Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The dream started the same way every night. He was sleeping then he woke up sitting in a wheat field with pink and purple skies and soft clouds. Then he’d see two people. One was always consistent, a satyr- fawn, in a torn-up suite top while the other changed every night. Some nights it was another boy with blond hair and red eyes who was in the same orange shirt and gray pants. Other nights it was a girl with long orange hair and freckles scattered across her face with the same shirt as the others and overalls, his sister his mind filled in. The final person was in the same shirt, dirty blond hair, a red cloak, black pants, and normally a navy blue beanie. He didn’t remember their names, but he knew that he’d definitely known them at one point or another. That night was no different. He woke up in that same wheat field with that same pink and purple sky.

“Impulse where are you?” the fawn asked like he did almost every night.

“I tell you every night, I'm at Camp Jupiter, California. I'm in California. Why don’t you come to camp, you said your half-bloods too.” he replied.

“We are at camp, Impulse, Camp Half-Blood, it’s where you and Gem came when you were twelve. I brought you here same with Pearl, she’s back you know, Pearl wants to see you again, buddy. I don't know what to tell you we’re in New York.” the fawn said.

“You do hear me, right?” he questioned. He knew the answer, he knew it too well, he knew that the fawn couldn’t hear him and the second he woke up he’d forget their names again.

“I still can’t hear you buddy, I only hope you can hear me.” the fawn added in a quieter tone. Impulse nodded like he did each time but it’s almost like the fawn couldn’t see any action he made. People called it miscommunication from time to time, others called it a language barrier, but if you couldn’t communicate but spoke the same language, was it really either of those?

“Anyway, it’s just me for a couple minutes, Pearl’s tired from staying up all night last night, makes sense, Tango’s been pleading with Chiron to let us come find you, then there’s Gem, you know I don’t believe that you aren’t siblings. You two act like it and she’s worried sick, but she’ll show up soon we’ll find you soon right we’ll find you soon." The fawn sounded like he was getting ready to go to bed. That’s when he felt a change in the air and fog appeared.

“Well, that’s new.” Impulse whispered.

“Wait, I can hear you now!” the fawn shouted.

“Actually? Can you hear me?” Impulse asked.

“Yeah dude, wait Gem’s here! Gem! Gem, I can hear him.” The fawn practically jumped around in glee as the girl with orange hair appeared. Gem he’d forget her name soon but for now, well for now he knew this was Gem his sister.

“Impulse!” Gem exclaimed. She ran over and was stopped by a force field. She sighed then started to talk again. “Please stay where you are. We’ll be there soon; we want you to come back to camp. We know where you are. It's us Impulse; it's us.” Gem added. She was smiling then the world started to spin like the dream would end soon.

“Gem? Gem, it’s really you.” he smiled. Then Gem started to flicker in and out of this reality.

“Impulse buddy we’ll be there soon, we’ll talk Chiron into letting us go. Please.” the fawn added.

“I don’t remember who you are but I’m at camp. Camp Jupiter. That’s where you are right? Why haven’t you come up to me if you're at camp too? Joal and Lizzie said that they didn’t know who you were.” He was able to explain this as Gem faded back into the dream and the spinning grew faster.

“We’re at Camp half-blood Impulse. You know the one in Long Island. You’re the child of Hermes.” Gem replied. That’s when Gem fully faded out of the dream. He didn’t get to say bye or see you later to his own little sister. It hurt, it really hurt, but he said one last thing to the fawn before the spinning took over fully and woke him up.

“I don’t remember, I'm sorry. I have a little bit of amnesia. But I’m not the child of Hermes, I'm the child of Mercury.” he finished.

Then the dream ended. The headache he always had when leaving the dreams where everything was spinning. The sound of others sleeping came with waking up and slowly the names of Gem, Peal, and Tango faded out of his mind for the day, leaving only the faces of his little sister and the fawn left. Soon he’d forget what he had said in the dream only that it was the same thing he’d said many times. He’d soon forget and get ready for the day, line up for inspection, eat breakfast with Lizzie and Joel, and train all day. Thus was the life in the legion training basically nonstop most days only pausing to relax when it was all over. He was in for ten years of this wasn’t he? He’d be here for ten years.

