I 010. I

𝑮𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑮𝒐𝒓𝒆

❝ falling ❞

THEY WERE ALL MADE OF THE SAME COSMIC DUST. In her mind, that is. Somehow the gods were able to weave together a collection of constellations and their ashes, creating an imperfect symphony of disaster and mishaps.

Ariadne wasn't at ease until the glow of Quebec City faded behind them. Some part of her expected Khione to blow them off course with a sudden snow storm.

She was lost in her own thoughts. Night blinked around her, and it seemed odd to be flying in the sky on a quest with a new group. She quite missed her old one.

The thought of their first quest brought a small smile to her face. Grover being a nervous wreck the entire time. Annabeth almost making their heads explode with the amount of facts she knew of the Gateway Arch, the terrible love ride where mechanical spiders attacked her and Percy.

It seemed so long ago, when in reality it had only been four years. Her heart yearned to go back and cherish it again. Because some how, even those quests were a lot simpler than this one.

Ariadne nibbled on the sandwich Leo had passed her from his pack. He'd been so quiet ever since they told him what happened in the throne room. Of course, she didn't exactly listen to the conversation the three had, stuck in reminiscing all the dangerous times with her friends as a kid.

Up above, the moon rose and stars turned overhead. She noticed the different constellations—Hercules, Apollo's lyre, Sagittarius the centaur, they were all there.

"That one's my favorite," she remarked out loud. It wasn't her intention too, but it happened.

Jason looked up, his blue eyes twinkling with small dogs in his eyes. "Which one?"

Piper and Leo followed. They eyes the constellations across the blank slate. All tried to find her favorite, and Piper thought she had.

"The crown." Piper pointed up, one on the far north. "Ariadne's crown."

Leo gawked. "You had a crown?"

Ariadne chuckled. "Not exactly, Batman. It was my stepmom's. She doesn't really like it, actually. I've heard that rant one too many times."

"Wait, you've met her?" Jason questioned.

"Well, yeah," Ariadne said, as if it was obvious. "She's my stepmom. I loved with her in Miami for a few years, we even have an apartment in New York."

The trio had mixed expressions of shock and curiosity. But Ariadne focused overhead, her amethyst eyes glistening with bright lights, as if her eyes were made to reflect the various constellations in the sky.

Her lips pursed. "My favorite is the Huntress." They all admired the way the stars seemed to move across the sky, and it hovered above them, as if reaching a hand out to her. "She was a friend."

Piper's eyes softened. "You knew her?" her voice soft with sympathy.

"Zoe Nightshade. A Hunter of Artemis. A daughter of Atlas, and one of the bravest people I knew. Artemis turned her into a constellation after she saved our lives a few years ago, and I haven't forgotten about her since."

No one asks any other questions. All three could see the pain on her face when she spoke of the Huntress. Ariadne head been through a lot, maybe even more than they had, and somethings deserved to be kept to yourself, so they let her.

And Piper began feeling guilty.

Eventually, Ariadne fell asleep while leaning on her pack, using it as her pillow, and clutching a pearl necklace tightly. Piper followed suit, leaning her back against Jason's chest.

They dreamed of different things; one was of a giant who was using her, and the other, memories of a better time, wondering if her boyfriend was looking at the same stars as her.

She woke up free falling through the air. Her eyes bounced around, looking for something to hold onto. Her pack flew above her. She latched onto it for her life, pulling it onto her back before looking for her friends.

Far below she saw city lights glimmering in the early dawn, and several hundred yards away the body of the bronze dragon spinning out of control, its wings limp, fire flickering in its mouth like a badly wire lightbulb.

A body shot past her—Leo, screaming and frantically grabbing at the clouds. "Not coooooool!"

Ariadne kept falling. She was reaching out for the younger boy, but every time she was almost there he slipped out of her fingers. Eventually, she was able to grip his arm, pulling him closer.

"THANKS!" he screamed over the wind.

She saw Jason holding onto Piper by her waist, slowing their descent. The girl held on tighter to Leo and with all her might, shoved him toward the duo. He landed with a thump!

But the problem was that Jason grabbed the other two, but couldn't get to her quick enough. Ariadne noticed an explosion below her. A fireball rolled into the sky from behind a warehouse complex, and Leo sobbed, "Festus!"

She was coming closer and closer to the ground. Jason's face reddened with strain as he tried to maintain the air vision beneath them while trying to reach the older demigod. Her eyes took in the details below. A factory complex—warehouses, smokestacks, barbed wire fences, and parking lots lined with snow covered vehicles. They were still high enough so that hitting the ground would flatten them into roadkill.

Ariadne reached the ground sooner than her friends. She urged a vine to grow, and it caught onto her shirt, holding her to a stop while her friends dropped like stones.

They hit the roof of the largest warehouse and crashed into the darkness.

