#nena.writes

You were still reeling from the actions when one of the other campers gasped your name and told you to look up, when you did so you saw the mark of Aphrodite above your head. Relief and joy filled you at the sight, you'd been claimed!

From then on, it was a learning curve. You had to move what little belongings you had to her cabin. When you moved your stuff, you were nervous at first. You'd had siblings back in Gotham and the lingering fear that you wouldn't be accepted and ignored was a large fear. These fears were quickly squashed as you were welcomed with open arms by your half-siblings.

As soon as you’d left the Hermes cabin, you were bombarded with your half-siblings leading you to the right cabin and getting you ready in your own bed, your own nightside table. Oddly enough, despite sharing the space with 17 other campers, the cabin was still very large and spacious.

Aphrodite’s cabin was one of the largest cabins letting you all live comfortably while still being able to afford enough space for individual items. There were posters everywhere of various celebrities, a record player playing Frank Sinatra, some vanities with various high-end makeup and perfumes scattered on it. Overall, the cabin felt like you just belonged there.

Getting used to things at Camp Half-Blood wasn’t too bad, in a sense that there seemed to always be someone who was there to learn with you. It was after the Minotaur attack and being led to the Big House, you were given the run down. How Camp Half-Blood was a safe haven for all Greek demigods and that you had the option to stay year-round or just for the summer.

It took you a while to get adjusted to everything, learning how to fight and seeing what powers it was that you had as a daughter of Aphrodite. It was quickly learned that you were a rare child who could use charmspeak, explaining how you made that Ares boy do what you wanted. You’d learned that he had a small crush on you, hence why the charmspeak was so effective. You were also able to get a bit closer to the Aphrodite cabin leader Drew Tanaka due to this. She had become a true older sister to you, always leading you and helping you when it came to bracelet making and training.

Despite her brashness and how she would misuse her charmspeak, she had gained a soft spot for you over everyone else. You didn't know whether that was a good thing or not. She still was fairly rude and just downright awful to others but to you she would give anything. She was even making an effort to not be as harsh, so that was something.

She was everything to you, you’d go to her for everything, and she would happily give her time to you with open arms. Whether it was the way that her harshness reminded you of your old life, you weren't sure, but you were sure that she cared for you. Every moment you spent with her only made you miss Duke and Alfred more.

That was another thing that you’d had to get used to. Being included in activities and not ignored or told “later,” you were always embraced and welcomed with open arms.

During your first year it was a lot of adjusting to the way of life at camp. It took you months to be able to use your spear correctly and landing on your wrist to learn that the bracelet gifted to you by Aphrodite, still wild to you that Aphrodite was your mother, was in fact a shield hidden as a bracelet.

The shield had rose detailing and was made of stygian iron. It was gorgeous and made you treasure the bracelet even more.

As time went on, you became more and more skilled with your spear and shield. Hours upon hours of training with them had you becoming the second best with a spear, only after Clarisse of course.

While there, you'd made many friends, being the closest with your half-siblings and those from the Apollo and Ares cabin.

Some of your favorite campers had to be surprisingly Drew, surprisingly Clarisse, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover. As the newest camper after Percy, they had been happy to include you in their endeavors. Annabeth being the ringleader as she believed you were another child of Prophecy. You told her she was crazy, she only laughed and agreed.

Later on, when another child of Poseidon had been revealed, you were one of the first to extend a hand of friendship to him.

Tyson had to be the sweetest person, demigod, half-cyclops? you knew.

You'd spend most of your day with them, whether it be training, doing camp activities or just having fun.

You would say though, that training was one of your favorite things to do, especially with Clarisse.

The hours you spent training with Clarisse had toughened you, she never lightened up once on you. At first, she had not been nice to you, at all, she thought you were just another Aphrodite kid that happened to pick up a weapon instead of nail polish.

After time and proving that you were in fact serious about becoming a strong fighter, she’d gained a sense respect for you as one of the very few of your siblings to have gained Aphrodite’s traits of when she was a war goddess.

It had been centuries since Chiron had seen a child of Aphrodite depict any such traits of Aphrodite when she had been worshipped as a war goddess, this was when he first began to suspect that you could be the child of Prophecy as the Rose-Bearer.

It was not long that you had gained the friendship and trust of your closest friends that Clarisse been sent on the quest for the Golden Fleece and had Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Tyson escape camp to join said quest.

While they were off to get back the Golden Fleece to heal Thalias tree, you’d stepped up despite only being 12 at the time and had trained every day for what would inevitably come once they returned. Not if, but when they returned, as you had one hundred percent faith in them that they were returning.

Once Clarisse had returned with the Golden Fleece, it had been revealed that Luke Castellan had poisoned her tree not Chiron. This was a massive relief to everyone at camp, not because anyone suspected Chiron, but because finally there were some answers.

The war with Kronos has been long and messy but finally came the time for deciding to leave camp or stay had come.

It was an easy decision.

You had nothing to return to for a whole year, sure you had Duke and Alfred and you were sure they were worried to death, but what were you supposed to say? “Hey sorry for disappearing for a year, but I’m actually a demigod and need to fight in a war to protect the world from the rising of the king of Titans!”

Fat chance, not only would it put Duke and Alfred in danger, but you’d also definitely be thrown into Arkham before you could say “Joker.”

You spent that year training harder than ever, especially at the knowledge that there was two more big three children. You thought it was another opportunity for friendship, everyone else thought the apocalypse was coming which to be fair they weren’t that far off when Nico tried to raise the dead.

But, details, everyone had their moments of insanity.

This leads to now, Percy, Annabeth, Grover and Tyson, Percy’s half-brother are on a quest in the labyrinth of all places and you’re at camp wondering if you’ll ever get a quest.

-

Grunts could be heard from the arena as you and Clarisse are sparring. Both using your spears expertly as you dodge incoming blows from her electrified weapon.

You nearly get sliced in the face when you start up conversation again.

“So I’ve been thinking- hey watch the face! Do you think I should visit Alfred and Duke?”

Clarisse grunts as you whip around and thrust your spear head towards her thigh, nearly getting sliced.

“Good form! Well you know you only get,” she blocks your spear with her own before crouching low to hit you with her own, you dodge and step back to briefly catch your breath as she continues, “a chance to leave for a quest or before summer starts, so if you want to you better hope you get a quest.”

You hear crunching from the top of the arena as you bend back, avoiding yet another thrust to your face from Clarisse.

“(Y/n), Clarisse, come here for a second!”

It’s Drew waiting at the top, a somewhat apprehensive look on her face.

You and Clarisse exchange a glance before ascending the stairs to meet her at the top.

“What's up?”

You ask, head held high as you let out a small smile.

Drew smiles back at you, before giving Clarisse a serious look.

"Meeting at the Big House for all cabin leaders, don't know what for yet, but we've all been summoned."

Clarisse huffs out a breath before turning to you with a smirk.

"Sorry (y/n), gotta put a raincheck on the sparring, I'll find you afterwards so we can finish."

You nod to her before waving 'bye' to the both of them as you make your way out of the arena and back to your cabin to clean yourself up.

You hope that whatever the meeting is about that it's not too serious.

-

Drew and Clarisse make it to the meeting as the other cabin leaders get seated at their respective places at the round table.

Chiron begins with the ease that only a being who has seen and spoken with many leaders can.

"Cabin Leaders, I thank you for coming on such short notice, we all remember the prophecy that was revealed two years ago: The Prophecy of the Rose-Bearer. Along with the prophecy, a new quest that has been revealed with Lord Hermes leads me to believe that the Rose-Bearer will be revealed, soon. With that, let us begin the meeting."

The cabin leaders readily take in every word that Chiron utters as if it were gospel. Every word he says only makes their head spin more, they believe it to be a child of Aphrodite, the rose being symbolic of her. The only question is who? Off the bat, there are a few leaders that can pull a few names out, along with automatically dismissing others, they only keep this in mind as the meeting continues.

Chiron reveals the newest prophecy to the cabin leaders as follows:

"In the age of steel and shadowed streets, A cloak of old, swift as whispers, Shall grace the outlaws, fierce and true— The Pit's band, the chosen few.

Their path entwined with speed and stealth, A modern tale of hidden wealth, Swift winds bring a whispered call, Justice rises, lest they fall. A fleeting cloak, a thorny bloom, Heralds dawn beyond the gloom."

The leaders take in the prophecy as Chiron continues with his explanation.

"What we have deduced is that Hermes Chlamys has been stolen by a monster and meant to go to Gotham city, as we are all aware of the importance of this item, Lord Hermes has graciously requested that we return it to him in Metropolis City."

Some of the cabin leaders side eye each other, not saying, but definitely thinking, of course its Hermes.

The meeting with all the cabin leaders soon comes to a close with Clarisse and Drew hanging back as they think on what Chiron has told them.

A quest for one of Hermes items has been brought forward, the identity of the Prophecy of the Rose-Bearer could be revealed, and it's in Gotham City being held by some goons and he needs it to be taken to the Daily Planet as one of his stops in Metropolis on the last Friday of the month.

They have an obvious choice for who they’d recommend, the question is: are you up for the task?

They discuss these thoughts with the other cabin leaders, some reluctant since you're new, others readily agreeing. You've proven that you're a great fighter both in training and in capture the flag.

After heavy debate, a verdict is given.

They share a mutual look; the decision is made that you’d be the best pick since you’ve lived in Gotham and you knew the city better than anyone at camp, as well as you were likely the child of prophecy. They approach Chiron with their verdict and after gaining his approval grab you from the Aphrodite cabin where you’d been painting nails with one of your sisters before Drew beckons you to follow her.

___

You're led to the Big House with Drew and Clarisse on either side of you, casually explaining a series you'd been watching before coming to Camp Half-Blood.

"Yeah, so basically, he's a stone-faced and probably autistic coded angel and I for sure think that he and the older brother are gonna be in love by the end of the series."

Drew nods, listening intently, she does enjoy a good ship. The next time she leaves camp she'll be sure to check out the show. Clarisse with her hands folded behind her head just calmly states, "sounds gay, not that there's anything wrong with it, go them, but I doubt it'll happen."

You just make a face, flabbergasted, baffled even.

"One can dream," you cry out, Drew places a hand in sympathy on your shoulder as you arrive at the Big House.

Chiron greets you as you all enter, passing Mr. D who nurses a soda with a pensive look on his face. He surely misses his wine. A part of you has sympathy for him, you miss Oreos. Mr. D follows behind you all, loudly sipping from his soda can and you have half a mind to beg him to have some manners. But you rather enjoy being a human and don't want to test his limits, having known that he has a habit of cursing people he doesn't like and stay silent.

You enter the room, lead by Clarisse, followed by Drew, to a large room with the leaders of each cabin standing around a pyre. There are pillars behind each leader, as they all watch you enter. Their heads are high, your stress is high. Mr. D- er Dionysus goes to stand by Chiron, crushing his now empty can and smoothing down his beard.

"Am I gonna be sacrificed? Cause it looks like I'm going to be sacrificed," you say with sweat coming down your face.

Clarisse and Drew smile at you, one patting your head the other sighing as take their respective places standing with the other cabin leaders. Chiron is the one to break the silence.

“A quest has been given, we believe you’re the best suited for the task,” Chiron states, a look of pride on his face. He knows how much you’ve wanted a quest and have been itching to prove yourself. He decides against mentioning the Prophecy of the Rose-Bearer. You know of it, but clouding your mind with it would only hinder the quest.

Clarisse looks at you, a proud look on her face, but also one of reluctance. You’ve become somewhat of a little sister to her when you’re not tailing Drew, she can’t help but worry.

“What’s the quest?”

You ask as you try to reign in your excitement, you compose yourself as best as you can as you fidget with your hair, a nervous tick you'd always had.

“Hermes is asking for an item of his to be returned, the location is Gotham City. Its whereabouts are currently unknown, but from what was revealed we believe it to be in the hands of a gang. Hermes wants his item to be returned at the Daily Planet in Metropolis on the last Friday of the month. This gives you one week to find his item and return it to him.”

Your eyes widen. This is it. This is the perfect chance for you to prove your worth and to see Duke or Alfred.

“Yes! I mean- yes it would be an honor to accept a quest from Lord Hermes!”

Chiron gives you a small smile before a serious look takes over his face.

“This quest is not to be taken lightly, it is no easy feat to get an item of the gods back, this you know. Much less, I’m sure you’re aware of Gotham City and its inhabitants. You are to take at least two people with you for this quest, I have selected our most compelling candidates for the quest, choose wisely.”

Obviously, you’ll take your friend, they were the one that got you here in the first place and they were brilliant and could fight like hell.

The second person to take would be harder to choose.

Your obvious choices would be Drew or Clarisse, but just who to choose was a near impossible choice.

After some thought you finally make your choice.

"I choose Clarisse."

She smirks at your choice, sending a not so nonchalant look to Drew who just makes a face at her. Drew understands why you chose Clarisse, doesn't mean she's not going to be salty about it. She lets out a sigh in the most Drew fashion possible, but gives you an easy-going smile, she knows why you chose her no hard feelings. Clarisse is the best fighter in camp and if Gotham is as crime-riddled as it seems, you'll need all the fighters you can get.

Nevertheless, she nods at you approving your choice. Clarisse was a good choice, you'd be safe in her hands.

-

The preparation for the journey was quick, a backpack containing some money, five golden drachmas for emergencies, some snacks and water bottles. A week seemed like more than enough time to search for the package; I mean Gotham is right there. Probably no need to call the Gray Sisters, probably.

It was Saturday, which gave you until Friday to find and return Hermes cloak to him.

What could possibly go wrong?

-

Okay, so it turns out a lot could go wrong. As soon as the three of you had stepped out into the main city to get on a bus to Gotham heads were turning to you and people were whispering loudly if you were (Y/n) Wayne who went missing two years ago. Two years, as it turns out, is not enough time for people to forget your face.

Lesson learned, change your face before you leave camp and go to a major city after going missing.

Almost immediately you used your, thank Aphrodite, shapeshifting gift to change your face after pulling your hood up. You change your face shape, change your hairline, your eyebrows, and eyes. Curse Bruce Wayne for his eyebrows and how identifiable they are.

You kept your hair as it was, it was identifiable yes, but the face is what people would focus on the most not the hair since that can be changed.

As soon as people get a real good look at your face, you're soon left alone. The three of you sigh in relief, continuing on your journey to Gotham, boarding a bus that is going directly to the heart of the city.

"Next time, change before we almost get swarmed by the general public and their phones."

Clarisse grunts out as she holds onto one of the bus's poles.

"Yeah, no kidding, I thought we were gonna get trampled back there," your friend all but cries.

You wince, putting the hood down of your jacket and twirling your hair, "my bad, I honestly thought people would forget by now."

Clarisse snorts and throws you a look as if saying, 'girl please your dad is a billionaire.'

You just avert your eyes, face heating up. Yeah, you weren't gonna hear the end of this for a while.

"Alright aside from my oversight, we need to form a plan, there's a lot of gangs in Gotham so pinning down one in particular is gonna be hard."

You say as you grab the paper you wrote the prophecy/quest down on from the backpack you brought.

"Okay so the most notable gangs in Gotham are as follows: the Falcones, Maroni's, the Penguin, Intergang, the Chinese Triad's, and Black Mask's Gang."

You feel like you're forgetting another gang, it's on the tip of your tongue you can feel it. Oh well, probably not an important one.

The bus ride to Gotham continues with light chatter, mainly about different battle tactics and how you're going to try to track down the gangs and their hideouts.

"Honestly the hideouts aren't the hardest to find, the Penguin has a bar lounge, the Falcones and Maroni's are on different ends of the city that they manage. If we follow the prophecy, we should be able to find them."

You look at the words written on the paper that you pulled out, some of them jumbling, but with enough focus you can read it.

"In the age of steel and shadowed streets, A cloak of old, swift as whispers, Shall grace the outlaws, fierce and true— The Pit's band, the chosen few.

Their path entwined with speed and stealth, A modern tale of hidden wealth, Swift winds bring a whispered call, Justice rises, lest they fall. A fleeting cloak, a thorny bloom, Heralds dawn beyond the gloom."

You jut your lip out as you think, it's a gang that's holding the cloak. 'Shall grace the outlaws,' you get stuck on that. Obviously, it graces the outlaws, all the gangs are outlaws, unless you have to read more into it?

The bus you three are on finally makes a stop in Gotham, as you three descend the stairs you keep muttering the prophecy to yourself. The three of you trail the streets, keeping to the shadows.

You make base at a shady hotel that's based in Midtown Gotham. You spend the first night in Gotham City studying a map of the city, including pointing out where various gangs are located.

"This is where the Penguin is located, the Iceberg Lounge. He operates in shady detailing and undercity operations."

You point out the Iceberg Lounge on the city map for Clarisse to put a pin in, the whole map is covered in various push pins locating where the various gangs are located.

"You know a lot about gangs, it's kind of concerning," your friend points out with a side-eye thrown your way.

"Woah, woah it's not like that, Bruce Wayne is a lot of things, but a gang leader isn't one of them," you throw your hands up.

You sigh as both Clarisse and your best friend continue to stare at you.

You make eye contact with both as you eventually relent with a sigh.

"Okay, look Bruce has this thing with gangs, he's a pretty decent detective when he wants to be and he figured out where the gangs were located and had a whole study dedicated to it. He may be a shitty dad, but he was nothing if not careful with all his kids and basically drilled into them where they were located."

Yes, despite everything that Bruce Wayne and that family did, or rather didn't do, you wouldn't reveal their secret identities. Clarisse and your friend share a look, noting that you don't include yourself as his kid.

They obviously knew about your family trouble, the way you sheltered yourself from everyone when you first arrived at camp and what your friend revealed with your permission when it got hard to talk about how you grew up. Clarisse almost went on a rampage when she learned the extent of your neglect.

That's all beside the point. That was all in the past, you had a new family now and you didn't care for the Wayne family.

Everyone except Alfred and Duke could rot in Tartarus for all you cared.

No matter, all in the past.

The night continues with one of you staying up to ensure no monsters come near you. You rotate every few hours so that you all get sleep.

The next few days continue as follows: you three sneaking into various warehouses and searching for the cloak, nearly being stabbed by a mugger who thought it would be a good idea to mess with you, said mugger being knocked unconscious by Clarisse.

By the fourth day, your money has dwindled significantly, you're hungry, and you've checked out four out of the six well-known gangs in Gotham City.

You're standing in an alley way on the outskirts of Gotham with Clarisse and your friend, worn out and exhausted from being chased and having to hunt down the Manticore.

"Okay," you take in a deep breath, "so four out of six, not bad, should we go over the prophecy again?"

Clarisse, from where she's leaning on her spear, gives you a dumbfounded look.

"Well, I'd hope so," she breathes in harshly, side scratched and shirt tattered.

Your friend, holding their ribs, absolutely sure they're bruised if not broken just nods while taking in a shaky breath.

"Yeah, let's do that," they breath out harshly and cough a bit.

You shakily take out the written down prophecy and go through each line.

"'The Pit's band, the chosen few,' the pit, the pit, the pi-"

You gasp getting the attention of Clarisse and your friend.

"Gods how could I be so stupid! The Pit! I know who has Hermes cloak," you laugh out and cough in pain.

Clarisse and your friend look like they could strangle you.

"And who pray tell has the cloak?"

"....Red Hood," you wince. You'd explained the different vigilantes to them and if there was one thing you emphasized it was that you did NOT want to cross Red Hood.

"Fuck."

One agony filled run to where his hideout is, and you three are waiting on the nearest rooftop to his safehouse.

"So, not that I'm casting stones or anything, but why do you know where Red Hood lives?"

You watch where Jason is leaving his safehouse in his Red Hood gear and wait for the sound of his motorcycle to speed down to your assuming the manor judging by the pissed off look on his face before he put on his helmet.

"Do we really need to get into this now?"

You three make your way down the building to the window of his house where you're messing with the locks. 'Damn it Jason, what kind of tech do you have on this damn thing, maybe I should just break it with my shield...no, no, he definitely has alarms on this stupid thing.'

"Damn paranoid ass," you mutter, before you finally jam open one of the latches and it reveals a four digit code needing to be put in.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me-"

Your friend holds Clarisse back as you try to think of what the stupid code to this lock could possibly be.

"Wait a second-"

You put in the year Jane Austen published Emma, and the lock opens with a ding.

"Fucking nerd, thank the gods he kept the same stupid password all these years."

You slip in, being careful not to move anything in his home.

You locate a package on top of the table, surrounded by mail, various letters from family members and a check sent to him from Bruce. Checking the package and seeing the mark of Hermes you immediately grab it and slip it out of the window to your friends waiting hands. Clarisse standing by whistles at the sound of a motorcycle coming back this way.

"Shit- he's coming back come on let's go!"

You quickly jump out the window, grabbing them both and running out of sight of Jason and praying to the gods he doesn't notice you're there.

Rationally you know that Jason most definitely has surveillance around, but you purposefully let your face go back to normal so that even if he sees the feed, he's going to see you and you hope it haunts him.

You motion to the two to run to any available lot that hides them, "I'll catch up go back to the hotel," you harshly whisper to them. You make a face at them that this is definitely not up for debate, and they hesitantly run away with the package in tow.

You watch as they turn the corner before sighing shakily until you hear the cocking of a gun.

"Fuck..."

"Yeah, fuck."

You slowly turn with your head down to where Jason spoke, hands up and head still down.

"Head up, kid," he grunts out, gun still pointed at your face.

You slowly raise your head, ensuring that it's your face not some shifted one and look him in the eyes.

He falters for the first time, breath stopping as he takes in what's in front of him.

"...(Y/N)?"

You clench your jaw and don't say a word until he slowly puts his guns safety on and puts it away, all without taking his eyes off your face.

"You're alive?"

You huff, "you're not the only one allowed to come back from the dead."

He doesn't smile, you're not joking.

Silence takes over as he tries to make sense of what he's seeing.

"You were kidnapped?"

"I followed willingly."

"We thought you were dead!"

You make a disgusted face, you've been spending too much time with Drew.

"Clearly, I'm not."

Jason just watches as you stand there, bored, not happy to see him you look almost disgusted being in his presence.

"Where did you go, little bird?"

Your head snaps to his, eyes burning.

