「023. prophecies tend to be vague 」

BARBIE DIDN'T know exactly what to focus on since so many things were happening at the same time. first, wolves launched themselves at jason and barbie- and then suddenly cherry was paralised on the ground. jason and barbie looked to each other- one held a sword (the competent one: barbie) and the other held a scrap of wood (the incompetent one who's redeaming personality trait was that he was a good person: jason). jason bashed the wood against the wolves snout while barbie just wet straight for decapitation. of course silver was needed to kill it- but barbie was pretty sure a headless wolf wasn't going to do much except for run into walls.

but barbie knew the moment jason jumped on some storm spirit that perhaps he had the wolves sorted. so barbie turned to trying to find out exactly what was going on with her favourite little soda pop, cherry adams. and exactly why she was on the floor, paralysed, and now shaking.

"cherry?" she mumbled, shaking her best friends shoulder, "cherry are you okay?"

cherry made an intelligent response, that sounded more like a garbled mess. her eyes were closed, and she was shaking on the floor- but when barbie heard piper scream- she had no choice but to help. she looked to cherry one more time, a frown on her face before she ran to piper- trying to help.

however, the immense guilt she felt for leaving cherry was immeasurable. but she pushed it away as she ran to her sister.

it took her barely a few seconds before she was beside piper, her sword discarded in exchange for her powers that somehow felt supercharged. jerald- although silent-

let's roast these bitches!

-although no longer silent, was raring to go. she clapped her hands together, and levitated spheres of mist appeared in both her hands. earthborns surrounded both of them- and the two of them were stood back to back from each other. with piper's powerful presence and barbie's mist- combined with both of their charmspeaking powers- they were a force to be reckoned with.

piper would simply blink at one, a small little smile on her face that looked innocent enough. it would stun the earthborn in front of her with a dopey smile. and before the dumb mold of rock could understand what was happening- its arms were sliced off off and it was dead on the ground, melting to mud. barbie let out a victorious laugh when the mist shot through the stomach of one of the earthborns, causing them to melt instantly. she sent another to the next monster, and it melted in two shots- and barbie wasn't even tired yet.

"that's two for me!" grinned barbie.

"what is this?" piper spoke, flicking a speck of dirt from her pretty shirt, pushing it towards barbie's attire which practically reflected the dirt away. "a competition?"

"it is now!"

"oh you are so on," grinned piper, slashing the arms off of another earthborn before going onto the next.

"six!" called piper after a while.

"hah! seven!" grinned barbie, making a fist shape with her hands before punching the air (which promptly made a pink fist in the air that punched the earthborn). she did this a few more times, grinning as she jerald continued to count for her.

that's ten!

"jerald says i got ten so far- jealous, pipey?"

"twelve! beat that, asshole!"

"what the fuck?!"

piper simply cackled, slashing another earthborn, the two siblings suddenly very competitive. barbie turned slightly, giving herself just a few seconds to take in her surroundings. cherry was still on the floor (and barbie felt insanely guilty) and jason was currently on a horse-looking storm spirits, who was kicking away wolves and electrifying them at the same time. she looked a little more and saw leo taking on khione herself.

while fighting with a goddess was generally considered a stupid fucking idea- downright suicidal, if you will; leo was the right dude for the job. she kept summoning ice daggers to throw at him, blasts of winter air, perhaps a tornado of snow. but leo burned through it all, his whole body flickered with red flames, dancing on his skin with a delight sense of madness. he advanced on the goddess, using two silver-tipped ball-peen hammers to smash any monsters that got in the way.

it was only then when barbie switched to her sword (she was getting a bit bored of the mist- no offence jerald), that she realised that leo was probably the only reason they were alive. his fiery aura was heating up the whole courtyard, countering khione's winter magic. without him, they'd have been frozen like the hunters long ago. wherever leo went, ice melted off the stones. even thalia started to defrost a little when leo stepped near her.

leo valdez was his own personal matchstick- and that was saving their asses right now.

khione, sensing she probably couldn't be beaten, back away. her expression went from enraged to shocked to slightly panicked as leo got closer to her. jason was running out of enemies to pash with the back of the storm spirits hoof and his broken wooden slab and none of the monsters had touched cherry just yet. together, piper and barbie ran at the last earthborn, and slashed off the arms before barbie stabbed it through the chest- causing the earthborn to topple into a pile of sludge.

jason and his horse ran through the last storm spirit, breaking it into vapor. then, he wheeled around and saw leo bearing down on the goddess of snow.

