I apologise for the length of this fanfic in advance.

SO CONFESSION TIME. THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A FREAKING ONE SHOT. 46 PAGES AND 17.4 K WORDS LATER I THINK NOT.

Naturally, I do the reasonable thing and try and make it into parts. Two parts. Because of its atrocious size and my inability to wait around for somebody to read over it for me, there maybe be a few mistakes thrown in here.

So. Here we go. Another Medoran versus Demigod crossover. I seriously hope you guys love it, because I love it too. And disclaimer: anything you recognise (provided you're well familiar with both TMC and PJO) is NOT mine - it either belongs to Lynette Noni or Rick Riordan.

And without further ado ...

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Part One

"You know," begins Aurileous Cavelle, and with a jolt Alex realises he is addressing her. Expecting a reprimand of sorts, she is startled when she looks into his eyes — the same uniquely-coloured eyes as his daughter's — and sees only warmth. "When I suggested that you bring in reinforcements from Freya, I certainly was not expecting the children of your gods."

Alex swallows and looks down at her hands, feeling the curious gaze of every person seated around the war council table sweep expectantly to herself. A heat creeps across her cheeks; she's used to hardly ever being spared a second glance. But here, in a place where she is a Freyan and the rest of them a Medoran, she can hardly expect that sort of treatment.

"They're old friends of mine," she says finally. It's an inadequate response, but she's not yet prepared to part with the absolute truth.

;;

The centaur peers down at the fragile bundle of blankets that one of his demigod scouts brought in. Chiron's steady eyes take in a button nose, a head of soft mousy hair, impossibly tiny fingers that clutch to her blanket. The infant can hardly be a few months old, and yet the scout had discovered her tucked up in a carry cradle in the pocket of the woods, close to the highway; an abandoned baby.

"What do we do with her, Chiron?" asks the scout anxiously, a normally level-headed daughter of Apollo named Samantha. Her fingers fiddle with the shoulder strap of her quiver, absently moving a buckle up and down.

"What we do with every demigod that comes to this camp, Samantha." Despite the solemn expression on Chiron's face, his words are firm and authoritative. With a tenderness somebody so imposingly bulky should not have, Chiron gathers up the baby girl and turns around slowly to face the scout.

Nevertheless, Samantha persists. "How do we know if she's really a demigod and not some poor mortal baby who got dumped?"

"It is the will of the gods for their children to be found," Chiron answered, slowly ambling through the Big House. "In particular, your father is a compassionate god. Even if this baby was not his, he would have wanted her to be safe."

"But how do we look after her? The youngest kid we've ever had is four, and yet there's still a pretty wide caretaking gap there."

"We will make it work, Samantha," Chiron says, his words biting with finality.

;;

About four seats away from her, Jaxon Stirling snorts disbelievingly.

"I don't trust those kids. Every single piece of research we've ever conducted shows that Freyans don't possess gifts. And yet there they were, running around with gifts more powerful than even some of Akarnae's best."

"That's because they're children of the gods," Alex as good as seethes, unable to believe his dismissive ignorance. "They have to hide themselves from standard mortals, to protect themselves from monsters, rogue minor gods and just about anything that wants to kill them. They can't even use technology because monsters can be attracted to it - which is probably what you base research around."

"You know an awful lot about them," the royal advisor accuses.

Ignoring the prickle of fear that chills up her spine, Alex shrugs as casually as she muster. "Like I said, I've spent a bit of time around demigods. And anyway, that's what they would consider the basics."

;;

The Athena cabin insists on christening her Alexandra. Chiron chuckles, but he agrees to the Greek-originated name. A few hours later, every demigod residing at Camp Half-Blood is aware of the tiny baby demigod that was delivered to camp a week ago, now has a name.

Alexandra quickly drops to Alex, and she's mostly looked after by the Apollo cabin. There's more than enough of them, and after all he is the patron god for medicine. Of course, there's nobody in the Hera or Artemis cabins to care for her, and Chiron declares that she won't be getting written off to the Hunters anytime soon.

For the first few years of her life, the other demigods do their best to try and keep her innocence intact for as long as they can. The Demeter kids take her to the strawberry fields and the equestrian-inclined demigods escort her to the pegasi stables. When they bring in a kid all mangled from a monster attack, Alex is quickly hurried to the other side of camp. Ares kids are as good as banned from her, not that they're particularly interested in the first place. Everyone is holding their breath for the day that her godly parent finally decides to claim her, dreading that she won't be permitted to bounce cabin to cabin like she usually does.

That day never comes.

Having overheard whispers that she'll soon be transferred to the Hermes cabin, as is all protocol with all new demigods yet to be determined, Samantha and a few of her siblings squirrel her out to the woods for her first ever combat lesson. Nearing her fifth birthday, Alex is ecstatic to finally be waving around weapons like every other demigod in the camp does.

Her first few lessons are basic. One of the Apollo kids is actually a karate black-belt and usually works as a junior instructor when she returns to Chicago for school, so she's ideal for coaching Alex. It's hand to hand combat, starting off with martial arts whilst gradually introducing demigod fighting techniques.

But the lessons are crushed into a waste of time, when Chiron finds the Apollo kids, bearing the news they'd all been dreading.

;;

"Why the hell are we still talking about this?" General Drock intervenes gruffly, and Alex realises with a jolt that he's taking her side, defending her. "Why don't we just be grateful that these kids, demigods, god-offspring, whatever — helped us with that immortal bastard, and move on to a few more important issues?"

But to Alex's dismay, Osmada Cavelle leans forward. Her melodic words spill over the restless council. "Alex, how did they agree to assisting us? Did you make a deal with them?"