The daughter of Dionysus had the vine drop her into the roof slowly, and it went back to the earth while she slid across the metal slabs. She swung her way into the factory and landed on the catwalk, noticing Piper, who looked crumbled.

"Piper!"

Piper sighed in relief to see her there. Her foot didn't look right. She must've tried to land feet first and her ankles gave out. Ariadne winced at the sight of her toes in opposite directions. It didn't look pleasing, which caused Piper to look sick, as if she was ready to throw up.

Leo and Jason had landed on the ground level. They made their way toward the catwalk, climbing up the steps where the two girl were. Ariadne forced Piper to look somewhere other than her foot, letting her focus on the different beads on her camp necklace. She could wonder about those.

The hole they'd made in the roof was a ragged starburst twenty feet above. How they'd even survived that drop, she had no idea. Hanging from the ceiling, a few electric bulbs flickered dimly, but they didn't do much to light the enormous space. Next to the girls, the corrugated metal wall was emblazoned with a company logo, but it was almost completely spray painted over with graffiti. Down in the shadowy warehouse, she could make out huge machines, robotic arms, half-finished trucks on an assembly line. The place looked like it had been abandoned for years.

Jason and Leo reached their side.

Leo started to ask, "You okay...?" Then he saw her foot. "Oh no, you're not."

"Thanks for the reassurance," Piper groaned.

"You'll be fine," Jason said, though there was worry in his voice. "Leo, you got any first aid supplies?"

"Yeah—yeah, sure." He dug around in his tool belt and pulled out a wad of gauze and a roll of duct tape—both of which seemed too big for the belt's pockets.

"How did you—" Piper tried to sit up, and winced. "How did you pull that stuff from an empty belt?"

"Magic," Leo said. "Haven't figured it out completely, but I can summon just about any regular tool out of the pockets, plus some other helpful stuff." He reached into another pocket and pulled out a little thin box. "Breath king?"

Jason snatched away the mints. "That's great, Leo. How, can you fix her foot?"

"I'm a mechanic, man. Maybe if she was a car..." He snapped his fingers. "Wait, what was that godly healing stuff they fed you at camp—Rambo food."

"Ambrosia," Ariadne said. "I hav some in my pack."

She slipped off her bag and rummaged through the supplies she had packed. Jason stared at the picture of Thalia in her bag, wondering how she knew her. There was also a picture of two boys who had the same eyes as Ariadne, and a smaller photo of her and a woman with the same hair.

Out she pulled a Ziplock full of smashed pastry squares like lemon bars. Ariadne broke off a piece and handed it to Jason, who fed it to Piper.

"More," she said.

Jason frowned. "Piper, we shouldn't risk it. They said too much could burn you up. I think I should try to set your foot."

Piper looked nervous. "Have you ever done that before?"

"Uh..."

Ariadne smiled slightly. "I have," she said. "I can do it, and Jason can hold your hand, to make sure you don't scream too loud."

Both of them blushed. Piper noticed the twinkle in Ariadne's eyes, as if she was reminiscing something from better times.

Leo found an old piece of wood and broke it in half for a splint. Then he got the gauze and duct tape ready.

"Hold her leg still," Ariadne told him. "Jason, hold her hand—tight. Piper, this is going to hurt."

When Ariadne set her foot, Piper flinched so hard she punched Leo in the arm, and he yelled almost as much as she did. Jason looked like his fingers had broken from the force the girl had squeezed them. Piper looked down and found that her foot was pointing the right way, her ankle splinted with plywood, gauze, and duct tape.

"Ow," she said.

"Jeez, beauty queen!" Leo rubbed his arm. "Glad my face wasn't there."

"Sorry," she said. "And don't call me 'beauty queen,' or I'll punch you again."

A deep laugh surrounded them. Ariadne muffled her mouth, which surprised them. She chuckled, "Nice hit, Pipes."

The daughter of Aphrodite couldn't help but grin.

"You both did great." Jason found a canteen in Piper's pack and gave her some water. After a few minutes, she seemed alright.

Snowflakes fluttered through the hole in the roof, and after meeting Khione, snow was the last thing any of them wanted to see.

"What happened to the dragon?" Piper asked. "Where are we?"

Leo's expression turned sullen. "I don't know with Festus. He just jerked sideways like he hit an invisible wall and started to fall."

The boy pointed to the logo on the wall. "As far as where we are..." It was hard to see through the graffiti, but Ariadne could make out a large red eye with the stenciled words: Monocle Motors, assembly plant 1.

"Closed car plant," Leo said. "I'm guessing we crash landed in Detroit."

Piper nodded. "How far is that from Chicago?"

Jason handed her the canteen. "Maybe three-fourths of the way from Quebec? The thing is, without the dragon, we're stuck traveling overland."

