When you have the inability to tell a lie, a curse of truthfulness sat upon your tongue, it leads you to do something stupid. Kassandra set a standard of always upkeeping her promises in the end because she was truthfully afraid of what would happen if she didn't.

And when it came to things promised to the gods, she took extra care to ensure that she always came through. Getting on the bad side of Poseidon seemed like more than a terrible idea when she was likely already on the bad side of her father.

(More than that, it was a matter of pride that she always stuck to her word because she was the daughter of the god of truths and while she didn't like him she still had certain standards that had to be kept to.)

(Kassandra had learnt and studied the art of cursing the gods, had perfected the art of cutting herself away from them as if the connection was so flimsy and paltry as wet paper might be. She had worked hard and harder to complete what was needed, but angering the gods to the point that they would seek her out to strike her down was not something that was to be down intentionally. Kassandra wasn't an idiot.)

So that's what led her one day that summer to seek out Percy when the day was nice and the sun was nearly covered by thin white clouds. He had been with Annabeth, that much she had already suspected, the pair blowing off her cabin's scheduled activities (just as she was currently doing, so she had no room to call them out even if she had wanted to), stuck together by the amphitheatre while Annabeth displayed a neat trick with her knife that she had tougher herself.

She had stood observing them for a moment, settling her weight onto one foot as she watched them interact with a sort of detached aloofness, a distant gaze that was far away and only seeing on the surface (because she didn't want to see all the private smiles and stolen glances that were so innocent that the pair hadn't even realized that they were doing).

Eventually, though, Kassandra calls out a greeting to them when it seems like they won't notice her -- easily catching their attention and bringing them to send matching smiles her way as they made their way to meet her.

"Kassie, hey, aren't you supposed to be grounded by your siblings, or something?" Percy teases, running a hand through his hair.

She pulls a face, laughing sarcastically. "That's great. Laugh at my misery. I'll have you know that I've been freed. Do you honestly think that Will would let me out of his sight if I wasn't?"

The boy shivers dramatically. "God, that boy can be so intense when he wants to be."

Annabeth snorts. "Right, just because he didn't want you hanging around and baiting Kass into sneaking off, doesn't mean that he's intense."

"No, Will can be intense sometimes, but he's generally very mellow and compassionate," she tells him honestly. "But I didn't run off to talk about my siblings."

"Oh?"

"I believe I made a promise to Poseidon, and I've finally come to make good on it," she announces, looping her arm through Percy's easily and begins to drag him away. He doesn't protest being man-handled in the slightest. "Coming for a swim, Annabeth? Percy's going to find a way to turn it into an extreme sport for us."

The blonde laughs, skipping up a few steps so that she was walking beside her, linking her arm through Kassandra's free one.

"You already know how to swim, you know."

"Not nearly good enough, I learned," she counters. "I'd rather figure out all the best ways not to drown even if it requires Percy almost drowning me." 

"You have a lot of trust in Seaweed Brain," Annabeth notes playfully, nudging her with their interlocked arms. 

(And yeah, she supposed that was true, but she had faith in her friends, no matter how new they were. Nearly dying with someone tends to do that to you, give you that sense that you could trust them.) 

(Kassandra knew that she could trust them, had even asked that question herself and had received an honest answer.) 

(As much as she hated her father and his pointless curse, it had the ability to come in handy at times.)

"Seaweed brain is harmless," she tease, twisting Annabeth so that they were both able to see him. "I mean, look at him. He's like a puppy. A water puppy-- oh my gods, Percy's a seal!"  

"Good gods," Annabeth mutters, pinching the bridge of her nose. Kassandra could see the way she tried to hide her grin at Percy's bewildered expression. "A seal?" 

"No, it makes sense," Percy agrees. "Kass is like one of those little dogs that look super cute but would actually bite your hand off if given the chance." 

"Ew, what?" she protests, wrinkling her nose. "That's such a mean thing to say." 

Annabeth pats her back. "As much as you would hate to hear it, you're a lot like a swan. Super pretty but absolutely vicious." 

She pouts. "I think you're both underestimating how seriously badass I am." 

