perhaps when one becomes too familiar with war,
they forget that peace exists.
[ book one -- storming universe ]
[ Sierra Machisse -- book one ]
[ sea of monsters -- titan's curse ]
{ 03 / 29 / 2020 -- ? }
( Percy Jackson x Female OC )
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"YOU WOULD HAVE JOINED, WOULDN'T YOU?" Percy asked as they walked towards the cliff. "If you didn't have to watch me."
Sierra shrugged noncommittally. "I might've Percy," she admitted, "the last few months have been awful. It's nice to entertain the idea of just leaving it all. But I do have to watch you, so I can't actually follow through."
"You could," he said, "I don't need you to watch me, Andy and I did fine this year without you." Sierra didn't tell him she'd been there, he didn't need to know yet. Besides, Grover and Thalia ran up to them as soon as they exited and demanded the details. Percy filled them in, which did little dissuade the worry that had no doubt been building in Thalia the longer they stayed in the tent.
Grover turned pale when he recounted Artemis' plan to have the hunters go with them to camp.
"The last time the Hunters visited camp, it didn't go well." Sierra remembered. It had more or less included Sidney, the Stoll twins, and a whole boat load of greek fire. That had translated into fire arrows on the hunters end. They'd hit Hermes cabin, and Ares, and Athena, and Dionysus ( the cabin and the god ). Needless to say, it had resulted in more or less all out war and Artemis herself had to break up the conflict with a guest visit from Athena. Dionysus had been angered beyond Hades at his cabin's damage, not to mention the arrow that had ripped his tracksuit, and the rest was history.
"How'd they even show up here?" Percy wondered. "I mean, they just appeared out of nowhere."
"And Bianca joined them," Thalia said, disgusted. "It's all Zoe's fault. That stuck-up, no good—"
"Who can blame her?" Grover said. "Eternity with Artemis?" He heaved a big sigh.
Thalia rolled her eyes. "You satyrs. You're all in love with Artemis. Don't you get that she'll never love you back?"
"But she's so, into nature," Grover swooned.
"You're nuts," said Thalia.
"Nuts and berries," Grover said dreamily. "Yeah." Sierra stayed silent on her own contemplation of joining, and Percy did as well. Sierra didn't really care if Thalia was mad at her, but she didn't have the energy to even try and deal with it right then.
Sierra walked away from them as Thalia started to berate Grover while the satyr continued to mutter about Artemis and sing her praises. Sierra walked to edge of the cliff and dropped to sitting, her legs hanging over the edge and for just a second, she considered jumping. The fall wouldn't kill her, probably, but it might just break her legs or something. Put her out of commission, give her an excuse to sleep more than three hours consecutively.
A wolf, presumably one of the goddess' hunting dogs pranced over. It stared at Sierra for a long minute, and she stared back before it's mouth fell open in a doggy grin, tongue hanging out of it's mouth. She smiled lightly and it trotted over, laying down with its head in her lap and whining until she started to pet her slowly.
She'd always liked dogs, and they'd always liked her. Then again, they were sacred to her father, and hunting dogs, typically violent ones were probably even more tethered to him than a Labrador. Those things were freaking teddy bears. But this was an animal. Strong muscles and sharp canine jaws that could rip through flesh. Or hold back the tongue that licked at Sierra's hand when her petting paused for a moment. She resumed, muttering about needy canines.
"Made a friend?" Percy asked as he sat down beside her, and Sierra shrugged, digging her fingers into the soft grey fur and the dog rolled over to expose its stomach. Sierra scratched the desired area.
"How are you?" She asked the son of Poseidon. Normally she wouldn't bother asking, but him collapsing into sobs in her arms was so foreign and uncomfortable she felt the need to assure he was ok enough it wouldn't happen again. The soft smile that had settled on his lips from watching her interact with the animal melted.
"When she went over," he said, voice strained with the pain of loss. "I think that was one of the worst moments of my life. Like watching my mom die all over again. I've kept her safe her entire life and then she's just, gone."
"She isn't dead," Sierra assured, "I meant what I said. If Andy died, I'd be dead too." Percy nodded.
"You told me, that you and Chiron had a conversation after we got back from the sea of monsters," Percy said, "he clarified some stuff, whatever. Did your Dad tell you to protect any child of the big three, or just me, and Chiron added on the rest?" Sierra didn't really know how to respond to that. So, she did what she'd been doing for the last few months and honestly her entire life. She didn't do well, but she did her best.
"Maybe no one ordered me to," she conceded, "but I decided to protect Andy, and Thalia, and you, and at this point any other children of the big three that wander along. I signed up to protect Andy Jackson, and I don't fail. Ever. Makes my skin itch."
Percy met her gaze, the whites of his eyes still tinted pink from his short crying session what seemed like forever ago. There was a pleading there, not of her, but for her. Like he was praying to everything she was right, but he just couldn't bring himself to trust her.