Alex sucks in a breath. "They didn't even ask for a deal."

"Really? Some of them behaved as if it was a case of one favour for another —" begins Advisor Stirling.

That's because we demigods help our own, Alex thinks to herself.

;;

There is a commotion on the magically enforced border of Camp Half-Blood.

A monster attack, thinks Alex instantly, trying to crane her neck for a better glimpse of what's going on. Whatever it is, it is increasingly gaining attention from the demigods. Hillary, whose lap Alex had been perched in for dinner, tightens her arms protectively around Alex's small form.

"Hill? What's going on?"

Hillary smooths down Alex's hair assuringly, pushing the loose tendrils back down over her braids from earlier. "It's okay, Alex. Whatever it is, it can't get past the camp boundary and hurt us."

"Is it a monster?" Alex's hand grips her small bronze pocket knife.

"Probably. Don't worry about — oh my gods." Hillary is not the only one who's instantly seized with captivated horror as she looks on to a new development in the monster attack. In the distance, Alex can see monsters. More monsters than she's ever seen, all blundering after a barely visible group of four demigods. Not that Alex's experience with monsters is anything impressive — she's never gone outside Camp in her life.

"We have to help them!" Alex exclaims, tugging at Hillary's hold, but the older daughter of Hermes refuses to loosen her grip on her.

"Alex, no! Chiron will make the call."

The trio is getting closer and closer to the camp border — close enough so that their profiles are thinly identifiable. Two blondes, a boy that's in his early teens and a girl who can only be Alex's age. One of the demigods is really a satyr, with his shaggy brown lower half. There is another girl, this one with short black hair and lightning spurring from the palm that isn't occupying a magnificent bronze shield.

A daughter of Zeus.

The campers are getting to their feet and hurrying towards the camp boundary, fetching bronze weapons and strapping on armour as they go. After lengthy deliberation, Hillary fastens her hold on Alex's hand before pulling her to her feet. But Alex's focus is held solely by the three demigods and the satyr fighting for their lives.

The campers seem to hold their breath as the younger blonde girl takes a violent fall, and without hesitation the boy scoops her up into the arms. He yells something at the daughter of Zeus, who yells back.

The two seem to have come to a decision, because whilst the daughter of Zeus faces the pursuing monsters, summoning her lightning and her shield, the two blondes charge forward. Directly towards the camp.

;;

"So you're saying they did this out of the goodness of their hearts?" comes the sharp words belonging to Jeera James.

"Not entirely." Alex says. She can't reveal that she is a demigod as well; hiding her heritage seals her fate, her fate in Medora. The fate she wants. "They also owed me a pretty big favour. As good as a life debt."

"How the hell did you manage that in the first place?"

A remorseful smile tugs up at the end of Alex's mouth. "It's a long story."

;;

Alex finds the newest addition to the Athena cabin under Thalia's tree.

Annabeth Chase is wearing the standard orange CHB t-shirt as well as beach shorts with a pattern of palm leaves, and the sort of scowl that would scare off most kids their age. But Alex has been around Ares kids long enough to not feel too intimidated by her.

Annabeth's eyes flash up and meet hers. They narrow in suspicion. Alex has the feeling that the only person Annabeth would be pleased to see is that boy who carried her in, a Hermes kid named Luke Castellan. An actual Hermes kid, not just one of the undetermined campers crammed in there like Alex is.

Alex pushes away the hurtful sting of still remaining undetermined, even after all these years, and drops into the dirt besides Annabeth. "Did Chiron send you?" demands the ice-queen-slash-daughter-of-Athena.

"He said you might want somebody to talk to."

"Well, he's wrong. I don't want to talk to anyone."

Alex looks down at the untied laces of her shoes. "You don't have to talk about what happened the other day. I don't want to be mean and pry. You can talk about something else. Something nice."

"Like what?" Annabeth's words are so cutting Alex is surprised she isn't getting whiplash.

"I don't know. Like chocolate. Or books. I've never read many books, though, so I'm not the best person to talk about them to."

After a long moment, Annabeth says quietly, "I love reading books."

;;

Jeera's eyes narrow, a precise calculation entering her eyes. She could just as easily be a daughter of Athena or even one of Artemis's Hunters, if she wasn't Medoran, Alex muses to herself.

"Then how do you know them in the first place?"

Alex knows she has no choice but to lie. "Annabeth — the scary blonde girl in the silver armour — we were close friends growing up. I started noticing weird things about her as we got older, and I sort of … stumbled, into the whole demigod thing."

It's times like these that she's grateful for her willpower protecting her thoughts, even though she's not entirely sure whether it's a gift or a godly inheritance.

;;

"Annabeth! Alex! Stop that at once!"

Still giggling guiltily, the two young girls lower their wooden practise swords and turn towards Chiron, who stands in the entrance of the arena amongst all the other pairs practising their fighting techniques. Chiron shoots a disapproving look at Luke, who was supposed to be supervising them in the first place — but he's too busy chatting up some Aphrodite girl.

"Yeah, Chiron?" calls Alex, trying to appear innocent.

"You know exactly what you did," Chiron says, trying to appear stern but failing to conceal his own amusement. "Please, girls, do not pull that stunt again — especially in Capture the Flag!"

Alex and Annabeth share another look, before once again dissolving helplessly into wicked laughter. Behind Chiron, Luke is shaking his head and rolling his eyes, all the while smiling broadly.

;;

"Do you think your godly parent will ever claim you?" Annabeth asks one afternoon when they're harvesting strawberries together.

