ARUNA

~•♡•~

"SINNERS!"

everything was okay until aruna was awoken.

she shot up with wide eyes as coach hedge stood in the doorway, his face the color of beet extract as he reared his baseball hat over his head. leo screamed as coach started running to him, screaming about the disgrace of leo and aruna.

"coach! coach, stop!" leo pleaded as he fell out of the bed. aruna screamed as coach prepared to smash leo over the head. she threw herself at the coach, intercepting the hit by knocking him to the floor.

"coach, get off!" leo yelled as he pulled aruna away. they both stood up, backing into the bed. aruna gulped nervously as several doors down the hall opened up.

"SINNERS!" hedge screamed again. aruna looked down at her lack of pants and leo's lack of a shirt, and she knew there was no scheming out of this one.

"coach, calm down!" leo pleaded. before any demigods could get to the doorway, aruna waved her hand and slammed the door shut with her powers.

"how dare you disobey me?!" hedge howled.

"coach, please!" aruna pleaded as she ran to the door, pressing her back to it. frank was desperately trying to open it, and aruna knew his strength would overtake hers soon enough. frankly, it should've done so immediately, but aruna was using her powers, and she didn't think frank was exerting his full potential.

"coach, i'll cut you a deal." leo gulped as he threw aruna a pair of pants. "this will never happen again, but the others cannot know!"

"they oughta!" hedge grunted as he pushed leo's bare chest with his baseball bat. "i cannot believe you would disrespect me like this! you were supposed to be my golden children!"

"to make it better," leo gulped as aruna yanked on a pair of blue jeans with old grease stains on them. "this only happened twice."

"YOU'VE SINNED TWICE?!"

"LEO!" aruna screamed.

"I-I MEAN ONLY TWICE LAST NIGHT!"

aruna screamed in horror as hedge heaved his bat up again. she surged forward and caught the bat, trying to pry it from the hands on the old satyr.

"coach, we promise," aruna said as she looked at the door. "we won't do it again! but the others can't know!"

hedge grunted as he stepped back. "one whack. for each of you."

aruna looked to leo with an uneasy expression, but he was struggling to put on a shirt. she looked to hedge and nodded.

"body only. no face."

"HUH?!" leo said as his head poked through one of the sleeves.

"and," hedge wagged a finger at each of them. "you gotta swear on the river styx."

aruna's throat went dry. "i-i can't do that."

"ZHANG, GUESS WHA-"

"we swear!" aruna stepped in hedge's tracks again. leo stared at her in horror, but she gave a reassuring nod. "we swear upon the river styx that we will never... do the devil's tango-" leo fought back a laugh. "-in leo's cabin again."

hedge turned to leo expectantly, and he repeated the oath. thunder rumbled above, and hedge looked satisfied.

"now, you're gonna tell the others that leo and i were in here until late last night talking about blueprints." aruna said. "and that we fell asleep, and that you took it the wrong way."

"and if they don't believe me?" hedge grunted.

"you'll tell them you know we aren't lying because of you empath abilities."

hedge looked unhappy but he grunted in approval. aruna reached for the jeans she was actually wearing last night and managed to put them on before hedge opened the door. leo's head popped through where it actually needed to be as frank rushed in.

"what happened?!" frank breathed. hazel stood behind him, barely peeking from behind his muscled arms.

hedge repeated what aruna told him to. leo barely peeked from behind aruna, his expression as skittish as hazel's. frank and aruna kept their eyes trained on coach as jason and piper filed in, listening to the story.

shockingly, they believed it.

"no way you're buying this." frank said.

"they used to do that all the time in bunker 9." jason explained. "and in cabin 21. and in the woods."

aruna realized they were actually right.

damn, i was a hoe before i was a hoe.

"really?" hazel gulped as she looked to aruna and leo. "that's odd."

"not really." piper said as she grabbed the nearest blueprint from the desk. "see? this is brand new."

hazel looked it over and looked up to leo. "a robot dog? for what?"

