★ kee speaks "but you love me" hell yeah i do anyway this one's about the train ride + the train stopping writing prompt, the ending might sound a bit rushed though. the reader is a daughter of nemesis and warnings are swearing and light injuries

"That one looks like a tree."

"I think it is a tree."

"Oh."

That was the first thing I heard when I woke up. The two people were speaking quite loudly and energetically beside me and made my head spin with the sudden noise.

I wanted to get off this train, buy some cold water and head straight home, but I remembered why I was here. Malcolm and Connor. We were sent to retrieve a diadem sacred to Hera. We didn't know whether it was the one Hera actually wore or just sacred or blessed by her, but it was important nonetheless.

I remember hearing Annabeth Chase, Malcolm's half-sister, muttering curses and insults to Hera while he went up to the Oracle. Percy beside her looked somewhere between amused and anxious.

Malcolm picked us to go with him because we were "awesome and great people to be sided with overall", even if Connor and I "would either be at each others' throats or saying we would die for each other" most of the time. I guess that was true. But then again, a child of Hermes, a child of Athena and another one of Nemesis didn't sound like a bad combination.

I stifled a yawn. Connor lifted his chin off the window ledge and grinned at me. "Good morning, princess!"

I squinted, then put my face in my hands and my elbows on the table. "Isn't it sunset?"

The familiar clicking of plastic was heard from in front of me, and I knew Malcolm was cleaning his glasses. "Yeah, we've been trying to guess silhouettes. Mr. Stoll here apparently forgot what a tree looks like."

"There are a lot of kinds!" Connor whined.

I uncovered my face and smirked. "And you still said I was bad at forgetting dog breeds."

"That was three years ago, Y/N."

"That was three years ago, Y/N," I mocked.

"Do you guys know that urban legend about tunnels?" Malcolm asked.

"Which one? There are a lot," Connor replied, shifting in his seat beside me.

"The one about—"

"What time is it?" I asked. I scanned the train car where there were about half a dozen other people. I saw something with "thirty", but the fading light and my dyslexia made it hard to read. "Sorry for interrupting, Mal, but who's the shithead who decided to make a clock with words instead of numbers?"

"Y/N, that's a poster. It's nearly 9."

Connor snickered beside me and I elbowed him lightly. "What?"

He pulled a ballpen out of the front pocket of his backpack and started poking holes in the leather seat while Malcolm told him to stop. "Okay, first of all, you thought the poster was some weird clock and second, you made Malcolm sound like that girl from Descendants. The one with purple hair."

"You mean Mal? And give me a rest, I just woke up. My brain's kinda foggy." I said. He nodded. "Nope. Can't happen. They're practically opposites." I tried to imagine Malcolm's blonde head colored black or purple, but it was hard.

"Mal's dad is Hades, too." Malcolm made a sour face. "I'd be much more different if I was a child of Hades."

"And how does that even happen? Hades and Maleficent?"

"How do you know so much about Descendants?" Connor asked, narrowing amused blue eyes.

"One A.M. and getting lost in Wikipedia pages at my cousin's guest room," I mumbled.

"Pfft. I'd be doing something productive at 1 A.M.."

Malcolm snorted. "When I was unclaimed I caught you messing with a can of hairspray from the Aphrodite cabin at 4 in the morning."

Connor shook his head. "I thought I told you to stay quiet about that!"

"You weren't quiet when the can burst. If I remember, you woke up half of the cabin."

I laughed, looking past him and out the window. The sun was almost gone, just a little sliver above the horizon. Suddenly the light was gone and I realized the train had gone inside a tunnel.

"How do you even remember that?"

"Big brain. Big Athena brain."

"Big brain," Connor's voice repeated and I could hear the smile in his words. "Big prankster thief brain. And," I felt him bump my shoulder, "Big Pac-Man cabin brain."

"Shut up," I said.

"You won't be shutting up when I—"

"Shut up, Connor!" Malcolm's voice hissed.

It had been more than a minute since we were in pitch black darkness. Something was clearly wrong. A soft chorus of whispers came from the other mortals around us.

"The lights. They're not turning on."

"Thanks for the clue, Sherlock."

"It's 'No shit, Sherlock,' Connor."

"I'm not Connor."

"It's Patrick!"

"Shut up!"

"You shut up, Y/N!" Connor shoved me and I shoved back, until he pushed me hard enough for me to fall of the chair. I stumbled but remained on the floor.

"Wait, wait, wait," I held my hand up, but it was no use in the dark. "Do you feel that?"

"Do you feel your non-existent ass on the floor?"

"Connor!"

There was a loud sound like a microphone being tested, then a grainy voice filled the room. "All passengers must remain seated. We're facing some difficulties here at the moment."

Malcolm cleared his throat the way only he did it. "Guys, the train stopped." It was true. My right hand which was pressed flat on the cold floor didn't feel any rumbling or vibrations.

"What's the urban legend you mentioned earlier and is there a chance it's about this tunnel?" Connor asked.

"No, no, that one's in Canada."

"Swords out, Malc-"
"Y/N!"

I was about to ask if a threat was approaching, but my heart seemed to stop for a second when several people screamed. Someone had turned on their cellphone flashlight and revealed a giant serpent lurking in the empty end of the train car. It hissed and lunged at one of the mortals.