"No, no, have you ever seen a swan? Those things are fierce and mean." 

She turns her pout to him. "You think I'm mean?" 

His cheeks burn pink, the tips of his ears flushing red. Percy ducks his head quickly and turns away. Annabeth's quiet snicker is quite lovely a sound.

By the time they get to the canoe lake, she'd nearly forgotten about the entire swimming lesson thing -- that is, until Annabeth is shoving her into the water and jumping in close behind her after taking a moment to pull off her shoes and jean shorts. 

Fully clothed, Kassandra dips down a few times as she removes her own shoes and shorts while in the water -- keeping her shirt on even though she's in her bathing suit already. 

Percy doesn't even bother with his clothes as he just calmly strolls over to the edge of the dog and hops in fully clothed knowing full well he wouldn't get wet unless he wanted to (which was bullshit, but whatever, Kassandra had a built-in lie detector). 

"You sure about this?" he asks, treading water a few feet away from them. 

"You'll keep us from getting hurt, Perce," Annabeth tells him. 

Kassandra nods in agreement. "We're already in the water. Let's do it, water boy." 

Rolling his eyes, he narrows his gaze at the water as he wills it to move. 

Needless to say, Kassandra wasn't prepared for the water level to start going down slowly before a tidal wave come at them and pushes her under with a shriek. 

(Gods, was she going to force that boy into target practice or something. When she told him to try and drown her, she didn't mean it so literally that she would actually drown. This was like being in an extreme wave pool.) 

In a moment that she's underwater, kicking and fighting to right herself in the barrage of waves, Kassandra catches a flash of blonde hair in her peripherals and crystal sea-green eyes laughing at her. 

It's only later, when her limbs feel wobbly and she has a burning stitch in her side, that they leave the lake to sit back on the dock. 

Annabeth pants at her side, soft gasping as she struggles to catch her breath while drying her hair with her shirt. Percy, of course, is fresh as a daisy, taunting as he grins at her innocently. 

She sticks her tongue out at him childishly and starts to wring out her t-shirt as her hair drips around her face and down her back. 

"Why don't you just take off your shirt?" Annabeth asks. "You always have on a swimsuit in the summer. I can see the straps." 

Throat closing, a hand hovers at her side, right about the new scar and branding sun that itches with the desire for attention. 

(How pitiful it was that a mark that might have once brought her eager pride and joy serve as a mark of survival, of proving a hero, now brought her throat to close and side to burn. How a branding of the sun, such a simple image, such a simple symbol, was a claiming mark of her father, a radiant beacon to all those that mattered to who she was and what it meant. 

Apollo had forced another piece of him into the already fragmented collage of her being, had added another morsel to an already crumbling mosaic, and Kassandra wasn't even sure how she was going o learn to display it when she couldn't even fathom the thought of being near the god, of associating herself with him.) 

(When Kassandra was wandering around with Oriana and the Stoll brothers, and the satyr Cleavus making their way to camp, she had seen how the oldest demigod, the girl that became a shining pool of answers and knowledge, and promises, spoke to her godly parent. 

How she prayed each night and encouraged the three of them to do the same during meals, taught them how to give offerings. Oriana treated Ares not as a father but as a God. She had watched, unsure of how to proceed, but learnt that each relationship between a god and their child was different. 

Ares had gifted Oriana with a sword that conducted fire over the blade. Her mother had given the girl a war axe that she had crafted herself specifically for when her daughter was old enough to yield it. 

Aside from that, Ares never truly interacted with her beyond leaving messages that claimed her better than her siblings to ensue fights and strife.

Oriana had promised that she would get a chance to forge the relationship that she wished with her godly parent when it came time, that Kassandra had the fierce determination that was needed to be noticed.) 

(It took Kassandra four years to be noticed. She died a little more the longer it took.)

(She had no relationship with her father. She had no relationship with her father but one of his symbols was forever branded onto her side now.) 

"I don't really feel like it," she says blandly, "It won't make much of a difference now, anyway." 