"man, i don't even know." leo groaned. "maybe i'll make it a maid dog or something. i dunno yet."

aruna sensed he was being honest.

"well." frank scratched the back of his neck, and his elbow accidentally hit the ceiling. suddenly, aruna felt inferior as she realized how tall he actually was. "now that that's resolved..."

"chores!" leo cheered. everyone groaned loudly and hedge left the room, his bat on his shoulder.

"not me. see ya!"

leo and aruna glared, but they couldn't exactly challenge him yet. hedge cackled triumphantly as he walked to his cabin, and the door slammed shut. leo cleared his throat as he began to leave the room.

"i hate chores." piper complained as everyone followed leo.

"ah, don't worry pipes. it's just cleaning the toilets!"

~•♡•~

aruna stood near the helm with leo. off to the side, hazel stood talking to frank, the mysterious polecat named gale by her side. evidently, she'd been sent by hecate herself to 'see how things go', whatever that meant. to aruna, it mostly meant 'you're my entertainment and i want to watch via polecat'.

it had been two days since venice, and one day after leo's birthday. aruna wanted desperately to tell everyone else how they had forgotten it. she had been the only one to wish leo a happy birthday, the only one to give him a present. she knew it wasn't entirely their fault; the quest was crazy, everyone was really stressed out, and she wouldn't be surprised if half the demigods forgot their own birthdays.

still, it bothered her. when she tried to say something, leo cut her off, saying that it felt like a good time to eat ice cream. when she questioned him about it, he said he'd just tell everyone after the quest was over, that they had bigger things to worry about then leo's birthday.

"so," leo said as he turned away from the control panel for the first time in several hours. he leaned against it with his arms crossed over his chest, a toothpick in his mouth. aruna had been sitting on a crate of what was either gasoline, greek fire, or heroin (she really couldn't be sure with leo), her hands hanging loosely. she styled her cloak into a simple jacket, paired with a camp half-blood shirt in light blue instead of obnoxious orange, and black leggings. she picked her head up to look at leo, not bothering to brush her hair out of her face.

"yeah?"

leo shrugged. "i dunno. i'm bored." he threw his hands in the air and sighed with exasperation.

aruna held her hands up. "don't ask me to remedy that, buddy."

"what do you do when you're bored?" leo asked.

"think about my shit-show of a life, eat... sometimes i draw. i dunno." aruna shrugged. leo's cocky smirk made her frown and shift slightly in her seat, her head tilted to the side.

"so like, when you come to visit me..." leo grinned as he crossed his arms. "that's because you want to see me?" he tilted his head and grinned wildly, which may have been unsettling to others (leo's superpower was having an extremely unnerving grin) but aruna mostly found annoying.

"you're full of yourself, y'know." aruna deadpanned.

"but- you do want to see me." leo pointed an accusatory finger at aruna.

"well, of course i do. i'm cold natured, and you're like a personal heating pad."

"ha! see! opposites attract!" leo whistled and pumped his fist triumphantly.

"how are we opposites?"

leo's face went slack and he slowly shook his head. "aruna mercedes rodrigo, you dare call me the dense one?"

"don't use my full name." aruna playfully warned. "and i'm not dense. i just don't see how we're opposites."

"let's see..." leo sighed as he stared towards the sky. "you have a rather cold complexion, i'm more warm. you like cold colors, i like warmer colors. you have a bitch-face-"

"hey!"

"-a beautiful bitch-face." leo ammended. "i look generally happy most of the time. personally, our abilities and heritage can kind of be considered opposites! you're dark, like the moon, i'm warm like fire! or the sun!"

aruna shook her head and shrugged. "well... okay maybe."

"nah, not maybe, princess." leo smirked. "we are opposites. we're like two gears that interlink and shit and just work together, y'know?"

"must everything be about machines with you?"