Then the bell for waking up rang throughout the camp. He got out of bed and started his routine, getting on his Camp Jupiter shirt, jeans, making his bed then putting on the required armor for morning line up. He had his sword on his side and walked to line up. Lizzie and Joel joined him shortly after. They had to keep silent until the first line up. They only greeted each other with a nod. Lizzie’s pink hair stuck out as only a couple of people with unnatural hair colors most of whom were in the fifth cohort. So, this was his life now. That’s just how things worked here, and he’d come to accept that.

Chapter Text

“I hate formation.” Joel muttered as they were dismissed for breakfast. He was walking in toe with Lizzie and Impulse. Impulse nodded and Joel continued on a rant on why it was pointless. Lizzie had told him to just listen politely and let him get his little rant out of the way. Eventually he finished and they arrived with everyone else at the dining hall. They got food for Impulse. It was some eggs, bacon, and toast with coffee. Joel had a breakfast sandwich of some kind and Lizzie had a traditional English breakfast. Joel and Lizzie had grown up in England before coming to camp.

“So, what are we doing for training today?” Joel asked. Lizzie pulled out their schedule while grabbing a piece of toast and reading it over.

“Normal stuff, swords, specialty weapons, all that fun stuff then war games after dinner.” Lizzie replied. She slid her schedule back into her leather-bound book.

“Why isn’t there ever anything new you know they could have a bit of spontaneity, like I don't know monster fights or something.” Joel questioned.

“Pass had enough of those trying to get here.” Impulse replied. Joel snickered and Lizzie wrote something down in her book as she took another bite of toast. Impulse was almost done with his breakfast and about ready to go for training. Lizzie and Joel were always fun to train with but as they were a group of three normally one of them got placed to train with someone else. Today Impulse pulled the short straw and separated from his two friends and began training with Joey, who terrified him as he fought like a pirate. He didn’t care if they were technically half siblings; this guy scared him with his sword fighting abilities. He was also a son of Mercury but a terrifying one and he was glad he slept on the other side of the barrack.

Group training was over after that, and they went to individual and specialized weapons training. While labeled individual training Impulse didn’t use it as individual training, he mostly used it to learn different techniques about how to use swords on of his specialties. While the others hadn’t advised sword use as it wasn’t good for long distance, he’d been training it for longer than he could remember, which wasn’t saying a whole lot, but he’d been training with it for at least a couple of years. Lizzie trained with an ax and some water powers; she had been a descendant of Neptune, something like a fourth great granddaughter if Impulse remembered correctly, while Joel trained with a bow and arrows and didn’t have any flashy powers that he knew about.

“Lizzie stop showing off.” Joel complained as Lizzie splashed water down on him.

“It’s not my fault you don’t have fun powers.” Lizzie teased.

“Yeah, Joel we just need to be better.” Impulse continued to joke around. Joel parried a small dagger that he carried around just in case and Impulse hit it with his sword. It was made of a different material than his sword. Most of the weapons were made of Celestial Gold and his was Celestial Bronze. He personally preferred his sword but to each their own.

“I agree it takes a special kind of skill to do what I do Joel.” Lizzie added. They continued to joke around and laugh. They loved joking around, especially with each other. It was like they’d known each other for years almost like Impulse had always been at Camp Jupiter

But somewhere deep down, that part of him that remembered his dreams, knew this wasn’t where he belonged.

That night was war games. Two sides separated by barracks. He liked these nights and war games as a whole. Himself, Joel, Joey, and Scott had set up camp on a hill and looked down at everything with their long-distance weapons. Joel was leading the group as Joel trained almost exclusively with a bow and arrow while the others had it more as a secondary thing. They were dud arrows so that they wouldn’t injure anyone. Impulse knocked an arrow and waited for Joel’s call to fire his arrow. Scott and Joey did similar, and they watched as the war elephants and groups of roman worriers walked onto the battlefield. Impulse could already spot Lizzie with her waterpower on a war elephant riding it into battle. The trumpets marked the beginning of the game and Joel let out a small laugh with the joy and adrenaline that came with Impulse could feel the joy too and then Joel said the line.