"Don't call me that," you grit out through clenched teeth.

"We were worried sick! We searched everywhere for you!"

Jason cries out, emotions tumbling out of him like the stone down the hill.

You get uncomfortable with watching his descent into partial madness and take pity on him.

"Go inside, read a book for three hours and don't come after us for the day."

His cries stop as he wordlessly follows your command, door closing behind him as you breath out.

"Right, that was painful, time to find the others."

-

Elsewhere in Gotham City, a group of vigilantes is having a hard time dealing with a creature they've never seen before that ran into them unexpectedly.

“Shit! What is this thing?”

Dick yells out, the mechanical bronze bull grunting and growling before charging towards him again. Dick narrowly escapes the horns of the bull before scaling a building to get out of its reach, he then jumps down to where the two other bat family members are.

Damian and Stephanie are off to the side, hiding behind a nearby wall, injured from the horns and being slammed into a building before they hear running and the sound of metal creaking. Stephanie’s side is torn as bits of flesh have been ripped away by the bulls horn, she’s managed to get the bleeding somewhat under control, but she still groans in pain.

They try to formulate a plan before they hear shouting coming from further down where the bull has started to rear and get ready to attack them once more.

Before they can even react, a shield is thrown at the bull, the force and impact causing one of the horns to snap off as the bull roars.

They turn their heads to see a young teen run directly toward the bull, barely able to catch your face as you face the bull head on and grab your shield from the ground where it flew away.

You raise your shield and uncap your pen as your spear forms to its full glory.

Dick doesn’t even get the chance to yell out for you to get back, before another teen comes running out with a blade in hand and grunting as they thrust the blade into the bulls side, jamming its mechanisms.

“It’s stopped! Do it, now!”

Another teen runs from seemingly nowhere, spear electrified in hand as they take the spear and jam it into the other side of the bull. The bull is stunned as both kids try to keep the bull from moving in its electrified state.

You ready your spear as you run toward the bull head on, the bull taking the bait and opening its mouth as you throw your spear directly into its mouth. Jamming all the gears and pulling both teens behind you to as the shield expands slightly to protect you from the inevitable explosion of mechanical parts.

"Didn't think you'd show up, get stopped by more phones in your face?"

"Oh, haha so funny, you should be a comedian."

“Shit, you think anyone saw?”

“I doubt it, mortals can’t see them unless the veil goes down.”

“Yeah but it’s the Colchis Bull, would that count as a monster?”

You shrug at their words, “it's a mechanical bull, but it's made out of celestial bronze though, so maybe not?”

“I swear I heard some fighting and there’s no one else here but us,” your friend glances at you as Clarisse surveys the surroundings, noting the shadows behind the wall, her eyes narrowing.

She makes a motion to you both with a finger to her ear and then out and twirl it around, 'someone is listening.'

"Good job, we got the bull down quick and only lost it briefly. Next time this happens, I'll take the first hit, can't let you get all the glory."

She says, spear held firmly at her side as she disarms the electrified tip.

You turn towards her now realizing why they didn't go back to the hotel.

"Bull found you huh?"

You shake your head, more than exhausted with the day's events. You reach down where your pen now lays and put it in your pocket.

“Well, whatever as long as we're all okay I don't really care. As for anyone seeing, it doesn’t really matter, weird shit happens in Gotham all the time. The sooner we finish our quest the sooner I can at least let Duke and Alfred know I’m fine and then we can hightail it out of here.”

Dick, Damian and Stephanie can’t believe what they’re seeing. It’s… you, you’re alive! And apparently, you’ve been alive ever since you were kidnapped, but if you were free to roam why didn’t you ever come back or say anything to anybody? Why were you with two kids and how did you know to take down the bull?

Your appearance brings more questions. Are you okay? What are you doing back in Gotham? Why would you only see Duke and Alfred, don’t you miss everyone? Relief, disbelief, so many emotions and they can’t help but want to rush down and scoop you into their arms. Reluctance hits them first, oddly enough Dick is the one to say something first.

“We need to let the others know she’s alive,” he whispers to Damian and Stephanie. The two are ready to argue, it’s been long enough they at least deserve to talk to you, but eventually relent with the look on his face and nod at his words and get ready to leave until they look past the wall to get one more look at you and see a spear pointing directly at them before being flung towards them.

They’re barely able to dodge it just as it pierces the wall they were behind, the spear hard enough that the tip went right through and is pointing almost directly into Stephanie’s forehead. They just lean back, narrowly avoiding what would have most certainly killed them.

“Another monster?”

Your friend raises their sword, and Clarisse electrifies her spear, getting into a fighting stance.

“Thought I heard something, whatever it is doesn’t matter, we just need to get Herme’s package to the Planet and get back home; we shouldn't waste time.”

You turn and hit something on your shield that has it minimizing back into your bracelet on your wrist.

“Still so cool that Lady Aphrodite gave you a shield, dude,” your friend watches mesmerized.

“Definitely a good gift, I’ll have to thank her when we eat tonight.”

You twirl some of your hair that’s come out of its hold as you walk over to where your spear is embedded in the wall.

“Man, I really need to cut my hair soon, it’s gotten too long. Y’know I think I’ll offer my hair with my food, it’s a big part of me so honoring my mother with it would be the best thing I can offer her.”

You release the strands as they bounce back to their original shape, forming a heart at the end. You yank the spear out with some force, turning just as the three behind decide ‘fuck it’ and reveal themselves to you three.

Dick is the first one to reveal himself, clearing his throat as you spin around hand with your pen in hand ready to uncap it.

Clarisse, ever the fighter, points her spear directly at Dick with a sneer on her face.

"Who the hell are you?"

You after taking a second to recognize him, don't reveal that you absolutely know it's Dick, your brother, and wave her down as you pocket your pen once more.

"It's just a weirdo in spandex, he's one of the vigilantes I told you guys about."

Dick tries to not be offended at your words as Damian and Stephanie step out after him.

Clarisse and your friend just stare in shock. A bunch more weirdos? They thought they had weird lives, but here's three freaks in spandex willingly fighting. At least they had a reason to be fighters, what's their excuse?

Stephanie is the first to break the silence.

“Is that you, (y/n)?”

You play dumb, once more pretending you definitely didn't know who they were.

"Um, who?"

Stephanie flounders, for once unsure of what to respond when Damian speaks up.

"(Y/n) Wayne, missing for the last two years after an attack at Gotham's Museum of Ancient History. The Wayne family has been searching for you, putting out rewards for your return."

You just roll your eyes and use one of your powers to change your face just slightly to make them doubt it's you.

"Look I'm not sure who that is, sorry to the family," you spit out the word family like it was venom on your tongue.

"You fit the description of her, same hair, same voice," Dick continues drifting off as he feels that his mind is playing tricks on him. Was it him or did your face change. No, it has to be you, he knows what he saw.

"Sorry, but whoever you are you can't just be wandering around Gotham. Especially at this hour, it's not safe. Let us take you somewhere safe."

Stephanie says reaching her hand out, hoping, praying that you take her hand. She knows it's you, she just knows it.

Clarisse is the one who interrupts this time, with her and your friend standing protectively in front of you.

"Yeah, I don't think so, you couldn't even beat a Colchis Bull. I'm not letting you take her anywhere."

Clarisse stares the three vigilantes down; her spear held firmly in her grip. The tip crackles with electricity, a warning that whoever moves will be meeting with it most painfully.

Dick, ever the peacemaker, tries to defuse the situation as the oldest there. He stands in front of both sides, both hands out to try and seem harmless. He comes off as anything but, his muscles are clear and the two sticks on his back are clearly his weapons. Clarisse would be a fool to think he was harmless, and she is no fool.

"Look, we just want everyone to be safe, let us escort you somewhere that's safe for all of you."

Clarisse stares him down, before it's you that breaks the silence.

"Turn around and go home."

A glazed look takes over the three vigilantes' eyes as they wordlessly turn around and scale the building, leaping from rooftop to rooftop towards what you can only assume is the mansion.

Your friend lets out a relieved breath, "man I'm glad we didn't have to fight them. I forgot you could do that."

You ruffle your own hair, it falls perfectly tousled despite the disturbance, as you scrunch your face.

"I honestly wasn't sure it would, but I'm glad it did. We need to get going fast, once they realize they've been tricked they'll try to track us down."

Clarisse wastes no time in moving, you and your friend following suit. You've already gotten the package and with it you now need to get to Metropolis and fast to evade not only Jason, but now probably your whole family.

"Right, now that that's gonna be a problem, anyone feel like taking a taxi?"

Part 3!

At first, things were fine. Things were great even. Bruce did his best to raise you with Alfred's help you were raised with poise and grace. Though you were still a child, so you still made messes. Still they did their best to raise you as a good child. You were happy, a bright child. Though there was a slight, very slight problem.

Once you began to read, there were noticeable problems. You had dyslexia and would sometimes veer off course. Get distracted at the smallest things. It would take some directing to finally bring you back to a subject. You could never sit still. Still, these things made you no less a Wayne, no less a beloved daughter.

He would say he did his best in raising you, but really ever since you hit the age of 4 he had begun neglecting you in favor of his night life and training his would be sons in his same activity.

Dick as first had been ecstatic when you were brought home, a sister! He had a little sister, one to play with, to laugh and dance and do all the things a brother and sister would do together!

Until things became more difficult with being Robin and then slowly but surely he spent less and less time with you.

Jason, upon first meeting you was a little more hesitant. You were so delicate, so easily breakable. But still you grew on him, slowly but surely. He would grow to spend time with you and would try his best to help you with your reading when you had started to read.

However, there did come a time where eventually the play time had stopped. The missions had become more important, more worth their time.

You didn’t mind at first, truthfully you were still too young to fully understand neglect and being ignored, but it always felt like something was missing. There was always a lingering feeling of something. Something vital, especially when you saw how Bruce would smile and spend time with Jason and Dick.

You fell to the background, trying to get them to pay attention to you. To engage with you. All a kid wants is to be seen and loved. The only one that cared for you was Alfred, even if his time and attention was scarce, he would still try to spend time with you.

He always encouraged your art projects, always helped you with your reading when your dyslexia made it difficult to read and put words together.

He was always there.

-

When Jason died, it was the second worst day of Bruce’s life. He failed a child and threw himself into work. Dick no longer smiled and it took so much time for them to even begin to try to be their normal selves.

Then Tim came along, he brought back that spark to Bruce’s life. Dick finally started smiling again. But he never directed those brotherly love filled smiles towards you.

Sure, he would occasionally greet you or pat your head, but he didn't really spend time with you.

To them you were just another child, a normal child, you weren’t a Robin. They couldn’t relate to you.

And they didn’t try to.

You never gave up trying to get them to notice you though, you never did, until the day that you were driven from your home.

-

Growing up you always knew something was different about you. Not only because you were the daughter of THE Bruce Wayne, billionaire, forever bachelor and Prince of Gotham, but because there was just something about you that seemed almost mythical.

The way you never had a bad hair day, your hair even curling in some places to a heart shape no matter how much you brushed it out, your teeth never stained, you had a quiet grace about you and were told numerous times how beautiful or handsome you were. You wrote them off as just luck or being blessed with the Wayne genetics.

It took some time for you to grow and try to understand why it is that you weren't treated the same as the other children that Bruce had chosen to take care of. Why it is that you aren't shown the same care from Bruce that he shows Dick. Why does Bruce not join you for your reading sessions. Why does he not go to your parent teacher meetings. Why is he never there for your performances. Why. Why. WHY?

That changed on a field trip that you went on while at Gotham Academy. Only the best for the daughter of Bruce Wayne no matter how much you were ignored by your brothers and sisters and father. Never really being included in the conversation or being invited on family outings. Never taught how to be a robin despite your father putting everything into teaching Dick, Jason, Tim and Damian the ways of being a Robin. Never being included in the family dinners, always being spoken over by Stephanie. Even Cass would be spoken to more than you. It's no fault of her own that she wouldn't speak, but you are much too young to understand her world, or their world for that matter.

That is to say, you absolutely knew of their activities. You were a daughter of Bruce Wayne after all. He never intended to hide his activities, if you were going to be his daughter he knew that you would figure it out eventually. He was vain enough to know his intelligence and your mothers would lead to something brilliant in you, no matter if you had dyslexia or ADHD. These were not limiting factors in your intelligence.

No matter this, they all ignored your presence no matter what you did to try and garner it. Dick only giving you half truths and promises, only polite smiles in the way you give one to an acquaintance.

When you tried to get him to play with you he would just say, “not now (y/n), I have to train with Damian.”

Or he would just pat your head once and mumble out something incoherent to your ears and leave you in silence, drawing at your side of everyone all together holding hands.

Jason was much the same way, only he was much more brash. Ever since he got back from the Pit he was harsher with his words and actions, always angry at something. There was no hope of trying to get his attention, but still you tried.

He would say he didn’t have time for a child, any excuse to get away from you.

Tim was always drowning in work, be it a case or something with the computer he could never be swayed from his seat. Except when it came to the others of course.

He would do anything for them, but wouldn’t even bat an eye at you asking for some help with a math problem. Just saying, “I’m to busy to work on something so meaningless.”

Forget even trying to engage Damian in a conversation, he would call you an “insolent and unremarkable brat” and be on with his day.

Everything was the same with Cass and Stephanie.

Cass would huff out a breath and sign something only to stop mid movement because you didn’t understand. She’d just mutter a “no” and move on with her day.

Stephanie for all her smiles and laughs was the one you’d argue was the one you most interacted with. If her waving and saying hi to you before going down to the Batcave was an interaction.

Duke was the only one you considered a brother. He was always caring, always paid attention to you and did his best along with Alfred to get the others to pay attention to you. But it was all for naught they would just say “later” but later never came.

They wouldn’t notice you until Duke came into the Batcave with Alfred following just as fast at the news of Gotham Academy students being at the scene of an attack at the Museum your class was on a field trip to.

-

It was another day for you at Gotham Academy, freshly turned 11 and with your best friend whom you’d give anything in the world for. Your class was on your way to the biggest museum in Gotham and one of the most prestigious with beautiful relics.

You were looking out the window from the bus you were on when something zipped past, with what looked like… horns? You blinked twice, even rubbing your eyes for good measure but it was gone just as fast as it came.

“Did anyone else just see...”

You trailed off as you saw your friend enthusiastically talking with the Latin teacher, Mr. Brunner. He was a new teacher having moved to the school in the last year, but incredibly passionate about what he did and would always regale tales of heroes and champions. He was eccentric and he was a father figure to you. He always asked how you were and would always extend a hand to you when you were doubting yourself.

He glanced at you seeing your eyebrows scrunched up.

“Something the matter, Ms. Wayne?”

You looked to him and just shook your head, smoothing out the lines in your face.

“No probably just imagining things, Mr. Brunner. Please just call me (y/n)! I’ve told you this already!”

He shoots a glance out the window and just laughs off your comment, “of course of course, (y/n) I’m sorry my dear, must be all the excitement for the trip. Which exhibit are you most excited about?”

You hum a bit to yourself in thought, fiddling with the bracelet on your wrist that had a rose charm. A gift from your mother before you were born and given to you by Alfred who saw the gift package on your 11th birthday.

“A gift for you Master (y/n), from your mother,” he handed you the package and there in the box was a gold bracelet with a golden rose charm.

You hadn’t taken it off since getting it.

Back to you in the bus you smiled at Mr. Brunner, “the Greek gods exhibit! Greek mythology is my favorite, I hope they have a lot for it!”

Mr. Brunner and your friend exchange a brief glance, before smiling.

“I’m sure there’s a lot to see, (y/n), I’m sure of it.”

-

The bus arrives in perfect timing, the height of luxury for the richest children in Gotham, though you’ve never particularly felt you fit in with them. All their parents were at their award shows and would be with them. You’d be alone and join your friend as the two of you stood by waiting for the event to be over.

Sometimes Alfred would come to show support, he’d always say that he tried to bring Bruce or one of the other bat kids to show support but they’d never attend. Always forgetting. Even for this field trip you’d asked Bruce if he could chaperone, but he just hummed without a thought and calmly responded, “you know I’m too busy to devote time for something like that.”

You didn’t bother asking a second time.

You exit the bus and wait with your friend for Mr. Brunner to be let down from the ramp attached to the bus. His wheelchair finally being let down and he wheels himself forward to the front with the other teachers and one substitute.

“Children, today we will be exploring the history of our wonderful world and gain new knowledge to push us forward. Be on your best behavior this is a building of strength and knowledge so let’s all do our fathers and mothers proud, let us go!”

With those words you all enter the museum, going through the process of receiving your wrist bands and eventually after some time finally see the exhibits.

You pay attention as best as you can with your friend having to get your attention back to the front where one of the museum guides is speaking on some of the features of the exhibits.

Finally you reach the Greek exhibit. Displays of columns and statues greet your eyes as your excitement builds.

Mr. Brunner sits close by watching as your eyes fill with the excitement only a child could possess. He continues to watch as you point at the different statues of Greek gods and legends.

“That one is Perseus! He cut off Medusa’s head with a harpe given to him by Hermes! I never did like that he paraded her head though…”

You turn to look at the other exhibits showing off Ancient Greek and Latin artifacts. You are looking at one such artifact the plaque next to it going in detail on what the tablet says when you glance at the actual tablet and find that the words are arranging themselves and you can… understand them.

Your eyes narrow as you focus on the words, your stare becomes more intense until you hear the clearing of a throat to your side.

It’s the substitute that came along to fill in for a sick teacher. You think her name was something along the lines of Sudd? You weren’t too sure but you give her your attention all the same.

She continues to stare at you before she turns to Mr. Brunner who begins to speak to the group of students, introducing the Greek gods and the art work present at the museum.

"There are twelve Olympian gods."

Mr. Brunner begins, as you look around the exhibit eyes catching the various artifacts and blocks with ancient greek text.

"The big three are Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. They overthrew their father Kronos, by chopping him into little pieces," he gestures to a stone carving of the three gods fighting Kronos, "they have fought for power ever since."

"Now, on occasion they would come down to earth and... join with mortals. Who can tell me the name of an offspring of a god and a mortal?"

He looks around the students, trying to catch one of their eyes, before landing on your form.

"(Y/n)?"

Mr. Brunner calls your name as your friend nudges your shoulder, you jolt and turn to him sheepishly.

"Sorry, what was the question Mr. Brunner?"

You give him your full attention as he wheels himself a bit closer before asking his question again.

"What is the name of an offspring of a god and a mortal?"

The look in his eyes is one that says he's not just asking you this as a teacher but that there is something that you're missing, like a joke you're not privy to.

You looked into his eyes before responding clearly, "Demigod. They're called Demigods."

Mr. Brunner smiles at you before responding.

"Yes, child, they are called Demigods."

He smiles once more before turning towards a part of the exhibit to continue speaking on the gods. As he does so, you turn away glancing at some of the other pieces. As you do, you hear a clearing of a throat at your side. You turn and your attention is then directed up to the substitutes face as she stares down at you with a certain look in her eye.

"(Y/n), I need to have a word with you."

You stare at her before nodding your head and make your way to follow her as she makes her way to a closed off exhibit, not yet ready for the public. As she leads you in, you quietly follow wondering just what she could have to talk to you about.

The door closes behind you with a click, as you follow in and she turns to you before rushing forward and grabbing you by your Gotham Academy uniform. You gasping for breath as she snarls in your face before throwing you into an unfinished exhibit piece. Glass shattering as you collide.

The crash leaves you winded as you fall to the floor, grunting in pain as you try to catch your breath. Her form begins to fall off as she snarls out, "Demigod!"

Her human form falls away to reveal a foul-faced almost mix of human and bat. Long spindly wings unfurling as she descends on to you as you scream out as she grabs your form and lifts you up into the air, towards the ceiling.

Before she can inflict more damage to you, the door bursts open as your friend and Mr. Brunner come in yelling your name.

The substitute faces them with a wet snarl, spitting as she flies down and throws you against the wall before flying to attack Mr. Brunner and your friend. Her form soon shatters as your friend wields a blade from nowhere and cuts from her left shoulder down into her chest.

She screams in pain as her form begins to dissipate into flakes, before completely falling away as her screams quiet down into cold silence, only being filled with your groans of pain.

"(Y/n)!"

Your friend runs to your form, helping you up as they pat you down and check you for injuries.

"(Y/n), are you alright?"

Mr. Brunner turns towards you, his eyes glancing your form before looking into your eyes.

You wince as you struggle to gain your breath back, before nodding at him as your friend touches your ribs. You wince and whine at the feeling.

"What, what the hell was that thing?"

Your eyes widen as the recent events finally hit you, you'd been attacked by some creature.

"What did it say to you?"

Mr. Brunner and your friend look at you expectantly, as you gather your breath, your side inflamed with pain.

"She," you suck in a breath through your teeth, "she called me a Demigod?"

Your friend turns from your face to Mr. Brunner.

"They know."

They say with finality before slowly lowering your form to sit on the floor.

"She is no longer safe here, to think a fury had found her without me knowing, we must get her to camp!"

You can only look up as you sit on the floor, legs sprawled out and bruises already forming. Little cuts litter your legs from being thrown into a glass case.

"Camp? What are you talking about? What is going on?"

Mr. Brunner pays no mind to you before getting closer to you and leaning down, pulling a blue capped pen from his blazer.

"Take this, it will guard you well, and be your most powerful weapon. Guard it with your life."

You take the pen as his words register in your mind.

Mr. Brunner can't help but feel a sense of deja vu. He remembers saying the same thing to Percy and he gathers from your face you would get along well with him.

"You just handed me a pen. This is a pen."

You say with disbelief. Being ignored once again, you are led from the now vandalized gallery by your friend and Mr. Brunner out and away from everyone who whisper and gasp at your form.

"We need to get you to camp, now! Do you need to get anything from your house?"

They ask as they carefully but quickly guide you around and out the museum. You can only blindly follow along before finally gathering your bearings and solemnly shake your head.

"No, no one will miss me, besides Duke and Alfred. If I'm in as much danger as you and Mr. Brunner say we need to leave now."

A sense of finality is in your tone, as you think to how sad both the mentioned men will be. You hope that they'll forgive you, a small sense of relief gives way as you remember your phone in your bag.

