Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It’s this chapter if you want to read with the characters: https://archiveofourown.org/works/47675389/chapters/120171709

Annabeth Chase was not a baby. She had survived on the streets alone and then with Thalia and Luke at the tender age of seven. Just because she was one of the youngest at camp didn’t mean that they had a right to treat her like she couldn’t keep up with the rest of them. 

It was always, ‘Annabeth why don’t you go play’ when everyone else went to training. Or when her siblings would shove her in the safest and most out of the way spot during capture the flag so that she never saw any action whatsoever. She’s faced more monsters than half the kids at camp, they should give her a little more credit. 

“It was really fustrating at the time “. Said annabeth .

“I can imagine but it was to give you more time to grow”. Explained Chiron. “ we like to give little kids time to adjust.

“ I understand and am thankful for it but at times it didn’t feel nice.” justified Annabeth.

Luke didn’t even stand up for her, everytime she complained to him he just told her, ‘maybe it’s good for you to just be a normal kid for once’. But she wasn’t a normal kid, she was literally doomed to be stuck in this camp for the rest of her life. The least they could do was let her train instead of pretending she was a normal seven year old girl who didn’t have to worry about imminent death if she stepped foot outside the camp boundaries.

“Sorry i didn’t mean to hurt you.” Said Luke apologizing.

“It’s alright I understand why you did it .” Said annabeth Accepting his apology.

”she has a point .” Said Percy amused.

(I give up with getting it in bold it doesn’t work with an ipad)

Usually she grit her teeth and dealt with the babying, especially since most of it came from her siblings and she didn’t want to fight with them. It was nice to have a family around her for once, she didn’t want to ruin it and make them hate her because she was a brat. 

But for some reason, one cloudy day a month after she’d arrived at camp, she snapped back. Her siblings had sword training, and all the other times they went they told Annabeth to go play with the other little kids because sword training was too advanced for a kid her age. She didn’t expect any different of an answer this time, but it still made her mad. 

She had stomped her foot and demanded to come, her big brother, Owen, had looked a little bewildered but had doubled down on his refusal for her to join. He was head counselor and the oldest of them, so none of her other siblings went against his word to side with her. 

“It is tough going against authority of your siblings.” Said Malcom.

“I didn’t make you feel that way did I ?” Asked annabeth.

“Not much just an odd time or two.” Answered Malcom truthfully.

Annabeth felt tears at the corner of her eyes, feeling like a child throwing a tantrum even though this was a very legitimate thing to be upset over. 

One of her sisters, Ally, tried to step forward with a sad look on her face, “Look Annabeth there’s not any swords that are small enough for kids as young as you. Maybe next year we can start-”

She’d heard enough, Annabeth pushed past her older siblings and ran off towards the forest. She heard them shout behind her, but ignored them. Annabeth hated being treated like a child, she hated feeling so useless when only a month ago Thalia had died fighting to give them enough time to make it to the safety of camp. 

“O annie.” Said Thalia 

“A lot of us felt that way when we were younger, we felt like Annabeth described. ” Said Connor

Annabeth only slowed once she was deep enough in the forest so that she couldn’t see the cabins anymore. She didn’t dare go any further, not even she was foolish enough to go to the deeper parts full of monsters by herself. 

Maybe ten minutes passed of her trying to stifle her sniffles and banish her tears before there was a faint rustling from up ahead, “Go away Owen! I thought you wanted me out of the way, I’m just doing what you asked!”

To her surprise, it wasn’t her big brother that walked out of the brush. It was the curly haired boy that had arrived only a week after her. Connor? No that was the younger one's name, she remembered because he was the only kid at camp younger than her at six years old. This was the older kid, Travis. If she was remembering correctly he was only a year older than her.

“ that was me .” Declared Travis proudly

“That was long ago.” Said Luke “ I remember it a time where it was peaceful.” The part without kronos went unsaid.

right?”

She quickly wiped her tears away, not wanting him to see her like this and nodded to answer his question, “and you’re Luke’s new brother? Travis right.”