“Fire when ready boys.” he laughed. Impulse pulled back and when he was confident, he could hit something he let the arrow fly. He repeated this until he was out of arrows. He did some decent damage, nothing serious before fawns started to come up the hill including one, he knew all too well.

“Hey Impulse!” it was Sausage, a rather ironic name for a vegetarian fawn but what were you going to do?

“Hey Sausage, you come up here so that you didn’t get hit?” Impulse greeted.

“You know it, it’s not exactly safe for us fawns down there.” Sausage replied. Impulse nodded in agreement as he volunteered for the archery line, then he would get hit by arrows.

“No, I suppose not.” Impulse commented. The fawns continued to watch and some of the others got a bit annoyed at the fawns, but Impulse didn’t particularly mind them. They were nice enough. Then it was over, they were dismissed for free time and Impulse got ready for bed. Lizzie and Joel had gone for a walk down by the lake as there was a light breeze in the evening air. Impulse was reading a book and thinking about the dreams he kept having.

He just couldn’t shake the feeling he was forgetting important people. Like he was forgetting home.

Chapter Text

They’d left for California. Chiron had allowed them to leave camp as it was almost February so they could leave camp freely. They were on a bus to Las Vegas. Gem, Pearl, and Skizz had all left the previous day and Tango was going to go behind Chiron’s back with some help from another satyr and they’d meet up the next day if everything went according to plan. Gem, Pearl, and Skizz would spend the night in Vegas then they’d all catch a ride to San Francisco which wasn’t an easy feat. It was a big city, how were they going to find one person as a camp in a giant city? They just had to hope that they’d find a way.

The bus was quiet, most people were asleep, Gem was asleep leaned up against Pearl, Pearl was drawing in her sketchbook, and Skizz was reading a book on psychology. Pearl looked out the window to see the dark night sky of Nevada. They'd been driving for almost two days, and they were kind of sick of being on the bus.

“How much longer?” Pearl asked. Skizz put away his book and looked at the navigator on the front of the bus. He could see insanely far away and then he looked back over at Pearl.

“About thirty minutes.” Skizz replied. Pearl nodded then put her sketchbook away. They were almost there. Then they’d call Tango and figure out where he was.

“So where are we staying tonight?” Pearl questioned.

“Probably the bus depot,” Skizz whispered. If there were monsters nearby, they didn’t want them to hear this, “we’ll find a secluded area and sleep there.” he continued in a whisper. Pearl nodded and made sure that all their stuff was in her backpack. She just had to wait and wake Gem up.

“We’ll be arriving in fifteen minutes.” came over the intercom. Gem stirred a bit and Pearl decided to wake her up.

“Hey, it’s time to wake up.” Pearl whispered. Gem murmured something and opened her eyes. Skizz passed his book to Pearl, and she stuffed it into her bag. He held his dagger in his hand, and they waited for the bus to stop. They were going to get out of here without any monster fights (hopefully).

Luckily luck was on their side that night and they found their spot in the bus depot pretty easily. They were in a subdued area, and they found a fountain to contact Tango. He tossed the coin in and waited to find Tango through the Iris network. Then they saw Tango’s face in the rainbow reflection of the water.

“Top, where are you?” Skizz asked.

“Just made it into Colorado with Zed and we should be there in about 13 hours in this car. It's so nice, oh I wish you three were here. Chiron also figured out where we are and isn’t too thrilled with us.” Tango replied.

“Shocker. Anyway, get back to driving and tell Zedelbop I say what’s up, we’re going to try and get some sleep.” Skizz stated.

“Alright, sleep well. Meet you at the bus depot.” Tango questioned.

“You know it.” Skizz ended. The Iris message ended and Skizz went over to the corner to hide with Gem and Pearl. Pearl had taken out her and Gem’s old sleeping bags along with Impulse’s. It felt weird to be here without Impulse.