Alex looks up sharply from her basket, beads of sweat collecting her forehead thanks to the unrelenting sunlight from above. She holds the blonde's gaze for a long moment, before biting her lip and ducking her head back down again.

"I … I don't know."

"But you've been here for nine years, Alex," says Annabeth earnestly. "Nine. Surely your parent would've gotten their act together by now, wouldn't they?"

"Maybe they're not an Olympian, so they don't have a cabin here."

"Well, too bad! We could use one that's never used. Like Hera's or Poseidon's." But then what Alex calls 'an Athenian lightbulb' sparks in Annabeth's eyes and the blonde suddenly straightens. "I know! We could ask Chiron to built cabins for kids of all the minor gods!"

"But there's so many of those, Annabeth."

"Not all of them. Just the main-minor gods, like Nemesis and Hecate. Surely your godly parent would be one of those." Annabeth scrambles to her feet in triumph. "I'm going to go tell Chiron about this right away!"

"Annabeth, wait!" Alex follows her, half laughing and half not.

;;

"The blonde girl?" Nisha James sends a frown in Alex's direction. "I had the impression you pair weren't on the … best terms."

Alex looks down at her hands, allowing her hair to fall over her face and provide a curtain she can hide behind. She's especially glad that nobody else in the room can see the bittersweet smile that crosses her face. "A lot changed since then."

;;

"So," Alex says, leaning against the stall of the pegasus that Annabeth is grooming. "What do you think of that new Poseidon kid, huh?"

"You are so lucky you don't have to tutor him," huffs Annabeth, her stormy grey eyes narrowing in displeasure. "He's just so — ugh! He's just so obnoxious! And he's a son of Poseidon!" She throws up her hands in frustration.

Alex laughs. "He can't be that bad."

"Yes, but you refuse to see anything but the best in anyone." Annabeth says, giving Alex a fond smile. "And anyway, have you even spoken to him yet?"

"Not much. Luke's finally teaching me to fight with double blades, remember?"

At the mention of her friend, Annabeth's face softens and lights up. "Yes! He told me how much you're improving!"

"Really?" Alex leans forward, unable to believe it. Luke Castellan really said that about her?

"You really are!" Annabeth begins to laugh. "And about time, too. You don't deserve for me to be the only one around here who appreciates you."

;;

Alex clears her throat and looks up again. "Alright, are you lot finally going to ask me something relevant to the demigods, or what?"

"This is relevant," Advisor Stirling mutters unpleasantly under his breath. Alex has half a mind to bring Nico di Angelo into the room when the royal advisor is letting loose one of his homophobic rants, and let the advisor know exactly just how much these demigods are not to be dismissed.

Alex snorts incredulously. "How is any of what you've asked so far relevant?"

"We're making insights into their loyalty."

Internally, Alex feels her face fall. You really shouldn't be doing that, when they have a better track record than me.

;;

There is an ever so slight disturbance in the Hermes cabin, a few days after Annabeth leaves camp for her very first quest with Grover the satyr and Percy the Poseidon kid. Alex awakes in her bunk to faintly see a few figures shifting through the darkness.

She squints, finally placing a shadowy face to their identity. "Luke? What are you doing?"

"We have somewhere to be, Alex." Luke whispers, stopping in his tracks and looking down at her. "And I have the feeling it's the sort of thing you should come along with us for."

A thrilled curiosity merges with the apprehension settling in Alex's stomach. "What? Where are you going?"

"Pack your things, kiddo," whispers another voice. Olivia Phelps. Another undetermined camper that's been in this cabin for years. Not as long as her — but nobody's been undetermined for as long as Alex has. "Come outside and Luke can try and recruit you."

"Recruit me?" Alex repeats.

"Just get moving," Luke urges gently, but there is impatience in his eyes.

For somebody who has lived at camp all her life, Alex's possessions fit neatly inside a backpack. Could probably even inside a shoebox. She tiptoes past her slumbering cabin mates, out into the brisk night with Luke and the other kids assembled with them — every last one of them, kids who have been unclaimed by their godly parents for an unreasonable period of time.

"Luke?" Alex asks uncertainly.

Luke releases a heavy breath, before looking at her directly in the eyes. "As senior counsellor of the Hermes cabin, I've noticed there's a lot of kids whose godly parents have never bothered to claim them. Chiron and Mr. D aren't listening to what I try to tell them, so I've decided to take matters into our own hands. We're going to find a way to hold the gods responsible for what they've done."

By the time he's finished, Alex is staring up at him with wide, uncertain eyes. She's never heard anything like this before. Noticed it, yes, but heard actual assemblies for it? Never. It's almost some kind of conspiracy theory, the ones that Athena kids love to share around the campfire to screw with everyone. It seems almost like … treason.

But another part of Alex aches for what Luke is saying. Twelve years. She's spent twelve years here, practically her whole life tucked away at camp, and her godly parent hasn't claimed her at all. If they were an Olympian, then they would have had plenty of opportunities. But instead Alex has witnessed over a hundred other kids being Claimed, and not a single one of them was her. Some nights she had looked up at the ceiling, thinking, Who are they, and why haven't they claimed me yet?

"Make up your mind, Alex," Luke says gently. "Are you staying here, or coming with us?"

Alex nods determinedly. "I'm coming with you."

;;

Instead, her words biting and sharp, Alex keeps her head held high and says, "If you can trust me, then you can trust them."

Well, that rules out the advisor. Not that that's a big loss. She flicks back her unbound mane of hair — a habit she developed from hanging around a particular daughter of Aphrodite for a little too long — and continues calmly, "Before I asked them to come to Medora, they were already familiar with the sort of war that can end the world. Some of them have even been in two of those kind of wars."