He nodded as well. Luke had already known his dad was Hermes when they got to camp, just as Annabeth had known her mother was Athena. But Travis and his brother had been unaware of their parentage until a day after their arrival when they’d been claimed by Hermes in the dining pavilion. 

“I saw you run into the forest by yourself and wanted to make sure you were ok,” he explained after the silence grew between them

“ Aaa you were such cute !” squealed Selina

Annabeth felt a flush rise to her cheeks, “well I’m fine,” she said, a little more harshly than she meant to. 

The boy didn’t back down though, he sat down a couple yards away from her showing he wasn’t planning on leaving anytime soon, “Well I think you’re lying.”

“I’m not!” Annabeth denied petulantly, shocked at this boy's audacity, “and even if I was it’s none of your business!”

The room laughed when they read it

Travis crossed his arms over his chest with a huff, “yes it is! Carlie says that everyone at camp is family and we gotta look out for each other,” if Annabeth remembered correctly, Carlie was the name of the Hermes head counselor, “and you’re the only other person at camp right now close to my age. So I think we should look out for each other.”

“I don’t need someone looking out for me, I need to train,” Annabeth grumbled in annoyance. 

Travis scoffed, “good luck with that. Apparently we’re too young to start weapons training yet, Carlie says it’s cause we’re too small for the weapons,” he told her as if she didn’t already know all of that, “she says we can start training when we turn nine, I think that’s stupid though, why can’t they just make smaller weapons.”

“They are kinda right , it makes sense.” Said Percy 

sally still felt uneasy that children this young are needing weapons.

Finally someone who gets it,” Annabeth exclaimed, happy that someone else shared her plight, “they act like we’re babies when we face the same amount of danger they do!” 

Travis nodded along with her, “Yeah! We’re just as tough as they are, and then they’ll tell us ‘to go play’ as if there’s anything else to do around here!”

Ok, maybe Annabeth had been a little hasty to get upset with Travis. It seemed they were stuck in the same situation, he wasn’t so awful after all. 

“Connor is usually who I play with- he’s my little brother. But he’s only six so he’s taking a nap in the cabin right now,” he told her, a bored expression on his face. 

“That was long ago. “ said Lee remembering the past.

I guess we can hang out if you want,” Annabeth offered hesitantly, “the two of us can come up with more things to do than either of us could on our own.”

Travis brightened immediately, a mischievous glimmer in his eyes, “Yeah! That gives me an idea- wanna get a little revenge on our older siblings for underestimating us?”

Annabeth blinked at him in confusion, “revenge? What do you mean?”

“You and him were the one who changed the the toothpaste for edible paint?” Asked Owen 

as soon as Owen asked annabeth and Travis began to grin .

Annabeth blinked at him in confusion, “revenge? What do you mean?”

“Oh my sweet, innocent new friend,” Travis trilled, “have you never considered pulling a few pranks whenever one of your siblings annoyed you?”

“Um, no,” Annabeth replied curiously, “what do you have in mind?”

Travis practically beamed, jumping to his feet and offering her a hand, “oh there is a world of possibilities! Come on, we gotta plan while they’re all out of the cabins for training!”

She only hesitated for a moment before accepting the offered hand and letting Travis pull her back towards the cabins. A small smile crossed her face, and the two of them were dissolving into giggles of giddy anticipation by the time they made their way to the Hermes cabin to plan their scheme. 

Maybe it wasn’t so awful to be babied if she had people like Travis who understood the struggle and were willing to help cheer her up when her siblings were annoying

“Atleast they found a way to make it okay.” Said sally

the rest of the room couldn’t help to agree with her.

Chapter Text

Will missed his mom. It had only been a week since they’d been apart but it felt like three times that amount of time. It only made it worse that he knew he wouldn’t be able to see her for a long time. It was too risky for him to leave camp and go home cause the monsters might get him. He would have to wait for the next time his mom could visit New York for them to see each other. 