At least you have their numbers.

-

News breaks out at an attack at the Museum. Within hours, reporters and paparazzi swarm the location. Headlines breaking out at a child being injured and now reported as missing. It happens so much that people aren't as moved, not until it is reported that the daughter of renowned philanthropist and billionaire Bruce Wayne is reported as missing after the attack.

"Local police are in search of the missing Wayne as we can only ask, who attacked Gotham Academy's finest and where is (Y/n) Wayne?"

Duke can only watch the screen in shock. Not fully believing what he heard. Before he even realizes he runs to find Alfred and runs to your room, hoping it's not true. It can't be. You were just on a regular field trip. Security was there; you had to be safe, you just had to be.

It's only when he bursts through your door and ransacks the room before shouting for Alfred.

They both rush down to the cave, panicked to where the others are gathered.

"Where is she?"

Duke is the first one to speak as Alfred rushes to the computer, all manner of grace being forgone in search of you, his beloved granddaughter.

"Where's who?"

Tim is the first one to speak as everyone watches in stunned silence as Duke paces back and forth and Alfred continues to use the Bat computer to search for your last known location. Your blurred image being spotted through a grainy camera, you boarding a bus headed out to New York.

“Duke, where’s who?”

Tim reiterates once again as Duke ignores him in favor of muttering to himself about how he should have been there.

“(Y/n)! There was an attack at the Museum!”

The Batfam is set into stunned silence once more, trying to rack their brains of you. You were fine, you had to be they’d sworn they’d just seen you… at some point. They try to think of the last time they had seen you, each having various ages in their minds.

Some of them still saw you as a young child, no older than 6. Some saw you as a soon to be preteen. Surely he’s joking right, you’re the daughter of Bruce Wayne you had to be safe right? You went to Gotham Academy it was one of the safest schools?

“Are you sure she’s missing Duke, she’s a kid she can’t go far?”

Duke can only face them in disbelief.

“Can’t go far? The news reported her fucking missing! None of you may care but she’s my sister I need to bring her home!”

As the news slowly start to gather in their minds, Duke pulls up the news footage on a screen in the Batcave showcasing the museum and various children in hysterics.

The next footage is of the unfinished gallery destroyed and a picture of you from school being shown next to the wreckage as crime scene investigators and various GCPD officers can be seen at the scene.

“She never came home, but none of you noticed! You never noticed her! Now she could be held hostage somewhere, she could be tortured or killed!”

Alfred speaks up as the chilling reality and shock settle deep into the core of everyone gathered there. How could they not remember you. They all try to think of the last time they interacted with you, when was it? Why can’t they remember your smile? Your laugh? You’re a kid right? You’re their little sister, so why can’t they remember your voice?

Everyone moves with panic settling deep into their cores, they need to find you, NOW. Each and every one of the Batfam sets out to find your location. Even trying to track your phone, but they don’t know your phone number or what model or even what it looks like. They don’t know where to start, only going off the grainy image of you boarding a bus headed to New York and that’s where they start.

Jason goes on his motorcycle, Bruce and Dick get into the Batmobile, everyone else splits off to search different parts of the city. Desperate to try and find you, hoping you weren’t heading to New York. Away from safety, away from them.

Alfred only watches, now gaining composure as he watched the frantic moving of everyone to try and find you, their most precious baby sister.

Anger, sorrow, regret all fill him as he stays at the manor. Looking at the photo of you smiling that the news has posted on the screen.

He prays to any god that will listen that you’re safe. Wherever you are.

-

You’re sitting on a bus with your friend, headed to New York as you both make casual conversation. Your friend glances out the window every now and then as if searching for something, they’re noticeably jumpier now that they know you’re truly in danger.

They quiet down as you notice their eyes flitting at the window, barely keeping conversation.

“As soon as this bus hits New York we need to ditch everything and anything electrical. Phones attract monsters and we need to be as careful as can be.”

You look at them with sadness in your eyes. Your phone was a gift from Duke, it’s the last thing you have to connect to him and Alfred. But looking at the seriousness in their eyes you know this is non-negotiable.

“I need to write down some numbers first.”

You quickly write down the phone numbers of Alfred and Duke before staring at the phone numbers of everyone else that you asked for from Duke. Bitterness fills you as you think about how they probably don’t even know or care that you’re gone.

It isn’t long before the bus finally stops, you both getting off with swiftness as you dump any and all electrical devices you may have into the nearest garbage. You follow your friend as they swiftly go through any all avenues that noticeable avoid camera detection.

With a last glance at the garbage now containing your phone and tablet you turn away, starting to run.

Goodbye and good riddance to the Wayne family name.

“Here, now! We need to get to Long Island! It’s a two hour trip by car but if we run and take penn station we can get there quicker.”

You can only nod as you quickly follow them, running to the nearest station and locating where you need to go.

Gods help you, you hope you can make it in time.

-

“I found a signal! Her phone was last located in New York I’ll send you the location now!”

Tim speaks through his comms, tracking the phone and pulling up cameras on a seperate monitor.

“Cameras in a subway station last get her here,” he sends out a new location to Bruce and Jason as they speed as fast as they can to get you.

“Does it show who took her?”

Jason yells over the roar of his bike.

“Some kid is pulling her along, looks like they go to Gotham Academy too, that doesn’t make sense are they in on the kidnapping?”

Dick frowns, only thinking of the worst possible outcomes.

“Or what if the kid is being used too? God do we really not know anything about her?”

Bruce shakes his head as his grip on the steering wheel tightens.

“We can only keep on going and do better.”

-

Now on a subway, you both find yourselves on the way to this supposed camp where you’ll be safe from harm.

“So… what’s this camp like?”

You break the silence as your friend watches a map and fiddles with a coin while glancing at various bystanders with apprehension.

“It’s a safe haven, somewhere we, most importantly you, can be safe from any monsters.”

The train stops, as you both run out and make your way out of the city and onto a more rural area, following a farm road as you approach a hill.

As you near this hill you hear a loud roar, turning with terror at the sight of a Minotaur. Eyes flamed with fury and a stomping foot you both take no time in sprinting across the hill.

Remembering Mr. Brunner’s words you reach for the capped pen tucked into your skirt and hold it firmly in your hand.

The thudding stomps of the Minotaur follow as you and your friend both sprint as fast as humanly possible to where a large tree stands.

Passing through numerous trees and almost tripping on branches you get closer and closer to the tree until your friend is flung to the side.

“No!”

They grunt as they pull their blade out.

“Go! I can take care of myself!”

Your face immediately scrunches up in fear and anger.

“Are you out of your mind?!”

Your dominant hand grips the pen harsher until it forms to your hand, you rip off the cap as it lengthens and hardens into a celestial bronze spear.

Your grip on the spear firms as you spin around dead in your tracks and wait for the Minotaur to turn its back to you as you thrust it forward into its side.

The Minotaur lets out a thunderous roar as you pull the spear head out and hold it firmly in both hands. The Minotaur turns towards you and your eyes widen in terror as it starts towards you before shouting in pain as your friend stands and thrusts their blade across the back of its foot, cutting the tendon and rendering that leg useless.

With the Minotaur now wounded you grab your friends hand, and pull them up and towards the tree where some campers are now gathering.

The Minotaur tries to run after you falling short as you and your friend now pass the barrier, guarding you from harm as you heave harshly trying to get air in.

Finally, you were safe.

-

Tim grunts in frustration at the feed of you being lost from exiting Penn Station. As if something was blocking it from finding you.

“I’ve lost trace of her!”

Tim yells in frustration. Damian from his position in Gotham, scouring the streets for any trace of what could have possibly attacked you, tsks in disappointment and anger.

“She can’t just disappear Drake, find her.”

Bruce and Duck from their position in New York, scouring the city for any look, any glimpse of you scowl in despair. They can’t find any trace of you in the city and their presence in daylight is starting to draw unwanted attention to themselves, leading them to hightailing back to the Batmobile and back to Gotham.

Jason grunts as he takes his anger out on a would be mugger.

“Fucking shit! Where the hell is she?”

He nearly growls as he yanks on his motorcycle helmet and jumps onto his bike, driving through the more rural side of New York. He just barely misses the glint of bronze in the woods, sunlight reflecting off it and turns around to go back to Gotham.

-

You’re surrounded by campers as you kneel on the ground spear still in your grip as you cough, trying to get your breathing back to normal.

Your friend, wounded, but alive is at your side one leg up while their blade is in the ground as they also try to get their bearings.

The sound of banging from the Minotaur on the magic boundary sounds through the camp as it lets out one final thud before turning its back at its failure to kill you.

Some campers help you up as your friend stands and begins to take you to a large house located near the front of the camp.

“We’re safe. You’re safe now.”

You can finally feel yourself breath with relief, you see Mr. Brunner in his wheel chair on the porch of the big house. Relief is on his face when he sees you, injured but alive.

He welcomes you to the camp with a big smile on his face.

“Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, (y/n).”

-

Everyone gathers at the Batcave, failure evident as they all gather together in silence. The air is solemn as they can’t bear to look at each other.

All is silent in the Wayne household, their failure taking hold of them, but they don’t let it fester long before they continue with their routine.

They never stop searching for you, seeing you in every smile that crosses a child’s face. News headlines still going on about the missing Wayne, asking Bruce to speak on the topic. All he can give is a solemn, regret filled sentence.

“We will never stop searching for her.”

And this continues for two long years, they feel as if time has eluded them. They never stopped searching, always keeping an eye out for any little girl that looks even remotely like you, but never catching a lead.

Sometimes there are headlines on the news that you’ve been spotted but they don’t spend too much time investigating, there’s no way to track you down. Whether you’re alive or not alludes them as they can all feel the heavy weight of their failure taking hold of them.

Bruce for failing as a father.

Dick and Jason for failing as older brothers.

Tim taking the blame for never helping you with homework.

Casa and Stephanie for ignoring you.

Duke and Alfred feel the worst, they’d taken the time to know you, to love you as a granddaughter, as a sister. They feel hollow.

But with time they settle back into regular routines, back to fighting the injustice in Gotham.

But they always hold out hope that you’ll return home someday, that you’ll blink back into their lives. And this time they’ll do things right.

Part 2!

The three of you traveled far before forming a party of your own with Eisen's apprentice, Stark, joining you. A sweet boy, not very sure of himself despite being immensely powerful in his own right. You thought he and Fern were adorable together.

It was deeper into your travels that you'd learned that you wouldn't be able to go further unless you had a first-class mage in your party. Thus, led to the three of you, Frieren, Fern and you, entering the first-class mage trials just in time, sadly leaving Stark to his own devices.

It was interesting, seeing the mages of this time and you truly did understand Frieren's words that she gave Fern regarding the magic needed to fight the mages of the current time period. Though, there were plenty of interesting mages, you weren't all that confident in some of them when it came to the next trial. It was during the second trial and when you'd been stuck at the bottom of the dungeon making plans for Frieren's clone that the Spiegel made that you had been discussing battle plans and strategies.

“Could you stand by that wall over there?”

Frieren stands up from her crouched position, walking over to the wall when Fern casts Zoltraak. In the blink of an eye, a defensive spell is over Frieren.

The group watches stunned, some muttering in disbelief as Fern just calmly asks.

“Did everyone notice?”

You just sigh as Frieren pats off the dust from the attack.

The two younger girls behind you just turn to each other.

“Did you?”

“Nope.”

Denken is the one who speaks next, voice still riddled with shock.

“This is Frieren’s fatal vulnerability. Why didn’t I notice when I fought her?”

You approach Frieren and fix her hair as she smiles at you, letting you fret over her.

“Your hair is so dusty now,” you pout, “all that work to do your hair and now I need to fix it.”

Frieren just tips her head down for you to fix her stray hairs and untangle her hair. It’s always been a habit of yours to fiddle with her hair, it’s so soft and silky!

“It wouldn’t surprise me if it was full of cobwebs by now.”

Denken just watches the both of you, still in disbelief that Frieren’s flaw was something so simple.

“When casting a spell, she stops detecting mana for a brief moment.”

The two girls in the back just raise their eyebrows.

“Isn’t that a common mistake made by apprentice mages?”

You pull Frieren’s hair to the front, hair now untangled as she calmly responds.

“I’ve never been very good about it.”

Fern just furrows her brows, slight annoyance peaking through her voice.

“If you’re aware of it, then why didn’t you say anything?”

Frieren just taps the tips of her fingers together in embarrassment as you snort at her actions.

“It’s mortifying to say the least.”

The two of you go back to sitting on the floor as a plan is made for Frieren and Fern to use this flaw against the clone.

Denken turns to you as Frieren and Fern go over their plan. It had been decided that they would be the ones to face the Frieren clone. You were fine with the decision, if anyone could beat Frieren's clone it was definitely Fern. He stares at you for a moment before finally speaking.

"I'm surprised you aren't going into the room with those two."

You turn to him with raised eyebrows.

“The less people that are in the room the better, Frieren is enough to distract the clone and Fern can handle herself. Although it would be fun to fight her clone.”

You tap your lips as you think on it. It has been a long time since you’d last fought seriously, not counting those demons in the village that Frieren nearly killed on the spot.

“Fun? I’m terrified even imagining fighting Frieren. I’m sensible enough to know that a fight with her would mean my death.”

You just chuckle at his words.

“Any sensible person would be. Though, my clone hasn’t been located yet, so someone needs to be able to fight her if she’s found, if someone hasn’t found her already.”

Denken’s eyes widen as tries to detect your clone and finds that he can’t. Same as Fern’s. He takes a look at you as you just listen to Frieren and Fern talk with a small smile on your face.

“Would you be fighting your clone?”

You look back at the younger man with a raised eyebrow, though there is a small, yet mischievous smile on your face.

“I’m mature enough to admit that I’m not the best at detecting mana when I cast either, Frieren is better than I am.”

You laugh it off just as Denken gives you a side eye.

“Though, it would be best if I was the one that fought my clone,” you look at Denken through your peripheral vision.

“I’m older than Frieren.”

Denken feels a shiver down his spine. He’d almost forgotten. The both of you were Elves that have lived more than triple his lifetime. You’d fought the Demon King. He couldn’t imagine the level of catastrophe that you could bring when provoked.

“We’ll need you to stay out here then.”

You just give him a smile, “that would be for the best.”

After the exam had concluded, the rest of the testers actually had to face Serie in order for her to bestow the title on you. It was always interesting to see Serie, you always did look forward to seeing her every once in a few hundred years, though when you faced off with her you fully expected her to not grant you the title of first-class mage, same as how she did with Frieren.

"So, she didn't grant you the title did she," you gave Frieren a glance who just gave you a small knowing smile as she twirled the ends of her hair with one hand.

"No."

You didn't say anything, just sighing before entering the room with Serie after Fern exits. Right away you noticed that her mana was fluctuating.

"Interesting."

She turned to you after you'd said the word, an eyebrow was lifted as she watched your eyes flit across her form.

"You can see my mana fluctuation."

A statement, not a question. You just nod at her as you step forward to look at the flowers she was crouched by.

"Those are the same flowers Flamme loved."

Serie doesn't say anything as she stands from her crouched position and looks you in the eyes.

"I had every intention of not passing you."

A fact you knew all too well as you gave her a smile and turned to walk out the door but was stopped at her next words.

"You pass. Do not make me regret it."

You turn back to her, only to see her with her back turned to you. You exhale a breath before giving her a smile and saying your goodbyes.

Apparently, Fern had noticed her fluctuation as well, a fact you'd learned after being let go after speaking with Serie.

"So, did you pass?"

Fern turns to you, an unusually hopeful look in her eye as you fiddle with your holy emblem. You turn the relic over in your hand before smiling at Fern.

"I did. I'm surprised Serie passed me. I guess there's something in me that she sees even after all this time."

That night the three of you joined back with Stark and ate a celebration meal at a tavern. While you were going to the ceremony for passing as a first-class mage and getting your spells, you'd learned that Frieren was banned from entering any of the facilities of the Continental Magic Association for the next thousand years.

"Of course she would ban you," you turn to Frieren who just makes a silly expression.

You sigh while Fern frowns as Frieren passes. You pat Fern on the head when she turns to you in surprise.

"She doesn't really care for ceremonies, she only came for you."

Fern turns back to Frieren with a small smile on her face as Stark says he'll stay with her to keep her company. The two of you then leave to go to the ceremony and enter with the others that have passed.

Time passes by slowly. Between the ceremony and waiting for everyone to get their spells you’re near dead on your feet. Once it gets to your turn, Serie gives you a sly smile.

“What spell would you like?”

She rests her head on one hand as she looks down at you. You pause and think before you blink. You know the perfect spell. As you say what you want you watch as Serie’s eye twitches before she grants it to you.

“You and Fern are insulting.”

She bids you away with the same look Frieren gets when she gets bashful, though you can see her irritation before you leave. You join Fern in exiting the building where you see Frieren and Stark waiting for you.

Frieren’s hair is pulled over her shoulders, but you can still see the gash on her shoulder and ripped clothing. You glance off to the side and see the same mage who’d let both you and Frieren pass with your holy emblems.

While Fern frets over Frieren you just summon your holy text to heal her. You also use the new spell you’d learned to fix her clothing.

She thanks you as Fern continues to fret until you get back to the inn you were staying at. Even if she was aloof, she still cared very deeply for her master, the thought brings a smile to your face as you watch her push food onto Frieren’s plate.

After night passes and the sun raises, you leave the city and make your way out when Frieren asks for what spells you asked for. Fern stops walking and stands with her arms out, a small smile on her face while Frieren crouches down to inspect her clothing.

Fern had asked for a clothes cleaning spell. It was brilliant and had you doubting your own spell choice.

"What about you, (Y/n)?"

You smile and point to Frieren’s right shoulder, where her clothes had been torn the night before from the sudden attack by that younger mage.

“That spell I used to fix your clothes, actually. I figured it’d come in handy.”

Frieren and Fern smile and nod while Stark just gives the three of you a side eye.

‘Weirdos.’

You leave the city and begin to walk through the woods, following the trail set as Fern and Stark talk amongst themselves. You turn to Frieren with a twinkle in your eye as she gives you a questioning look.

"What's with that look in your eye?"

"You think there are any dungeons around here?"

Frieren gains a small smile on her face as the lot of you travel further.

"There very well could be," she laughs lightly as your ears twitch at the thought. Grimoires, scrolls, ancient text, anything! There's still plenty of dungeons to be found and you'd be ecstatic to find one on your journey north.

A few days of travel pass when you come across a temple with a king's facade on the front.

You walk closer as Frieren walks around to see for any hidden push panels that would allow for you to enter. You walk around the temple, seeing a door as your ears perk up and you clap your hands together.

"Over here!"

Fern and Frieren jog over as Stark calmly walks, watching as the three of you get excited at the prospect of finding some new spells or new books.

"Let's go inside!"

You enter as Frieren follows behind you, Fern and Stark share a glance before entering after.

You walk the inside of the temple, following the rooms and stairways as you search every nook and cranny for any possible treasure. After some searching you find a chest and stand off to the side as Frieren inspects it.

"Don't do it," Fern warns carefully as you egg on Frieren, Stark watching confused from the side.

"Why don't you want her to open the chest?"

Fern just gives him a flat look as Frieren opens the chest slowly.

"It could be a mimic."

Just as Fern says the words you start to laugh as Frieren is pulled into the chest, torso first and being munched on by the now revealed mimic.

"Ah! Get me out! It's dark and damp in here!"

You hold your sides as your laughing stifles to giggles as you move forward to grab Frieren's waist and try to pull her out.

Stark offers a hand as Fern holds an arm out to stop him.

"Mistress Frieren when will you learn?"

You finally pull Frieren out with her covered in saliva, but proudly holding a grimoire in hand.

"A-hah!"

She flips through it eagerly as you watch over her shoulder and read the text that she flips through.

"Ooh this is a good one!"

She shakes it lightly to get any residual saliva off as she puts it away.

"Let's go further."

You nod as you follow her further in, walking downstairs as you hear stones and crunching through the temple. Fern and Stark follow closely behind, Stark looking at the detailing inside with wide eyes.

"This stuff looks ancient, what century is this from?"

Fern follows quietly as she touches the walls, feeling for any traces of magic or mana.

"There's a large amount of mana in here for something seemingly deserted."

You nod your head at her words as Frieren continues forward with a smile on her face before it falls abruptly.

"Too much mana, what direction did you say it was in?"

You sense an even larger amount of mana as you enter the room.

"Demons."

Just as you say that a large crash echoes through the room as dust flies forward and you watch with narrowed eyes as a male figure enters the room with large horns on his head.

Immediately, the three of your staffs are out and attacking the demon. More demons jump out and you hear a ringing sing out as Stark clashes his large battle axe with a blade that one of the demons holds.

"Shit! It's a horde!"

The battle commences as you take the defensive stance, while Frieren and Fern take the offensive. Demons are taken down one by one as the main leader stands behind, watching with cold calculating eyes. He takes note of Stark off to the side and raises his hand, ominous spell growing in the palm of his hand.

You turn to Stark and watch as a portal slowly grows beneath him, using a simple replacement spell you switch places with him and use a levitation spell to keep you afloat. As soon as Frieren goes to cast Zoltraak, you yelp as air sucks you in.

"Shit. Frieren, get the spell first befo-"

You're sucked into the portal, and it closes before you can finish your sentence as the rest of your party watches the place where the portal had just been.

Before anyone can say anything, Frieren uses a binding spell on the demon, anchoring him to the floor.

She looks down on him, eyes cold, as she points the end of her staff in his face.

"What spell did you just cast?"

The air around you is cold. You blink as you feel yourself falling and keep a firm grip on your staff as you turn your head slightly to see where you were.

You see the ground below you steadily coming closer and closer as you tilt your body so that you’re facing toward the sky and not the ground. Keeping a firm grip on your staff, similar in design to Frieren’s with the swirl, but having a more woodsy design with it looking like a deeply carved piece of wood with various ribbons tied to it.

“This is rather inconvenient,” you mumble as the air swishes past your ears, hair flying around as you steadily fall.

You turn your head so that you look at the ground and see the closest structure surrounded by woodlands. It looks nothing like the structure of the dungeon, so you can rule out that you’re at all close to the dungeon that your group had entered.