"my brain is comprised of three core items." leo explained as he held his fingers to list them off. "one; machines. B; pretty girls who may or may not be way out of my league and want to kill me. and four; jokes that can fit literally every occasion."

"did you just-"

the ship lurched forward suddenly. aruna saw frank and hazel stumble over each other, and hazel give herself the heimlich maneuver with the pommel of her sword. leo cursed loudly and refocused on his controls.

aruna peered over his shoulder to the ocean. both teens looked equally as confused as they stared at the monstrous creature beneath the water's surface, moving with a terrifying speed.

"leo, please tell me that's not a giant turtle." aruna begged.

"it's a giant turtle!" leo whimpered. the ship rocked to port with a huge commotion, and aruna put her hand around leo's waist to steady him. they looked over to the side, watching a massive creature snap the oars in its beak-like mouth.

"fuck!" leo screamed. "it's eating the oars!"

hazel was struggling to stand up, with frank still pinning her legs as he tried to untangle himself from a pile of ropes.

"go defend our boat, mamas!" leo shrieked. aruna jumped over the railing to join piper at the quarterdeck. jason raced to the stern, his sword drawn. aruna flicked her blades out and began throwing them at the turtle before subsequently recalling them.

"hey! HEY!" piper shrieked as she launched a jackfruit at the turtle. "eat this, ya stupid turtle!"

aruna threw her sword as its beak. the turtle shrieked as the metal raked it, but the wound didn't even bleed. it just looked like a white scratch on ashy skin. the turtle dove under again before resurfacing a few feet away, snapping off more oars.

leo frantically worked the ships controls. "oars won't retract! get it away, get it away!" he cried desperately.

up in the rigging, where he'd been silently hanging out, nico's face was slack with shock.

"styx, it's huge!" he cried. "port! go port!"

coach hedge was the last one on deck. he compensated for that with enthusiasm. he bounded up the steps, waving his baseball bat, and without hesitation, goat-galloped to the stern and leaped over the rail with a gleeful, "ha-HA!"

hazel staggered to the quarterdeck to join aruna and the others. the daughter of selene stood on the railing, running along the side of it to throw her weapons. she tried to hit the turtle in time to knock it aside from the oars, but it got them anyway.

leo growled with rage. "no, no, no! damn slimy-shelled son of a motherfucker!"

the turtle's body surfaced enough for aruna to fully make out the shell- a massive kelp forest, valleys of pearl, hills of bone, and rivers of seawater trickling through the cracks. on the starboard side, the massive head surfaced fully, revealing golden eyes the size of wading pools, with sideways slits for pupils. the creature was so massive, it could have swallowed the athena parthenos in one bite.

it snapped off another half dozen oars.

"stop it!" leo wailed.

jason flew from the stern, and aruna decided to follow. despite piper's protests towards both, jason and aruna landed on the turtle's head. jason stabbed his golden sword straight between its eyes, but the blade slipped sideways. aruna used her unconventional blades to attempt to hook the eye, but the turtle's stupid eyelids blocked with precision. frank shot arrows at the monster's eyes with about as much luck. piper shot cantaloupes into the water while shouting, "fetch, ya stupid turtle!" but the turtle really wanted the ship.

"how did it get so close?!" hazel demanded as jason flew up. the turtle ducked underwater and aruna sucked in a breath of air as she was dunked, still sticking to the turtle. the turtle seemed shock and its eyes widened for a moment, flicking up to look at aruna. she attempted to stab it, but the turtle deflected once again. the dark water was almost impossible to see through, but eyes the most sinister shade of gold seemed to glow in the abyss.

the turtle shot out of the water again, with such speed and ferocity aruna had a hard time hanging on. she heard her friends screaming at her from the ship as she hooked a blade into the nostril of the turtle, eliciting a unique screech she never wanted to hear again. the turtle was perhaps half a mile away from the ship now, somehow able to move that far in a matter of maybe five seconds. the turtle ducked once more, and aruna took a breath.