"No way," Leo said. "It isn't safe."

Piper thought for a moment. "He's right. Besides, I don't know if I can walk. And four people—Jason, you can't fly that many across country by yourself."

"No way," Jason said. "Leo, are you sure the dragon didn't malfunction? I mean, Festus is old, and—"

"And I might not have repaired him right?"

"I didn't say that," Jason protested. "It's just—maybe you could fix it."

"I don't know." Leo sounded crestfallen. He pulled a few screws out of his pockets and started fiddling with them. "I'd have to find where he landed, if he's even in one piece."

"It was my fault," Piper said.

"Piper," Jason said gently, "you were asleep when Festus conked out. It couldn't be your fault."

"He's right, Piper," Ariadne pointed out, "you and I were both sleeping." She also looked at Leo. "It also wasn't Festus's fault. Whatever happened was out of our hands."

"Yeah, you're just shaken up," Leo agreed. He didn't even try to make a joke at her expense. "You're in pain. Just rest."

Leo stood. "Look, um, Jason, why don't you stay with her, bro? I'll scout around for Festus. I think he fell outside the warehouse somewhere. If I can find him, maybe I can figure out what happened to fix him."

"It's too dangerous," Jason said. "You shouldn't go by yourself."

Ariadne stood next to him. "He won't be," she said. "I'll go with him. He can scout for Festus, and I'll make sure nothing around here will try and kill us."

Jason didn't look convinced.

"Ah, I got duct tape and breath mints and an all-powerful warrior. I'll be fine," Leo said. "You guys just don't run off without me."

Leo reached into his magic tool belt, pulled out a flashlight, and headed down the stairs with Ariadne, leaving Piper and Jason alone.

The two walked out of the warehouse. They found themselves along the outskirts of the building, the cold air biting their cheeks and whipping their hair around. Ariadne tugged her coat on tighter.

Leo nervously fiddled with his flashlight. "Which way do you think he went?"

"I guess that way." She pointed to the right. "He landed behind a warehouse, in pretty sure. Might want to check there."

He nodded. The boy looked heartbroken for his dragon, and she understood. Leo was trying to stay strong for them but his eyes showed everything. He wasn't used to this—monsters and gods, it wasn't him.

Ariadne nudged his shoulder. "Hey," she whispered, "it's not your fault."

He gave her a look.

"I know that expression, Leo. I'm the one who wears it a lot. You'll find Festus, and you'll fix him. Because if there's one thing I can say about you, Leo Valdez, is that you're probably the smartest person I've ever met. And I'm best friends with a daughter of Athena."

Leo smiled. "You're the first person to ever tell me that."

She gave him a last smile before twisting Lunacy into her hand. The girl took off in the other direction, leaving him there with a smile on his face.

Ariadne raced to one of the warehouse and stepped inside. It was full of old parts and assembly lines, damp and dark. There were chains up top and the catwalk looked ready to fall apart with one step. She wasn't going to test it for the sake of keeping her soul in her body.

Lunacy hung in her hand, catching whatever small shred of light there was. Vines crawled along the blade as they waited to pounce. Her breath misted the air, and her eyes scanned the warehouse, looking for any sign of something else.

There was a creak behind her. She spun around to see nothing.

"Ariadne?"

That was definitely Jason's voice, but he wasn't meant to be watching Piper. "Yeah?"

"Are you there?"

"Where's Piper?"

Her body shot with adrenaline. Something wasn't right. Ariadne glanced over at the wall to see the single eye painted on, and her eyes widened. They needed to get out of there. How she hadn't realized it before?

There was another creak behind her.

A face appeared out of the darkness—a hideous black grin, a smashed nose, and a single bloodshot eye in the middle of its forehead.

"I'm right here," the Cyclops said, in a perfect imitation of Piper's voice. "And we finally found you."

Before she could even swing her sword, she was thrown against the wall, he head causing her vision to go blurry, and she eventually blacked out.

authors note:

Here's another one😀

Hope y'all like my terrible writing. This sucks but idk I guess it's filler because in the book this scene mainly has Piper and Jason's convo and then Leo talking to Gaea so

Hope y'all are good

I'll try and figure out how to use discord to see if that could be a great way to chat and stuff idk I have to see

I also studied for my permit test so yay me but ya know it's on Thursday so

Hope y'all enjoy this

Q: what would your perfect date be like?
A: We go to like a small cafe or something and then go to one of those botanical gardens and just walk around and take aesthetic photos in cute outfits and then we go back to one of our houses and we watch movies and cuddle and eat food

But that all requires a relationship and that's a lot so

I'll stick with dreaming about Percy snuggling me as Ariadne and fall asleep that way

Or Spencer Reid holding me yeah that too

Love you guys!

EDITED: DISCORD LINK!

https://discord.gg/sVKjBUq3Wc