As the ground steadily gets closer and closer, you can see some figures on the ground. They look like little ants, but they have a flash of color. What looks to be a greenish blue, turquoise you believe is what the color was called.

Still looking down, you try to judge how much further you need to fall before you can finally cast a spell that will negate the falling.

“Probably a few more hundred feet, maybe a thousand.”

You sigh as you think about your scrolls that were left with Frieren and Fern. You could only hope that they had found something good in the dungeon. Unknown to you, Frieren and Fern were actually extracting information from the demon on the spell that was cast and were now researching how to bring you back.

You look back up at the sky and watch the clouds and birds that fly around. The birds are a little different than the ones you’ve normally seen in the land, but you disregard it as there isn’t any way for you to know every creature in the world.

You turn your head again, looking at the ground and now seeing that those same figures are now frantically running around and bring out another figure from their home and point up to where you’re assuming you are.

“Whoops.”

You look at your clothing before deciding that now you should be able to cast that spell, taking one brief glance down at the ground that you are now rapidly approaching as you hear screaming from what you assume to be some children.

“This isn’t nearly as bad as that bird that attacked us, poor Stark nearly soiled himself,” you laugh to yourself as the end of your staff starts to glow as you cast the negation spell.

You hit the ground a minute after casting it, landing against a tree as you take a minute to compose yourself.

“I’m alive, guess I judged that spell just right,” you dust off your clothing and pat your hair down from its frizzy state. You look up to see a group of girls running towards you in that same greenish blue uniform, one that you now identify as a cloak of some kind.

“Ah, hello, my apologies, I hope I haven’t disrupted you.”

You look at your clothes. Your skirt was ripped and your tights were torn from the scuffle with those demons.

You sigh as you cast the clothes mending spell and the girls watch in shock and awe as your clothes mend themselves together before reverting to what they assume they’re supposed to look like.

They stare at you, eyes wide open and mouths dropped nearly to the floor as you just pat yourself down and look at the ground that you’d landed on. The terrain was in disarray. Dirt and grass pulled up and rocks smashed, the tree you had landed on was tilted back.

“Ah,” you blink as you turn to the tree and take a look before muttering a different spell, staff end once again glowing before the terrain reverts back to the state it was in before you’d crashed.

“That should do it,” you turn to the girls who still haven’t moved, too much in a state of shock to do much of anything.

"How did you do that?!"

"You don't even have a quill or ink?"

"What's with your ears?"

"Where's your hat?"

You hold you staff with both hands at an angle as three of the four girls in front of you bombard you with questions.

"Um," you mumble as they nearly topple you over, the one with the pink hair being the closest to you. She has a grip on your dress and looks at the place where your clothes stitched together.

"There's no ink or anything on it! And it's completely mended!"

"Your ears are so cool! Look at how pointed they are!"

The girl with the green hair is pointing at your ears now.

"Girls-"

The girl with the blue hair is holding your cloak and her small hands are trailing the wood grain of your staff.

"Is this a giant pen? Your dress is all clean even though you hit the ground."

The last girl with a deep purple hair has her arms folded and her purple eyes are raking over your form with a frown on her face. Despite the scowl on her face, she doesn’t hide her curiosity well.

'She reminds me of Fern when she was just a young girl, though with much more of an attitude.'

“Girls!”

They stop their searching of your body at your voice.

“Thank you, do you know where I am?”

The pink haired girl is the one to respond as she points to the building in the distance.

“You’re near our atelier!”

“‘Atelier?’”

She nods enthusiastically, throwing her hands up as she spins around and excitedly chats about how wonderful the atelier is. Coco joins in as she talks about how she loves learning magic and is so happy to be where she is.

You give the girls a smile, always being weak at heart for children. These girls remind you of Fern and how adorable she was as a child.

'I miss the girls and Stark, I hope they got out safely,' a sad smile etches across your face before it falls, no point in worrying. They can take care of themselves, you just need to figure out how to get back to them.

The girls calm down enough to finally get a good look at you. Namely your ears as the dark-haired girl points to them.

"Why do your ears look like that?"

Your hand comes up to your pointed ears, messing with the earring you have in before it falls as you speak.

"Ah, I suppose it's not unheard of for people to not see an elf, we're not a common species anymore."

The girls just give you a bewildered look.

"Elf?"

"What's an elf?"

"Elves aren't real, they're only fairy tales."

Your brows furrow slightly as you listen to them talk amongst themselves, "I can assure you, I am very real."

"They have to be fake, a trick to make them pointed."

You lean and tilt your head down.

"You're more than welcome to feel them.”

The blue-haired girl reaches forward and pulls on them lightly, they don't come off and she can't see any drawings that would magically make them pointed.

"They're real," she breathes out, awe in her voice.

"I didn't get your names, my name is (Y/n)."

You stand back up to your full height, brushing your hair behind your ears.

"I'm Coco!"

The green-haired girl points to herself with a large smile on her face, followed by the pink-haired girl who enthusiastically jumps.

"I'm Tetia! That's Richeh! And Agott!"

She points to the blue-haired girl and dark-haired girl respectively. Richeh quietly lifts a hand in a wave, while Agott scowls.

"I can introduce myself," she grumbles.

You nod your head to them.

"Lovely to meet you girls, sorry for crash landing here. I was in a dungeon and got hit with a spell and started falling here. I just hope Frieren is able to figure out what spell it is."

Coco and Tetia tilt their heads in curiosity.

"A dungeon? What's a dungeon?"

"Who's Frieren?"

At those words your face falls. You aren't surprised the girls don't know who Frieren is, most people only really knew Himmel as the one to kill the Demon King, but to not know a dungeon?

"A dungeon is a place where you can typically find treasure and mimics, maybe demons. A lot of adventurers go in them for riches."

Now Agott's attention is brought to you, a frown on her face.

"Demons? Mimics? What in the world are those?"

Your brows furrow further.

"Demons? Well, I'm not surprised you're not familiar with them, but does the name Demon King happen to mean anything to you?"

Richeh shakes her head as she pulls her hair forward and brushes through it softly.

"I've never heard of a Demon King," Agott mumbles, hands falling to her side as she frowns back at you.

At her words you take a seat on the ground with a sigh. It certainly is a shock that they don't know about demons, you would figure the adults in their life would warn them about the dangers of the creatures.

You set your staff on the ground as you hold your hands up and cast an illusionary spell.

"These are demons, or they were before Frieren and I killed them."

The girls watch in shock and awe as many images flash before them of magic spells being cast wordlessly and figures flying with horns on their heads.

"How are you doing that?"

Coco mumbles, eyes wide and sparkling.

"What? The illusion spell? It's not very difficult I could teach you."

She claps her hands together and sits down in front of you.

"Yes! Please! But wait, you don’t have any ink or a quill or anything on you."

You tilt your head as the spell goes away and you set your hands on the ground next to you.

"You don't need a quill and ink to cast magic? Where did you hear that?"

The girls exclaim in shock and disagreement at your words, even Agott's usual stony expression has morphed into one of shock as her eyebrows fly up.

"Of course you need a quill and magic ink to cast! How else would you practice magic!"

You blink as you let the words sink in. You lean back on your hands as Tetia shakes Richeh back and forth, the former's face being blank as she allows the pink-haired girl to do so.

"By using mana?"

Tetia stops shaking Richeh as the girl fixes her hair.

"What's mana?"

Your eyes are wide now at her words as you repeat the question to yourself.

"Mana is internal, it's an energy found in everyone. Tell me, can you see this?"

You cease your mana suppression and let the full force of your mana take over the area. The force of it is enough to make the plants flutter softly, but the girls just blink at you.

"See what?"

Your mouth falls slightly as you suppress your mana once more, it coming closer to your body and resuming its constant low output.

"You can't see it."

You furrow your brows once more thinking on their words. They can't see mana. If they seemingly are mages, they should be able to at least sense your mana, especially when you stopped suppressing it. You stand dust yourself off, patting your dress and grabbing your staff as the girls follow.

"So, you use this to cast magic?"

Coco, as you learned her name was, questions you, gesturing to your staff. You give her a smile and shake your head.

"It's not necessary to have a staff to cast magic, it acts as a conduit for casting more precise magic, that is all. I can cast just as easily without it."

Her eyes light up as the three other girls listen to you in awe.

"I must ask, what are you children doing out here by yourselves?"

"We're not by ourselves!"

Tetia has her fists balled together as she looks up at you. She points behind her to the building in the distance.

"We live there! In the atelier with Qifrey and Olruggio!"

Agott, snaps at her, pulling her back with a glare on her face.

"Don't tell a stranger where we live! We don't know if she's with the brimhats!"

Tetia has a frown on her face and looks sheepish as Richeh presses the fabric of your dress against her face.

"So soft."

You pat the girls head and look at Tetia who tries to get her footing after being scolded by Agott.

"I mean no harm, I can promise you that. Though, I would appreciate being pointed to the nearest town. I need to research which spell could have sent me here."

Coco claps her hands together and looks at Tetia.

"Maybe Qifrey knows! Or Olruggio!"

Richeh nods as she keeps a hand on your dress. You're starting to be dragged forward by the three girls as Agott reluctantly follows as you're lead to the large building.

Coco and Tetia chatter excitedly at the prospect of introducing you to the two adults they'd mentioned and practically hum with anticipation as you're brought closer and closer.

“Oh, and what’s a brimhat?”

At those words, the girls stop abruptly. You’re just in front of the door and Richeh has her hand on the handle when Agott gives you a weary look.

“A brimhat practices forbidden magic, any witch would know that.”

You glance at her before looking at the girls, they noticeably wear hats that are pointed but sport no brims.

“Forbidden magic?”

The notion of forbidden magic is strange to you. Yes, there were certainly spells wielded that were awful and dangerous, but they were considered black magic, sometimes forbidden magic. Though you and Frieren were of the same belief that curses were magic that you simply didn’t understand. You’d nearly forgotten that in your long life. You try to think if you even know any forbidden spells yourself.

All magic is dangerous, you must be careful when you wield it. That was your belief, any spell could be altered so you must always be vigilant. It was one of the few things you’d taken the care to teach Fern.

“Yes, forbidden magic! If a brimhat is ever seen they must be repo-”

Tetiah is cut off as the door opens to a man with white hair, a pair of spectacles with the right lense noticeably blacked out. He looks at the girls before looking at you.

“Who might this be?”

His gaze, though tender with the girls, falls weary on you. Coco and Tetia have a hand on your dress and a hand on your arm that holds a large staff.

“I fell from the sky, the girls were kind enough to see if I was alright.”

You stare blankly at the man as he doesn’t say anything at first. He then raises his left arm as he speaks to the girls.

“Girls, get behind me.”

“Wait, Qifrey! She’s really nice!”

“Get behind me.”

Coco and Tetia give you a concerned look, but they all do as he says.

You merely stay in place as the girls move behind this “Qifrey” and watch you from behind his back, even Agott with her arms crossed looks at you to see what will happen.

You exhale sharply and stand up a little straighter.

“I mean no harm if that is the concern, to be honest I’d rather find my party to see what they found in the dungeon.”

Qifrey narrows his eyes at you and tries to get a sense of your abilities. You hold a staff, rocking back and forth on your heels with no worry despite the fact that he clearly doesn’t trust you.

“Who are you?”

You stop rocking as you look the man in the eye with a small smile.

“My name is (Y/n), one of the last elves and I just want to go home.”

He eyes you up and down, noticeably glancing at your ears. He’d heard of elves of course, but they were fiction. Tall tales of a greater species, they didn’t exist.

“Of course, girls why don’t you wait inside, while I speak with her.”

There are numerous cries against this from Tetia and Coco, even Richeh pouts a bit, but Qifrey just gives them a small smile and pushes them further inside.

“Now girls, is this how we act in front of a guest?”

They quiet down as they huff out a breath and shake their heads.

“Better, now we’ll just be a moment, practice your line work while I speak with our guest.”

He closes the door as he glances back at you, smile no longer on his face as you simply give him a neutral look back.

“Who or what are you?”

Your eyebrows lift lightly.

“I’m not a brimhat if that is your concern. Agott was kind enough to explain what that is.”

Qifrey doesn’t respond as he gives you a weary look. You simply sigh and place down your staff, lightly pushing it toward him as he glances down at it.

“I’m a mage, if you don’t believe me I can cast a spell, but since you don’t trust me, as you shouldn’t trust any stranger, you can hold onto my staff.”

He leans down and grabs the staff, it’s weathered but clearly well taken care of. The ribbons tied onto it with a gem on the end sparkle in the light as he twists the staff to inspect it. He holds it out to you as you extend a handout to grab it, only for him to lift it just out of reach.

“You said you fell from the sky?”

You nod as you briefly glance up, then back at the staff, hand still extended.

“That is what I said.”

He slowly lowers the staff into your hand, though his shoulders are still tense.

“Well, it would be best to see if you are alright, please come inside.”

You raise a single eyebrow. You’d expected him to put up more of a fight, you know you certainly would have if you were in his shoes. Nonetheless, you nod and keep your staff at your side, choosing not to put it away. If what the girls said was true and they needed to draw with ink to make a spell then it would be wise to not show your ability unless asked.

He turns from you to the door and puts his hand on the handle as he beckons you forward.

“By all means, please come in.”

You follow slowly as you enter the home and the door closes behind you.

It’s a nice home, there’s a pot on the stove that simmers. The girls are at a table in the center working on their lines as they look up and Tetia runs over to greet you, though she acts as if she hasn’t seen you in a millennia.

“(Y/n)!”

She throws her arms around you and grabs the sides of your dress as you smile down at the pink haired girl.

“You just saw me,” you muse as she beams up at you, Coco soon follows after as she inspects your staff, playing with the ribbons and gems tied on.

“Wow! So pretty!”

Her fingertips lightly graze a ruby that’s tied on with a red ribbon, a matching ribbon with Frieren. Tetia pulls you to the table so you can look at her lines.

“Look! My lines are almost perfect!”

Agott just side eyes Tetia, mumbling about how she should show her lines if they are perfect not nearly perfect. You glance at Agotts work and point at it.

“These are beautiful lines, you’ll be a powerful witch, I’m sure of it.”

Agott glances up at you but flits her eyes back down as she furiously works on her next set of lines, “whatever,” she grumbles though you can see that the tips of her ears are flushed.

Richeh holds up her own linework for you to compliment, face neutral but holding an expectant look in her eye.

“Very nice, Richeh! You draw with purpose, it’s wonderful.”

She takes your compliment with a proud look in her eye as your gaze falls onto Qifrey leaning against the counter, who watches how you interact with the girls, his face is neutral but there’s a fondness there pointed at the girls. You muse that they must be like daughters to him, the same way Fern is to you and Frieren.

Ah, Fern. She’s taller than both you and Frieren now, you remember when she came up to your ribs. How they grow so fast.

He steps away from the counter and goes beside you, hand lingering on your arm that holds your staff.

“Girls, how would one of you like to show our guest around our atelier?”

Three of the girls perk up with Coco and Tetia calling out for them to show you around, while Richeh holds both her hands clenched in fists and a sparkle in her eye.

“Alright, alright two of you can show her around,” Qifrey watches as Tetia, Coco, and Richeh choose amongst themselves who will show you around. They’re chattering to themselves until Coco and Richeh stand and go to grab your arms, Richeh pointing ahead and Coco gabbing about how you’ll love it.

They lead you away as Qifrey watches your forms leave and round the corner. He turns to Tetia, who pouts, and Agott, who’s calmed down and ears have gone back to normal.

“Now girls, what do you know of our elf guest?”

Agott blinks at Qifrey, setting down her charcoal pencil and Tetia places her hands on her face.

“Wah, she’s an elf! An actual elf! And she fixed her clothes without needing to draw a spell!”

Qifrey quietly listens as Tetia prattles about how you also fixed the landscape with a wave of your staff and that the tip of it glowed as the landscape reverted itself to how it was before you crashed.

Agott is quiet until Qifrey turns to her, “Agott? Is there anything else that you noticed about her?”

Agott purses her lips before she speaks.

“She said something about mana, how it’s in all living things and she presumably did something with her own. We didn’t see it, but I noticed that the grass and leaves swayed before she asked if we could see it.”

Qifrey furrows his brows as he brings a hand to his face and holds his chin.

“Mana? I’ve never heard of such a thing. You say she can cast spells without drawing them, Tetia?”

Tetia turns to him, blissful expression no longer on her face, though her hands stay on her face as she blinks at him in confusion.

“Yeah, she said she’d never heard of needing a quill and ink to cast magic. She looked very confused.”

Qifrey hums to himself in thought as he thinks about what the girls are telling him. If what they say is true, you pose a dangerous threat to them, no not to just them but to all of humanity. A witch who can cast magic without needing a quill and ink is even more dangerous than a brim hat.

He leans on the table before standing and reaching for his hat, he glanced at the girls before checking to see that his spell is still drawn clearly on the inside. He takes a deep inhale before placing his hat back down as he hears Coco and Richeh approaching with you in tow.

He plasters on an easygoing smile as the three of you enter the room.

“How was the tour girls?”

He side eyes you as you take a seat at the table next to Tetia, she eagerly shows you her line work and you trace the line with a finger. Qifrey’s eyes narrow in suspicion before being wiped from his face as he peaks Coco watching him from the corner of his eye.

“What’s wrong Qifrey?”

Coco tilts her head as she stands by him, he merely hums at her words and pats her head.

“Nothing,” he keeps his eyes on you as you rub your finger and thumb together, “nothing at all.”

You bring your brows together as your finger and thumb come together, ink smearing lightly and crumbling away. You can sense nothing from this ink, though one glance at the bubbling pot on the stove lends you a feeling of something coming from it. You wipe your fingers on your dress as you lift a hand at the pot.

"There's something off about that pot, is there something drawn on it?"

Agott lifts her brows at you, sending a glance to Qifrey who moves to lift the lid and show you the inscribed ink on the pot lid.

"Yes, this sigil keeps the food fresh as the day it was made," he shows you the lid so you can inspect it closer. You trace your fingers on the ink with a tilt of your head.

"Fascinating, I assume you have to redraw the sigil?"

Qifrey hums with a small smile, "correct. I redraw the seal often due to the steam."

You bring your hand to your hair to twirl your hair as you think. You glance at Coco, then Tetia who looks like she wants to braid your hair. Then you look at Agott who avoids your gaze, though you know she was looking at you. Lastly, you look at Richeh who has now gone back to practicing her linework, then Qifrey. At the man, you give him a small, inquisitive smile.

"May I try to make a seal?"

Getting back to your home from your tours has always been a highlight that you treasure, especially from how exhausting performing is. Still, there is nothing that you would change about your life. Currently, you just got home and cleaned yourself up and decided that going for a walk would be nice. The city is beautiful and getting some fresh air would do you some good.

That's how you now find yourself roaming the street in the market section of the city as you people watch. Occasionally, watching some of the birds as they're flying. One bird grabs your attention from the others though in the way it seems to be watching with... purpose, eventually landing on a sign that is nearby where you were standing.

Normally it wouldn't really be something that you pay attention to, despite you liking birds, but something about this particular bird just gets your attention.

The bird must have thought the same as it stays on the sign despite you getting closer.

"Well, you have some interesting patterns, don't you little guy?" You say to yourself as the bird just watched you, something flickers in your peripheral, but before you can turn to see it, the bird lets out a chirp bringing your attention back to it.

“Hm? Guess you don’t like being ignored, understandable, you’re a very handsome bird,” you smile at the bird before turning to leave, slightly waving to it as you continue to walk around, oblivious to the eyes that follow your form as you leave.

Some time passes before you decide to go back to your home, using the time to listen to some of the songs on your next album to feel out if they're up to your standards.

Days pass with you enjoying your short break and taking the time to slowly get back into your routine of dancing and singing practice. You had just finished your latest practice session when you decide to go back to town to get some groceries, maybe try out that new recipe you've been meaning to indulge in. You’re walking in the direction of the store you most frequent when you see the same bird, a smile coming across your face as you slightly wave to it again.

“Hello my little friend! Didn’t think I’d ever see you again,” you smile until a cough sounds from behind you.

You quickly turn face going red at being caught talking to a bird of all things, before it lands on an incredibly handsome stranger who has a small smile on his face. One that also shows he definitely saw you talking to a bird.

“You always talk to birds, or did I just get lucky to see it?” He says with a small smirk on his face.

“I- uh, no not,” you clear your throat trying to will the heat from your face to die down, “I try not to make it a habit,” you stammer out eventually calming down enough to meet his gaze.

His very handsome gaze that is, the heat slowly returns to your face while your eyes dart around.

You eventually get your bearings, clearing out your throat as you look at him eyes quickly flicking across him, really getting a look at him before finally retorting.

“Do you always watch girls when you’re out or did I just get lucky?” A small smile unintentionally making its way to your face before you quickly choke it down with an eyebrow raise, seeing a near drop dead gorgeous man definitely isn’t something you’ll complain about, but still a man is a man no matter how hot.

The stranger just lets out a low chuckle before stepping a little closer to you, eyeing the bird before it flies off to seemingly nowhere.

“Not really, only the pretty ones,” he says, hands in his pockets of his jeans while he looks you up and down. Before you get the chance to stammer out a reply, four other equally just as gorgeous men come around to him before one of them, the one with a shirt that is clearly hanging on for dear life, claps him on the shoulder.

“Yo, Jinu, we’re waiting for you man- woah,” the man who you would definitely say could call you any time looks at you with a look of recognition, one that you try to shake your head as fast as you can without looking insane.

“So you have a name! Love that for you, sorry for being weird- you guys have fun with whatever you were doing!” You quickly make your way out of there with a hand covering your face to shield it from their eyes as you could practically feel steam coming off it.

The one who recognized you still has wide eyes as he realizes that yeah you are that one definitely famous singer and oh my gosh he can't believe that you ran into them. He quickly clues in the other men who are just confused at both of your reactions, the news making Jinu smile as he starts to think maybe he was right to send his little bird to watch you.

“Oh my gosh I looked like an idiot, a complete moron in front of five hot guys. Ugh girl you need to get your shit together,” you mutter to yourself as you continue walking towards a clearing where some people are talking about a boy group performing there.