the turtle thrashed its head, maneuvering in a zigzag pattern to throw aruna off. but with her abilities, and the fact that she'd hooked the turtle, she wasn't leaving anytime soon. next to her, she saw a whiz of gold fly by- a sword? above her, the sun blinded her through the water, but she saw a blur of a beige coat, chestnut hair, and mocha skin.

hazel and arion.

aruna emerged from the water with a scream. everyone on board screamed too as the turtle did an arc over the ship, splashing water and pieces of kelp all over the deck. it roared in fury as aruna laughed, continuing to hold on. it made it into the water, sadly snapping off a few more oars. leo's curse was so loud, aruna could hear it through the water.

the turtle began moving normal again, with its head above the water as it once was. hazel and arion joined aruna, with piper accompanying them. piper began yelling commands at the turtle in charmspeak as aruna and hazel stabbed at the beast with their swords.

"you're not dead!" hazel cried in relief as aruna dislodged her hook.

"pfft, takes more than a super turtle to kill me."

piper stopped her charmspeak to stare. "aruna, you've literally been killed by hera," she said hatefully. "and a scorpion."

"WE DO NOT SPEAK OF THIS!" aruna shouted. "what's going on with the ship?"

"we're leading the turtle to that strait over there." hazel pointed to where the ship in front of them was going before stabbing at the turtle. arion whinnied and continued running circles around the turtle. piper bounced a coconut off the turtle's eyeball, which rebounded and whacked aruna in her leg.

"OW!" aruna hissed.

"sorry!"

"we're almost to the straits!" hazel said. "runa, come on!"

aruna flicked her weapons back into bracelets, and jumped to hazel. hazel caught her with one hand and threw her on the tail end of arion. the horse whinnied and broke his harassment, and a moment later, they were back on the ship.

the ship limped forward under sail power, but at least they were safely harbored in the narrow waters, with a long, rocky island to starboard and the sheer white cliffs of the mainland to port. the turtle stopped and glared balefully, but made no attempt to follow; its shell was much too wide.

hazel dismounted and got a huge hug from frank. "nice work out there!"

her face flushed. "thanks."

aruna thought they were adorable. she loved how frank and hazel always seemed to fluster each other, and give the sweetest words of encouragement.

she turned to leo, who was angrily marching up to her.

"WHY IN THE FUCK DID YOU DECIDE TO HOP ON A GIANT TURTLE'S HEAD?!" he screamed at her.

aruna scoffed and shoved him away. "WELL, EXCUSE ME FOR TRYING TO ERADICATE THE PROBLEM THAT WAS DESTROYING OUR SHIP!"

"MY SHIP!" leo yelled.

"FIVE MINUTES AGO IT WAS OUR SHIP, YOU ASSHOLE!"

"OH, I'M ASSHOLE?! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW-"

"HEY!" piper clapped her hands in leo and aruna's faces. which had been so close their noses were practically touching. they breathed heavily, both faces red and angry as they slowly turned to piper. aruna's hair dripped on the deck, a puddle forming where she'd been standing.

"can we not?" piper said calmly as she placed her hands on her hips. "you guys are better than this-"

"oh, don't even-"

"piper, literally, how about you-"

"ENOUGH!" piper said, her charmspeak filling the air like toxic gas. she pushed her arms between leo and aruna, forcing them apart. "now..." she cleared her throat and cutely smoothed down her braid. "what is our plan?"

"kill it!" coach hedge barked. "you even have to ask? we got enough distance! we got ballistae! lock and load, demigods!"

jason frowned. "coach, first of all, you made me lose my sword."

"hey! i didn't ask for an evac!"

"second, i don't think the ballistae will do any good. that shell is like nemean lion skin. its head isn't any softer." jason turned to aruna. "how did you manage to hook it? the skin was so hard."

"nostril." aruna answered. "i don't know if it cut the inside, but it was uncomfortable enough for it to try a russian ballet on me."