"Two?" repeats Queen Osmada, looking both horrified and sceptical.

"Two," Alex confirms. "That's Annabeth — scary blonde — and Percy — sea kid." And me. "The rest of them either made their way into the demigod world after the first war but before the second, or they're Roman."

"Roman?" General Drock thumps his fist on the table. "Kid, you gotta remember we're Medoran here. You gotta rewind a bit."

;;

On Luke's boat, Percy's eyes meet hers.

They widen in disbelief, his mouth forming her name soundlessly. Alex shrinks back between Olivia and Ethan, gripping the handles of the twin bronze blades Luke gifted her for assurance. Underneath her touch, the leather is cool and smooth, punctuated by the chilled round pins stamping down the leather onto the actual handle.

Alex tries to breathe, but she can't. In Percy's eyes, she is a traitor.

But in Luke's, she is a revolutionist. A warrior fighting for justice. Alex's jaw sets. Luke is right and Percy is wrong. The gods need to be held to justice. The son of Poseidon won't ever understand — he was claimed within days of his arrival at Camp Half-Blood.

But then Annabeth's gaze drops to her, and the blonde turns to stone. She stares at Alex with a horror that Alex would have thought she couldn't possess. It's an expression Alex has never seen before, but somehow immediately understands. It's the face of somebody who's just been betrayed.

The realisation slams Alex in the guts. Annabeth thinks she betrayed her.

;;

Alex clears her throat. "Demigods can come from any of the Freyan ancient mythologies — Greek, Roman, Aztec, Hindu, indigenous tribes, Egyptian — Annabeth even has a cousin who's a Norse demigod. But the ones we've got here are Greek and Roman. They were unified pretty recently — they'd hated each other for centuries, but it was the second war that got them together."

Feeling as if she's a bit too knowledgeable for somebody who's not actually a demigod, Alex moves onto the demigods themselves. "The sea kid, Percy Jackson, he's easily the most powerful of the group. His dad is the Greek god Poseidon, who rules over the sea, earthquakes, horses and probably something else. Poseidon is what they call one of the Big Three — one of the foremost gods."

"Do you have any other 'Big Three' demigods?" asks Nisha James, rather warily.

"I'm getting there," Alex says. "Jason Grace — the tall blonde dude who can fly — his dad is Jupiter, who's the Roman king of the gods. His Greek counterpart is the same — so he bosses over Olympus as well as the sky, thus Jason's affinity with flight and lightning and the like. Nico di Angelo — that little gothic kid —"

At this, Alex sees fear slice through the eyes of a few people in the room, and hides a smile to herself before continuing. "— his father is Hades, the Greek god of the Underworld — as in, death, the afterlife, et cetera. You probably would have seen Nico running around, raising the dead."

"You say that so casually," Jeera mutters under her breath.

"What about this Annabeth girl?" asks King Aurileous rather sharply, his eyes having narrowed ever so slightly.

;;

Tears well in Alex's eyes, but she refuses to let Luke see them. Drawing in a shaking breath, she tightens her grip on her short sword — one of the twin blades that was her present from Luke for joining his cause — and bounds forward towards the shrieking demigod.

The son of Demeter, oh so identifiable with his earthy brown hair and forest green eyes, as well as the feeble vines he's desperately summoning to try and save him, has yet to reach camp. Alex knows him — she's known Tyler for years, having delivered basket after basket of ripe strawberries to him.

"Kill him!" thunders Luke from behind her.

"Tyler," Alex says softly. "I'm really, really sorry."

Tyler's green eyes widen. "Everyone thought you were dead," he pants out. "Chiron had campers searching for you for days. And all along, you were really helping Luke, betraying us?"

"I haven't betrayed anyone," Alex insists. "You don't understand, Ty. Luke's doing this for all the kids that never got claimed. I'm one of them, you know that! Imagine spending your whole life at camp and never knowing who your parent is!"

"He's manipulated you, Alex!"

"Enough!" roars Luke, shouldering forwards and pushing Alex aside. In the blink of an eye, he's drawn his sword — and deftly send a neat red line over Tyler's neck. Alex watches on in nauseated horror as the son of Demeter chokes on his own blood, the contents of his neck emptying down in a shower of gushing scarlet.

Then just before the light fades from his eyes, Tyler looks at Alex and whispers, "Annabeth wouldn't want this."

;;

"She's a daughter of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and battle strategy," Alex says evenly, but her throat feels like sandpaper. "Annabeth is who we call the Athenian Champion. A couple of months ago, she managed to recover a sacred statue that the Romans had stolen from the Greeks millennia ago. Recovering that statue meant unifying the two demigod sides."

Seeing further questions in everyone's eyes, Alex clears her throat and hurriedly continues. "Leo Valdez. The short impish kid with the tool belt and curly hair. He's Greek too — a son of Hephaestus, lord of the forges. As in, blacksmiths. Despite that he's a flirt and messes around, he's crazy smart — not as smart as Annabeth, but smarter than the rest of them. He also can control fire, like elementally gifted Medorans."

"How are we supposed to judge that?" Jaxon Stirling grumbles.

Alex ignores him and continues. She just wants this over and down with. "Piper McLean's the coloured girl with feathers braided into her hair. She's what we call Cherokee — so, she's from one of the indigenous tribes in North America. Her godly side of DNA is Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty. She has charmspeak — that's basically the gift of charm, only hers is stronger and depends more on physical attraction."

"You've mentioned a lot of Greeks," muses Nisha. "What about the Romans?"