You pull your sunglasses on and pull up your jacket a bit to avoid being recognized as you stand in front of a gathering crowd as some music starts. To your shock and horror, the same men that you’d bumped into are performing and singing.

“Oh my gosh I’m so dead, I have to die of embarrassment now, no I need to leave the country,” your muttering is interrupted as you make eye contact with who you now know as Jinu as he winks at you, your face erupting into heat as you pull the strings of your jacket to cover your face. Meanwhile the women and men behind you scream as they think it’s for them.

The action causes the Saja Boys to smile wider as they notice you hiding your face. They continue with their song, you still listening and your shoulders unintentionally bouncing up and down to the music. They notice with glee, their song ending as they send out finger hearts to the crowd watching your reaction as you try to look anywhere but their faces.

They finish their song, officially making their debut as they seemingly disappear into thin air. This gives you the chance to finally go to the store and get all the things you need for your dinner. You're heading back to your home when you hear someone call out to you, you are turning with fear that it's a crazy fan. Instead, you hesitantly turn around to see that it is instead the five hot guys with handsome smiles on their faces. Maybe the fan would have been better, you think as your grip tightens on the groceries in your hands.

The one with long pink hair in the shape of a heart is the first one to greet you as he waves with a large grin on his face.

"You saw our show, right? Did you enjoy it? My name is Romance,” He smiles at you, the action has you lowering your shoulders a bit at his smile. He's pretty friendly, still devastatingly attractive though.

"Uh, yeah I did! It was really good, you were really good!"

You smile back a bit shy, eyes darting between the five men as their eyes zero in on you. The action causing you to get a bit bashful at the cropped shirt that leaves your stomach and cleavage slightly exposed. The men barely try their best to avoid being obvious at their shameless staring, but let their eyes wander a bit.

Jinu is the next one to speak, offering a hand as he speaks.

"Did you now? You need any help with those groceries; we'd be more than happy to help you~" He purrs out, a wolfish grin taking over his face as your face heats up at the look he gives you. Curse you for your dry spell, just looking at these guys is enough to bring some heat to you.

"No! No I'm- I'm fine really and I don't want to stop you guys from whatever you're up to," you let out as the one with mint hair has no shame in smirking at your bashfulness as you make eye contact with him. Who you later learn is Mystery, silently makes his way around you as you slightly back away from the hungry looks they give you. Your back hits his chest as you look up, you making a surprised sound to see him. He has a slight smile on his face at the look of shock on your own.

"We're not too busy, especially not when we could help a gorgeous woman out~" The one with the ill-fitting shirt says tilting himself down a bit to stare directly into your eyes, as he smirks at your nervous expression.

"No really! I wouldn't want to impose," you let out with a small laugh making your way into the direction of your house. They let you back away looking at you with a gaze that screams they would eat you up if given the chance.

A week passes by from the interaction you had, the memory playing in your head like a broken record. The memory is still playing during your practice in your dance studio as you hear voices passing by. You're in the middle of a break as your backup dancers are casually speaking to each other while you leave the room to grab more water and a sports drink. You're at the vending machine when you can physically feel eyes on you, you turn your head a bit to see the most muscular member of their group behind you.

He looks you up and down before letting a coy smile make its way to his face as he leans against the wall across the vending machine. You whip your head around, face getting heated up as you can feel it creeping to your ears.

"So, how's practice going for you?" You hear his deep voice close to you as you turn around a bit and see him now down to your ear, you let out a sound that could be comparable to unholy as you realize just how close he was. Immediately, you start stammering as you try to put some distance between you.

"It's- um, you're so close, it's going," you clear your throat as he just smirks at you, "It's um good; it's going good we were just going on our break for the next hour, rest a bit y'know? Hehe how's uh how's your practice going? What's your name by the way, never uh never got it..."

God, you have been out of the game for so long, can you speak to even one person normally?

He raises his eyebrows, not really expecting you to give a response, but gives a small smile, "names Abby, guess we never really introduced ourselves, huh?"

Your shoulders lower themselves at his response, a small smile gracing your features as you finally make eye contact.

"No, you really didn't, so new group, right? Your performance was really good, really catchy too!"

You smile at him before reaching to grab your drink from the machine, having forgotten about it, but Abby beats you to it, reaching down and grabbing the drink before holding it out to you. You grab it, but he holds it a bit tighter before letting go, his hand brushing yours.

"Well, if you get bored during your break feel free to come watch us practice in room four, I'm sure the guys would love to see you," Abby waves at you as he leaves.

You're left at the vending machine, heart thundering at the brief contact as you watch his back leave before he turns the corner to go back to their dance studio. You are so about to make a mistake going to see them, is all that you think as you're returning to your own room.

After getting back to your room, your dancers and you disperse to do your own thing for the next hour. With some thinking, you decide fuck it and head down to where Abby said they were practicing. You can hear music playing as you look through the door and see them taking a break and make eye contact with Abby who smiles before going to the door to let you in.

"So, you decided to join us?” Abby leans on the door covering your body form view as the other guys in the room wonder who he’s talking to.

“Yeah, figured why not not everyday you can watch a hot new group in their element,” you chirp out before realizing what you said.

“Sorry not hot! I mean you are hot, but I didn’t mean that hot I meant hot as in really popular!” You wince at Abby holding in his laugh as he leads you into the room.

As you enter the room, all their eyes fall on you and your hit with the feeling that you’ve walked into the lions den.

“Welcome princess, didn’t realize we’d have a guest or else I’d have cleaned up,” Jinu says as he looks your form up and down. He’s wearing a loose shirt and grey sweatpants that does nothing to hide his physique.

The other guys in the room all have looks of hunger at your outfit, still breathing heavily from their practice. The one with lilac hair covering his eyes is the second to approach you as he offers you some water.

“Figure you’d want water, I’m Mystery,” he quietly says before going to sit on the floor one leg propped out as he continues to catch his breath.

You’re holding the water to your chest when Abby leads you to where the speaker is, now turned off since they’re taking a momentary break. They sneak glances at you while you sit a little awkwardly just listening to them chat.

Eventually, Jinu calls them back to practice. They start with Soda Pop, as they dance your shoulders bop along to the music while they pour their attention to you making your face flush from the looks they give you.

"Cause I need you to need me," Jinu points at you and smirks, you look away before turning your attention back.

"I'm empty, you feed me," Romance licks him lips while looking you up and down.

"So refreshing," Abby winks at you while pulling his shirt a bit to expose his chest.

"My little Soda Pop," Baby turns towards you and gives you a sultry look before continuing with the dance.

They dance through the chorus while their attention remains on your form, you feel slightly exposed and flush a bit at all their gazes. They finish their dance, and you clap for them, "nice! You guys are good!"

Abby is the first one to approach you, leaning down breathing heavily as he cages you between his arms.

"Any notes you could give us, any suggestions," He asks lowly, voice slightly raspy. You swallow the spit in your mouth as you hold eye contact with him, stammering a bit.

Romance is the next to approach you going to your right side and leaning down a bit to your ear.

"Any pointers you could give us? Any moves you could show us?" He breathes in your ear, his hair tickling the side of your face. You start to breathe a bit heavier at the attention they give you, you lick your lips as they feel impossibly dry.

The action only grabs Abby's attention. He leans in closer so close he was only a hair away from your mouth and lets out a breath as he smirks.

"You nervous?"

You silently nod, leaning back the slightest bit as your back hits the mirrored wall of the studio leaving you trapped between the two men.

"Use your words, princess," Romance chides you from your right as your eyes dart to him. Breath leaving you at his words and your face heats before you stutter out a yes.

Abby takes some mercy on you and eases up on the barely there space and backs away leaving you to Romance as he gets a drink.

These boys are going to kill you.

Romance soon leaves the teasing as he goes off to get his own drink and talk with the other guys, you finally are able to grab a full breath, and your face finally calms down.

You bid goodbye to the boys as you go back to your own studio, mind reeling at the attention and proximity of the boys. These men are much too attractive to be doing this to you.

Duke pulls back from the hug to see your face changed, eyebrows no longer the same as Bruce’s, nose not the same shape.

“What-”

You wave your hands in front of you, face shifting back to your actual one before reverting back to the one he saw.

“Sorry, I- it’s a long story, maybe not that long? No it’s definitely long- um long story short I have to do this,” you gesture to your face, “so that people don’t whip out their phones and post me all over the internet.”

Duke is slackjawed, he just saw your face shift. Like a shapeshifter, and as far as he knew you weren’t a meta. You were a regular human child, you shouldn’t be able to do that.

Duke’s quiet mind breaking leaves you to ramble, “you know how the internet is- people always showing other people without their consent, super messed up. We barely keep Percy out of the press as is,” you mutter that part to yourself.

“Percy?” Shit he picked up on it anyway.

“Um who- did I say Percy? I meant pervy, lot of creeps out there!”

“As in Percy Jackson? Wanted criminal for arson-”

“Okay that wasn’t his fault!”

Clarisse chimes in at that one, “it totally was, Jackson can’t keep quiet for one minute!”

“Not helping,” you seethe out.

The shock shows on his face and Clarisse and Robin for all the fanfare, they’re happy that you’re reuniting with your brother and all, but you still have a quest to do, even if there’s no time limit now.

"Okay, so I'll overlook knowing a terrorist-"

Duke tries his best to not show a grimace on his face.

"He's not a terrorist, crazy definitely, but not a terrorist-"

Clarisse once again opens her mouth to say something more about Percy, Robin slaps her mouth with their palm. She licks their palm as Robin lets out a sound of disgust.

"But, are you okay I mean- Dick and Tim said you were going on about Greek gods? And staying in some shady hotel?"

You side-eye Clarisse and Robin, hard.

"Yeah, we're fine, just some kids rambling about mythical things and it wasn't that bad of a hotel, there was an ice machine."

Thunder rumbles in the distance, you can smell the ozone, Zeus doesn't like being called a myth. For all of your sakes, you hope he doesn't strike you down.

Duke seems to notice a slight disturbance in the three of you, squinting his eyes at the clench in your jaw as you subtly shift on your feet.

"(Y/n), they said you took down a mechanical bull," Duke steps closer to you, as you nervously step back a bit, tongue in cheek.

"Okay, we took down a mechanical bull, so what, Duke? That doesn't mean anything, right place, right time," you step close to him and whisper, so Clarisse and Robin don't hear, "you fight villains and you're a meta, Duke, that's not the craziest thing to happen in Gotham."

He frowns and shakes his head, "that doesn't explain you naming the bull and how you knew how to take it down."

You clench your jaw as you look up at him.

"Duke, don't. You know I care and love you very much, but we're not getting into it. All you need to know is that I'm fine, finer than I ever was in that shit hole of a manor."

Duke blinks, not used to this brashness. You were quiet, never loud and lacked the confidence to be so bold or so bitter. He decides to not think about it too hard, still shocked that you are alive and just wanting to preserve any semblance of the child that you were the last time he saw you.

"Okay, okay I won't ask. But you're alive! God I can't believe you're alive!" Duke finally lets the surprise of seeing you hit him. "We searched and we couldn’t find anything on you for two years, but look at you! You’re taller, you’re confident now, and now that we’ve found you, we can bring you home!”

You blink in surprise.

“Bring me home? I’m not going back, Duke."

It's his turn to be surprised, brows furrowing and pain showing on his face.

“What do you mean you’re not going back, this is your home-”

“No, gods no, that was never my home. I have a home already. I have friends now, an actual family. I have sisters and brothers, Duke. I have a father figure that actually cares. I can’t just leave that behind. Besides that, it’s not safe if I go back, no one will be safe and I can’t do that to you.”

Duke is pleading with you now.

“Come back, (y/n), please we miss you, I miss you!”

“I can’t, and you know I can’t-”

“Things are better now, I promise you they are better now-”

You scoff.

“But after how long, Duke? I mean look at what it took for them to actually notice me, what, nine years? Did they even notice that I went ‘missing,’” you put air quotes around missing, “I have a life now, I have actual family that cares, aside from you and Alfred, I know you miss me and I miss you too, more than you can imagine, but I’m happy, really happy.”

Duke only stares at you in disbelief; this wasn't how this was supposed to go. He didn't think that you would come home easily, obviously, but you need to come home, clearly, you're not safe wherever you are if you're fighting mechanical bulls with spears and a shield.

"(Y/n), please, I promise you things are different now, everyone misses you," Duke is pleading with you now.

You only frown, "Duke, things can be different all they want, and I understand that things were busy with everything that you guys do, but I was a kid, I needed a family and now I have one. Don't you want me to be happy?"

It’s Dukes turn to frown, he doesn't want to force you to come home, especially in front of a group of people, but if he has to he just might.

"Don't make me do this, please don't."

"I'm sorry, but you need to leave."

You clench your jaw as your eyes get watery, you really are glad to see Duke, but you have a life now and a quest to finish.

"Go back home, Duke, now."

Clarisse and Robin step behind you now, looking Duke in the eyes, letting him know that you won't be leaving by force, not if they're there.

Duke's eyes glaze over, the same as his siblings and he leaves with no fuss, but you watch with tears in your eyes. You never wanted to use your charmspeak on him, not if you could help it.

Once he leaves your sight, you break down. Crumbling to your knees on the street as Robin rubs your shoulders.

Clarisse looks away, offering you as much privacy as she could possibly give you. Not a lot of time passes before you manage to stifle your crying and stand up while sniffing, wiping your face.

"I'm okay, I really am glad that I saw him and that he knows I'm okay, but we need to leave, get as far away from here as possible."

You blink away the rest of your tears; there isn't enough time to mourn whatever family you have that does care for you. You have a mission to do, and you need to fulfill it.

The three of you quickly leave the busy street, you begin making your way to Manhattan from Metropolis. You don't have any money, having left it in the hotel room to pay for it, but you make do any way.

You wait out in various diners, asking only for water and wait for it to get darker out before traveling to avoid more people that could possibly recognize you or think they recognize you. As soon as the sun starts to set, the three of you begin to make your way to Manhattan.

-

Bruce's phone rings, cutting through the quiet that permeated throughout the cave. It wasn't too late, the sun had just set, but he still found himself at the computer combing through files for the most recent case presented to him. The current one was about the mechanical bull that Dick, Damian and Stephanie had gone up against.

Bruce was still looking at the computer screen displaying camera footage of the bull attacking Damian when he finally picks up his phone.

"Yes, Clark?"

"Bruce, I need to speak with you and Diana. Tonight. The League meeting is going to have to wait. Diana is nearby, I already called her and she's on her way to the manor. I'm heading there now, it's important."

Bruce barely has time to form a response before the entrance to the cave is opened and he hears two distinct footsteps descending the stairs. For once, in a very long time he is caught off guard, hanging up the phone as he sees Superman and Wonder woman approach him at the computer.

"While I appreciate a visit from friends," he strains out the word 'friends' a bit, "why visit on such short notice."

It's not a question, it's a statement.

"Bruce, I saw your daughter."

The statement shocks Bruce, who turns from the computer and stands to face Clark fully, eyes wide and shaking slightly.

“You what?”

"She was in Metropolis with two other kids, delivering some package to a tall man, but he-"

Bruce can't hear Clark with all the blood rushing through his ears. You're alive? You hadn't been seen for two years, but you were in Metropolis. How? There are cameras everywhere how did no one see you for two years?

He finally tunes back in when Diana says, "Hermes? His trade route doesn't usually include Metropolis, but I do know he doesn't go to Gotham."

Bruce just mouths the name 'Hermes?' As in the Greek god, what did he have to do with any of this?

"Sorry, Hermes? Greek god Hermes? Clark are you sure that's who you saw?"

"He was no ordinary human, there was something off about him, a power that I could feel emanating from him. She," he means you, "called him Lord Hermes and he said something about a quest and his own children, he called them demigods too. I don't know what to make of it, Diana do you know anything about this guy?"

Diana has a pensive look on her face, and her jaw is clenched. She knows exactly who he's talking about, but she's torn on if she should reveal anything about demigods. You've been living out of the public eye, more importantly out of the League’s eye and she'd rather you stay that way.

Diana stays silent, almost too silent, the kind that indicates you know exactly what it is that's being said and don't want to say anything. Bruce can see it clear on her face, and he is not happy that you, his youngest daughter, could be caught up in something dangerous.

"Diana, if you know anything-"

"It's...complicated, you all know of my parentage, yes?"

"Yeah, you were formed from clay by Zeus," Clark lightly makes air quotes, not mocking but more quoting what she had said, "what does that have to do with this?"

"I am not the only one of my kind, made from clay, yes, but there are other children of the gods."

Clark and Bruce are stunned. When Diana had said she was made from clay, they accepted it, they could accept a lot of things, but gods? Actual gods? What she's implying is shocking to them both. Is she implying that you-

"What do you mean 'of the gods?'"

"Exactly what I said, the gods often join with humans, the only ones who are not allowed are the big three. Zeus, my father, Poseidon, and Hades. I was formed before the pact came to ban them from making more children. The other gods are not, they are free to do as they please."

"What does this have to do with my daughter?"

Bruce's face is stern, and it's clear he doesn't want to believe what is being clearly insinuated.

"Bruce, you know what I am insinuating. Your daughter is a demigod."

No, he refuses to believe it, how could you be a demigod. Who could possibly be your mother?

"I know that may be difficult to understand, but that is the only reason that she would be interacting with Hermes. Mortals cannot just meet the gods in normal circumstances or see through the mist. It's the only explanation and one you will have to accept."

Clark is the one to say something next, Bruce cannot even begin to form more words.

"Do you have any idea who her mother could be?"

Diana rolls her eyes lightly, she has a very good idea of who your mother could be. She's seen your pictures and your hair. She knows very well who your mother is.

"Yes, I do. Congratulations Bruce, you have managed to have a child with the goddess of love and war."

Clarks eyes nearly pop out of their sockets, and he whips his head to Bruce who is still standing shocked. He can hardly focus on what Diana is saying, his daughter is a demigod. What does this mean for you? Why haven't you come home?

"Diana, do you have any idea where she could be staying?"

"I will not reveal where the demigods live, for their safety and for your own. Know that she is safe there."

"How could she be safe? I was told by Dick that she fought some bull in an alley in Gotham! How could that possibly be safe?"

Diana's gaze hardens and Clark can feel her ire beginning to rise.

"Bruce-"

"You are one to talk. Damian is not much older than her and you let him go out to fight criminals. What I know is your daughter was hunted, that is why she left Gotham two years ago and she was saved as evidence by the fact that she is still alive. Where she is staying is the safest place for her to be. You want her to be safe? Then leave her be. Let her come to you, should she want to."

Clark is now looking between the two and before he can interrupt Bruce beats him to it.

"Where, Diana? How can I possibly believe she is safe if she's meeting with gods and battling bulls?"

"It is not my place to say where she stays-"

"Have you been there?"

"No-"

"Then how do you know it's safe?"

Before Diana can say anything else, the entrance to the cave is opened by Duke and Tim who are talking amongst themselves. They don’t notice the trio before them until they can finally see how tense Bruce and Diana are.

“We can come back later,” Duke starts before Tim shushes him, the nosy man that he is.

“What’s going on? Clark, Diana, as nice as it is to see you, why are you here?”

Bruce only brings a hand to his face to scrub from his brows down, he’s already stressed as is thinking about you being in harms way, plus the fact that your siblings have seen you and not him, he’s in no mood to get anyone else wrapped up in this.

“Nothing,” Clark interjects, giving a look to Diana who opens her mouth to reveal your status as a demigod, “just adults chatting about adult things.”

Bruce scoffs, a sound so unbecoming it has Duke and Tim whipping their heads to him in surprise.

“It’s about your sister.”

Their heads whip to Bruce who has now turned back to the bat computer and pulled up footage of you from the night that the bull was seen in Gotham City. Nearby cameras barely picked it up, but it can see your hair curled into its signature heart shape at the end.

The cameras catch you running into the alley and you making a movement with one hand to your wrist and a shield opening as you throw it at the bull and it knocks off one of its horns. Video feed continues to play out as Duke and Tim watch in awe.

They can see your face, it’s you there’s no mistaking it. As you’re facing the bull, two other kids come running and subdue it as you throw your spear into its mouth and pull them behind you to shield them. They continue to watch as the trio continues behind them.

“Diana, talk. Now.”

Diana glares at Bruce, how dare he speak to her this way.

“Bruce, I’ve known you for many years, but do not think for one moment that you can take that tone with me.”

Bruce lets out a shaky sigh as Clark puts a hand on his shoulder.

“Explain, please, you said she was hunted, by what?”

Diana inhales sharply, that she does not know the answer to. She’s known many demigods in her long life, be it her own siblings that have perished through war, but she doesn’t keep record of all of them. There’s not enough time in the world to keep track of what the gods do.

“I don’t know specifically Bruce, but all demigods reach a height of danger when they begin to reach their teen years. You’re lucky she wasn’t killed. Not many get the chance to live.”

Bruce and Clark are stunned to silence, not many get the chance? How cruel are the gods to let their children suffer such a fate?

“How did she survive then? Who was coming after her?”

“Not who, what. Monsters are the ones that hunt the children, should they be lucky enough to be found by a satyr they may reach their safe haven, in her case she was found and brought to safety.”

Diana speaks calmly, as if this is a normal occurrence. As if any of this is normal.

Bruce sits down carefully, head in his hands, distraught. You, his youngest and most vulnerable daughter, are out there facing monsters. Real monsters from mythology and he doesn’t know where you are.

“Clark, I ask you this as a friend, what did Hermes say to her?”

Clark looks to the side, awkward and not entirely sure if he should give Bruce the answer he wants. He could lie, but God, or gods, rather know he’s awful at it.

"Bruce, I'm not sure you want to know..."

"Clark, I ask you this as a friend and someone you've known for a long, long time, please tell me what he said."

Clark had never seen Bruce beg, not even close to it, but to hear him plead for him to give him any inkling of what he heard in regards to you is shocking.

Clark sighs, it's clear that Bruce wants to keep you safe and he'd rather Bruce didn't do anything irrational.

"He thanked them for returning his cloak, that's what was in the package, and then told them that their quest wasn't done with just delivering it to him, he needed a favor and he had a letter from her mother, er- Aphrodite. He called her, her favorite daughter, and gave them a ring, some ring of invisibility-"

"The ring of Gyges," Diana cuts in with a nod.

