FIX MY HEART

"hold me and don't let go"

     ONE THING WAS FOR SURE—ARIADNE WAS GOING TO HAVE TO TAME AN ANGRY PERCY.

To say her boyfriend was pissed was an understatement. Percy was ready to rip Leo to shreds. She understood, as the Romans were their only allies in the war against the giants, and now Leo had gone shooting them, destroying any last hope of mending their bond.

But it wasn't like him. Ariadne had known Leo for months. Yeah, he was eccentric at times, and yes, a little higher on the ADHD scale, but he wouldn't purposefully harm someone, especially another camp full of demigods.

Ariadne stood talking to Leo with Annabeth. She crossed her arms. "One more time," she said. "Exactly what happened?"

Leo slumped against the mast. All found them, the ship was in shambles. The aft crossbows were piles of kindling. The foresail was tattered. The satellite array that powered the onboard Internet and TV was blown to bits, which had really made Coach Hedge made. Their bronze dragon figurehead, Festus, was coughing up smoke like he had a hair all, and judging from the groaning sounds on the port side some of the aerial oars had been knocked out of alignment of broken off completely, which explained why the ship was listing and shuddering as it flew, the engine wheezing like an asthmatic steam train.

He choked back a sob. "I don't know. It's fuzzy."

Too many people were looking at him: Annabeth—who scared him completely—was the one asking the most questions. Ariadne had a stony look, one that she only ever saved for someone who made her frustrated, Coach Hedge with his furry goat legs, his orange polo shirt, and his baseball bat, and the newcomer, Frank.

Annabeth crossed her arms. "You mean you don't remember?"

"I..." Leo felt like he was trying to swallow a marble. "I remember, but it's like I was watching myself do things. I couldn't control it."

Coach Hedge tapped his bat against the deck. The old satyr glowered. "Look kid," Hedge said, "you blew up some stuff. You attacked some Romans. Awesome! Excellent! But did you have to knock out the satellite channels? I was right in the middle of watching a cage match."

"Coach," Annabeth said, "why don't you make sure all the fires are out?"

"But I already did that."

Ariadne gave him a side eye. "Do it again.

The satyr trudged off, muttering under his breath. Even Hedge wasn't crazy enough to defy the combined effort of Ariadne and Annabeth.

Annabeth knelt next to Leo. Her gray eyes were as steely as ball bearings. Her blonde hair fell loose around her shoulders. She was no dumb, highly blonde, Ariadne had determined that the moment she had met her.

"Leo," she said calmly, "did Octavian trick you somehow? Did he frame you, or—"

"No." Leo could have lied and blamed that stupid Roman, but he didn't want to make a bad situation worse. "The guy was a jerk, but he didn't fire on the camp. I did."

The new kid, Frank, scowled. "On purpose?"

"No!" Leo squeezed his eyes shut. "Well, yes...I mean, I didn't want to. But at the same time, I felt like I wanted to. Something was making me do it. There was this cold feeling inside me—"

"A cold feeling." Ariadne's tone changed. She sounded almost...worried.

"Yeah," Leo said. "Why?"

From belowdecks, Percy called up, "Aidan, Annabeth, we need you."

As soon as they'd gotten on board, Piper had taken Jason below. The cut on his head had looked pretty bad.

"He'll be fine." Annabeth's expression softened. "Frank, I'll be back. Just...watch Leo. Please."

Frank nodded.

Ariadne gave Leo a small smile before they disappeared below deck. The brunette glanced over at the blonde girl beside her, both thinking about what had just occurred.

Jason was in the sick bay, onto the second floor below deck. Piper was holding his hand, keeping a rag pressed to his face while Percy was storing away a few containers of ambrosia. Annabeth sighed heavily. No doubt she was blaming herself.

"How is he?" Ariadne questioned softly, as if not wanting to break Piper from her concentrated trance.

"Okay." Piper gripped his hand tighter, watching every breath he took. "He'll be okay, I think. But I don't know when he'll wake up."

