." began barbie, not being able to say the words as she felt tears well up in her eyes again, "she's... she's..."

"no," whispered val, "no she can't be-"

"she is," whispered barbie, looking to the ground, "she died in front of me...i... i found some demigod too..."

"what? a random demigod in new york? by chance?" asked percy, giving barbie a comforting side hug.

"no... one of luke's," mumbled barbie, "he came willingly with me. i destroyed the device he was using to contact luke- well, i dropped it in a drain. but it's as good as gone. will's been questioning him, i think."

"is he claimed?" asked val.

"he's a son of hecate," barbie spoke, sniffling slightly, "i'm hoping.... i mean i don't like him much. but i'm hoping after this is all over he could come to camp..."

"i don't even know if the hermes cabin would have anymore room," annabeth hummed.

"it's such a shame they don't have cabins," barbie spoke before adding, "i mean the minor gods."

"yeah-"

a new blast of horns shattered the night and the air shimmered. in a blur of movement, an entire calvary appeared.

"yeah, baby!" wailed a voice, "party!"

a shower of arrows raced over their heads and slammed into the enemy. whilst four of them chatted as they occasionally destroyed a few monsters. but these arrows that destroyed thousands of monsters, definitely weren't normal. they made a whizzing sound as they flew, and some had pinwheels attached to them whilst others had boxing gloves rather than points.

"centaurs!" annabeth yelled with glee.

"do you think she's still high on pain meds?" joked percy, causing the watery-eyed barbie to let out a small laugh. he leaned towards her after he disintegrated a monster and kissed the top of her head, "we'll talk later."

"mmhhm," she nodded, "c'mon."

the party pony army exploded in their group and the whole place burst with colour. tie-dyed shirts, rainbow afro wigs. oversized sunglasses and war-painted faces. some even had slogans scrawled across their flanks saying things like: horse pwn or kronos six lol.

"that's what i'm talkin' about!" grinned val, jumping in glee. hundreds of them filled the entire block.

it was like a celebration, and the glee and happiness radiating from everybody else made barbie feel happy enough to crack a smile. the death might have still been fresh in her mind, but she was sure cherry wouldn't want her to be sad all the time. if anything, cherry wanted her to move on from it. and be happy. it seemed weird when barbie thought about it like, but it was true. she'd heard it from cherry herself.

you can't dwell on things too long barb, she'd said with a little giggle, if you think about it too much you'll be stuck in the past. and that's never a fun thing. she'd always sigh after she said that, a small hint of sadness in her smile as she continued, and besides, if everybody was sad when somebody died, there'd be no happiness. that's a kinda bleak thing, isn't it?

"percy!" chiron shouted across the sea of wild centaurs. he was dressed in armour from the waist up and in his hands was a bow and arrow. he grinned in satisfaction as he yelled, "sorry we're late!"

"dude!" yelled another centaur, "talk later bro. waste monsters now!"

he locked and loaded a double-barrel paint gun and blasted an enemy hellhound bright pink. the paint must have been mixed with some sort of celestial bronze dust or something because as soon as it splattered the hellhound, the monster yelped and dissolved into a pink and black puddle.

"party ponies!" a centaur yelled, "south florida chapter!"

somewhere across the battlefield, a twangy voice yelled back, "heart of texas chapter!

"hawaii owns your cafes!" a third one shouted.

for a few moments, the grief lifted off of barbie's shoulders and she laughed with glee. it was probably the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. (beside percy's face-) the entire titan army turned and fled, pushed back bay flood of paint balls, arrows, swords and nerf baseball bats. the centaurs trampled everything in their path.

"stop running, you fools!" kronos yelled, "stand and -ackk!"

that last part was because a panicked hyperborean giant stumbled backwards and sat on top ofhim. the lord of time disappeared under a giant blue butt, and for the first time since cherry had died, barbie let out a loud cackle of glee.

they pushed them for several blocks until chiron yelled, "hold! on your promise, hold!"

it wasn't easy, but eventually, the order got relayed up and down the ranks of centaurs, and they started to pull back, letting the enemy flee.