He was one of the youngest kids at camp right now, usually monsters didn’t come for demigods until around sixth grade. It turned out Will was really unlucky, cause he was seven and a scary woman with big claws had almost killed him while he was walking home from school. 

“so that’s when you came to camp.” Asked Nico 

“Yep he was just seven.” Answered lee

So now here he was for the foreseeable future. At the very least he was claimed almost the moment his foot crossed the camp boundary. Apparently it sometimes takes a really long time for the gods to claim their kids, and sometimes they never claimed them at all.

Lee, his big brother, had told him that their dad was usually really good at claiming his kids. Which was why there were so many kids in the Apollo cabin. At the very least he didn’t have to sleep on the floor of the Hermes cabin like some of the other kids. Will thought that was a little unfair, he’d prefer to risk getting hunted by monsters than sleep curled in a ball on the floor every night. 

 
“ it was unfair, but thanks to Percy it is a lot better.” Said Connor 

“ no problem it should have been like this from the start.” Said Percy in return 

He walked down the steps of the big house where Chiron had just set up a quick call with his mom for him. He had only got to speak to her for a few minutes and it somehow made it hurt worse than before he had gotten to speak to her. The day was far too sunny and bright for his mood as he trudged back towards his cabin. He just wanted to burrow away in his bed under his blankets and cry, even though he was supposed to return to his siblings in the infirmary. But it seemed the world was out to get him today. 

Only a dozen yards from the big house steps, he tripped on a rock embedded in the path that he hadn’t noticed amidst his sulking. He tumbled to the ground, feeling tiny stones dig into his hands and scrap across his knees as he broke his fall. His injuries were very small, almost irrelevant in the long run, but it was as if the fall had been the final straw to break the camel's back. Will sat back on his heels, letting the tears fall down his face as he sobbed quietly, it just wasn’t fair. He liked it here but if it came at the cost of not seeing his mom then he would rather be anywhere else in the world as long as she was by his side. 

“ O will you could have come to us.” Said lee 

“I know but at the time it didn’t feel like an option.” Answered Will

He didn’t know how long he sat there in tears, it couldn’t have been very long though, before someone found him. 

“Will! Oh my gods, what happened,” a gentle voice asked. Will glanced up through blurry eyes to see the worried face of Silena Beauregard looking down at him. She was one of the few people Will knew at camp so far. For the majority of the week he had just spent his days following after one of his siblings. But a few days after his arrival, Silena had sought him out to give him some chocolates because Lee had told her that he was upset about having to leave his mom.

“Selina thank you for helping will.” Said Micheal

“You don’t have to be thankful, it was common sense to help him.” Said Selina towards Apollo cabin.

Silena took his silence in stride, “oh, whatever it is it’s gonna be ok. Come on, we can head back to my cabin and get you cleaned up,” she said, offering a hand to help him off the ground. Will gingerly accepted the gesture, being careful not to agitate his injured palms as Silena pulled him up from the ground. 

She winced in sympathy seeing the little stones stuck in his hands and wrapped her arm around his shoulders. He was thankful she didn’t ask him to explain why he had been crying even though Will knew that she knew it wasn’t from his fall. She just gave him a comforting smile and guided him back to the Aphrodite cabin. 

It was midday so the cabin was empty, most of the other campers were probably training or doing one of the other many camp activities. Thank the gods, he would have been so embarrassed if they saw him like this. Silena was a different story, he knew her and he knew she was nice. But most of the other Aphrodite kids were strangers. 

“”Sorry didn’t know Aphrodite kids very well.” Explained will

”it’s ok makes sense I also was shy when I came i was new.” Said Malcom

Silena guided him over to one of the beds and had him sit down, “stay there,” she said quickly before heading into the bathroom. When she returned her hands were full of various supplies. 

First she took tweezers and got all the little stones out of his hand as he winced and tried not to pull away. Then she dabbed them with disinfectant and wrapped a small cloth tightly around his palms. 