Percy tried to bring some comfort. "As a guy who's been hit in the head more times than I would've liked, he'll be out for a few more hours."

Annabeth was staring at the son of Jupiter who laid in one of the beds. Her face was expressionless, which meant she was thinking clearly about everything. It was best not to bother her in that state, Percy and Ariadne ha learned that the hard way many times. They decided to tell Leo all was well.

They walked up the stairs while the ship lurched and stuttered. Ariadne kept a hand on the wall to keep herself balanced, but Percy was doing perfectly fine.

"Does a flying ship make you nervous or comforted," Ariadne questioned.

"A little bit of both." Percy shrugged. "I'd be better if it was just water."

Ariadne snorted. "Of course you would, Kelp Head."

Percy grabbed her arm, causing her to stop on one of the stairs. He was taller than he had been sixth months ago. But, she was still close to his height, ending at his eye level. His hand gripped her arm as if to make sure she was really there and not another trick played by Hera. She understood the feeling.

"I missed you," he murmured. "When I finally regained my memories, I felt like I was missing something, and that was you."

"I'm here now," she said quietly, her voice barely above a whisper. "Six months without you was hard enough. But this...I'm so sorry it happened. I'm sorry I couldn't find you sooner—"

"Hey, don't do that." Percy moved his hand up to her cheek. "Please don't blame yourself. It's not your fault, it never was."

Ariadne chuckled, her voice raw from built up emotions that were threatening to escape. "Doesn't feel that way. Some part of me thinks that if I had found you sooner, we could've made allies with the Romans much quicker."

Percy brushed his thumb over her cheek, grazing the scar on the left side. "Darling, you and I both know if you could've you would've. I'm not blaming you, no one is. Annabeth told me how you to go on a quest days after I was gone, and how you've been leading the camp and all the searches by yourself. You've done your part."

Ariadne took a shaky breath. She enveloped him into a tight hug. It felt like home. The warmth that radiated off of him, his strong arms holding her to his body, her face in the crook of his neck. It was all so nostalgic—she finally had him back.

They made their way up the stairs to see Frank and Leo. Their faces were grim.

Leo's heart stumbled. "Is Jason—?"

"He's resting," Ariadne said. "Piper's keeping an eye on him, but he should be fine. Annabeth is trying to figure this all out."

Percy gave him a hard look. "Aidan says you did fire the ballista?"

"Man, I—I don't understand how it happened. I'm so sorry—"

"Sorry?" Percy growled.

Ariadne put a hand on her boyfriend's chest. "We'll figure it out later. We need to regroup and plan. What's the situation with the ship?"

Leo's legs trembled. He was shaking under Percy's look. He finally understood why most monsters hated the idea of Ariadne and Percy together in battle, their whole essence allowed power and danger to roll off of them. He told Ariadne about the damage and the supplies they needed. He was bemoaning the shortages Celestial bronze when Festus began to whir and squeak.

"Perfect." Leo sighed with relief.

"What's perfect?" Ariadne said. "Perfect would be nice right about now."

Leo managed a smile. "Everything we need is in one place. Frank, why don't you turn into a bird or something? Fly down and tell your girlfriend to meet us at the Great Salt Lake in Utah."

Once they got there, it wasn't a pretty landing. With the oars damaged and the foresail torn, Leo could barely manage a controlled descent the others strapped themselves below—except for Coach Hedge, who insisted on clinging to the foreword rail, yelling, "YEAH! Bring it on, lake!" Leo stood astern, alone at the helm, and aimed as best he could.

Ariadne sat in the mess hall with Percy, Annabeth, and Frank. They all sat dejectedly around the dining table.