"so we chuck one right down its throat!" coach gleamed. "like you guys did with that shrimp monsters thing in the atlantic. light it up from the inside!"

frank scratched his head. "might work. but then you've got a five-million-kilo turtle carcass blocking the entrance to the straits. if we can't fly with the oars broken, then how do we get the ship out?"

aruna was so mad at leo, she didn't even bother making fun of frank's canadian measurement system. at her silence, frank suddenly turned to look at her in shock.

"you wait and fix the oars!" hedge answered. "or just sail the other direction, you big galoot!"

frank turned to coach, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "what's a galoot?"

"guys!" nico called down from the mast. aruna was shocked to see him still there. "about sailing in the other direction? i don't think that's going to work."

he pointed past the prow. aruna had to look past leo, which only made her more angry, and then she got even more angry. a quarter mile ahead of them, the long rocky strip of land curved in and met the cliffs. the channel ended in a narrow V.

"we're not in a strait." jason said. "we're in a dead end."

hazel shivered. her mood suddenly changed as gale the weasel sat up on her hunches, staring at hazel expectantly.

"this is a trap." hazel said.

everyone looked at her. leo had to look past aruna, and aruna felt some sort of shift in his mood, too.

"nah, it's fine." he shook his head. "worse that happens, we make repairs. might take overnight, but i can get the ship flying again."

aruna glared at leo. "we? i thought this was your ship."

leo glared at her. "oh, don't give me that shi-"

a piercing whistle cut the argument. an arrow whizzed right past leo and aruna's faces, the hot hair air between them suddenly ripping with coldness. an arrow sank into the main mast, having perfectly cut between leo and aruna.

the crew scattered for cover. aruna stood, frozen in shock, and leo suddenly pulled her close as he dove down, bringing her with him. however, no other missiles rained down.

frank studied the angle of the bolt in the mast and pointed toward the top of the cliffs. "up there. single shooter. see him?"

aruna couldn't even if she wanted to. leo was burying her face in his chest and breathing extraordinarily heavily.

"who the fuck is he?" leo demanded. "why is he firing at us?"

"probably to silence your incessant arguing." jason grunted.

"guys?" piper's voice was thin and watery. "there's a note."

aruna ripped her face from leo, but instead wrapped her arms around his torso as a way of letting him know she was okay. she felt his shoulders relax a little, watched his features soften slightly as hazel stormed over to the note and untied it, suddenly very angry.

"uh, hazel?" leo gulped. "you sure that's safe?"

she read the note aloud. "first line: stand and deliver."

"what does that mean?" hedge complained.

"i pledge allegiance to the flag, of the united-" leo placed aruna's face in his chest again, but the pledge of allegiance continued on, simply muffled.

"we are standing." hedge went on. "well, crouching anyway- or, cuddling- SINNERS, GET AWAY FROM EACH OTHER!" hedge suddenly ripped aruna off leo, and dragged her to where he was sitting. leo rolled his eyes and aruna carelessly went on with the pledge.

"and if that guy is expecting a pizza delivery..." hedge went on. "forget it!"

"there's more." hazel said. "this is a robbery. send two of your party to the top of the cliff with all your valuables. no more than two. leave the magic horse. no flying. no tricks. just climb."

"climb what?"

"and now for the texas pledge." aruna cleared her throat. "honor the texas flag."

leo glared at hedge. "if you hadn't ripped her away, we wouldn't be hearing this right now."

coach looked like he was actually considering giving her back.

nico pointed. "there."

a narrow set of stairs was carved into the cliff, leading to the top. the turtle, dead-end channel, the cliff... aruna knew that this was all an extremely elaborate plan, most likely born from centuries worth of work. part of her had to give the culprit some credit, and part of her wanted to light them on fire.

hazel cleared her throat and kept reading aloud: " i do mean all your valuables- including those shiny silver bracelets i see. otherwise my turtle and i will destroy you. you have five minutes."