"you're too late!" khione snarled, "he's awake! you don't think you've won anything, here, demigods. your weak little hera and her pathetic plan will never work! you'll be at each others throats before you can ever stop us!" khione paused for a moment, her eyes trailing around before she laughed, "and if you even do- you have another enemy to face."

leo set his hammers ablaze and threw them at the goddess, but she turned into snow—a white powdery image of herself. leo's hammers slammed into the snow woman, breaking it into a steaming mound of mush. piper was breathing hard, but she smiled up at jason. "nice horse."

tempest reared on his hind legs, arcing electricity across his hooves.a complete show-off. then jason heard a cracking sound behind him. the melting ice on hera's cage sloughed off in a curtain of slush, and the goddess called, "oh, don't mind me! just the queen of the heavens, dying over here!"

"can it, will you hera?!" yelled barbie.

jason dismounted and told tempest to stay put. the three demigods jumped into the pool and ran to the spire. leo frowned. "uh, tía callida, are you getting shorter?"

"no, you dolt! the earth is claiming me. hurry!"

barbie, as much as she hated the stupid good for nothing cow-sending, peacock-loving bitchface of a goddess, knew that if she got sacrificed- they were basically screwed. she began to run over to hera, wondering if she could just use her pink mist, when she felt something tug at her leg.

she looked down at her leg, expecting it to perhaps be some mud or a rock, but she saw a vine filled with pink flowers, leading all the way to-

"cherry," breathed barbie, looking at the green glowing aura surrounding her friend.

this was no longer cherry, that was for sure. the cherry she knew wasn't so... evil looking. she wore a malicious smirk, her clothes still the same as before. her braids exactly as they were- but her eyes- they were glowing green. not a nice forest green, or perhaps the colour of freshly grown grass- covered in a wondrous dew. no, they were bright green. like the most poisonous and toxic thing. it was like starring right back at a harmful chemical that could probably burn barbie's eyes away.

suddenly, her eyes flickered for a few moments, the daisies curled around cherry's fingertips fell and there was a scared look on her face, "i- barbie? you guys i-"

but then she flickered back, a shrill scream coming from her mouth as if cherry was trying to fight off whatever was happening. barbie didn't know what scared her the most- the fact that cherry looked to be in so much pain or the fact that the only time she'd ever seen this happen was with-

luke.

no, she said to herself, gaea or whoever is controlling her is not in her body. no- i refuse-

it looks like she is.

cherry let out a low chuckle, "it's time to die, young ones."

so much was happening at once. it was killing barbie. not only was hera sinking, the ground was rising around her like water in a tank- liquid rock covering her shins, but cherry was- that.

"uh," leo spoke, his eyes wide, "does anybody know what's wrong with cherry?"

"well leo, what do you think?" piper spoke sarcastically, "i mean- judging by the fact she just told us it's time to die- i don't think it's anything good!"

"the giant wakes!" hera warned, "no matter of the girl- you only have a few seconds! help me!"

"i- fine!" grumbled leo, turned around- his back facing cherry, "look- she hasn't made a move yet- she's just staring at us and laughing- we have to use this time- piper i need your help over her! talk to the cage! barbie! you too!"

"talk to the cage?" piper said.

"leo is this the day you finally go completely mad?" barbie snapped.

"oh that day was long ago, my friend," leo spoke before yelling, "now talk to the fucking cage- will you?!"

"right" piper cleared her throat, "hey, gaea- nice night, huh? boy, i'm tired. what about you?"