Leo had made the lounge as nice as possible, since he figured they'd be spending a lot of time there. The cupboard was lined with magic cups and plates from Camp Half-Blood, which would fill up with whatever food or drink yiu wanted on command. There was also a magical ice chest with canned drinks, perfect for picnics ashore. The chairs were Cush recliners with thousand-finger massage, built in headphones, and sword and drink holders for all demigod kicking-back needs. Here were no windows, but the walls were enchanted to show real-time footage from Camp Half-Blood—the beach, the forest, the strawberry fields. Percy was staring longingly at a sunset view of Half-Blood Hill, where the Golden Fleece glittered in the branches of the tall pine tree.

"So we've landed," Percy said. "What now?"

Frank plucked on his bowstring. "Figure out the prophecy? I mean...that was a prophecy Ella spoke, right? From the Sibylline Books?"

"The what?" Leo asked.

Frank explained how their harpy friend was freakishly good at memorizing books. At some point in the past, she'd inhaled a collection of ancient prophecies that had supposedly ben destroyed around the fall of Rome.

"That's why you didn't tell the Romans," Leo guessed. "You didn't want them to get hold of her."

Percy kept staring at the image of Half-Blood Hill. "Ella's sensitive. She was a captive when we found her. I just didn't want..." He made a fist. "It doesn't matter now. I sent Tyson an Iris-message, told him to take Ella to Camp Half-Blood. They'll be safe there."

Annabeth laced her finger. "Let me think about the prophecy—but right now we have more immediate problems. We have to get this ship fixed. Leo, what do we need?"

"The easiest thing is tar." Leo was glad to change the subject. "We can get that in the city, at a roofing supply store or someplace like that. Also, Celestial bronze and lime. According to Festus, we can find both of those on an island in the lake, just west of here."

"We have to hurry," Hazel warned. "If I know Octavian, he's searching for us with his auguries. The Romans will send a strike force after us. It's a matter of honor."

Leo felt everyone's eyes on him. "Guys...I don't know what happened. Honestly, I—"

Ariadne cut him off. "We've been talking. We all agreed it couldn't have been you, Leo. That cold feeling you mentioned...Annabeth and I felt it too. It must've been some sort of magic, either Octavian or Gaea or one of her minions. Until we understand what happened—"

Frank grunted. "How can we be sure it won't happen again?"

"I'm fine now," Leo insisted. "Maybe we should use the buddy system. Nobody goes anywhere alone. We can leave Piper and Coach Hedge on board with Jason. Send one team into town to get tar. Another team can go after the bronze and the lime."

"Split up?" Percy said. "That sounds like a really bad idea."

"It'll be quicker," Hazel put in. "Besides, there's a reason a quest is usually limited to three demigods, right?"

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. "You're right. The same reason we needed the Argo II...outside camp, right demigods in one place will attract way too much monstrous attention. The ship is designed to conceal and protect us. We should be safe enough on board; but if we go on expeditions, we shouldn't travel in groups larger than three or the occasional four. No sense alerting more of Gaea's minions than we have to."

Percy still didn't look happy about it, but he took Ariadne's hand, which was resting on her thigh. "As long as you're my buddy, I'm good."

Annabeth looked over everyone. "I'll stay with with Piper and Jason. I need some time to think."

Hazel smiled. "Oh, that's easy. Frank, you were amazing turning into a dragon! Could you do it again to fly Ariadne and Percy into town for the tar?"

Frank opened his mouth like he wanted to protests. "I...I suppose. But what about you?"

"I'll ride Arion with Sa—with Leo, here." She fidgeted with her sword hilt. "We'll get the bronze and the lime. We can all meet back here by dark."

Frank scowled. Obviously, he didn't like the idea of Leo going off with Hazel.

"Leo," said Annabeth," if we get the supplies, how long go fix the ship?"

"With luck, just a few hours."

"Fine," she decided. "Me back here as soon as possible, but stay safe. We could use some good luck. That doesn't mean we'll get it."

***

FRANK THUMPED AGAINST THE DECK, SENDING ARIADNE TO THE FLOOR. She growled and muttered under her breath. Those tar monsters were terrible, and had gotten her hair stuck together in a tight mass.