"use the catapults!" cried the coach.

"p.s. don't even think about using your catapults."

"curse it! this guy is good."

aruna frowned. she didn't want to give up all the valuables on the ship. did it include her pickle stash? then, her mind turned away. she looked down at the silver bracelets on her wrists. always, no matter how far away they were, they always returned to aruna. the only downside? they were extraordinarily slow. she had envied percy for the way riptide appeared in his pocket so quickly. now, she only hoped he was still alive.

leo studied the cliff top, his face taut in concentration. "that's not a good trajectory. even if i could arm the catapult before that guy pincushioned us with arrows, i don't think i could make the shot. that's hundreds of feet, almost straight up."

"yeah." frank grumbled. "my bow is useless, too. he's got a huge advantage, being above us like that. i couldn't reach him."

IT'S OVER LUKE. aruna thought. I HAVE THE HIGH GROUND.

"i'm not climbing all that." aruna scoffed as she stood up. leo shot her a glare but she only flipped him off before shaking a leg out, letting water slosh and drip all over the ship. "i've performed my dance."

she wringed her hair out right on leo's left foot, and he glared up at her more. something about the defiant look in his eyes, the way his lip curled up in a sneer... aruna found him attractive like that, and forced herself to look away.

"and, um..." piper nudged the arrow that was stuck in the mast. "i have a feeling he's a good shot. i don't think he meant to hit runa and leo, but if he did..."

she didn't need to elaborate. whoever that robber was, he could hit a target from hundreds of feet away. he could shot them all before they could react.

"i'll go." hazel volunteered.

aruna stared at hazel. she could tell that the young girl hated the idea, but that she also had something to prove. she knew that hecate had asked hazel to perform magic, to learn- that some sort of test would come up. hazel must have thought that this was it.

as confirmation, gale the polecat scampered along the railing and jumped on her shoulder, ready to hitch a ride.

everyone stared at hazel.

frank gripped his bow. "hazel-"

"no, listen." she said. "this robber wants jewels. i can go up there, summon gold, jewels, whatever he wants."

leo raised an eyebrow. "if we pay him off, you think he'll let us go?"

"we don't have much choice." nico said. "between that guy and the turtle..."

jason raised his hand. the others fell silent.

"i'll go, too." he said. "the letter says two people. i'll take hazel up there and watch her back. besides, i don't like the look of those stairs. if hazel falls... well, i can use the winds to keep us both from coming down the hard way."

arion whinnied in protest, suddenly jealous, which made aruna snicker.

"i have to, arion." hazel reasoned. "jason... yes. i think you're right. it's the best plan."

"only wish i had my sword." jason glared at the coach. "it's back there at the bottom of the sea, and we don't have percy to retrieve it."

the name percy hung over the crew like a dark cloud. the air felt electric suddenly, cold, hostile.

hazel stretched out her arm. suddenly, jason's imperial gold blade flew out of the water, and into hazel's hand.

"here." she said casually, handing it over.

jason's eyes widened. "how- that was like half a mile!"

"i've been practicing."

aurna detected a lie, which made her quirk an eyebrow. instead, she simple approached hazel, and held out her wrists. everyone watched as hazel's palms opened, and aruna's bracelets melted off before forming into bracelets again, this time in hazel's hands.

"are you sure?" hazel asked.

"he specifically said so." aruna said. "it'll be fine. you and jason will whoop ass."

hazel smiled softly, and took a deep breath. "now, if there are no other objections, we have a robber to meet."

~•♡•~

bruh im tryna write boo rn this sucks

this story is hard to write cuz like it is SO fun but to get to the rly fun parts (moa and hoh) i had to get thru tlh which SUCKED it was so BORING then i literally burned through moa and hoh cuz those were SO FUN but now im stuck on boo cuz like...

i have to get through boo to get to more fun parts :(

(aka toa which is going to be AWESOME)

and also, my cousin is coming over this weekend, so i may not be able to update