“I’ll take the first watch; I’ll wake you up in two hours.” Pearl stated. Skizz nodded then got into the sleeping bag. They’d stay here until Tango got to the bus depot. Gem was already asleep again and Skizz was about to fall asleep. Hopefully they wouldn’t get attacked while they slept but luck hadn’t been too reliable, had it.

Skizz woke up in the field he’d seen Impulse in almost every night. It would only be him as he didn’t have Chiron to add people in, but it was fine.

“Dippledop you here?” Skizz shouted. He was in a nickname mood tonight, usually he’d called Impulse’s actual name, but he could shout a nickname for once. He saw Impulse sit up in the field. “Can I hear you and can you hear me?” Skizz asked. Impulse tried to say something and Skizz couldn’t hear him. He sighed then started talking because maybe Impulse could still hear him

“Of course, well Gemstone, Pearlypop, Top, Zedelbop, and I are all on our way to meet you in California. Stay where you are. It's been a nightmare of two days on the bus. No one had regard for the people around them. All that fun stuff, at least Top and Zedelbop got to take a car. But we’ll all be in the car tomorrow and we’ll come get you. You’ll have to ride of the roof though or in the trunk, with all this hassle you deserve it.” Skizz joked.

“I miss joking with you when I could hear your reply but what are you going to do? See you soon Dippledop I should probably switch out the watch with Pearl.” Skizz ended. Then he left the dream as Pearl shook him awake to switch out.

Chapter Text

Screaming a lovely alarm. Skizz thought as he jilted up. He saw people near the fountain fighting. It took him a moment to realize it was Tango, Zed and a monster, how nice. Skizz grabbed his knife and ran over to help before security found out about this.

“Morning Top. Zedlebop, how was your drive?” Skizz asked as they fought the monster.

“Eh it was a drive, met this guy on the way though we’d introduce him to you guys.” Tango replied as he lunged at the beast and launched fire at it to distract it as Zed lunged at it with his dagger. Skizz joined in on the fun and tried to tackle it as Pearl and Gem brandished their knives in the corner.

“Yeah, really appreciate it Tango!” Pearl shouted as she tossed her knife at the monster. Zed wrapped his arms around the thing and stabbed it in the neck with his knife. The monster evaporated and they all had a collective sigh of relief.

“Alright, that was fun so let’s get ready to leave before I don’t know a harpy shows up.” Tango stated. The others all agreed and packed up their things and went to the car Zed had rented.

“California or bust.” Zed announced as Skizz started the car. Skizz had agreed to drive as Tango and Zed hadn’t slept at all the previous night while Gem and Pearl couldn’t drive. They had their two backpacks loaded up in the trunk and were ready to head to California.

“Yep, eight hours left.” Skizz replied as he backed out of the parking spot and started to drive towards San Francisco. Hopefully there won't be any more monsters. They all thought optimistically. But being a half-blood and optimism didn’t frequently mix.

They only stopped a couple of times to avoid monsters as much as they could and were making their final stop at a Subway to get food. Skizz and Tango switched out driving so Skizz could have a break. But after they got their food that’s when a Chimera appeared.

“Get in the car.” Skizz said between his teeth. But it was too late, the Chimera had spotted them already. They would have to fight off a Chimera. It lunged at them, and they got their weapons out.

“So, what's our objective Zedlebop?” Skizz asked as he hopped over the monster.

“Survive and get to the car, first person with a valid license to get there is driving.” Zed replied as he launched a subway tray at the monster. Tango used his fire power courtesy of Huphestus. But he neglected to consider that Chimeras breathed fire. He got that fire launched right back at him. Tango screamed and Gem hopped on the Chimera’s back and tried to stab it. The Chimera turned its head toward her and breathed fire right at her.

“GEM!” Pearl shouted. Pearl ran over to her and Skizz took advantage of the distraction to stab the beast and defeat it for good. Pearl and Zed had Gem between them and were getting her to the car.