Percy lugged the plastic bucket the smelled horrible off of Frank's back, panting while he tried to shake some tar off his body.

They ran down the hall.

"Roofing tar?" Piper guessed. Jason's as awake beside her, along with a wrecked Hazel.

Frank stumbled up behind them, which made the hallway pretty jam-packed with demigods. Frank had a big smear of the black sludge down his face.

"Ran into some tar monsters," Ariadne said. "Oh, Jason, glad you're okay. Hazel, where's Leo!"

She pointed down. "Engine room."

Suddenly the entire ship listed to port. The demigods stumbled. Percy almost spilled his bucket of tar.

"Uh, what was that?" he demanded.

"Oh..." Hazel looked embarrassed. "We may have angered the nymphs who live in this lake. Like...all of them."

"Great." Percy handed the bucket of tar to Ariadne. "You guys help Leo. I'll hold off the water spirits as long as I can."

"On it!" Frank promised.

The three of them ran off, leaving Hazel at the cabin door.

Waves crashed against the hill as angry voices came from above deck—Percy shouting, Coach Hedge yelling at the lake. Festus the figurehead breathed fire several times. Down the hall, Hazel moaned miserably in her cabin. In the engine room below, it sounded like Leo and the others were doing an Irish line dance with anvils tied to their feet.

Ariadne shouted at Leo as his hand fidgeted, setting the paper she was holding on fire. Annabeth rolled her eyes at the two acted like her stepbrothers. Frank watched with wide eyes.

Leo was trying to stop the fire while Ariadne began cursing in Ancient Greek, making him even more panicked. "Stop shouting at me!"

"Stop lighting things on fire!"

"I'm not trying to!"

"Don't touch it! I'll put it out, just fix the ship!"

After what seemed like hours, the engine began to hum. The oars creaked and groaned, and Ariadne felt the ship lift into the air.

The rocking and shaking stopped. The shop because quiet except for the drone of machinery. Finally Leo emerged from the engine room. He was caked in sweat, like dust, and tar.

Ariadne went off to shower. She scrubbed and scrubbed the tar out of her hair, going through a lot of shampoo and conditioner before her hair was clean once more.

The girl pulled on a pair of soft shorts and a random oversized t-shirt she had packed on the ship. Her arms were covered with one of Percy's hoodies, one that said his last name on the back. It was from his basketball team. Somehow, his mom had convinced him to sign up, and Ariadne had gone to a few of his games just as the season started, she was there for all of them. She would wear the very hoodie and cheer him on. They would play basketball on a few weekends if they were feeling up to it.

Annabeth sat on her bed, looking at a picture of the two of them that was hanging on the wall. "How bad was it?"

"Well, somehow I got tar in my ear," Ariadne said, banging on one side of her head. "Most of it is out. But right now, it sounds like I'm underwater in one ear."

The blonde stood up. She took one look over her friend before smacking her head—hard. Ariadne cried out before she blinked. Her hearing was normal again.

"You just wanted to hit me." Ariadne gave her friend a dirty look.

Annabeth shrugged before they made their way toward the mess hall.

After everyone had cleaned up, Coach Hedge took the held and the demigods had gathered below for dinner. It was the first time they'd all sat down together—just the eight of them. The Prophecy of Eight was unfolding at last. No more waiting for Leo to finish the ship. No more days of Ariadne teaching them techniques of fighting, or keeping Leo company while she helped him with a few things for the ship. No more easy days at Camp Half-Blood, pretending the future was still a long way off. They were under way, with a bunch of angry Romans behind them and the ancient lands ahead. The giants would be waiting. Gaea was rising. And unless they succeeded in this quest, the world would be destroyed.

The others felt it too. The tension in the mess hall was like an electrical storm brewing, which was totally possible, considering Percy's and Jason's powers. In an awkward moment, the two boys tried to sit in the same chair at the head of the table. Sparks literally flew from Jason's hands. After a brief silent standoff, Ariadne and Annabeth made their appearance. The two boys ceded both head chairs on either side of the dining table to the girls. Percy sat on Ariadne's right, keeping his foot linked with hers. Jason sat next to Piper on the opposite side.