;;

"I don't understand, Livvy," Alex cries, sobbing in the shoulder of Olivia Phelps. "We're just supposed to be helping all the undetermined demigods, aren't we? Why is Luke bringing along so many monsters and not killing them?"

Olivia smooths over Alex's hair comfortingly, just like Hillary used to, holding the younger girl close. The older demigod gnaws thoughtfully on her bottom lip for a long moment before answering. "Luke lied to most of us, to get us to tag along. He obviously had a different agenda to what we thought he did."

"But why?" Alex hiccups. "Why would he lie to us?"

"Keep the noise down before somebody hears you, kiddo," Olivia urges. "You know what happened to the last demigod that tried to go back to camp, don't you?"

Alex's eyes widen as she recalls the grisly memories of what Luke did to that poor demigod.

;;

"Well, there's Jason," Alex explains, almost breathily. "Then there's Hazel Levesque. Her dad, Pluto, is the Roman equivalent of Nico's, so they're technically siblings. But Hazel had affinity with riches — precious metals and gemstones — as well as the underground. And the last one is Frank Zhang — he's the official leader of the Roman camp, the praetor. He's the son of Mars, the Roman god of war —"

"I figured it was something like that," Jeera mutters under her breath.

"— and he's also a descendant of Poseidon, which allows him to shape-shift."

The room blinks at this final segment. Medoran gifted DNA clearly doesn't get that messy. Alex could have sworn Drock mutters something under his breath that rhymes with what the actual duck.

;;

Camp Half-Blood is bracing for the battle rapidly advancing on them, when one of Luke's demigods staggers in through the protective border.

Despite that she's a few years older than the last time anyone set eyes on her, there's no mistaking Alex. She's matured a bit — but her shiny chestnut hair, rich brown eyes and distinctive features nevertheless mark her as the one of the demigods that Luke tricked into joining his cause.

Even more evidently, Alex has been badly wounded. Most of her wounds were from slipping past Luke's monsters as she made her escape back to camp, but there's a gash on her head thanks to Clarisse La Rue being the one to find her. Naturally, the daughter of Ares had knocked her clean out.

After forcing some nectar down her throat, Alex comes to, her eyes wild and frantic as they settle on Chiron, and she promptly bursts into tears. The Apollo kids hovering around share a look — in all the years Alex spent at camp, very few people ever saw her cry. And yet there she was, sobbing hysterically and blubbering out a plethora of apologies.

"I'm so sorry, I only just got away — but I'd wanted to for ages, ever since Luke killed Tyler. I thought I was doing the right thing, helping all those kids that never get determined, but Luke never actually did that and anyway I was wrong! I'm so sorry!"

Instead of yelling at her, Chiron regards her with the fondness of a grandfather, and commands the Apollo kids to patch her up.

;;

"Is that all you need to know?" Alex demands, gripping the arms of her chair. When nobody offers protests, she continues, "Good. If you haven't noticed, as powerful as these demigods are, none of them can exactly return to Freya. They need an escort before they do something stupid to themselves."

"Same goes for you, Alex," Nisha says quietly, and Alex can't help but stifle a laugh as she gets to her feet and moves swiftly from the room.

;;

As soon as Annabeth sets eyes on her, she knocks Alex to the ground.

"What are you doing here?" The daughter of Athena screeches, pinning down Alex thanks to a surge of adrenaline that her rage had sent blasting through her system. "You are a traitor! You shouldn't be allowed anywhere near this camp! You sided with the guy who's now in the league with Kronos!"

Before Alex can respond, her face flares up in pain as Annabeth's knuckles make contact with Alex's jaw. But instead she forces aside the instinct to fight back, resigning herself to the beating and bracing herself for the next blow. After all, she deserves it.

"I'm sorry!" The cry tears from Alex's throat after a few more hits, when she's not sure she can take it anymore. "I'm sorry, I was wrong!"

"Damn right you were!" Annabeth yells back.

Alex watches as the blonde draws back her fist yet again — only to be stunned when somebody seizes Annabeth by the waist and hoists her up into the air, dragging her away from Alex. Alex isn't sure whether to be surprised or not when she sees that her rescuer is a certain son of Poseidon.

Percy's sea-green eyes lock coolly onto hers. "I take it that you're back."

"I'm sorry," Alex repeats for what feels like the millionth time.

Despite that Annabeth is still clawing and thrashing madly in his hold, Percy's gaze seems to soften, ever so slightly. "Luke's poisoned us all. It's not fair to blame you for what he's done."

;;

Alex locates the demigods showing off their powers to a crowd of besotted Medorans.

Having heard her approaching footfalls, both Annabeth and Piper turns with resigned expressions. "I give up," declares the daughter of Aphrodite, gesturing to their respective boyfriends. It appears Jason and Percy are locked in some kind of storm-powers-versus-sea-powers duel, which is utterly captivating their audience.

"Unbelievable," Alex sighs sympathetically. "It's not like Medorans haven't seen powers before."

"Aren't they called 'gifts' here?" Annabeth interjects.

"Yup," says Alex, running a swift gaze over the gathered crowds and feeling her muscles freeze when she spots a flock of familiar faces — the Epsilon Combat boys, Karter, Hunter and Finn. Evidently, they were all brought in to assist the military in Aven's downfall.

She swallows thickly, wondering how long she has before somebody puts two and two together.

;;

A good six months or so have passed since the Battle of the Labyrinth, and gradually, oh so gradually, Annabeth has begun to forgive Alex. This assumption is proved when Alex finds herself sitting cross-legged on the floor of the Athena cabin, assisting Annabeth with endless drafts of war strategies.