"Yes the ring of Gyges, he also added his own boon to it, granting whoever wears it his speed and told them that they needed to go to Manhattan. He also warned them that your daughter is being hunted."

Bruce clenches his jaw, he knew it, he knew you were in danger. You couldn't be safe, at least he knows where to go to bring you home now.

"Bruce, I'm sure that she can take care of herself, look it's late, they're probably resting somewhere safe. I'm sure they are in safe hands."

-

"Shit! Kill it, kill it!"

"If I had fire I would!"

"Don't cut the fucking head!"

You hold your shield close as the hydra spits acid at you, intending to end your already fairly short life. You use your shield as a cover as Clarisse jabs and electrocutes the hydra head closest to her, you pull Robin with you behind the shield.

"Use the ring and kill the hydra. Go low and kill it while Clarisse and I distract."

"Got it," Robin slips the ring on and uses the invisibility and speed to maneuver around the heads and uses their blade to pierce the heart.

The hydra lets out a roar before falling, spitting out some more acid that nears your feet as you draw back to avoid burning your flesh.

"Okay, so no monster donut next time. Duly noted."

-

“I’m getting my daughter back”

“Wait Bruce, think about this-”

“There’s nothing to think about, she’s probably scared or confused or something. This talk about her being a demigod is nonsensical, I’m bringing my daughter home.”

“She doesn’t want to,” Duke interrupts Bruce's pacing.

“What?”

“She doesn’t want to come back, I tried to convince her, but my head just went fuzzy and then I was back here, but it’s clear she doesn’t want to come home," Duke's face is pained as he says this.

"She said that it's not safe for her or anyone if she came back and that she found a family, that she doesn't need us."

Tim rips his eyes from the screen, now paused on you throwing the spear at the wall where Dick, Damian and Stephanie were hiding. He watched your face carefully, it’s blank, clear that you’re just going through the motions.

Diana is next to speak up.

“She’s right, it isn’t safe for her to come home.”

Bruce turns to Diana with his brows furrowed, “this is the safest possible place she could be.”

“For humans, yes, but for demigods no. Technology attracts monsters, if she attempted to come with nothing to block her scent she’ll be hunted fast. Gotham has its own problems with monsters, she’d be found in no time.”

Clark looks at Diana with surprise, mouthing, “there are a lot of monsters in Gotham?”

"There are many monsters in Gotham, it's a big hive for hydras, many demigod children have died at the hands of them here."

"How many are we talking about?" Clark's eyebrows furrow in sorrow.

He is promptly ignored by all parties despite his bewilderment, and he goes back to trying to keep Bruce from making any rash decisions.

"Bruce, think about this-"

“You’re keeping me from my daughter!”

“She doesn’t even want to come back here! I-” Clark sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, “she doesn’t want to come back, clearly. I’m not going to ask what happened, it’s not my business, but I think you should give her space. If what Diana said is true and they go on ‘quests,’ maybe you should just let her be.”

“She’s a child!”

“So is Damian, so were Dick and Tim and Jason! But now you draw the line at your daughter?”

Bruce sighs, Clark does have a point, but he's blinded by the image of you from the day you went missing. That picture of you that came from a school event, not even a picture from home. Just little you, front tooth missing and all, that's what he remembers. He can't let this chance slip by, he can't let you slip by this time.

"I'm going to Manhattan to find her for myself and I'm going alone. Keep watch on Gotham while I'm away."

He leaves no room for discussion as Clark, Diana, Duke and Tim watch as he puts his cowl on and gets into the batmobile, leaving the cave and heading to Manhattan.

"We should follow him, right?"

"I think it's best to let Bruce handle this one on his own."

Diana sighs as Clark just pinches between his eyebrows, if he were capable of getting a headache, he surely would have one.

“He’ll return, I’m sure of it. With his daughter however, that I doubt.”

Clark looks at Diana as Tim and Duke go back to watching the video feed from the feed you were seen in Gotham.

“She could have killed them if she threw her spear just a little farther.”

“Do you think she knew they were there?”

“Hard to tell, she clearly suspects something is there and has no restraint with killing.”

Clark raises his eyebrows at their words before fully facing Diana as she watches with her own interest piqued at your battle skills.

“She’d make a good Amazon, I have no doubt Aphrodite is proud of her, especially if Hermes called her her favorite daughter.”

“You think she’ll be able to handle whatever is coming after her?”

Diana smirks as she watches the screen.

“I have no doubt that she is her mother’s daughter.”

The screen has been rewound back and paused on you gripping your spear as you face the Colchis Bull, shield held proudly up.

-

Bruce is speeding through the streets of Gotham at as reasonable a pace he can. The thought of you being out there, without someone from the family to watch over you and keep you safe is all that stays in his mind. He trusts Diana, to a certain extent as she knows his identity, but what she says about you being able to handle your own just doesn't seem feasible to him.

You've been gone for two years, that's not nearly enough time to be able to learn to keep yourself alive, especially if you're going up against monsters, real monsters. Not just the type of monsters that creep around Gotham either, actual monsters from what Bruce believed to be fiction!

Bruce prides himself on his restraint and his ability to keep cool, but he can feel his face twisting in concern, and he can feel the stress lines forming on his forehead.

"Daughter of Aphrodite..."

He tsks, he thinks he'd remember if he got together with the goddess of love and apparently war. Though he supposes if what Diana says is true then the gods disguise themselves for whatever reason, so he's doing his best not to beat himself up too bad about not knowing your real parentage until now.

He just passes the threshold into New York, reaching Manhattan in no time.

The clock on the dash reads twelve am, he can’t believe he spent that long talking with Clark and Diana, valuable time he could have spent looking for you.

He speeds through the streets and finds parking in an abandoned lot where some run-down apartments have been left. He exits the vehicle and begins his search as he scales the buildings and leaps from roof top to roof top.

He knows that Tim is at the computer, so he calls him and tells him to search the cameras for any possible sighting of you or the kids you were with.

"Got 'em! They're in middle Manhattan, about two blocks away from where you're located. But Bruce are you sure-"

"Thank you, Tim," he doesn't give him the chance to continue with his sentence, turning his comms off.

You were close, and he would bring you home, whether you wanted to or not.

-

The three of you are still walking the streets of Manhattan, now in the upper area, still continuing with your quest, but now at a much more leisurely pace now that there are no time constraints. When's the next time you would get the chance to be outside camp, anyway?

Clarisse finally stops her leading at an alley close to a diner, deciding this would be a good place to stop for the night.

"Alright, we should rest here before we continue."

Robin lets out a sigh of relief, sliding down the wall and crouching on the ground as they take their blade off their hip.

"Finally! We've been walking forever!"

You roll your eyes as you take a seat with your legs crossed, pulling your spear out to inspect it for any damage. Sure, it was a magical item, but it still never hurt to inspect for damage.

Clarisse is the one to break the silence first, nodding her head to the backpack you still had on your back.

"You ever gonna check that letter your mom sent you?"

You tilt your head at her, thinking that now would really be a good time to see since you're taking a break.

"Yeah, I guess I should take a look," you mutter as you take the bag off your back and bring it to the front. Opening the zipper and taking the letter out, getting a whiff of a floral scent from the pale envelop. You inspect the letter a little more closely.

It's a lightly colored envelope, a faint cream color, with a rose wax stamp. The wax itself is a rich burgundy, and you lightly peel it off and pocket the seal, it makes a nice keepsake.

You open the envelope and pull out the letter. A single rose petal comes out as you unfold the letter.

Clarisse and Robin stare at you as you read the contents quietly to yourself.

You reach the end of the letter, eyes wide.

"What's wrong?"

Clarisse furrows her brows at your expression as you pass the letter to Robin for them to read.

"What's the Prophecy of the Rose bearer...and why is my mom saying I'm the one?"

Part 5!

The alarm came on at eleven and it took Tim exactly five minutes to locate what was causing the disturbance. Video footage in the surrounding area had shown what looked to be a mechanical bull seemingly on the hunt for something or someone. It was pacing alley ways between different buildings, but noticeably not going after anyone. It was almost like they couldn't see it.

Tim checks the locations of every bat vigilante and calls out to the three closest.

“Something’s up on the south-side of middle Gotham. Dick, Steph, Damian, you three are the closest to that area, I’ll send you the location now.”

At the same time that Tim sends the location to the three vigilantes, he messages Jason, alerting him of potential spikes in abnormal activity on his side of town.

Once Jason receives the message, he scowls at his phone specifically used for missions. He was hoping for a quiet night in for once, but of course it had to be ruined by something.

He reluctantly sets out, scowl still on his face as he leaves his safe house and shoves on his helmet, unbeknownst to him he was being watched by three teens just waiting for him to leave his nest.

The events that follow these two movements are then what set in motion a series of events most unfortunate to you and your gaggle of misfits.

Dick, Stephanie and Damian run to the location only to not see anything. They jump down to the ground to survey the area until they hear snorting and find the bull as Tim described and are immediately perplexed at the sight. It’s a mechanical bull, that much is obvious, but the tech used to create it is nothing of the caliber that the usual goons in Gotham could ever create, something or someone new made this and they weren’t looking forward to finding out just what the bull is capable of.

The bull at first, makes no movement towards them seemingly uninterested, but it’s not until they try to attack it that it goes ballistic.

Damian is the first to move at the bull, sword drawn as he lunges towards the bull head on. He strikes the bull, making a dent in its armor as the bull tanks the hit. It flings Damian to the side and crushes him against the wall. He yells out as he can feel his ribs being squished to the wall, organs being crushed and wind being knocked out of him.

Dick grabs its attention to bring some relief to Damian who is left gasping against the wall. The bull rages towards Dick, bowing its head with its horns poised forward ready to stab him in the heart. He only jumps away from its horns, using his grip on them to flip away and remain intact as he skids away from the bull.

It snorts and yells angrily as they try to incapacitate it as quickly and efficiently as possible, but none of their weapons can make another dent in its armor or skin rather. Stephanie is eventually hit by its horns that sharpen and release small maces that spin violently.

Her side is graced, but it’s enough to violently rip her flesh apart, blood pooling out of her gaping wound as she yells and clutches her side breathing heavily. Damian immediately takes her spot to distract the bull and it’s not until the bull goes after him that Dick finally jumps on the bull to try and drive it into a wall of the alley it was surveying.

He gets no luck however, as he’s immediately thrown off and nearly speared through his chest, as the bull rams into the wall leaving a large dent and crumbling cement.

He quickly runs for cover scaling the nearest wall he can and ducks behind the wall that Damian and Stephanie are now hiding behind, trying to get Stephanie’s wounds as best under control as they can.

“We need to do something about this thing and fast,” Dick whisper yells as the bull continues snorting and trying to find its victims.

“With Stephanie injured and my ribs crushed," wheezes follow these words, "we can’t take risks, we must return to the mansion to get her aid.”

Damian grunts out as Stephanie, getting gauze and heavy-duty tape out of her belt fastens it to her side, gauze pressed firmly against her right side as blood continues to fester. Luckily it was just a scrape from the bull, but the damage from the maces leaves her skin shredded and peeling off in a way most gruesome.

Damian is never one to withdraw from a fight, so for him to say that retreating is the best option is speaking on how tough this opponent was.

“I can get home fine,” she hisses out, trying and failing to get up and scale the wall behind her only to be pulled down by Dick, and firmly sat down with a hand on her shoulder.

“You can’t scale anything with your side eviscerated as it is,” Damian pointedly remarks.

Stephanie is about to give her rebuttal when a yell tears out through the bulls snorting and bellowing, coming from none of them they can only assume a nearby passerby has been marked by the bull and is in harms way. Dick makes his way to try and subdue the bull again but is quickly pulled back by Damian who uncharacteristically gestures him to watch what’s happening.

The sight and sound of a shield being thrown at the bull is what greets them. The bull bellows as one of its horns is knocked off, the impact making the shield bounce away from the bull close to the wall where they’re hiding behind.

They watch as you, yes you, rush to the shield as another teenager covers for you rushing at the bull with a blade raised high as they deflect the remaining horn. You grab your shield and raise it before taking out a pen and uncapping it. They watch mystified as the pen takes the form of a bronze spear. They watch in shock at how easily you wield it, like it's an extension of your body. But you'd never known about the vigilante side of them, and they were most certain that you weren't trained at all. They never saw you down in the cave, right? How could you have learned to wield a weapon and fight?

They can only continue to witness the events as the unnamed teen jams their blade into the bulls' side, stalling some of the machinery making it hard for the bull to reach around and maim them with its remaining horn.

Dick nearly yells out for you to get back and away from the bull when your friend interrupts.

He watches as they yell out, “it’s stopped! Do it now!”

At these words another teenager comes from the shadows with their own spear, this one being electrified and watch as they twist around the bull and jam the head of it into the bulls' other side, electrifying it and keeping it from making any movements as its machinery is jammed. The bull twitches and spasms as it can't control its movements. It moves erratically and thrashes as the two teens at its side try to keep it in control long enough for you to kill it.

The vigilantes watch in shock as you weave around the bull and thrust the spear into its open mouth and drag the other two behind your shield to protect from the spray of machinery as the bull implodes.

The various machinery bits and pieces of the bull, its head and horn, pieces of its innards and legs lay around the alley before they all start to turn into an ash. The only thing leftover being the bulls horn that you knocked off with your shield.

Shock overtakes them as they watch as you and the two other kids, you’re kids, young teens, barely as old if not the same age as Damian, casually banter showing how close you are with them as a million and one questions flood their minds.

Who are these kids? Why are you so chummy with them? You’re alive? Weren’t you kidnapped? Why did you never reach out?

This and a million more flow as they take in the sight of you. You’ve grown, you look like a teenager even, and your hair has gotten longer, still curling into hearts at the end. It has to be you, there’s no doubt about it.

The three vigilantes continue to take notice the ease that you talk with the two people, so easy and carefree. It's clear that you trust them, having put your life in their hands quite literally. Did you ever do that with them? None of them can seem to remember you joking with them like this or ever smiling so brightly like you do with them.

Tuning in to dissuade the depressing thoughts that invade their minds, they listen as you three speak about "mortals," "the Colchis bull," "celestial bronze," and their ears immediately perk up at the mention of fighting in the alley before you all got there by the tallest one, with the electrified spear.

Immediately, nerves start to fry off and fast. This is not how they wanted to reunite with you, and those two are certainly not people they trusted even if you did. They warily fall back, even further into the wall to avoid your sight. They would love to just come out and embrace you, but their better judgement deters that thought from turning into action.

They pick back up when you start talking. You sound so mature now, no longer the little girl that used to stick to Alfred's side like glue.

"Well, whatever as long as we're all okay I don't really care. As for anyone seeing, it doesn't really matter, weird shit happens in Gotham all the time. The sooner we finish our quest the sooner I can at least let Duke and Alfred know I'm fine and then we can hightail it out of here."

Brows furrow at your words. Quest? What the hell is a quest and why are you on one, you're a kid! No matter the meaning, there's another thing that draws their attention. You would only tell Duke and Alfred you're okay? Why not everyone else? Didn't they all deserve to know you were alive and well? Bruce had been torn to pieces when you were kidnapped, he was ruthless out on patrols. Beating every would-be mugger black and blue, hell even Joker wasn't safe from Bruce's brutality.

Their eyebrows stay furrowed as they look between each other, seeming to speak without words. Stephanie still clutches her side, now only faintly oozing blood from how much gauze was packed into her wound, Damian holding his side as he feels his breath returning to him and checking for any broken ribs, and Dick the oldest, in utter shambles that his baby sister, the one he's known since you were dropped off at the manner by your mother, doesn't seem to care for any of them. The one he watched grow, he was there for your first steps, your first words, he can still remember when you tried to babble his name.

His heart isn't doing well, he feels as if his soul is being crushed, a cruel thing done by whatever higher being there is. Nonetheless, he is the one who needs to be the strong one.

"We need to let the others know she's alive," Dick speaks first. His mind is firm, before anything can be done everyone deserves to know that you're alive and seemingly well, first and foremost. Stephanie and Dick are ready to fight the minute his words leave his mouth. No. They can't just leave you with these random kids, you're their sister! You belong with them. Dick gives them no opportunity to fight his words with the look on his face. It's solemn and hard set with a deep furrow in between his perfect eyebrows.

He is set on this decision and deep down they know it's the right thing to do. No matter how much they want to run out there and embrace you, they need to get to the manor first. For Stephanie and Damian to get treated, and fast, and so they can reconvene and make a plan to bring you home.

With this agreement made, they do tilt their heads out from beyond the wall to get one last glance at you before they leave. Only to be met with a spear pointed directly at them, they just barely are able to duck behind the wall when a loud and clambering thunk is heard as the spear goes partially through the cement wall and is pointing directly in the middle of Stephanie's forehead.

Their hearts are hammering, Stephanie is in shock and very nearly screams as she watches her life flash before her eyes. They can only listen as you just continue to casually speak, with no hint of concern in your voice. As if you didn't nearly kill Stephanie.

"Thought I heard something, whatever it is doesn't matter," they don't matter is what the three hear and they can feel their hearts hammer as the words are said so plainly, "we just need to get Herme's package to the Planet and get back home; we shouldn't waste time."

The three vigilantes don't see the next of your movements, only hearing the sound of metal folding in on itself as they sit in shock at the spear imbedded in the wall. They could have died, just like that. The speed that the spear was thrown and the fact there's no damage on it, you wasted no time in throwing it at them.

What have you been battling that you aim to kill first and not try to subdue? What could you have possibly gone through that you now have so much violence in you, or were you always like that?

And what did you mean by "Hermes" and "the Planet"? Hermes, the Greek god? He wasn't real, whatever you had gotten yourself into was poisoning your mind. They continue to listen in as they move away from the spear, still gleaming dangerously at them.

“Still so cool that Lady Aphrodite gave you a shield, dude,” they hear from beyond the wall.

Again with the Greek gods being mentioned, what is going on with you three. They've dealt with a lot of things: extraterrestrials, the Martian Man, multidimensional people showing up, magic, but they draw the line at literal Greek gods. They refuse to believe that on top of everything else, gods could exist, not possible they won't believe it until they see it with their own eyes.

They've seen a lot of weird things, but that bull was something else entirely. The three vigilantes can only listen as they hear you continue to talk idly as footsteps get closer and closer to where they are. You're right on the other side of the wall as they see and hear the spear being pulled back. In an ungraceful fashion, they fumble to avoid being seen through the hole left by the spear. As you take the now pen back and go to put it in your pocket, Dick decides that's the time to reveal himself.

He nervously steps out from behind the wall and clears his throat to not scare you, doing the opposite as you whirl around pen out and bracelet pushed down, ready to equip your shield.

Clarisse immediately raises her spear and points it at his face and sneers out, "Who the hell are you?"

Before she can spear first and ask questions later, you wave her down as you put your pen in your pocket and explain him away with a dismissive, "Its just a weirdo in spandex, he's one of the vigilantes I told you guys about."

Dick scoffs in offense as Damian and Stephanie use that chance to step out after, Stephanie nervously stares at the floor before finally raising her head while Damian just stares directly into your eyes.

You just roll your eyes, of course three of your "siblings" had to be here, you just couldn't escape them tonight.

"Is that you, (y/n)?" Stephanie asks quietly, you almost missed it had you not had all your focus put on them.

"Um, who?"

Maybe not the best to play dumb with the so called "world-renowned detectives," but frankly you were too tired to care at this point.

You spit out that you don't know who it was that they were talking about and that you're "sorry to the family," a noticeable poison to those last words, but they're so sure it's you.

Dick points out as much as your face seems to change, no longer the same eyebrows as Bruce, nose a little wider, a little more pronounced, your eye shape changing, but he knows it's you. He can feel it as sure as he knows the back of his own hand.

Stephanie tries to take the "concerned vigilante for children” route, but your friends don't buy it, standing in front of you with their weapons out and very clearly ready to fight them if necessary. Clarisse even goes as far to point out how weak they were against the bull, making them feel shame. They should have been strong enough to take it down is what they feel, yet they also can't help but feel a sense of gratefulness if it means that you finally show up.

Dick tries to defuse the situation, not nearly making as big of an impact as he thinks on three children who have fought literal mythological monsters and are in the midst of the war of the century against the king of Titans, until you utter the words that make their minds go blank and their eyes glaze over.

"Turn around and go home."

With those words, they're gone as fast as they revealed themselves. Climbing and running across rooftops to get back to the mansion, ignoring that their wounds are opening and their bodies getting sore from the bull attack.

All that's left of them is the crater in the wall where Damian was pummeled and Stephanie's blood in the alley as you, Clarisse and Robin finally leave behind the wreckage.

-

Dick crashes through the cave first, followed by Stephanie and Damian now no longer under the effect of your Charmspeak.

Tim is befuddled at their sudden entrance, but they don’t respond until they finally shake off the effect of your charmspeak.

“How did we get here? We were just out on patrol?”

The three are snapped out of their daze after completing what you said to do, now in the cave and uncertain of how they got there and why they have no memory of moving through the city to get to the manor.

The last thing they remember was fighting the bull, hiding behind the wall, seeing you then talking for a bit and then now they're here. Either way, the shock of no memory isn’t enough to wave off the shock of you being alive and seemingly well.

Stephanie is the one to yell it, despite her wounds now becoming more of a hindrance and Alfred quickly coming to bring her to the med bay of the cave.

“She’s alive! We saw her!”

Alfred is urging her to the medical med, peeling gauze away and exposing the extent of her gruesome wound. He silently works to get an IV and pain medication in her so he can disinfect and sew her wounds closed. She was lucky to get the wound as shallow as it was. Any deeper and her intestines would have gone through and been exposed.

Tim takes in what she yelled as Dick directs Damian to sit down, who refuses based on them needing to find you as soon as possible. If what they saw and heard was true you were going to be out of Gotham as soon as possible and they would lose their chance to bring you home.

It finally settles in what she means as Damian calls out to him, "Drake! Search the cameras in Gotham for any trace of (y/n)'s location!"

He snaps out of his shock at hearing your name, wasting no time in searching through every camera, from subway to bus stop, from movie theater to hotel lobby. He finally pinpoints your location through following the cameras found outside a bus stop to the hotel the three of you are staying in midtown Gotham.