“Get her some ambrosia I’ll drive and get us to that other camp let’s go.” Tango stated. Skizz ran to help get Gem into the car and find their small bit of ambrosia before Tango took off to get them to the camp. They had one hour left, she’d be ok for an hour,

They hoped.

Chapter Text

Impulse, Lizzie, and Joel had been summoned to the main building. There was a mission, one of little importance that shouldn’t take more than three days or so. Impulse wasn’t particularly thrilled he had to leave camp. He felt like people were coming for him. He didn’t know why, but he just felt like he shouldn’t be leaving camp. But he’d be with Lizzie and Joel. That would make everything fine. It would be ok.

“Alright, here's our ride.” Joel said as he unlocked a gray sports car. They’d left camp this morning and went to a Mc Donalds and there was the car and very conveniently Joel had the keys for.

“Wow, how'd you score this thing?” Impulse asked. Joel twirled the keys around his finger and smirked.

“Long story. Let’s go, I'm driving.” Joel stated.

“Sence when can you drive?” Lizzie jokingly questioned.

“Sence, we left England." Joel replied. Lizzie hopped in the front as well and so Impulse was stuck in the back. He put their backpack of things next to him and waited for Joel to start the car. He heard the loud car engine roar and Joel left the parking lot. Joel sped out of the parking lot and out to California traffic.

“I don’t like traffic.” Joel compiled as he leaned back against the chair waiting for the light to turn green.

“Well once we get out of California it shouldn’t be that long of a drive.” Impulse reassured them. He’d grown up in Arizona, he’d been slowly remembering things all day most of which from his childhood. He and his mother living in the middle of a desert town, school, and the day he’d run away.

“How would you know?” Joel questioned sounding rather annoyed at traffic and like it had defeated him in a fight.

“I grew up there,” he replied. Joel and Lizzie seemed to understand, they’d grown up on a different continent. No one else at camp had hitched a ride on an airplane to get to camp, it was only them, they felt alone the outsiders of the camp.

That’s how he felt when people called him some word for Greek. He didn’t even know if he was Greek, he wasn’t sure, he still didn’t remember.

Impulse had fallen asleep for a bit on the way and had a rude awakening to police sirens and Joel spreading down the highway.

“Really Joel!” Lizzie was scolded. Joel was pulling the car over and getting out his driver's license from a cup holder.

“Look I’m sorry I couldn’t read the signs on the side of the road.” Joel stated.

“Because you were going too fast.” Lizzie argued as the car came to a stop. Joel had his license out and was waiting for the officer to come to the car.

“After we get out of the traffic stop, I’m driving Joel.” Impulse added as he continued to wake up.

“What come on it was one time.” Joel complained. Then the officer tapped on the window to the car.

“Good afternoon officer.” Joel greeted.

“Afternoon was there any reason you were going so fast?” the police officer questioned.

“Sorry not from this state, I was a bit eager to be in a desert area, we live in San Francisco, so you know traffic and all that.” Joel explained.

“No no I get it I’m a California kid as well I get it, I’m going to let you off with just a warning this time, but I better not hear about you spreading this nice car again.” the officer warned.

“Alright, thank you officer promised this won’t happen again.” Joel ended. The officer walked away, and Impulse told Joel to pull into a gas station so could re-fill and Impulse could take over driving. They just had to get word to some fawns that they could make their way back to camp and then get back home, back to camp but Impulse knew that this wasn’t his home no matter how much he liked the people there.

Chapter Text

Impulse drove the rest of the way to Phoenix Arizona. They’d find the fawns in the morning and were staying the night in the car. The fawns would probably be asleep as well, so they didn’t feel bad sleeping in the Walmart parking lot. Impulse was laying in the trunk while Lizzie and Joel had picked spots towards the front of the car. He’d been sleeping when another one of his dreams happened. He remembered everything now, his mind was clear, he didn’t know why or what was going on.

“Impulse! Impulse you need to get back to camp Jupiter.” it was Skizz he remembered his name now, Skizz was one of his best friends. He knew that, how could he have forgotten his friends.