But instead of discussing the potential battles ahead, Annabeth is ranting furiously about a certain son of Poseidon.

"He's absolutely unbelievable," Annabeth declares disdainfully. "Honestly. We're about to enter a war with Kronos, and yet he's still messing around with that stupid carrot-headed mortal?"

"He's male, Annabeth. You shouldn't exactly have high expectations."

Annabeth laughs reluctantly, before her eyes flash up to meet Alex's. Suddenly her face becomes sadder. "You know how I feel about him, Alex. What if I was wrong about him reciprocating my feelings, and he's just messing around with a girl whilst he's still alive?"

"Hey," Alex says sharply. "Percy's not going to die, and I can assure you, that guy is practically drooling whenever you walk into the room. He's just too thickheaded to see it."

"Theoretically speaking —"

"Oh, don't go all intellectual on me. You know I just blank out when you do that."

;;

"ANNABETH!"

Despite the haze of severe blood loss, the daughter of Athena shifts her head at the sudden shriek that cleaves through the air. Having been one of the kids fending off the monsters from the building that all of the injured kids and the Apollo medics have taken refuge in, Alex appears out of nowhere, her twin blades still crusted with monster ichor.

"Calm down, you moron," Annabeth mutters. "It's only a scratch."

"Gods, you're worst than me. 'Only a scratch', my ass." The blonde has to crack a smile at this — Alex has a reputation at camp for visiting the infirmary on a record amount of times, and it's not just because she's been there for almost her entire life.

"Where's Seaweed Brain?"

"Percy? Oh, who knows. Hopefully putting an end to all of this. Here, let's get some nectar into you." Before Annabeth or a medic can even protest, Alex has swiped a nearby flask of the stuff. She unscrews the cap before taking Annabeth's chin in her own palm and lowering the bronze flask to her mouth. "Bottoms up, Chase."

"You know," Annabeth says once she's drained half the flask, smacking her lips thoughtfully. "You don't even have a surname."

"Seriously, Annabeth? There's literally a battle going on around us, you've been stabbed — and you're thinking about my lack of a surname?" Alex shakes her head as she takes a swig of the ambrosia herself, and the taste of Katie Gardner's strawberry-chocolate shakes slide down her throat. "You've gone delirious, which really isn't a good thing. Seaweed Brain's gonna need you to get him out of trouble at some point."

;;

Somewhere in the crowd, amongst his classmates and instructors, the gaze belonging to Kaiden James settles on her.

When she first saw him, Alex had mistaken him as a son of Zeus, with those striking features and stunning blue eyes. But Kaiden's hair colour is more of a dark mahogany, not the standard pitch-black (Jason's a special case). Then she got to know him, and had secretly mused how he could have just as easily been a son of Apollo, with his easygoing nature and skill with both first aid and a bow.

Alex swallows thickly, and looks away, hoping the Combat boys don't try anything like — gods, calling out to her. Especially when she can't trust Leo to keep his mouth shut about her own heritage.

The quiet, steady presence of Hazel Levesque appears near Alex, and she swivels her gaze to meet the Roman's curious eyes. "What's up, Hazel?"

Hazel flicks a discreet look towards the audience — specifically, the people Alex knows in the audience. "Are you going to tell them?"

;;

"Chase! You won't believe this!"

Alex all but barges into the pristine silvery cabin that houses the Athena kids, blinking in surprise when Annabeth practically crashes to the ground in her mad scramble out of Percy's lap. "Were you pair making out? Geez. Sure that Athena's not going to vaporise Perce on the spot for defiling her precious daughter?"

The brunette sniggers shamelessly at the death stare Annabeth sends her — it would be a lot more convincing if the blonde and the son of Poseidon weren't so dishevelled from their little session, with messy hair, crumpled clothes, swollen lips and bright red faces. Lucky for the new couple, the cabin is otherwise vacant. Seeing this, Alex takes a seat in Malcolm's wheeled office chair.

"What were you going to tell us, Alex?" asks Percy, getting to his feet and looking very uncomfortable.

"Your fly's undone," Alex points out idly. It's really not, but her comment is well worth it to witness the look on Percy's face as he immediately checks his jeans. She's really been residing in the Hermes cabin for far too long. Then her face once again floods with her former ecstasy, and she turns to Annabeth with newfound, thrilled energy.

"Chiron finally gave me a quest!"

"What?!" Annabeth replies, her voice pitching to a joyful shriek. "Gods, that's brilliant! Even though you're still undetermined?"

Alex's smile hardens for a brief moment before it loosens into a much more genuine one again. "Yeah. Fingers crossed that that happens once all the minor gods' cabins are introduced. But a quest! I mean, it's completely unexpected, but still, amazing!"

"What's the quest? Did you get a prophecy or something?" Percy asks, finally ambling up onto his feet.

Alex pulls a face. "Ha-ha, I wish. No, it's rather bizarre."

"Tell us, you idiot," urges Annabeth.

"Well, apparently they've been detecting some sort of power at some boarding school in Oregon, that's neither demigod-ly or monster." Alex explains. "Since we've got no satyrs to spare, because the good ones are all already stationed across the US and all the not-as-good ones are here helping build the new cabins, Chiron figured it wouldn't hurt to send me — just me — after all, I'm pretty sure I'm not overly powerful to attract lots of monsters, and I'm one of the best fighters."

"That sounds brilliant, Alex," says Annabeth, beaming at her friend. "You have to tell me everything once you get back from your quest."

;;

Alex gives a minute shake of her head.