"i bet your ready for some sleep, right?" barbie spoke, "nice lovely sleep. lovely warm blanket- some nice comfy clothes- maybe-"

"maybe some nice relaxing music?" piper added, "ever heard of ambience music?"

"oh shit the harry potter ambiance music slaps- even if the author sucks-"

"concentrate, barb!"

"right," nodded barbie, the two of them continuing to try talk gaea to sleep. it wasn't exactly working too effectively, but the mud rose slower- and barbie felt a little spark go off inside her. it was workin-

the vines of pink flowers tightened around barbie's ankle and she screamed, some of the layers of her dress rising to her face as she suddenly got pulled back. she landed on her stomach and she rolled slightly, turning to see cherry with her hand wrapped around the largest thorn she'd seen, a wicked little smile on her face, "the young demigod holds so much love for you- it only seems fitting you die first."

barbie didn't know what to do, but she did know what to say, "like hades, bitch!"

barbie was thankful her reflexes were still okay- or else she would have probably died. she rolled away just in time- and the large and menacing thorn (that was about as wide as a dagger and just as sharp as one) sank into the ground. cherry- or was it gaea? either way- she looked confused for a few moments- which barbie was again very thankful for. because it gave her time to reassess the situation and cut the pink flowering vines from her ankle.

she had to make distance, but she couldn't lead cherry to her friends or else cherry might just loose interest in her and go for one of them instead.

she chose to sprint far away from leo, piper and jason (who were staring in shock at cherry) and yelled simply, "aren't you guys meant ot be freeing ol' queen peacock? get to it! i can keep her busy!"

"what happened to her?" leo spoke, before stomping his foot in frustration as he looked around, holding a wire, "damnit! nowhere to plug it!"

"i have no idea!" barbie spoke, barely missing as a vine shot round and tried to grab her, "but i suspect it's gaea's doing!"

she's right behind you! jerald warned her.

"yeah i kind of fucking realised, jerald!" yelled barbie out loud.

"do you need help?" jason said.

"no- i said i got it-"

her sword was ripped out of her hand by a thick vine. she turned to jason, who still looked really unconvinced.

"oh shut up you old white dad!" she yelled in a flurry of panic, "just go help your girlfriend and leo- will you?!"

although still under compromising situations (along with the fact that almost everything was going wrong), jason still managed to snap back (side not: probably his finest moment), "and you're a ginger- get over it!"

she gasped, standing still for just a second just to flip him off, "real mature, grace!"

"demigod will you just come face your death properly?!" cherry roared from behind her, her vines racing up trying to meet barbie, "this useless mortals powers can only go for so long!"

that really got barbie angry.

she turned around, her sword still not regenerating back to her. but she stood her ground, glaring at cherry with the fiercest stare she could muster, "you can kill me if you want- you dumbass dirtbag. but you never- ever call cherry adams weak. nobody fucking does. perhaps your the weak one. i mean, you're the one using a demigods mind and possessing them for your own gain, aren't you?"

cherry/gaea didn't like that. and in a roar of rage, she sent the ground around barbie down.

conflicting thoughts was just about all that was happening in barbara allen's mind right now. her sword had finally come back to her in bracelet form, but should she even use it? this was still cherry- if she actually cut cherry- it would hurt her. but she had to defend herself, right? if she didn't, she'd die! that was the simple logic of it all.

of course more bullcrap just had to go and screw up everything even more.

on the other side of the pool, the giant's spire crumbled with a sound like a tree snapping in half. its outer sheath of tendrils exploded from the top down, raining stone and wood shards as the giant shook himself free and climbed out of the earth. barbie hadn't thought anything could be scarier than enceladus. he was wrong. porphyrion was even taller, and even more ripped. he didn't radiate heat, or show any signs of breathing fire, but there was something more terrible about him—a kind of strength, even magnetism, as if the giant were so huge and dense he had his own gravitational field.

like enceladus, the giant king was humanoid from the waist up, clad in bronze armor, and from the waist down he had scaly dragon's legs; but his skin was the color of lima beans. his hair was green as summer leaves, braided in long locks and decorated with weapons—daggers, axes, and full-size swords, some of them bent and bloody—maybe trophies taken from demigods eons before. when the giant opened his eyes, they were blank white, like polished marble.

he took a deep breath. "alive!" he bellowed. "praise to gaea!"

cherry /gaea seemed to focus to actually respond to that- and sent darts of thorns covered in some bright green liquid (barbie guessed it was poison) towards barbie. barbie ran from again, doging and trying to avoid the big king of giants in general.