“Skizz what’s going on?” Impulse asked. Skizz looked a bit taken aback at being called by his name for the first time in a couple of months.

“Gem’s hurt! She got burned pretty badly by a Chimera. We’ve just gotten to camp. Pearly Pop and Top are talking with the head campers. They won’t let Zeddlebop and I see Gem, I don’t know what to do. I can't reach her Dipple Dop. We need you here.” Skizz explained. Gem was hurt. Skizz and Zed were fawns- or satyrs he wasn’t quite sure what he was supposed to call them, but they wouldn’t be allowed inside, not like at Camp Half-blood. What he did know is they had to get back to camp as soon as possible.

“Alright, we’ll be there soon, we’re on a quest I’d have to talk Lizzie and Joel into leaving but-” then he was being shaken awake, and his dream was over.

“Impulse we have to drive back, we just got a message from camp the quest was a trap.” Lizzie explained. He sat up and saw Joel was already starting the car and drinking one of the cans of red bull he’d gotten yesterday.

“Alright, let’s go,” Impulse said. He’d buckled up and Lizzie was in the front seat. It was going to be another long drive day, but they’d get back to camp by five that evening. He wished he could talk to Skizz but now wasn’t the time they had to get back to camp.

“Joel, if any time was the time to get a speeding ticket now would be that time.” Lizzie stated.

“Yeah, well I don’t have speeding ticket money Lizzie, I think the council would have me ousted from the camp if I cost them more than twenty bucks.” Joel replied.

“Where was this when we were driving here?” Impulse joked.

“I’ve slept and grown up, so now let’s get back to camp shall we, I hear your friends are waiting for you there Impulse.” Joel ended. Not all of his friends were there, two of them were here with him. Now he’d have to choose between his two worlds, his two lives, his two sets of friends.

He wished that he didn’t have to choose.

Chapter Text

Gem had been hurt, she would be ok, but they had to get help. They were almost at Camp Jupiter; they saw the tunnel guarded by two people in Roman armor. There was a wolf right next to them who Pearl was referring to as Tilly and they just had to cross the intersection. It should be easy.

“Let’s go,” Zed stated. Skizz was carrying Gem on his back while Pearl and Tango were providing weapons support off to the side and Zed leading the way. Cars were zooming across the road, seeming not to notice four teenagers, and two satyrs, one of which was carrying a fifth teenager, and a wolf. Pearl was starting to understand how thick the fog could be for mortals. She almost wished that she was mortal sometimes, almost, she wouldn’t know any of her friends if she were. She wouldn’t have run away from home as a child, so maybe this was worth it.

They crossed the busy street managing to avoid getting hit and hearing a gasp from one of the Roman soldiers about halfway there.

“Oh, my word! What happened to her?” one of them exclaimed.

“Chimera,” Skizz replied as he pulled Gem up a bit.

“We need to get inside the camp, let’s go.” the second Roman guard said. They all agreed and walked through a tunnel with the sun shining at the end of it. Skizz heard Gem let out a pained noise.

“Shh, it’s ok Gemstone.” he whispered. They continued into the grassy field at the end of the tunnel and saw the sun shining down on water between them in the camp.

“We need to wade through it to get to camp,” the first Roman guard explained.

“Yep, sounds good.” Tango winced. Most water hurt him, being someone with fire burning in his veins but he’d survive. Skizz followed the first Roman guard through the water trying to keep Gem dry and warm. The soldier took off her cavalry helmet and he saw long brown hair tied back with a teal hair tie. Someone in a white toga came up to them.

“Shubble, get the girl inside and have our medics tend to her. Scott take the two campers into my quarters so me and Pix can talk with them. Also, Shubble show the fawns where the others are when you get her inside.”

“Fawns?” Zed questioned.

“Just go with it.” Skizz gritted between his teeth. He followed the girl Shubble to a wooden cabin labeled medic and was stopped just outside.

“You aren’t allowed inside; I’ll take her from here.” Shubble stated.

“What, but Gem, I need to make sure she’s ok.” Skizz argued.