The crew compared notes on what had happened in Salt Lake City, but not even Leo's ridiculous story about how he tricked Narcissus wasn't enough to cheer up the group.

"Where to now?" Leo asked with a mouthful of pizza. "I did a quick repair job to get us out of the lake, but there still a lot of damage. We should really put down again and fix things right before we head across the Atlantic."

Percy was eating a piece of pie, which—surprise, surprise—was completely blue—filling, crust, even the whipped cream. "We need to put some distance between us and Camp Jupiter," he said. "Frank spotted some eagles over Salt Lake City. We figure the Romans aren't far behind us."

That didn't improve the mood around the table. Piper felt obliged to say something. "I don't suppose we should go back and try to reason with the Romans? Maybe—maybe I didn't try hard enough with the charmspeak."

Jason took her head. "It wasn't your fault, Pipes. Or Leo's," he added quickly. "Whatever happened, it was Gaea's doing, to drive the two camps apart."

"Maybe if we could explain that, though—"

"With no proof?" Annabeth asked. "And no idea what really happened? I appreciate what you're saying, Piper. I don't want the Roman on our bad side, but until we understand what Gaea's up to, going back is suicide."

"She's right," Hazel said. She still looked queasy from seasickness, but she was trying to eat a few saltine crackers. "Reyna might listen, but Octavian won't. The Romans have honor to think about. They've been attacked. They'll shoot first and ask questions post hac."

Ariadne glanced down at her plate, which held a few cookies. "Let's say we cross the Atlantic in a day's time, the Romans won't be able to target us. They won't try to cross it. They'll head to the only other place they know is full of demigods—camp. But, right now, we have to keep moving."

Everyone glanced down. Percy and Annabeth looked pale at the idea. They had already lost too many people, and new campers were ready for a battle that soon.

"You're right," Piper decided. "We have to keep going. Not just because of the Romans. We have to hurry."

Hazel nodded. "Nemesis said we have only six days until Nico dies and Rome is destroyed."

Jason frowned. "You mean Rome Rome, not New Rome?"

"I think," Hazel said. "But if so, that's not much time

"Why six days?" Percy wondered. "And how are they going to destroy Rome?"

No one answered.

"There's more," Piper said. "I've been seeing some things in my knife."

The big kid, Frank, froze with a forkful of spaghetti halfway to his mouth. "Things such as...?"

"They don't really make sense," Piper said, "just garbled images, but I saw two giants, dressed alike. Maybe twins."

Ariadne stared at the magical video feed from Camp Half-Blood on the wall. Right now it showed the living room in the Big House: a cozy fire on the hearth and Seymour, the stuffed leopard head, snoring contentedly above the mantle.

"Twins, like in Ella's prophecy," Ariadne said. "The lines would help if we knew what they meant."

But, twins. She knew what that sounded like, and she didn't like it one bit, considering who she was.

"Wisdom's daughter walks alone," Percy said. "The Mark of Athena burns through Rome. Annabeth, that's got to mean you. Juno told me...well, she said you had a hard task ahead of you in Rome. She said she doubted you could do it. But I know she's wrong."

Annabeth took a long breath. "Reyna was about to tell me something right before the sip fired on us. She said there was an old legend among the Roman praetors—something that had to do with Athena. She said it might be the reason Greeks and Romans could never get along." Leo and Hazel exchanged nervous looks.

"Nemesis mentioned something similar," Leo said. "She talked about an old score that had to be settled—"

"The one thing that might bring the gods' two natures into harmony," Hazel recalled. "An old wrong finally avenged."

Percy drew a frowny face in his blue whipped cream. "I was only a praetor for about two hours. Jason, you ever hear a legend like that?"

Jason was still holding Piper's hand. His fingers had turned clammy. "I...uh, I'm not sure," he said. "I'll give it some thought."