"you guys keep working," she heard jason call, "get hera free!"

"whare you going to do?" piper asked, "you can't seriously-"

"entertain a giant?" jason said, "i've got no choice."

"excellent!" the giant roared- but before barbie could yell at jason about how pathetically stupid he was being- cherry narrowly missed slicing barbie's arm in half. thankfully, it was just a scratch (and no poison was present. thank the gods).

she had no time to focus on the giant or jason's incompetence for too long. she had to find a way to stop gaea from killing her and cherry in the process.

the prophecy! jerald reminded her, what did it say?

i don't know! don't you know?

uh... no? why do you think i asked you?! jerald spoke in her mind, her voice high-pitched and panicked.

"uh guys!" she yelled out loud, running and dodging another attempt at poison, "does anybody remember my lines of the prophecy?"

"what do you mean your lines"? jason yelled, staring up at the king of giants nervously.

"an appetizer!" cackled the giant, "who are you—hermes? ares?"

"i'm jason grace," he said. "son of jupiter."

"jason that doesn't really help me!" yelled barbie, now resorting a sword to cut the vines around her shins that cherry/gaea had successfully managed to aim at her.

porphyrion threw back his head and laughed. "outstanding!" he looked up at the cloudy night sky. "so, zeus, you sacrifice a son to me? the gesture is appreciated, but it will not save you."

"if you knew who i was," jason yelled up at the giant, "you'd be worried about me, not my father. i hope you enjoyed your two and a half minutes of rebirth, giant, because i'm going to send you right back to tartarus."

barbie ran around, trying to ignore jason shouting at the king of giants and hera's pathetic wailing from the cage- but instead managed to somehow got close enough to cut off the supply of vines- right at cherry's hands. thankfully, she managed not to cut any of cherry's fingers off- and she saw no blood drip, which was a good sign.

cherry frowned, but chuckled only a moment later, "no matter- the demigod has a sword- i shall simply use this to rip you to shreds."

"comforting," barbie spoke, "but not today- grandma."

"so ... we'll start by boasting, will we?" the giant king yelled- practically deafening barbie,  "just like old times! very well, demigod. i am porphryion, king of the giants, son of gaea. in olden times, i rose from tartarus, the abyss of my father, to challenge the gods. to start the war, i stole zeus's queen." he grinned at the goddess's cage. "hello, hera."

"my husband destroyed you once, monster!" hera said. "he'll do it again!"

"but he didn't, my dear! zeus wasn't powerful enough to kill me. he had to rely on a puny demigod to help, and even then, we almost won. this time, we will complete what we started. gaea is waking. she has provisioned us with many fine servants. our armies will shake the earth—and we will destroy you at the roots."

"you wouldn't dare," hera said, but she was weakening.  barbie could hear it in her voice.

piper kept whispering to the cage, and leo kept sawing, but the earth was still rising inside hera's prison, covering her up to her waist. "oh, yes," the giant said. "the titans sought to attack your new home in new york. bold, but ineffective. gaea is wiser and more patient. and we, her greatest children, are much, much stronger than kronos. we know how to kill you olympians once and for all. you must be dug up completely like rotten trees—your eldest roots torn out and burned."

"could anybody just tell me a fucking line of the prochecy?" barbie yelled, "piper?"

"something- uh... child of lightning.... power within your heart? something about heart ! try that!"