Annabeth looks at her with big grey eyes that were just so gentle and knowing, that Kassandra can only relax under her gaze. She eases, shoulders relaxing, as her grip softens on slightly on her shirt before she strengthens it once more and continues. to wring out the excess water. 

"Leave it on. Best way not to get a sunburn," Annabeth says, knowing full well that she's never had a sunburn in her life. 

She looks at the blonde, taking in the rosy cheeks and bright pink nose. 

"You're going to need an ointment for your burns," she notes, glancing over to Percy to see his face completely clear. She put it down to being in the water and made a note to herself to keep him in the sun long enough and away from water to get a cute little sunburn like Annabeth just so she could see what it looks like. "You're lucky that we whipped up a new batch already since the Stoll brother's ruined the last one." 

Percy snorts. "Didn't you get them back by cursing them to rhyme?" 

"Will and Lee did," Kassandra laughs. "They got so mad that they roped everyone else in for sheer power. I personally think we could have done worse, but they decided my alarm clock ide was too much." 

Annabeth shudders. "The alarm clock idea is terrible. I hate it when you team up with other cabins for your evil plots." 

She laughs, carefully lifting the corner of her damp shirt to wipe at her face. "You weren't saying that when we were... what was it, eleven? And I needed help to out prank the Stolls, Julia and Cecil when the..." she trails off, biting her tongue at the thought of him. Her hand travels to her side, tips of her fingers feeling along the slightly raised edge of the scar. 

"Chris and Luke got annoyed and decided to team up," Annabeth finished softly. "They refused to let you join their team when you had initially gotten Paris, Oriana and Clarisse to help you." 

"She left soon after that, I think... They both did, didn't they?" Kassandra mutters, dropping her head on her knees. 

"What happened to her?" Percy asks, voice soft. 

Kassandra shakes her head and sighs. "I don't know. I don't even know what the quest that she went on was. All I know is that she called Chiron to let him know of her success and to pass on the word that she was coming home and that the Ares cabin was to be up to her standards when she got there. Clarisse bribed me to help her tidy up for a bit. It wasn't bad, but they had let their chores go a bit when Oriana had left," she explains. "I waited for her with Luke, mostly. He missed her just as much. I was with him two weeks after her deadlines when Chiron announced that they would be going forth with a funeral service instead." 

"Why only two weeks, though?" Percy asks. 

She rolls her eyes, pretty sure that she had already explained this all to him while in the Sea of Monsters. 

Annabeth rests a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Two weeks is a long time to be missing for a demigod, Percy."

"For Oriana to be away this long when camp was the only family that she's ever wanted... well, wherever she is must be so much worse. It's better to think she's dead than the alternative," Kassandra says. "Gods, this is such a depressing topic." 

"It could be worse," the blonde says, pulling away from the daughter of Apollo to lean back on her hands. 

She snorts, falling back to lie on the dock. She stretched her arms over her head and arched her back with a happy sigh. The light from the sigh painted colours on the back of her eyelids, glowing a bright orange colour. She wondered how long she could let herself be abused by the burning rays until she was forced to look away once more. 

Fingers tap a sound against the wood, a quick racing tune that has her itching to twirl the weight of her flute between her fingers. 

"You're like a cat in the sun," Percy voiced, and she peaks her eyes open to squint at him. He was looking at the pair of them with those bright eyes of his, glimmering like ocean water. "Sort of like the ones that spread out on fire escapes." 

"I thought I was a swan."

"Cat swan hybrid then." 

Annabeth snorts. "That would be terrifying. Can you imagine?" 

"Worst hybrid you can think of: go." 

The daughter of Athena doesn't even hesitate. "Spider and a tiger." 

They're silent for a moment and she slowly turns to face the other girl in bewilderment. "What in Hades?" 

"Did you seriously have that ready?" Percy laughs. 

Annabeth blushed. "Shut up." 

They laugh, seated on the dock in the sun listening to the sounds of camper around them.

The tiny sun that dawned within her chest went unnoticed until it was much too late for Kassandra to even dream of denying it. 

☼ ☼ ☼

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this chapter sucked. that's it. that's the author's note.

unedited

written: 2021-03-08

posted: 2021-03-15