Percy narrowed his eyes. "You're not sure?"

Jason didn't respond.

Hazel broke the silence. "What about the other lines?" She turned her ruby encrusted plate. "Twins snuff out the angel's breath, Who holds the key to endless death."

"Giants' bane stands gold and pale," Frank added, "Won through pain from a woven jail."

"Daughter's mind spun through pain, Blood spilled in the gods' name," Ariadne finished.

"Giants' bane," Leo said. "Anything that's a giants' bane is good for us, right? That's probably what we need to find. If it can help the gods get their schizophrenic act together, that's good."

Percy nodded. "We can't kill the giants without the help of the gods."

Jason turned to Frank and Hazel. "I thought you guys killed that one giant in Alaska without a god's help, just the two of you."

"Alcyoneus was a special case," Frank said. "He was only immortal in the territory where he was reborn—Alaska. But not in Canada. I wish I could kill all the giants by dragging them across the border from Alaska into Canada, but..." He shrugged. "Percy's right, we'll need the gods."

"So..." Leo pushed his chair away from the table. "First things first, I guess. We'll have to put you down in the morning to finish repairs."

"Someplace close to a city," Annabeth suggested, "in case we need supplies. But somewhere out of the way, so the Romans will have trouble finding us. Any ideas?"

No one spoke.

"Well," Piper ventured, "how do you guys feel about Kansas?"

Percy was happy that Ariadne's room was across from his. Annabeth made sure it was. She knew both found comfort from nightmares when they were near one another.

He stopped outside her door while she opened it. Sadly, just like camp, he couldn't cuddle with her as Coach Hedge was watching them with hawk eyes. He was holding his bat so tightly they expected splinters to appear on the floor.

"Night," Ariadne said to her boyfriend, giving him a soft look.

Percy brushed the gray strand from her face. "Night."

She pressed a quick kiss to his lips before retreating into her room. He did the same.

Ariadne had trouble falling asleep.

Coach Hedge spent the first hour after curfew doing his nightly duty, walking up and down the passageway yelling, "Lights out! Settle down! Try to sneak out, and I'll smack you back to Long Island!"

He banged his baseball bat against a cab door when he heard a noise, shouting at everyone to go to sleep, which made it impossible for anyone to go to sleep.

Everyone in their cabins heard a door swing open before someone stomped down the hallway and shouted at Coach Hedge, ordering him back into his room before slamming her own door. They could all hear Percy's laugh ringing in their ears, knowing it was his girlfriend who was greatly annoyed.

The daughter of Dionysus laid in her bed. She stared at the bronze beams on the ceiling. Her cabin was like she was back at camp. Leo had programmed their quarters to adjust automatically to the occupant's preferred temperature, so it was never cold or too hot. It was the perfect temperature for wine, like back at camp. The mattress and the pillows were stuffed with pegasus down, so they were uber-comfortable. A bronze lantern hung from the ceiling, glowing at whatever brightness Ariadne wished. The lantern's sides were perforated with pinholes, so at night glimmering constellations drifted across her walls.

Her eyes couldn't close. There was too much on her mind. Nico was going to die in six days, the two twins—who she believed she had an idea about—and the last two lines of Annabeth's prophecy.

She just laid there in her bed, watching as the constellations swirled around her room, as if she was apart of the heavens herself.

authors note:

Bro if Coach Hedge tried to do that when I'm sleeping I would've drop kicked him so hard

I also like writing small moments between Percy and Ariadne. Gives my life a purpose

I'm scared to drive. It's so scary even thought I'm used to it

Any advice?

Q: have y'all ever like wanted to make fan art for fics?
A: I have! I'm no good so we don't do that. But please, if someone ever wants to make art send it to me here because I got rid of my insta for this account!!!! Or like send me the link and I'll share it with everyone of you so wish (and credit will ALWAYS be given)

Just a thought don't be pressured!!! I want you to know that I would love to see it either way

Love you guys!!!!!!!