Hazel's eyes flash with surprise. "Any of them? Not even those friends of yours?"

She goes quiet as the faces of her dearest friends flash across her mind. Of course, they were never able to replace what bond she shared with Annabeth — but then again, that bond had never been the same after she was a lackey for Luke. Jordan and D.C. and Bear know next to nothing about her past, and her chest aches.

She doesn't think they ever will.

;;

"What is this place?" Alex mutters incredulously, picking herself up from the forest floor and taking in her surroundings. One moment she had been walking into the headmaster's office at the International Exchange Academy — the next, through a dizzying overload of light and wind, she's ended up in the heart of a quiet, almost ethereal forest.

It's quite unlike anything else she's ever experienced for herself (that isn't much, her life experiences so far have been pretty limited), nor is it something she's ever studied or heard of (that's a lot more impressive, considering she's the child of some mythological god). Mortals don't have access to magic, and this isn't the work of a wood nymph or some other spirit. It could be Hecate's work — but then again, why could Hecate be possibly interested in her, of all people?

Think, Alex, think, she chides herself. What would Annabeth do?

Instinctively, Alex's hands slide for her Celestial bronze twin blades — only for her palms to pass over a weapons belt that doesn't even hold a pocket knife. Her eyes widen. She searches frantically for her weapons, both on her body and across the forest floor, when a voice like poisoned honey slides over her.

"That was quite the entrance."

;;

Then Jason conveniently decides it's time to pass out, having evidently sapped his energy. Alex can't blame him. He has just fought a battle against immortals and then showed off to a bunch of Medorans. She can give him leeway for the former, but not the latter.

"Aw, Styx," grumbles Piper, striding over to Jason and hunching over his unconscious form. Alex notices that the crowd is muttering disappointedly and eyeing them curiously, evidently interested in knowing what demigods do when one of them has had his lights go out.

"See?" Percy proclaims. "Yet another example of why sea powers are better than storm powers!"

"Not the time, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth tells him, and he mumbles an apology to his girlfriend. Alex hides a laugh behind her palm, before calling out to the scattered demigods, "Anyone got any spare nectar or ambrosia?"

Most of them empty out their pockets and inspect the hidey-holes of their armour and mutter affirmations that they 'got nothin' — Leo accidentally sends out a clattering spill of bronze nuts and bolts when he checks his. And then, Frank asks, all too innocently, "What about you, Alex?"

;;

Even after years and years of intense demigod training, Alex finds herself absolutely wrecked following her first day at Akarnae Academy. Despite her weary body, her mind feels like it's just had a dose of dillyberry juice — fizzling with all sorts of ideas, wondering exactly how she can possibly get back to earth before it becomes evident back home that she's gone MIA.

Then Jordan and Bear, the same guys who encountered her out in the forest after that creep Aven, interrupt her train of thoughts as they take the seats either side of her in the food court. Despite knowing that she's surrounded by mortals — granted, they have those supernatural gifts, but Alex is fairly certain nobody in here is part-god — Alex can't help but think how Jordan would be an excellent son of Hermes, with his mischievous, loveable personality, and Bear a son of Athena with his sharp wit and honed intelligence.

"Did you really knock Declan Stirling unconscious?" Jordan whispers to her as food appears in front of him from their uber-advanced menus. Alex wrinkles her nose at the smell of fried food; growing up at camp, with all of their healthy food, nuggets and fries and the like were off the table. She's had McDonalds about once in her life.

Then she considers his question. Declan who? Surely Jordan was talking about her first class in Epsilon Combat. Her opponent had reminded her of Beckendorf, only he behaved like any typical Ares kid. He'd certainly been as condescending as an Ares kid. Not that Declan had been openly condescending — she'd seen it in his eyes, mistaking her being a girl, as well as one that was a lot shorter and smaller than him, as a mark of weakness.

"Who told you that?"

"Just about everyone." Bear's thoughtful brown eyes meet hers. "Not that it's bad, Alex. Some of those guys can probably afford to be taken down a peg or two. But still — it's unheard of."

"What? A chick taking down one of your alpha fighters?" Alex takes a bite of brisket. The brisket here doesn't taste as good as the stuff at camp, but she had been craving comfort food.

"Well, there hasn't been a female in Ep. Combat in years —" begins Jordan.

"Not years. Kaiden James's sister used to be in it," Bear reminds him.

"Who?" Alex asks.

"One of your new Combat classmates," Jordan explains, gesturing towards a group of guys that can only be a year or two older than them. Alex follows the blond's gaze to a guy she recognises from her said class: tall and tan, with an athletic, muscular physique. He reminds her of Percy, with his build, complexion and striking features, only with dark mahogany hair and eyes so blue she can see them even from her distance. And just like Percy, this guy is also unreasonably attractive.

"Zeus kid?" she says without thinking.

Bear and Jordan blink at her. After a long moment, Bear asks, "Freyan reference?"

"What? Oh. Yeah, it is."

;;

"Aw, come on, Frank. What use do I have for it?"

Her demigod pals blink for a second, before all falling in seamlessly with her deceit. Well, almost all of them. Hazel has to send Leo a pointed glare, who pales visibly before schooling his face into something a lot more convincing.

"Oh, yes. True that." Frank's voice has raised half an octave.

Percy turns towards their audience apologetically. "Sorry, folks. Show's over!"

"What would Chiron think?" Annabeth scolds him.

"Relax, Wise Girl," he tells her, reaching out to rub her shoulder soothingly. "They're not like our mortals. I'm sure Chiron will understand."

"Wait," yells somebody from the disintegrating audience. "You're not mortal?"