“Found her, I’m heading out,” Tim says as he goes to change from his normal patrolling outfit to a more casual one. Hoodie, jeans, some sneakers and he’s already made his move to leave the cave.

Dick, Stephanie and Damian all respond with various complaints, but Tim just gives a pointed look to Stephanie as her wounds have resumed bleeding and it’s very clear that Damian had his ribs crushed.

He tells them as much, but continues to move up the stairs to go in a normal fashion to the hotel.

“Dick, they need someone to stay here and watch them and you need to get checked out too, plus someone has to fill in B when he gets back on what the situation is,” Tim spits out, already shaking with the anticipation of seeing you again.

Dick reluctantly nods his head and sighs, “fine, but don’t scare her away! I doubt she knows it’s us in these suits so you going as yourself is gonna be the best bet of bringing her back.”

Tim nods, pursing his lips together and just itching to run out of the manor.

Dick calls out to Tim one last time, "she and the kids she was with kept mentioning Greek gods, whatever it is she might be in some shady stuff now, stay safe and bring her back."

Tim turns to him from his position towards the stairs, he doesn't know what that means, but it wouldn't be the first time a family member got involved in something shady. It didn't matter, he would bring you back.

With a final nod to Dick and Damian, Stephanie now completely out of commission and on pain meds to keep her comfortable while Alfred tends to her wounds, he leaves the cave and into his car to speed to the hotel. He hopes and prays that he’s able to get there before you do to finally see you again after two long years.

-

Days typically follow a routine, fairly predictable, but with maybe a slight deviation in the norm.

Ever since you came to Camp Half Blood that was something that you enjoyed.

Now, you stand in Gotham City with the knowledge that you, Clarisse and your friend need to high tail it the hell out of there lest you have every vigilante on your heels with the knowledge that you are in fact alive and worse are fighting something otherworldly.

You’re all heading back to the hotel in midtown as fast as humanly, demigodly? possible. It won’t take long for the three vigilantes to get back to the manor, Jason should still be reading for the next hour and thirty minutes and gods only know how long it’ll take them to find you again.

“Okay, new plan: get everything packed, get a taxi and deliver this package today,” you count off on three fingers.

Clarisse and your friend readily agree, they don’t need vigilantes meddling in something that isn’t their problem.

It’s as you arrive back at the hotel and are packing everything, which is to say, a few snacks, a water bottle, the horn from the Colchis bull, and the map of Gotham, that there’s a silence falling over the room as you all move with haste. You’d feel bad about the room being in disarray but given the circumstances you can’t really find it in yourself to offer much care on the matter.

Your friend pipes up as you’re all leaving through the door.

“I think I’ve finally decided on a name,” they turn to you and Clarisse as you both turn to them.

“Robin, I want to be called Robin.”

You make a face between amusement and shock.

“I think it’s perfect and the irony is not lost on me, love that for you.”

Robin punches your shoulder and motions for you to exit the room, you stick your tongue out.

“I’m gonna be the superior Robin, obviously,” they say with a smug look on their face.

Clarisse and you both laugh as you exit the room until you stop cold in your tracks, them bumping into you.

“What the hell dude?”

You shush them as you gesture to the guy now leaning against the counter of the check in desk.

“Shit that’s my brother, damn chronically online bastard,” you spit the word ‘brother’ out as you whisper shout as you push them back into the room.

Robin and Clarisse just watch as you pace back and forth muttering about some ‘bastard on wheels’ and ‘blue-eyed bitch.’ Your head snaps up suddenly as Clarisse raises an eyebrow.

“I’m not liking that look, (y/n).”

“Window, perfect, quiet, probably no alarms it’s Gotham no one gives a shit!”

Robins eyebrows shoot up, not against the idea but certainly not looking forward to jumping out of a window like some seedy criminal.

They say as much, until Clarisse chimes in, “better than Percy’s reputation he’s a literal wanted criminal in several states,” and shrugs like it’s the morning news.

You motion to Clarisse with emphasis, “exactly we’re so much better by comparison!”

Robin deadpans but agrees nonetheless, the other option of dealing with even more distractions not looking favorable.

Clarisse goes to open the window as you peak out the peephole on your door.

There, you see that Tim is standing outside looking hesitant, but not enough that he leaves.

“The counter lady sold us out, we need to go, now!”

You hiss out, Clarisse wastes no time in opening the window and climbing out, Robin following suit as you exit just as Tim knocks on the door. You leave the rest of the money you have to pay for the room, then shut the window quietly behind you as the three of you run to the nearest bus station.

“Your family is super weird man, first your dad tracking down gangs and now this? How’d they even know you’re alive?”

Clarisse yells behind her, leading the way to the nearest bus stop.

You groan out, not really wanting to sell out your unfortunate family for safety reasons. Even though you hate them, except Duke and Alfred love them forever, you still wouldn’t sell them out. You decide to give a half truth instead.

“They sponsor the vigilantes, they probably told them after I ordered them to go home, and I don’t doubt that someone managed to get a picture of my face out there.”

“You didn’t change your face while you were walking around before you found us? Dude you can shapeshift!”

“Man, shut up today’s been weird enough!”

Robin pulls you forward as you trip on air and brings you to a stop with Clarisse keeping an eye out for anyone following you.

“Give me a drachma!”

Clarisse takes the drachma from your hand and throws it to the ground, the drachma is swallowed down as she shouts the words, “Stêthi, Ô hárma diabolês!”

In an instant, headlights from a car come flying through the air as they come together in typical form and gray smoke materializes into an old taxicab. The door flies open as the sound of three distinct voices come through.

"No card, cash, or checks."

"Only drachmas."

Then one after the other they say, "exact. Change. Please."

The three of you clamber into the cab as fast as possible to avoid Tim before he realizes that the room is empty. Clarisse throws them one drachma shouting, "Metropolis, The Daily Planet!"

As soon as the cab door shuts, the driver slams her foot on the pedal sending the car lurching forward and all three of your heads slam into the headrests enough to cause a headache.

The three start arguing as the driver swerves through traffic, car ghosting between other cars and nearly colliding with light posts. The car is speeding through the street as various cars honk at the aftershock of the cab moving through the rush.

"Give me the drachma!"

"It's my turn to test it!"

"You got to last time!"

The three continue to shout as your hand falls on something slimy, squishy and spherical. When your eyes glance down you see that your hand landed on what looks and feels like an eyeball. Just as you're about to scream out in terror, Clarisse takes it and whistles to get the threes attention.

"Missing something?"

The three turn and are immediately desperate to grab the eye back but not before Clarisse yanks it away.

"One drachma, that's all you get! If we need you again, we'll call!"

The three shout yes as the one in the middle immediately takes the eye and pushes it into her eye socket.

"Ah, finally!"

You and Robin just turn to the driver in horror.

"Shouldn't the driver have the eye?"

Robin screams, horrified.

The driver yells in agreement, "yeah, they're right!"

"Oh, Minotaur shit! You have the tooth!"

"Yeah, but I want the eye!"

"Then give me the tooth!"

They continue to all argue as they erratically drive through the highway to Metropolis, still nearly colliding with oncoming cars.

The three of you are suffering in the back seat at all the twisting and turning that the sisters are doing. Heads stuck on the headrest at the speed they're traveling at, as you turn slightly to Clarisse, "never again," is all that you're able to get out when the car lurches to a sudden halt. All of your heads fly forward then back, nearly causing whiplash in the three of you.

“Oh gods, I think I’m gonna be sick…”

“Suck it back, you can puke later.”

“I think my head is gonna explode,” you groan.

The car door leading to the Daily Planet entrance kicks open, the sisters ushering you out.

“No free seating, either pay or get out!”

The three of you clamber out as the car door slams shut, the three sisters speeding off as the taxi turns to smoke.

“Now that we’ve been severely traumatized, we need to get rid of this thing,” Robin gestures to the package in your hands.

“Will they even let a bunch of kids in to the lobby?”

Clarisse speaks as you and Robin turn to her, both having mirrored grimaces on your faces.

“…I didn’t think about that.”

“I didn’t think you did.”

Several words in various inflections of disbelief later, the three of you are awkwardly standing outside the doors to the Planet still. Various looks are thrown your way from nighttime walkers wondering why you’re outside the Daily Planet at such an ungodly hour.

“We can think about that later, for now we just need to camp out somewhere until it opens up,” Clarisse states before starting forward to try and find any place that’s clean enough to spend the rest of the night.

“We’re out of money, and we only have four drachmas left so unless there’s somewhere we can camp out for one drachma we’re shit out of luck,” you grumble as you continue to follow Clarisse and Robin.

“Your dad’s like… rich rich, right? Why not just use a credit card or something to rent a room somewhere?”

Robin asks as the three of you continue in Metropolis, three demigods just casually roaming the streets at four am in search of any place that’s sanitary at this point.

You throw a hand in the air as you gesture out, “I’d have no problem spending his money, but he’d be able to track any purchases. Plus we can’t have anything electric on us and I’m pretty sure that counts? It also wouldn’t really do me any good since I don’t have it anymore, I threw everything out when I left Gotham two years ago including any cards I had, hopefully he cancelled it or else some bum is real happy right now.”

Clarisse stops in her tracks when she finds a fairly clean alley, in alley terms anyway, and gestures to it.

“Alright, here is where we’ll camp for now, not the best but we just need to rest until the sun breaks and the daily planet opens so we can get rid of the package.”

You and Robin nod in agreement, it’s still dark out so you have at least a good maybe four hours to get some rest. The three of you sit down in the alley, Clarisse keeping her hand on her spear and checking for any damage or if it needs to be sharpened. Robin is already dozing off, head tilting down at an uncomfortable angle. You and Clarisse rock paper scissor to see who’ll stay up for the first two hours, she wins and starts to doze off next.

You’re left awake as you fiddle with the pen, running your finger down the cap of it and keeping your other hand securely on the package. To pass the time you organize your bag and its contents. You still have two water bottles, a granola bar, the map of Gotham City, the prophecy you wrote down on a stray piece of paper and four drachmas left.

You use the two hours to think back on the days events. First the manticore and how much of a pain it was to deal with it, then seeing Jason, he had to be done reading by now, and finally the Colchis bull and seeing your siblings after two years. You’re surprised they even noticed that you were gone, you figured Duke and Alfred for sure noticed, but did sincerely doubt that you’d be missed.

“Whatever, just need to finish with this prophecy and get back to camp then we’re golden. Easy peasy, maybe, probably,” you mutter to yourself as you uncap your pen and take a good look at the spear's details.

The spear has a spade tip, with some heart accents. Perfect fit for you.

The time passes as slow as it possibly could and it's once the two hours are up and you jostle Clarisse awake to be on watch for the next two hours that your mind finally feels like it can be at ease. Spear still clutched in hand as you doze off into a dreamless sleep.

Clarisse jostles Robin awake for their watch turn, they swat her hand away at first but eventually come to after she smacks their face the first time.

"Huh, what- did you slap me?"

"Wakey wakey, your royal highness, you got to sleep the most. Time for watch."

Robin just blinks with furrowed brows as Clarisse tips her head down, grips her spear and dozes off.

"Could have kissed me with a brick that would have been better, damn," Robin rubs they're face, still stinging after the slap.

They glance toward you, still dozed off and hand rested firmly on the package.

"Alright, probably no more than a few hours till sunlight, I got this."

They in fact did not get that, people started walking around to get to work an hour into their watch, giving them strange glances. Some people even started to offer help thinking you all were in trouble, but after some hissing, legitimate hissing, they would speed walk away from the young teen.

"You guys so owe me a pack of snacks after this," they grumble out.

-

Just as you had gotten out the window from the hotel, Tim knocks on the door. He waits patiently for a response, the woman at the counter had been suspicious initially of him asking and describing you to get the room number. After showing her a picture of you on his phone, that he took from a photo album Alfred had made, she decided that he seemed reasonable enough to give the information to.

That is where he sees himself now in front of the door. Having knocked, he waits a minute or so before knocking again, maybe you didn't hear the first time. The woman said that you hadn't checked out yet, so you were definitely here, especially since he had tracked the cameras leading to the hotel and in the lobby. You definitely came into the hotel and went into your room, so why weren't you answering?

Tim knocks on the door again, then presses his ear to the door to listen in for anything. No sound is made, no footsteps or rustling on the bed. No one is in there. Tim quickly looks at the lock on the door, a regular lock and key type. He messes with the lock and uses one of his cards to open the door, quickly pushing it in and entering the room.

The room is messy in the sense that there were definitely some young kids in there. The bed is messy; the trash can is full and there are a few empty bottles of water on top of the desk in the room. There are also pins on the floor from where something was ripped off the wall, edges of a large paper still being attached to the wall.

Tim looks around the room still, checking the bathroom and finding no one. He looks at the window and sees the latch open, and window still cracked just the smallest bit, he just missed you. You're probably long gone by now, wandering the streets of Gotham.

"Shit," Tim looks out the window, no sign of you anywhere seen in his immediate vision.

He quickly leaves the room, brushing past the lobby desk and runs out the door. Scanning the street to find any sign at all of you or your friends that you were traveling with. He pulls his phone out and immediately pulls up every camera within the vicinity.

One of them catches you passing a coffee shop just down the block and stopping in front of a bus stop, you're seemingly speaking to the taller girl who takes something from your hand and throws it on the ground. Tim is already running in that direction; he knows that coffee shop, he's stopped there after filling in for Bruce at the office. Still watching his phone to track you, the camera feed cuts a bit, and he can't believe his eyes. One minute your there, the feed cuts and strips and you're in a taxi that appeared from nowhere. It's outdated from the last thirty years, easily, and there's smoke wisping off of it, and you're gone in a flash.

The taxi floors it off camera and try as he does to follow it through any camera in that immediate vicinity, it's like smoke. Whipping through the air, it's just barely detectible, but he is able to see it dart off to the highway leading to Metropolis. From there he loses sight completely.

It might not be much, but he at least knows where you're going now.

-

It's finally daybreak by the time that Robin wakes you and Clarisse, more people are on the streets, either heading to work, or just to walk the pleasant streets of Metropolis. It's the opposite of Gotham in every way, well maybe not every way, but you certainly find it much more enjoyable to be in this city. Especially since it's far enough away from your freak family that you don't really have to worry about them finding you.

The three of you rise and stretch a bit before making your way to the Daily Planet, now open and rife with employees making their way to their jobs in the tall building.

Tall wouldn't even begin to describe it, actually. It's more akin to a skyscraper and you could almost picture Superman himself flying around the Daily Planet's globe situated on top of the building. It's a landmark for sure, and you're not surprised that it's a place where Hermes clearly frequents.

Theres hurried movement on your parts, Clarisse now holding a smaller version of her spear, it has gears that allow it to grow and extend. Robin is the only one having any difficulty with hiding their blade, but a well tied off jacket leaves it mostly covered and questionless to onlookers.

You all arrive to the front of the Planet, two days ahead of when you were told to be there. You can only hope that Hermes is in the building lest you make an iris call to one of his children begging them to make some sacrifice urging him to get there as soon as possible.

'Hermes, you are the busiest god next to Zeus and his baby-making hijinks, PLEASE be in the Planet lest I impale myself,' you send out a quick prayer, in hopes he hears it, but also not really since you're dissing Zeus. Everybody disses Zeus though and it's not like he doesn't deserve it, he cheats on Hera literally 25/8. Poor goddess, someone should send her flowers.

The three of you approach the lobby, but before you can even try to step foot into the building you're all stopped by the doorman as soon as you're a breath close to the doors.

"Sorry, no access to the public, kids," the doorman politely tells you.

Clarisse steels her face immediately, who did this guy think he was? Clearly, he's just doing his job, but he doesn't know the significance of this package or what this quest is to you.

Before she can even begin to start something, Robin is pulling her back before some very tall man runs into her, only for him to instead run into you before they were able to grab your arm.

"Whoops, I'm so sorry about that, oh goodness!"

The man quickly bends down to help you up, taking a soft grip on your arm and helping you up. You shake his arm off and go to grab the package, but he beats you to it.

"Oh, no it was my fault I was in the way. If I could just take that package back-"

Your sentence is stopped as the man is reluctant to give it to you, his eyes widen almost slightly, like he knows there's something not quite right with it.

Before he can try to make an excuse to keep the package, the doorman clears his throat, a little less patient now as the three of you keep the still mysterious man from his job.

"I'm sorry about that Clark, these kids were trying to get into the building," he throws a look to the three of you, causing Clarisse to clench her jaw and her grip on her spear to tighten as she raises it slightly. The tip gleams and you in a hurry to definitely not cause a scene are quick to speak up.

"It's my uncles! He works here, he picks up packages, and he needed us to bring this to him! Really, we won't do anything I promise, we just need to give this to him and we'll be out of your hair!"

You quickly speak, gesturing with one of your hands, the other pulling at your hair and twirling it nervously, you really need to get rid of this package. You're not liking the attention you're getting from the other people coming and going into the lobby. Some of them are staring at you directly, some are looking up from their phones to you, and you can hear them whisper about 'Bruce Waynes missing daughter.' This is the kind of attention you were trying to avoid.

The man in front of you, Clark as revealed by the doorman, still holding the package turns to the doorman with a smile.

"I can wait here with them so she can deliver the package, Paul. I'm early anyway and you're busy enough."

'You have got to be kidding me,' you think.

Robin is trying to calm Clarisse down when they hear that and their eyes widen.

"You don't have to-"

"Really, it's fine we can just wait outside-"

"You fu-"

Robin slaps their palm over Clarisse's mouth as she curses him out in Ancient Greek.

Clark, unbeknownst to the three of you can hear every bit of what she's saying and just laughs quietly.

"It's really no trouble, the package is clearly important, I don't mind."

A feeling of finality falls, his tone while polite is very clear that he intends to stay whether you three want him to or not. Clark, his hand on the package can feel how powerful the item is, it's very clear to him that whatever is in this package isn't something that kids should be holding. He's also no idiot, he can see the blade at Robin's hip, the way the spears gleam and with his x-ray vision he knows there are gears inside. He ushers the three of you to the side and away from the main door, he leads you all close to the mailroom.

You glance at him and eye the package in his hands, itching to just yank it from his hands. Clarisse stands with her arms crossed, scowling at the ridiculousness of the situation, a babysitter is now what you had, how embarrassing. Robin is the calmest of you all, merely rocking back and forth on the balls of their feet, looking at the inner architecture of the building. There were some Greek influences in the pillars, very nice.

Feeling restless enough, you turn to Clark and speak lowly, "give me the package."

His eyes glaze over, and his hand holding the package reaches out to yours to deliver it, only for him to shake it off at the last second and take it back.

Clarisse and Robin stare, slack-jawed and you watch in horror as he just blinks off the Charmspeak. Never has that happened to you before, it always works.

"It's just a bit heavy, I'd rather hold it instead if you don't mind," he smiles, dimples blinding you. He has no idea the storm raging in your minds. What this means to you and how it changes your view on your powers. You knew there had to be limitations, there always was, but for a human, just a regular man to wave it off without even knowing what you'd done was enough to send you into a spiral.

"I- sure, yeah sure, it's better for you to hold it, it was a lot to carry around, thanks," you mutter out, eyes still focused elsewhere mind far off from what you're saying.

“You kind of look familiar, have I seen you somewhere?”

Clark turns to you to ask, at first you don't hear it, still in a daze that his action left you in.

"Huh? Sorry, I didn't catch that?"

He repeats the question, smile still on his face.

At the question you immediately start to sweat, subtly changing your nose shape and eyebrows as you turn your head to the side, so he doesn’t see.

“No, I don’t think we have, maybe I just have one of those faces,” you suggest turning back to Clark, so he gets a good look at your face.

Clark blinks a few times, your face definitely changed. He’s had a few run ins with shapeshifters in one form or another, so he knows that whatever you’ve done to your face isn’t what it actually is.

He lets you off with a slight laugh, “I must be mistaken, sorry!"

After waiting for what must be thirty minutes, a man walks through the door, the man has salt and pepper hair, a prominent Greek nose, and sharp features. He wears a fine three-piece suit and is carrying a briefcase. He looks around before his eyes land on the three of you and he approaches.

The three of you watch as he approaches, and you get a closer look at his suit and face. Pinned on his suit is a caduceus pin, and there are wings embroidered on his suit jacket above where the pin sits.

From presence alone, you know it's him, it's Hermes. You turn to Clark and politely ask for the package back, he gives it to you reluctantly, for some reason every instinct in him is screaming at him. It's like his very own biology feels threatened at the presence of this man.

You take the package eagerly, and thank Clark.

"That's my uncle, thank you for waiting with us Clark," you let out a small smile as you hold the package closely. The three of you stand tall, heads up and shoulders back, in the presence of Lord Hermes. Clarisse the only one who stands less rigid, having met him before.

Clark bids goodbye and slowly walks away as Hermes continues to walk close to you three, staring down with an easy going look on his face despite his look. Clark listens in as he makes his way to the elevator to get to his desk to finally start working.

"Lord Hermes, we have the package as requested," you hold out the package to him, formal in the way you speak, very clearly exposing your nervousness at meeting one of the twelve Olympians.

Hermes wordlessly takes the package and stares at you before letting out a slight laugh, "uncle huh?"

Your face erupts in warmth, you couldn't believe he'd heard you!

He merely laughs it off.

"I'm not surprised you were the one sent for the quest, though I almost expected to see one of my own children," he lets out a smirk at the look on Clarisse's face.

Clarisse is a lot of things, brave, a strong fighter, the toughest girl you've ever met, but being able to hide her expressions was probably the one thing she failed at.

"Well anyways, thank you demigods, for my package I did miss my cloak very much, but your quest doesn't end here I'm afraid. I need a favor from you, as well as a message from your mother, (y/n)."

You blink in shock, Robin turns to you with awe on their face, a message is exciting!

"A message? A...good message?"

Hermes just smiles at you and walks you all to the mailroom as he sets down his briefcase and opens it up. The briefcase is like a Mary Poppins bag, endless in its contents yet Hermes navigates through it with ease. He pulls out a crisp envelope, there's a wax seal on it with a rose stamped.

"For you, her favorite daughter, at least I think so, also a gift," Hermes pulls a ring from out of his briefcase.

"A ring?"