As she worked Will sniffled away the last of his tears, “why are you doing this?” He couldn’t help but ask, “why didn’t you just send me to the infirmary?”

Will almost started crying again at the gesture, but Silena merely gave him a small smile and ruffled his hair, “don’t tell my siblings but…” she said as she pulled out a box from under the bed Will was sitting on, “I have a little stash of candy I keep hidden under here.”

She opened the box to show him her hidden loot, gesturing towards him in a clear sign to take some. He hesitated, he didn’t want to be a bother, she’d already done so much for him today. But Silena just pushed the box closer, insisting he take something, “come on Will, it would be rude to refuse a gift,” she said with a twinkle in her eyes. 

“ you’ve kept that hidden from us .” Said drew jokingly angry 

“Sorry it was fur special situations .” Answered Selina truthfully 

When she put it like that, the only option was for Will to accept. He carefully picked a single blue lollipop from the pile. Seeming to be content now that he had taken something, Silena grabbed a small wrapped chocolate for herself before closing the box and sliding it under her bed again. 

The lollipop was sweet, and tasted like berries, and Will found a happy smile forming on his face almost against his will, “thanks Silena,” he mumbled bashfully. 

The girl gave him a confident smile, “of course kiddo, now let’s get you back to your siblings, I’m sure they’re worried about where you disappeared to.”

“I remember we were asking were you were .” Said lee 

Will allowed Silena to grab his hand, gently of course to be mindful of the injuries, and lead him back outside. Will was a little worried his siblings would be upset, he was only supposed to call his mom for a few minutes and then return to the infirmary. But his little trip to the Aphrodite cabin had taken much longer than that. 

The second he stepped foot back inside though, he was immediately bombarded with worried older siblings, Lee in the lead. 

“Will oh my gods, where did you run off too!” His brother exclaimed, pulling him into a tight hug. Will leaned into the gesture happily, burying his face in Lee’s shoulder. 

“You were such a mother hen Lee .” Said Luke jokingly 

people in the room who knew Lee couldn’t help but agree.

He faintly heard his older sister, Daemi, asking Silena where he had disappeared to, “he just tripped on his way back to the infirmary and I was nearby so I bandaged him up real quick at my cabin,” Silena explained. 

Will peeked away from Lee, seeing Daemi glance at his red rimmed eyes and then back to Silena before speaking again, “Thanks Lena, you’re the best,” she told the other girl, and Will let out a sigh of relief when they didn’t press her for why she didn’t just bring Will back to them to begin with. 

Silena smiled, giving Will one more reassuring look before turning to leave the infirmary. After a few more moments of him just standing in silence in Lee’s arms, his older brother shifted to look down at him, “what’s wrong, sunshine? Did something happen to upset you?”

The reminder almost brought tears to his eyes again, but he willed them away before glancing up at Lee. The worry in his brother's eyes had Will spilling his plights before he could even comprehend the words coming from his mouth, “I won’t get to see my mom again for a very long time,” he admitted with a downturned expression on his face. 

All his siblings made sympathetic noises at his wavering voice, and Lee guided him over to sit on one of the cots with him, “oh I’m sorry Will, I really am, that sucks,” he said, allowing Will to curl up at his side. 

“ aww you guys used to be so sweet .” Said Selina.

You’ll always have us though,” Daemi added as she walked up, kneeling in front of him and wiping the stray tear from his eyes before it could fall. 

“Being a year round camper isn’t all that bad either!” Lani nodded her head with a smile, “there’s a lot less kids at camp so Chiron and Mr.D are less strict with our lessons and everyone usually comes up with a lot of fun games to play at the campfires!”

Will offered his siblings a watery smile at their attempts to cheer him up, leaning farther into Lee’s protective hold as he did, “ok,” he replied in a quiet voice. 

He still missed his mom, but at least he now had a bunch of cool older siblings and friends at camp like Silena to make it less painful. 

“ happy you seen the positive things of camp “. Said Chiron