"chiron's smart," annabeth said, wiping the sweat off her face, "if we pursue, we'll get too spreadout. we need to regroup."

"but the enemy-"

"they're not defeated," she agreed, "but the dawn is coming. at least we've bought some time."

barbie didn't like pulling back, but barbie knew she was right. she watched as the last of the telkhines scuttled towards the east river. then reluctantly she turned and headed back towards the empire state building.

they set up a two block parameter. barbie walked with percy awkwardly. well, she thought it was awkward. the two of them walked in silence, but she kept feeling percy stare at her.

"why are you staring at me?" asked barbie, turning to see percy glancing at her.

she'd heard percy stutter loads of times, but this time he just sounded cute and flustered, which confused her slightly and sparked some kind of hope inside of her. he looked at her and put his hand on the back of his head and shoved his hand into his pocket awkwardly, "oh... you know.."

she rubbed her temples slightly as she said, "some dragon bitch broke my weapon."

"how?" he asked, "i thought-"

"when it's in it's sunglasses form," she spoke shakily, "it's plastic. it can be broken easily."

"oh..." he spoke.

they walked in silence for a bit longer, "i'm sorry about....cherry," he mumbled.

"it's..." she didn't want to say it was fine, because it wasn't. she'd watched cherry die. right in front of her. and she hadn't even prevented it. she could've stopped it. she looked down and clenched her fists, "i promised her. after all this, that we'd go on a vacation. the two of us. we were menna go on a road trip. it started as a joke, really, but then we kept planning things and i saw her so happy and excited. i... my dad hates me. there's no surprise about that. but cherry, she... she is- she was the only true family i had left."

"you have me," spoke percy before quickly saying, "and annabeth and valentino. and silena too."

"i just... i miss her so much," mumbled barbie, staring at the ground before looking up at percy, "i loved her as if she was like my kid or something. i... i just hope she gets the burial she deserves."

"she looked up to you, a lot," said percy softly.

barbie scoffed softly, "she looked up to a phoney who couldn't save her."

"hey," spoke percy, grabbed her wrist and pulling her towards him. he grabbed both her shoulders and looked her in the eye, "you're not a phoney. and i'm sure the death wasn't your fault. how... how did she die anyways?"

should she tell him about kenji? she knew he'd get mad and... but this was the truth, right? but cherry wouldn't want kenji hurt, no matter how much of a traitor she thought he was. because that was just how cherry worked. you might have betrayed her (if you even dared to), but she'd never wish anything bad to come upon you. but the overwhelming pressure got to barbie, and she began to explain exactly what had happened.

"so... he just... he was meant to kill you?" he raged.

"it actually makes sense," barbie spoke after a moment before she quickly rushed to add after seeing percy's bewildered expression, "no- i mean. look i was really mad when it happened... but i'm hoping if he spends enough time with will or something that he just... changes side."

"that's why you got will to interrogate him?"

"he probably knows a lot. we can't just let that go," reasoned barbie, "and... every demigod is worth saving. we only have one shot at living, percy, i can't hold grudges for ever."

he just looked at her at that point. just looked at her. he stepped closer to her, and for some reason, barbie's heartbeat quickened. she averted her gaze as he grabbed both her hands and chuckled softly, "i guess sixteen does mean you're emotionally mature."

"that's not what it is," she grumbled, "i just..."

"sometimes i wonder why you're such a good person," mumbled percy, hugging her tightly as her stomach exploded with butterflies, "when some people treat you like utter shit."

"i'm not a good person," she mumbled weakly, hugging him back just as fiercely, "if anything i'm just average."