"at least she gave me an answer," huffed barbie, turning back around to cherry, "c'mon grandma dirtbag, let's dance."

barbie didn't like vague prophecies. they landed her in all sorts of trouble. consider her life from the age of fourteen upwards as a prime example of this. and it wasn't even her prophecy that time. yet when she looked at cherry/gaea, she had to force herself to fight.

cherry/gaea swung her sword down onto barbie's blade, and a deafening clash to sound throughout the abandoned and ruined wolf house. she let out a war cry, swinging her sword again, hoping perhaps to disarm cherry. but she knew that was quite unlikely. even without the weird super strength from gaea- even without that; cherry was insanely good with a sword. and it didn't help that barbie had only really switched to using a sword after her dagger was snapped in half.

a dagger and a sword are two very different things, and that was probably the most infuriating thing ever.

what the fuck does power of your heart even mean? complained jerald, is that me- should we just blast her?

she's still cherry, barbie responded in her mind, pivoting and try to move herself away from jason and the king of giants. she heard snippets of the conversations- things varying from them insulting each other to porphyrion yelling a lot.

"you said a demigod killed you," jason shouted. "how, if we're so puny?"

"ha! you think i would explain it to you? i was created to be zeus's replacement, born to destroy the lord of the sky. i shall take his throne. i shall take his wife—or, if she will not have me, i will let the earth consume her life force. what you see before you, child, is only my weakened form-"

barbie's sword clashed with cherry's again.

"-i will grow stronger by the hour, until i am invincible. but i am already quite capable of smashing you to a grease spot!" he rose to his full height and held out his hand. a twenty foot spear shot from the earth. he grasped it, then stomped the ground with his dragon's feet. the ruins shook. all around the courtyard, monsters started to regather—"

cherry/gaea nearly stabbed her.

"-storm spirits, wolves, and earthborn, all answering the giant king's call!"

"great," leo muttered. "like we needed more stupid enemies."

"hurry," hera said.

"i know!" leo snapped.

"go to sleep, cage," piper said. "nice, sleepy cage. yes, i'm talking to a bunch of earthen tendrils. this isn't weird at all."

porphyrion raked his spear across the top of the ruins, destroying a chimney and spraying wood and stone across the courtyard. "so, child of zeus! i have finished my boasting. now it's your turn. what were you saying about destroying me?"

barbie's sword flew out of her hand and landed about a few yards away. to cut it shortly: she was very much screwed.

jerald-mist time? jeral suggested.

exactly that.

she let out a loud war cry, her small swirl of pink mist wrapping around her arms at the exact same time that jason began to yell, "i'm the son of jupiter! i'm a child of rome, consul to demigods, praetor of the first legion. i slew the trojan sea monster," jason continued. "i toppled the black throne of kronos, and destroyed the titan krios with my own hands. and now i'm going to destroy you, porphyrion, and feed you to your own wolves."

"come get me!" yelled barbie, shooting spheres of mist at the plants around cherry/gaea. she let out a risky wave of pink mist that probably would've sliced cherry's left ear off- but cherry/gaea raised a hand and a wall of vines was cut instead.

"pathetic. i expected better from the child of aphrodite bestowed with such a gift and spirit within her that guides her."

oh she did not just call me pathetic! jerlad yelled out loud, oh lady you are screwed!

"you dare?" the giant bellowed.

jason reached his shoulders and ripped a sword out of the giant's weapon-filled braids. he yelled, "for rome!" and drove the sword into the nearest convenient target—the giant's massive ear.

barbie could hear lightning crackle, and it jolted her awake a bit- but with all the energy consuming and emotion draining blasts of pink mists she was using- she was starting to get tired. she let out a loud yell, pushing a large blast of pink mist in the shape of a fist to cherry/gaea.

it only did half as much damage as she expected it to do- but it did slam cherry/gaea against a wall and cause cherry's eyes to flicker slightly. they turned back to her normal eye colour for a moment. and barbie let out a whoop of success.

she raced forward, looking at cherry with a grin. she was ok. not possessed. and she probably only had a mild concussion! that was totally a success!