Clarisse and Robin say at the same time. They stare hard at the ring, not expecting a gift from Hermes on their quest.

"The ring of Gyges, Annabeth Chase has her hat, but the original is the ring."

Hermes hands it off to Robin on a chain, who carefully puts the chain around their neck.

"In addition to the ring, I've added my own spin to it, whoever wears the ring is granted my speed. Use it wisely. Also, another thing, Manhatton is where you'll need to go next, consider that a free tip."

The three of you thank Hermes and he in turn just smiles before shutting his briefcase and reaching further into the mailroom, opening a locked door and revealing Hermes Express.

"It's been fun kids, but I got business to attend to. Also, one more thing, might want to go fast too, somethin tells me little Miss Wayne is being hunted."

Workers flit around the warehouse behind the door, packaging items and sorting them, the three of you just watch as they work. Hermes pushes you three out of the door with a light, "Byeeeee," and shuts the door on your faces.

Clark listens in from the elevator, face struck in disbelief, the Greek god Hermes? As far as he knew, gods didn't exist. There was only one person whom he could think of that could answer that question for him, and thankfully the Justice League was going to be meeting that night. He will get answers for why Bruce Wayne's daughter and the alleged god Hermes were meeting.

The three of you walk out from the mailroom, you wave to the doorman Paul who nods back to you, Clarisse gives him a certain gesture that Robin quickly yanks down as you finally exit the building.

"Alright, so we know our next stop," Clarisse says, though she is still grumbling about having to be babysat.

"Unbelievable, I brought back the golden fleece! A babysitter? Really?"

Clarisse does not let this go until Robin and you placate her with the last granola bar in the bag.

"Okay so, glad that Hermes gave us that tip about me being hunted, real sweet, real cool, what say we hightail it the hell out of here?"

Robin and Clarisse, who is still munching on the granola bar, nod until they hear the clearing of a throat and you all turn around, and you're greeted by the sight of one of the only ones you longed to see the most.

"(Y/n)?"

Your eyes fill with tears.

"Duke?"

Part 4!

Qifrey gives you a glance as he looks at the hopeful gazes of the girls. He contemplates for a moment as he inhales deeply, bringing a hand up to his face to hold his chin.

"If she has no problem with it, I think we would all like to see some magic. I can show some of my own magic in return, it's only fair."

You give him a smile as you hold your staff and walk to the door, throwing a look back to the girls and Qifrey.

"There's no need, I'm in no rush. Now, the spell I want to show you needs to be done outside, if you'll follow me."

The girls quickly follow after you as Qifrey calmly follows behind. You hold the door open for the girls to file out. Coco and Tetia rush out as Richeh quickly follows after them. Agott walks smoothly out, though you notice her own pace quicken.

You finally follow out the door, staff in hand as you calmly walk after the group. You lead the group away from the atelier, close to where you landed and finally stopping once Qifrey calls out to you.

"I think this is far enough," he holds a hand up to shield his good eye from the sun. You finally stop in front of the tree you fixed and stand in front of it.

"Yes, I think this is far enough," you smile as you hold your staff across your body and stand up straight.

"I'll show you my favorite spell."

At your words, your staff lights up and your hair flies around you. Light emanates from your staff before flying around you, the field around you lights up before flowers of all kinds, colors and varieties bloom around you.

"Wow!"

"So pretty!"

Coco and Tetia yell in glee as Richeh's eyes shine and Agott stands with her arms folded, but an unmistakeable twinkle to her eye. Qifrey gains a shine to his eye as he watches your expression, a small smile to your face as flower petals fall around you.

Your hair stops whipping as the now bloomed flowers rustle softly around you with the wind outside.

"My master taught me this spell, many years ago," you reminisce on Flamme, your dear master. Those years you'd spent with her were some wonderful years. It's been far too long since you'd visited her grave, you're due to see her.

"It's beautiful, a field of flowers. So peaceful."

You smile fondly at Qifrey's words as he moves to stand on your right, observing the girls as they get closer looks at the flowers and stopping to smell them.

He glances at you as you watch the girls with a smile on your face.

“I know you don’t trust me,” you start, turning your head to Qifrey as he blinks at your words in surprise. He opens his mouth to object only for you to stop him with a raised hand.

“You’re wise not to. I’m a stranger, you’re protecting the girls. It’s a good instinct.”

You turn back to the girls, Tetia and Coco now weaving flower crowns as Richeh tries to mimic their movements. Qifrey watches you for a moment longer before turning to the girls once more.

"As an adult, I'm sure you understand the danger others pose, especially to children. I am only doing what I think is best for them."

You hum as you watch Tetia place a flower crown on top of Agotts head, the girl scowling, but still accepting it. You laugh a bit before finally responding to Qifrey.

"'As an adult?'"

You laugh a bit at the sentence, you're hardly an adult compared to some other elves. Even if you are older than Frieren, "protection from the Brimhats I'm assuming?"

Qifrey furrows his brows at first, "is something funny about what I said?"

You glance at him before resuming your gaze out at the field of flowers.

"I'm hardly considered an adult compared to other elves, some would even consider me still a child."

Qifrey tilts his head a bit, glancing over your form a subtly as he can.

"If you don't mind me asking how old are you?"

Qifrey is expecting fairly old, maybe a hundred years old since he knows that elves in literature are said to live for hundreds of years. So his shock at your answer is very apparent to the girls who give him curious looks.

"Hm, maybe two thousand years old? I haven't really been keeping track, truth be told."

"What?"

His mouth drops open in shock as his eye widens in what could be perceived as horror. You pay no mind as your face still falls neutral, your gaze falls on a figure in the distance approaching the atelier.

“Oh, who’s that?”

You gesture loosely at the figure as Qifrey just grabs your upper arms with his own hands, shaking you loosely.

"What do you mean two thousand years?"

"Exactly that? Two thousand years really isn't that long."

You suppose it's been so long that you've spoken your age out loud that you've forgotten what a normal reaction is to it. You've been spending too much time with Frieren you suppose.

Qifrey stops shaking you when you once again point out the figure in the distance with a dark, pointed, brimless hat. The man, you can see his form better, wears darker robes and walks stiffly, but picks up his pace when he sees your group.

"Oh no."

Qifrey moves you to stand behind him as you let him move you. You suppose it's natural for him to assume a protector role, though you feel a little silly standing behind him.

"Girls, it's time to go inside."

The girls, save Agott, are quick to complain.

"Wait!"

"We're not done yet!"

Richeh holds up her flower crown with a frown on her face, "not done yet."

Qifrey tuts as he walks forward, herding them toward the atelier.

"Girls, you'll have more time later to see the flowers. Inside, now."

You follow after Qifrey, keeping an eye on the man that gets closer and the closer he gets the more you can see his expression. His face is neutral, but there is a certain hardness to him. Like he hasn't had a proper nights rest in a long time.

You walk forward with the girls and Qifrey, until you feel eyes on you. You turn your head and see that the man has his eyes firmly set on you.

"Qifrey, who is that?"

You point your staff in the direction of the man as Qifrey pushes the girls further toward the atelier. If the man poses a threat, you have no qualms about using Zoltraak. Your grip hardens on your staff slightly as you angle your body toward the mysterious man.

"Someone who is not going to be very happy with me," he sighs as he stands in front of you, pushing your staff back up right.

Tetia turns to where your staff was pointed and yells out happily, "Olruggio!"

Qifrey stops as he hears the name and stiffly turns toward the mentioned man with what he hopes is an inconspicuous smile on his face.

"Olruggio! Has it been three days already? How are you?"

The man in question ignores the question as he stares at you, namely your ears, then your staff. Olruggio furrows his brows at the sight of you. He let it slide that Qifrey brought Coco, even if he still thinks it a terrible idea to essentially harbor a stowaway, but he draws the line now. He has to.

"What is she?"

He's gruff as he holds an arm out, pointing at you while you just blink at the motion. Qifrey gives him a frown as he tries to dispel the tense air.

"Is that how we treat guests?"

He tries to give an easy-going smile while Olruggio just narrows his eyes.

"Not when you have a history of bringing stowaways," he gives a pointed look to Coco, who hides behind your form. He may like the girl, but that still doesn't take away the fact that she shouldn't know about magic and should have had her memories erased.

"My name is (Y/n), pleasure to meet you."

You nod to the bearded man who only gives you a scowl. You merely blink at his expression, he almost reminds you of Serie in a way, namely from when you went with Frieren to deliver Flamme's will to her. You could feel Frieren’s irritation at having your dear masters will burned even if she didn’t show it. Ah, memories.

Olruggio only ignores you and looks to Qifrey for an answer.

"I allowed Coco to stay here, but I draw the line at mysterious creatures."

Qifrey sighs and pushes the girls inside the atelier, shutting the door as they complain. He lets his hand rest on the door before turning to the bearded man.

"She is not a mysterious creature, she's an elf."

Olruggio furrows his brows and frowns at his friends words.

"Elves don't exist."

He keeps a steady gaze on you while you just boredly look back. Your eyes drift up the sky as you ignore the odd look the man gives you.

"Oye, you," Olruggio points at you as your gaze lands back on him with a raised brow.

"Yes?"

"What do you want with the group?"

You lift your staff up with a small smile.

"Just trying to get home is all, I was just lucky to fall here."

"Fall?"

"I fell here. I was in a dungeon with some friends, though now that I think about it," you use your staff and cast an illusion in front of you of the events that happened just before you got sent to the sky.

"That spell was really weird, never seen anything like it."

Olruggio's face falls into shock as he watches the illusion of the demon cast a spell and then you pushing Stark out of the way before being sucked into a portal. His face falls in horror both at the sight of the demon and at the fact that you just cast magic with no quill or ink.

"Qifrey, get away from it. Now."

Olruggio moves forward to pull the man away from you while your face remains neutral. Qifrey doesn't move, instead just giving Olruggio a look.

"Never been referred to as an 'it' before, that's a new one, even for me. I am an elf, we exist, though I do have an idea of what has happened to land me here.”

Olruggio glares at you as Qifrey holds an arm out. To stop Olruggio from coming closer or from stopping you from using your magic he’s not sure yet, but the point still stands that Qifrey is trying to keep the peace.

"I think we should take a moment to relax."

You lift an eyebrow at Qifrey, who you can see is sweating, and glance at this 'Olruggio' who still scowls at you.

"I have no qualms with this, though he is the one who called me an 'it.'"

Olruggio falters lightly as he tsks and looks away.

"My apologies, you said you were an elf? Well elves don't exist. Not 'round here."

You hum as you look past him and back up at the sky at the birds that fly away.

"Is that so...are there any magical creatures?"

Qifrey and Olruggio look at you now, the latter lowering his arm now that the tenseness in the air has lessened slightly.

"We have flying horses, dragons, why?"

"Then who's to say that elves couldn't exist?"

You give a lazy smile as you brush your hair back, maybe you should ask the girls to braid it for you.

"Well, in any case. It is fairly obvious I'm not from here and I already have an idea of what happened to me. Though," you look at your staff, namely the ribbon you have matching with Frieren, "I may not be able to get home from my side. Even if I can, it will take me a while to study the spell that sent me here."

You sigh as you put away your staff in a flash of light, causing Olruggio and Qifrey to jump.

"I'm afraid I'll be here for a while, regardless of if either of us like it."

Olruggio watches your expression before sighing and grumbling to himself as he takes off his hat and ruffles his hair.

He walks forward to enter the atelier and turns back to you with a frown on his face.

"You may stay, but only until you figure out whatever spell sent you here."

He turns to Qifrey with a larger frown and points a finger at him, "we need to have a discussion."

Qifrey just lets out a wobbly smile, glad that fighting could be avoided. He had no intentions of seeing what a two thousand year old elf could possibly do and he would like it to stay that way.

The three of you enter the home as the girls swarm Olruggio, you smile lightly at his overwhelmed face. You walk past where the girls have him cornered and take a seat at the table with a pensive look on your face. So, it seems that you've been sent to some strange time where magic only exists in the form of magical sigils. Interesting.

Qifrey pushes the girls away from Olruggio so that he can set aside his stuff and get situated as you gesture for them to come over. They eagerly follow as you distract them with an illusion spell, showing Frieren teaching Fern Zoltraak when she was just a little girl, letting Olruggio and Qifrey get a moment to compose themselves.

Olruggio for his part, watches the illusion in interest. You hold no magical ink or quill yet you can conjure magic. He shakes his head as he leaves you be so he can take off his robe and get some food in him.

You let the illusion play out as Tetia and Coco 'ooh' and 'ah.'

"Who's that little girl? And that taller lady?"

You look at Tetia briefly as you pull in closer to Fern's face.

"That's Fern, she's Frieren's apprentice. She's been with us since she was a little girl, like how Qifrey looks after you girls."

You move to Frieren showing Fern how to fire Zotraak.

"This is Frieren, she is my greatest and oldest friend. Don't let the illusion fool you, she is quite short," you laugh a bit at Richeh's face. She focuses so intently on the illusion.

At this Coco tilts her head in question.

"Oldest? Oldest," she mutters lightly before looking at you with stars in her eyes.

"Oh! Elves can be super old right? How old is she?"

At Coco's words you think for a bit. You know you're older than Frieren by a little bit.

You hum in thought as the girls sit around you, even Agott listens with her arms folded.

“Let’s see, Frieren is younger than me by about a thousand years, which is really nothing,” you start to mutter after that as the girls give you shocked looks. You grab the quill and ink that the girls were practicing and play with it.

“A thousand years?!”

“Probably more, I haven’t really been keeping track. As far as I know Frieren is at least fifteen hundred years old, so that puts her close to about nineteen or twenty in human years I believe? Could be a little younger.”

You use the quill in your hand and draw swirls in neat circular patterns, meanwhile the girls are having their entire world deconstructed by your words. Fifteen hundred years! That’s unfathomable to them. They can’t even imagine anything as old as that!

Olruggio walks back in at that exact moment to the girls chattering about how old you are when he gives Qifrey a confused look.

"What are they muttering about?"

"Her elf friend is over a thousand years old. (Y/n) herself about two thousand years old."

Olruggio makes a bewildered face, whipping his head to your form as you continue to draw little circles and spirals, unconcerned with how you’ve managed to shock their system. You instead continue to speak.

“It really is nothing. Serie is much older than I am, and I’m pretty sure Kraft is even older than her so it’s hard to tell really.”

You make a small sigil and inspect your line work as Olruggio has a hand in his beard, eyes glazed at your words.

He feels as if he were a mere child in your presence.

“We don’t age like you do, nor do we really die. We could live forever if we aren’t killed or get seriously ill.”

You gain a small frown on your face as Agott watches your face closely, the small furrow in your brow and the slightest downturn of your lips. If she weren’t looking closely she doesn’t think she would have noticed the change in your demeanor.

“It’s been so long since I’ve seen another elf besides Frieren, I fear we are nearly to extinction.”

“Who are Kraft and Serie?”

You stop your drawing as you glance up at Olruggio. You hum as you place down the quill and open your palm. A faint light emanates from your palm until a shimmering image appears, a small Serie appears in your palm. Her neutral expression clear as she sits on her throne.

“Serie is a great mage, she was my masters master over one thousand years ago. She had already been alive for probably close to nine thousand years if my estimate on her age is correct.”

The illusion in your palm shifts to different expressions you’ve witnessed of Serie, your personal favorite, the one where she judges you for your spell choice, shows next causing you to laugh lightly.

The girls watch enraptured as Olruggio has wide eyes. Magic without a quill or ink, just conjured from the palm of your hand, it’s unthinkable. You let the illusion move around, mimicking her movements as the girls follow her form around the room. You watch as the girls follow her in circles with a small smile on your face. It never failed to bring you joy to see people amazed by magic, especially children. Their wide eyes and awe always made it worth it to use even the smallest amount of your mana.

You stop the illusion of Serie, next showing Kraft in his monk robes.

"Kraft is another ancient elf, though I know very little of him to be honest. What I do know is he was a great warrior before he relinquished his title and became a monk."

The illusion of Kraft walks around the room before taking a sitting position as the girls watch him with rapt attention.

"He looks so young, is he really old?"

You let out a slight laugh at Coco's words, before stopping the illusion completely in a shimmer of your magic.

"We reach maturity around a hundred years, so our looks don't really change. I don't think I've ever seen an elf look old, unless they were over twenty thousand years old and even then they would barely gain wrinkles."

Coco listens with wide eyes as Tetia 'oohs.' Agott looks at most perplexed while Richeh keeps her flat gaze. The more you look at the blue haired girl the more you think she looks like a mix of Frieren and Himmel. The thought is almost comforting, in a very strange way. Ah, you shouldn't get too weird about it.

"Anyway-"

Olruggio stands with his arms crossed. If elves can live for thousands of years, that means they can gain power for that long. You may seem to be nice and give off the air of someone who wouldn't hurt a fly, but he knows better than to trust someone at face value.

“You’ve lived for over two thousand years, yeah? Does that mean you’re very powerful?”

Your eyes flit to Olruggio who levels you with a harsh stare. Ah, so that’s why he asked.

“Powerful enough to face the demon king, yes. Though I harbor no ill will towards humans. Demons have all the ire I carry.”

His brows furrow together as he glances at Qifrey who shakes his head at him.

"Demons?"

You draw the sigil for Zoltraak and imbue it with a small amount of mana, causing a spike to erupt from the sigil and go straight up into the air. You set a defensive spell to stop it from blowing through the roof as the children and two other adults watch in shock and alarm.

"What was that?!"

"Woah!"

"Huh. So it can work."

You rip the page and push it away to practice other sigils, only for Olruggio to take the paper away from you.

"No more sigils."

You huff, "I'm not a child you chastise," despite saying this you do pout as he chides you on the danger of drawing sigils with no care. He looks at the ink you used and realizes that it isn't magical ink, it's just the regular ink the girls were using to practice their lines.

"How did you...? This isn't magical ink?"

Before you can respond, Qifrey goes first.

"Did you put- what was it- mana into the sigil?"

You turn to him with a small smile, "precisely. In my own world, we have our own sigils that we study, mostly in an academic setting. My thought was that if I drew it, I could probably imbue mana to make it work. It seems I was correct."

The girls look at the sigil in wonder. Coco goes to grab it, only for Olruggio to grab the sigil and keep it far from her.

"What sigil is this? It looks too complex to be a simple one."

You blink as you look at Olruggio.

"Zoltraak. Once the strongest spell demonkind had, after eighty years humans studied it enough that now it's the simplest and most basic offensive magic there is."

You smile as you turn back to the table and feel Tetia grab your hair. You nod your head to her unasked question as her face lights up and she starts to braid it.

"To answer your question, demons are creatures who have learned human speech. They hunt and eat humans both for sustenance and for pure enjoyment. They're disgusting creatures and both Frieren and I operate on a kill first basis."

Olruggio and Qifrey look at you with furrowed brows. Both feeling uneasy with you being around the children. You smile at the girls as they show you more of the sigils they've practiced.

You turn to the two adults with a flat look.

"I know how that must sound, but if you knew what demons were capable of and what they have done to humanity and my kind you would feel the same. I suppose you could compare them to the brimhats, though I'm not sure what they're like."

Tetia finished the braid as she pulls it over your shoulder. You touch the braid gently and thank her as she beams at you.

The two men sweat at your words, they suppose they can understand the hostility. Though if a brimhat were spotted the thing to do is to let the Knight's Moralis know. Wait, the Knight's Moralis.

Olruggio's eyes widen as he runs from the room.

Qifrey merely blinks at his disappearance and decides to let it be, focusing back on you.

"You said this Frieren and you were close?"

You smile as you think of the elf. An image of her stuck in a mimic clear in your mind.

“Frieren is my oldest friend. She’s basically my sister. It’ll be a sad day when Fern and Stark pass.”

Qifrey's face falls, as do the girls.

“How morbid? How could you say such a thing?”

You play with the end of your braid as you think.

“Unlike Frieren, I am very in touch with my feelings, though it may not seem like it. I am all too aware of how short your human lives are. It’s why I declined joining the party of heroes at first, I wasn’t too keen on getting close to anybody after our master.”

You throw the braid back as you stretch your arms above your head and relax your shoulders.

“Himmel was the one to convince me otherwise. He promised me the journey of a lifetime.”

“Did he grant you that?”

You smile as you think of Himmel and the party of heroes, the ten years that the trip lasted and the adventures you had with them.

“No. Not for the many lifetimes I’ve lived that is.”

Qifrey's face falls at your words.

“But he did remind me of the value of spending time with others. For that I owe him a large debt.”

You smile to yourself as you look at the girls who speak amongst themselves and look back at Qifrey.

"I have no regrets in joining the party of heroes. If I could go back and do it again I would."

Qifrey smiles at your words as he looks at you in a new light. You may not be harmless, but you certainly aren't a danger to them.

Olruggio walks back in to the room noticeably sweatier and haggled.

"Olruggio?"

"We may have a problem coming."

You lift an eyebrow at his words as he whispers to Qifrey who's eye widens, flitting to your form then back to his friend.

"Is something the matter?"

Olruggio turns to you stiffly as Qifrey brings a hand up.

"Nothing at all, just an oversight," his eye flits to the window, noting the sun going down, "girls it's time for bed."

The girls complain, even Agott has a frown on her face, as they rise from their seats with pouts.

"Now girls, a good night's rest is most important for growing witches."

Qifrey pushes the girls to their room as they complain the whole way, leaving Olruggio and you alone together.

The man looks mildly uncomfortable as he leans against the counter and looks away from you. The silence in the room is deafening as you both have nothing to say to one another, not until Qifrey enters the room.

"Ah, the girls were as feisty as ever," he wipes his brow with a hand as he looks to you now.

"You may have my bed, as you are our guest."

You lift your eyebrows as you open your mouth to decline only for him to lift a hand with a smile.

"You are our guest, I'd feel awful if we didn't show you any hospitality."

You smile at the white-haired man as you rise from your seat.

"Right, well, thank you, Qifrey. It is greatly appreciated."

He smiles and beckons you to follow him as you leave the living space to go to his room. The room itself is neat and large. It's cozy. Qifrey leaves you to your own devices as you settle in for the night. You settle in his bed as you look up at the ceiling.

'I wonder how the others are doing,' you turn to your side as your eyes fall shut.