;;

"Tell us about Freya," Jordan prompts.

Alex blinks, his question completely taking her by surprise, quickly surveying their surroundings for any unwanted ears. But they've skivved off from everyone else gathering around the lake; having chosen to scramble up a sunny boulder to talk and devour the snacks Bear brought along.

Both Bear and Jordan are looking at her with curious, yet impatient expressions. It's clearly something they've been itching to ask for a while now.

"I've already told you about Freya."

"Well, all the … standard stuff." Jordan begins.

"Like you were reciting some kind of orientational film," is Bear's input. "What we're curious about is … well, your Freya. Your childhood. Your family. What you did. Exactly how you wound up here in Medora."

Alex is aware that her muscles have stiffened. Any minute the ADHD will be kicking back in. The boys are aware she's dyslexic, after Bear noticed her squinting down at her textbooks in frustration, but the ADHD's been a little easier to conceal. It helps that Jordan can be just as fidgety.

She smiles, but there is a wane tension behind it. "My upbringing wasn't particularly glamorous."

"We don't care," Jordan says.

"It'd still be fascinating," Bear adds.

She can't say she's a daughter of a Greek god. Surely not. They'd think by this point, she's making things up. And Alex has never been much of a fibber.

;;

To the side of the group, Nico di Angelo chuckles darkly.

"Of course not. Alex, do they have deities here? Wait, of course they do — you were almost eaten by that jungle one." The son of Hades grins at this. The Medorans are getting increasingly creeped out by the sinister little goth kid who can summon obedient skeleton soldiers with the same ease that any of them could break into a run.

"Get on with it," comes the same obnoxious voice. Alex suspects it belongs to her psychotic PE teacher, and wonders if he was wielding that zappy stick of his in the battle. Then an equally terrifying thought crosses her mind: Finn, meeting Coach Hedge.

She visibly shudders. Holy gods.

"Basically," cuts in Leo loudly. "Our deities back home are complete pains in the ass — hey, it's so nice to say that without Zeus grumbling up above! —"

"Gods, who let Leo do this," Piper mutters, still crouched over Jason's unconscious form.

"— Because even though most of them are married to other immortals, they take a fancy to mortals quite often. And when gods take a fancy — ta-da! Out we pop!"

"Or, in Annabeth's case, out we think."

"Seaweed Brain." Annabeth spears her boyfriend with a glare that is more than enough warning.

;;

"O, Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, accept my offering," recites Alex, hesitating, before she tosses one of her limited drachmas into the feeble little rainbow she's managed to knock together. "Show me Annabeth Chase, of Half-Blood Hill."

She stands there for a long moment — after all, she's pretty sure the gods have next to no reign in the Medoran world — holding her breath and wondering if she just wasted a drachma on nothing. One long minute passes. Then two. Just as Alex is considering knocking down the spray to distinguish the rainbow — before her eyes, the Mist shimmers.

Alex's mouth parts in a silent, awed gasp. Firstly at that Iris really did open a message for her, and secondly at what she's seeing.

Cradled on the grass on Camp Half-Blood is a writhing mess of what can only be — construction work. Hephaestus kids are slamming madly away at Celestial bronze in a newly established forge. Athena kids are running around with blueprints, bossing everyone around. Satyrs and nymphs are helping cart around the supplies and equipment. Kids from every cabin, even the Ares campers, are all pitching in to help.

And standing less than a metre away from Alex's portal, is a very familiar ponytail of curly blonde hair.

"Hey, Annabeth."

The blonde turns swiftly at the sound of her name, and as soon as she sets eyes on Alex, she promptly drops the blueprint she was holding. Her stormy eyes widen in shock. Her mouth opens and closes like a goldfish. Alex is almost certain that tears are filling her eyes.

"Oh my gods, we thought you were dead!"

"I must have a knack for that sort of thing," Alex responds weakly.

"You stupid idiot! Get back to camp so I can hug you!"

Noting that Annabeth's reaction is a lot more … emotional than Alex was predicting, the brunette asks carefully, "Chase, what's going on behind you?"

"Oh — oh, you know, casually building a flying ship at camp."

"What?!" exclaims Alex, squinting to try and get a better look. Now that she knows what it is — yup, she can see it now, the skeletal beginnings of what will surely be a majestic sailing ship. "Why are you building a ship?"

"It's a long story. Gods, Alex, so much has happened since you left camp."

"Yeah? Like what?"

Annabeth's face becomes grave, but her eyes are sad. "Percy went missing."

"What?!" repeats Alex.

"Yeah," sniffles Annabeth. "Crazy, right? It would have been — oh, three months after Kronos, so about a month and a bit after you. I've been worried sick about the pair of you, and now this mess with the Romans and Olympus going silent —"

"Hold your horses, Chase! Explain. Now."

"Oh, it can wait. What I want to know is where you've disappeared off to," Annabeth says, planting her hands on her hips and giving Alex a very stern look.

"Um." Alex hesitates. "Another world?"

"Ha-ha, Alex, nice one. Next you'll be telling me that Clarisse is actually a daughter of Aphrodite."

"I'm serious, Annabeth. I swear on the River Styx, I'm in another world."

Annabeth's eyes widen at the use of the sacred oath, and the sarcastic expression drops from her face. "Gods, Alex, are you absolutely sure? How did you even end up there?"

"Well," begins Alex. "It started when I arrived at that Oregon academy that Chiron sent me to."

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Well. Holy moly. We're halfway through. *screams*

Go ahead and drop a review guys. Be as brutal as you want, I'm interested in what you guys have to think about this