"you're far more than average," percy spoke, smiling slightly as he let go of her, looking her in the eye, "barbie doll, you're extraordinary."

after that moment, barbie did not expect percy's next few courses of action. his eyes wandered slightly, holding one of her hands before his eyes widened and he let go of barbie's hand suddenly, only to bolt down the street.

"jackson!" she said, "where are you going?"

she ran after him. he had stopped in front of a prius. she looked inside to see what she assumed to be paul blofis who was passed out in the drivers seat. along with ms jackson snoring in the passenger's seat.

"i need to get them out," spoke percy urgently, he looked panicked and so barbie tried to calm him down. she closed her eyes, trying to block out his panic. she thought about his emotions and tried to go inside his mind. the last time she'd tried to do this was with grover. and he had an empathy link with percy, which was often hard to get through to calm somebody down. but barbie persisted and she managed to slip through the barrier and change some of his panic and fear into a calming sense.

he looked at her and spluttered, when she opened her eyes he had pointed to them, "you... your power's... pink eyes."

"i told you," she spoke, "i've been practising."

"but..." spoke percy and barbie could sense his panic shoot right back up, "i can't just leave them here."

he looked a little crazy, "they-they must've seen the blue lights."

he pounded on the windshield, "i have to move them. i have to-"

"stop it!" she said firmly, forcing herself to use charmspeak on him. he froze, his fist centimeters away from pounding the windshield again. he looked like he wanted to move, but couldn't, "i'm going to get chiron. stay here! we can push the car to the side of the street, all right. they're gonna be fine."

she walked over to chiron and signalled him to follow her. by the time she had gotten back, percy had managed to resist her charmspeak and was moving frantically. barbie placed he hand on his shoulders. she didn't want him to be too stressed out.

"what's – oh, dear. i see."

"they were coming to find me," percy said, "my mom must've sensed something was wrong."

"most likely," chiron said, "but, percy, they will be fine. the best thing we can do for them is to stay focused on our job.'

chiron saw the jar and his eyes widened, "that isn't-"

"pandora's jar," said barbie, staring at the small jar next to ms jackson, "it's percy's. right, percy?"

percy told him and barbie about meeting with prometheus.

"then the jar is yours," chiron said grimly, "it will follow you and tempt you to open it, no matter where you leave it. it will appear when you are weakest."

he drew riptide and cut through the driver's side window like it was made of plastic wrap.

"we'll put the car in neutral," percy said, "push them out of the way. and take that stupid jar to olympus."

chiron nodded, "a good plan. but, percy-"

whatever he was going to say, he faltered. the mechanical drumbeat grew loud in the distance – the chop-chop-chop of a helicopter. on a normal monday morning in new york, this would've been no big deal, but after two days of silence, a mortal helicopter was the oddest thing i'd ever heard. a few blocks east, the monster army shouted and jeered as the helicopter came into view.

it was a civilian model painted dark red, with a bright green 'de' logo on the side. the words on the helicopter were too small to read. but barbie knew exactly what they said: dare enterprise. barbie felt the jealous rage surge through her again. her eyes glowed pink, and she could tell, because as she stared at the ground she saw a faint pink light, and she guessed her iris' were glowing pink.

"what is she doing here?" barbie yelled in shock, "and how in hades did she get through the barrier?"

"who?" asked chiron in confusion, "what mortal would be insane enough-"

suddenly the helicopter pitched forward.

"the morpheus enchantment!" chiron said, "the foolish mortal pilot is asleep."

barbie watched, the helicopter was tilting slightly, and looked like it was going to crash. even if it didn't crash, the gods of the air would probably swat it out of the sky for coming near the empire state building. percy was too paralysed to move, but barbie whistled and honey swooped out of nowhere.

"come on, jackson," barbie growled,"we have to save your friend."

really, could her day get any worse?

rosie speaks!

i had to give yall
fluff after that last
chapter. also what
the fuck there were
like 400 comments
on that chapter. um,,
are we alright- i-

also look at that
cute jallen content
ugh i love it here.

word count: 3,437 words