"barbie," whimpered cherry, her eyes wide and frightened, "barbie-"

"it's fine now," barbie spoke, kneeling beside her, "it's okay now, cherry. you can relax now. i'll get some ambrosia and-"

"barbie you have to get away from me!" sobbed cherry, her eyes flickered for just a moment, "please barbie! you don't understand! i- she's trying to take control again. please barbie-"

"what-"

"i can't fight her off- i can't! i can't-"

and suddenly, in so little milliseconds, cherry's eyes were a poisonous green again and suddenly-  vines were being wrapped around barbie's throat, holding her and slowly rising her into the air, closing in on her as they did so.

"pathetic weak demigods," hissed gaea, cherry's remorse gone, "they never seem to understand- i am the earth mother. i always win."

"you won't win," barbie managed, her hands clamped on the inside of the vines, trying her best to stop them as she gulped down air.

"oh but i will," smiled cherry/gaea, a smile as pretty as poison laced on her face, "if i don't now- i will eventually. you demigods will have killed all of your brethren before i even wake fully. and when i wake now- i will dispose of the girls body. perhaps i shall leave you alive until then, hm? so you can watch for yourself as i kill her slowly with her own nature."

barbie's head was starting to get light. but nothing ran through her mind bar the words and only with heart, will it truly end right. and only with heart, will it truly end right. and only with heart, will it truly end right. and only with heart, will it truly end right. and only with heart, will it truly end-

"right," she wheezed out.

"i am right," grinned cherry/gaea, "finally somebody-"

"cherry," barbie whispered out, "cherry i know you are there."

"this is no time for sentiments, child-"

"you are scared, i know," barbie whimpered, "we all do. but i know you're in there- still trying your damn well hardest to get rid of this psycho dirtbag bitch and get her out of you. i know you can do it cherry- i believe in you-"

"child are you-?"

"remember when we first met?" grinned barbie, the vines squeezing tighter, her legs dangling helplessly. she could hear faint yells from leo, piper and jason- all calling out to her as the giant king roared- but it seemed so distant. "you were talking to some flowers. it was capture the flag against the hunters. i'd never met you," her eyes watered from the strain, "but i thought you were insane. but somehow i became friends with you-"

"stop that right now-"

"and we were such good friends," barbie spoke, "we still are. when you died- i was heartbroken. of course i was. everybody was. katie wouldn't show her face to anybody but travis for days on end. drew would stop and hug me- hug me. unsentimental sister in glory hugging and comforting me. and then you came back."

cherry looked confused, and barbie realised that perhaps cherry was growing strength and fighting back harder.

"and then i was so happy," barbie managed- her voice strained, her throat on fire and aching, but she continued; she couldn't stop now, "and then we had that weird falling out. the weird anger- i get now that wasn't you. it was never you. it was all gaea. cherry you were and always will be the bravest person i know. you'd walk into anything with a smile," she laughed even though it hurt, a few tears of sadness running down her face, "you are just the biggest ball of sunshine to ever exist. you have your lows- and thats okay. cherry... i love you like your my family- scratch that; you are my family. my dad will damn well sign the adoption papers if i ask him to."

the green eyes began to dim slightly.

"i know you're fighting back fucking hard dude," barbie spoke, her voice barey audible now- she was surprised she'd held out for so long. she took one last deep breath before she uttered out, "no matter how hard people try to bring you down- even when you feel like you're overflowing with all these emotions. i know you. you'll get back up again- you'll fight back even harder. please soda pop," she begged- black spots dancing around her vision, "come back."

and with that, barbie blacked out.

rosie speaks!
it's barbies bday !!!! yuh !!
am i ashamed to say i am
leaving you all on a cliff-
hanger for like the third time ??
no.

am i insanely proud of this
chapter and everything about
it ?? yes i fucking am.

i didn't cry— and i hope you
guys didn't. but this shit
was really fun to write.
i also missed writing  jerald
so much so there's that
too!!! and nyways happy
valentine's day !! <3

nyways,, thoughts ???

word count: 5,023 words