“I know you’re worried her, but we’ll tell you about what’s going on when we know the other fawns are over there. They can tell you the rules here.” Shubble stated. She took Gem inside and the door was closed. Another satyr walked over to them and greeted them.

“Hi, I’m Sausage, are you the two new fawns we overheard Scott talking about?” the satyr, Sausage asked.

“Yes, we are, we came with some friends to look for another friend of ours he’s been missing for months.” Skizz explained.

“Oh, who is he? I might know him. I talk to a lot of people here.” Sausage replied. That was easier than Skizz had expected it to be.

“Impulse,” Skizz stated.

“Oh, Impulse he and his friends are so nice to me they don’t tell me to go away like most of the other people here do. He, Lizzie, and Joel aren’t mean at all; they even talk with us fawns. It makes sense you’d be friends with him considering you two came with three other Half-bloods. What are your names by the way? It was rude of me to not ask sooner.” Sausage asked. So Impulse did know people here, where would he be then?

“I’m Skizz and this is Zedaph but our friends call him Zed, I call him Zeddlebop.” Skizz replied.

“It’s nice to meet you both, I really wish that Impulse were here so we could talk more.” Sausage stated.

“Wait, he isn't here?” Skizz questioned.

“No, Impulse, Lizzie, and Joel were sent on a mission yesterday, they’ll all be back by the day after tomorrow though.” Sausage added. So, he wasn’t here. Skizz had told him to stay here, why would he leave.

“Do you know how we could go inside to check on Gem?” Zed continued to ask.

“No fawns normally can’t go inside. We need special permission from one of the praetors to go indoors.” Sausage explained. He started to talk about the rules here at Camp Jupiter that the fawns had to follow and slowly Skizz realized why there weren’t many fawns here and why they mostly wandered around the country. He liked it better at Camp Half-blood, he could go inside there, he wasn’t treated like a glorified stay animal. Then Pearl and Tango came over with one of the praetors in a toga over his purple t-shirt and jeans.

“Pearl, Tango, you need to go check on Gem, they won’t let us in.” Skizz said. The praetor sighed at this, smiling at the two satyrs. Pearl and Tango looked shocked, but the praetor started to talk before they could raise objections.

“I should have told them to let you in before this, my apologies, I’m Pix, I still have much to discuss with your friends but I’ll get you two inside so you can look after Gem.” Pix stated.

“Thank you.” Zed replied. They went inside and the four medics inside were told that Zed and Skizz could stay as long as they didn’t get in the way of anything. They were told Gem would be alright and up in a few hours. They were also told only one medic was required to look after her. Skizz and Zed took seats by Gem’s bedside while Tango and Pearl followed the praetor to get word to Lizzie, Joel, and Impulse that the mission they were on was a trap from who knows where. All they knew was that they had to get back to camp. Outside of camp it was only nearing sunrise so hopefully this would wake them up.

Chapter Text

“So why exactly are you and your friends here?” Pix asked after everyone made sure Skizz and Zed could be allowed inside. They were now in a secluded area of the camp where there wasn’t really anyone around. Which was good, really good.

“Our friend Impulse has been missing for months now; we heard that he was here. Do you know of anyone here named Impulse SV?” Tango questioned. Pix seemed to think for a moment then replied.

“We do; he's out on a mission that camp half-blood told us about. Didn’t Chiron mention lost fawns to you?” Pix questioned. Lost fawns, satyrs, whatever, no Chiron would have mentioned them.

“Chiron doesn't send us on quests. Normally the oracle does that but we kind of snuck out. Well at least Zed and I did. But Chiron doesn't send us on quests, normally it's just the oracle.” Tango explained.

“Then why would they send them to Arizona, unless, has anyone been in contact with Impulse through dreams or something?” Pix questioned. They all had been in contact with Impulse through dreams. Had that caused something?

“Yeah, Skizz has dream powers. He and a couple other satyrs do. He’s been talking to Impulse like that, is there something wrong with that?” Skizz continued to ask.