The phone had fallen on the floor, facing up, so the light was gone again. Someone was saying, "I'm okay, I'm alright" In the midst of the soft hissing of the serpent.

"You okay?" Connor had pulled me back up on the chair. He was grasping my clothes and had his arms around me, close enough for me to feel his hot breath on my neck and his heartbeat against my back.

I slipped out of his arms. "I'm fine."

"What now?"

"Oh, my gods, how are we gonna kill the Basilisk without the sword of Gryffindor?" Malcolm gasped.

I rolled my eyes. "We have our own swords, you nerd. But we need a plan. I mean, we've learned how to take down giant serpents before, but not like this!"

"Well, obviously, we need light. Not the Greek fire."

Connor was about to say something, but Malcolm and I stopped him. "We are not setting anyone's shoes on fire and sticking them on broken poles."

I felt him sink back into the seats. "Just a suggestion."

An overused one, I thought. "There's no time. What do we do?" Connor asked.

"Get the mortals out and somewhere else," I said.

"And find light, since the train's not working."

"That's it?"

Blood seemed to rush to my ears as there was a big swoosh! and Malcolm's voice was cut off. There was a thump on the luggage railing above us and a clang as his sword fell. Alright, so I had to use every other sense except for sight. What could go wrong?

I swung my sword and it hit something thick. The serpent hissed loudly.

"Turn on your flashlights!" I heard Connor say. I groped blindly for a bench that I could step on. Finally I found a table.

"Y/N!" Malcolm said.

"Keep talking!"

"I'm on my way, my leg's stuck between the poles."

I felt a giant presence in front of me, then some kind of warm emptiness. Holy Hera, it was about to eat me. I darted away from the table to quickly and slipped. My arm crashed against a glass barrier and hot pain formed on my skin. Fortunately the glass didn't shatter.

I found my sword a few meters away from me, then there was light again. Took them long enough. The mortals were all backed up against the wall, staring at us. Finally able to see what I was attacking, I charged up the tables again and got ready to swing on the metal rods for luggage to climb the serpent's head.

"I'm coming!" Connor shouted. Just as he was about to slice the metal poles, the serpent took a bite out of Malcolm's backpack, pulling him along with it.

I screamed. There was a sickening crack at the same time a metallic clang as the poles were cut cleanly with Connor's sword. I could just hear Connor's voice over the shrieking. "I'm gonna slide your leg out, hold on-"

"Don't touch me! Don't fucking touch my broken fucking leg!"

Malcolm was thrown to the side, where the mortals were. A quick thinking middle-aged man grabbed an extra shirt from his torn backpack to stop the bleeding gash on Malcolm's back. The serpent's teeth had grazed it there.

I slashed at the serpent again, and apparently Connor stabbed it, because I heard a grunt of the other side of the thick body of the serpent. It thrashed wildly, tail flicking against the glass I hit earlier. It shattered as I held my arms up in front of my face.

A moment later I snatched my sword from the floor. "Connor!" Then an idea popped up in my mind. We mentioned Greek fire earlier. Could we use it against the serpent?

"Connor, answer me!"

I saw his silhouette against the weak lights of the cellphones, and he raised his arms. No, he was taking his jacket off. The serpent and the everyone else seemed to go quiet as he threw his jacket over the phones and we were shrouded in darkness again.

"Wait, I can't see," I whispered.

"Yeah, hold on, Y/N, I'll find you."

"Why did you cover the lights?"

"I don't need them. You're already my light in the dark."

"Now is not the time!"

"Oh my gods, you two are a thing?!" Malcolm's voice whisper-yelled.

"No, I was joking."

"Fucking knew it."

Finally he found my wrist and pulled me closer. "Or not," he added. I could hear that stupid smirk in his voice.

"Y/N," Malcolm said softly, inching over to us despite his leg. "Connor, you okay?"

"Yeah."

"We're fine."

"It was a good idea covering the lights. Go to my backpack, that's where the Greek fire is. Don't turn your flashlights on until you're ready to throw the Greek fire."

"Throw it where?"

"Down its throat, probably."

I nodded.

We were silent for a few seconds. Then Connor spoke up. "Are you guys nodding, or..."

"Yeah," I grinned. "That's it?"

"Yes."

About 2 minutes later I found myself squatting on the floor, holding my flashlight in one hand and the jar or Greek Fire in the other. I held my breath as the serpent slithered past. Connor was hidden up on the luggage rack, a flashlight ready to shine in the serpent's eyes.

Just when I felt like it was going too far I tapped my sword on the railing above me. On the opposite luggage rack, a light shone and the serpent spun toward it.

"HAHA! BITCH!" Connor laughed. I darted over to the table under him and threw the jar of Greek fire into its open mouth, and it wasn't a pretty sight. The jar shattered after hitting one of its fangs and immediately burst into green flames.

"Language!" I said as he jumped down. The train started moving again, too. The lights flickered then turned on. The serpent was turning to dust. The only major damage was the luggage rack and the shattered glass. Everything boiled down after a few moments. The people earlier had made a splint for Malcolm's swollen leg.

"This diadem better be worth it," He muttered.

"This bracelet looks worth it," Connor said quietly as he took a seat beside us, inspecting a piece of sparkly jewelry. "Here, let me put it on you, Y/N," He laughed.

"I don't want it, thanks."

"But you love me," He smiled playfully.

"Maybe."