“Yes, we’ve discovered that there are monsters who will sneak into dreams and summon half-bloods into traps through them. We need to get them back to camp, I’m Iris messaging them now. You need to let Skizz know in case they’re all asleep. It’s early in the morning it’s possible.” Pix stated. Pearl nodded and she ran off to the medical tent. Impulse was in trouble, and he didn’t even know it. He and whoever he was with were all in trouble.

She ran as fast as she physically could. She made it to the medical hut and went inside so she could tell Skizz and Zed.

“Skizz,” she gasped. Skizz looked up from the book he’d been reading. He seemed unfazed while Zed practically jumped out of his seat when she opened the door. “You need to try and contact Impulse in a dream. They’re in trouble and need to get back to camp ASAP.” she stated. Skizz heard the urgency in his voice and nearly immediately started to do his magic thing. They just had to hope it was enough.

Chapter Text

They made it back to camp and Impulse was out of the car the second it stopped. He needed to find Gem, one of his closest friends, his little sister. He needed to make sure she was ok. He needed to make sure his little sister was ok. Before he could get to the medical cabin, he heard something

His name

“Impulse!” he turned around and saw Pearl, alive and well. He hadn’t seen her since that night she was turned into a pine tree. She was here; she was alive.

“Pearl?” he questioned just in case it wasn’t her. He wanted to make sure that it was here and not some look alike. But before she could confirm it, she was hugging him. This was his Pearl for sure. This was really Pearl; she was really alive. “I can’t believe you’re alive.” he whispered.

“I’m glad to be alive. We have other matters to attend to know though.” Pearl stated. Right Gem, they had to see Gem.

“Gem, right let’s go.” Impulse replied. They went to the medical hut to see Pix one of the camp’s praetors, Tango, Skizz, and Zed all sitting around. Lizzie and Joel were still catching up getting their armor and what not out of the car, but Impulse would do that later. Gem was asleep in one of the beds with burn marks on her face and arm.

“How’s Gem?” Impulse asked. Skizz looked up at him and smiled. It was good to see one of his best friends again, all of his best friends were gathered in this room.

“She’ll be alright, the medics say she should be up soon, but we’re allowed to wait until that happens.” Skizz explained. Impulse knew fawns or satyrs whichever you’d prefer weren’t allowed inside under normal circumstances. But this surely wasn’t normal.

“Alright, it’s good to see all of you again.” Impulse smiled.

“Yeah, it’s about time, what happened after you disappeared?” Skizz asked. He wasn’t sure he didn’t remember much of anything from the time he disappeared from Camp half-blood and arriving at Camp Jupiter.

“I’m honestly not too sure I was just led here by some wolves as weird as it sounds.” Impulse commented. Pearl gasped.

“Was one of them named Tilly?” she questioned. Shockingly yes, he’d figured out that one wolf’s name was Tilly.

“Actually yeah.” he replied. Pearl must have also met Tilly on the way here as well. They continued to talk and eventually Lizzie and Joel met them and got to meet Impulse’s other friends. That’s when a hard question had to come up.

“So Dippledop, buddy where are you going after this?” Skizz questioned. He’d wondered that himself over the past couple of days. Would he remain at Camp Jupiter or would he go back to Camp half-blood. He had friends who were like his family at both but he’d have to decide wouldn’t he?

“Not sure yet.” Impulse answered.

“I will fight whoever is in charge at this other camp to get some kind of custody arrangement where I get you part time Impulse mark my word.” Joel joked.

“Joel I’m older than you.” Impulse laughed.

“So, I’ll still fight for half custody.” Joel continued. By now everyone in the cabin was laughing. That’s when Gem woke up. That’s when he got to talk to his little sister again.

“Impy?” she questioned.

“It’s me Gem.” he replied. He’d walked over to the bed where she had just sat up and was trying to wake up.

“I missed you. You’re not allowed to go missing again.” she stated still drowsy.

“I missed you too, I promise I’m not going anywhere.” Impulse replied. He’d keep that promise. He wouldn’t leave his sister or his friends in the dark thinking he was dead ever again if he had anything to do with it.