Chapter Text
Camp Half-Blood never has been--and never will be-- a quiet place, but today is a whole different level. Today, Capture the flag took place, and like always, the Nikē and Arës children did not take losing all too kindly. They suggested a rematch, but gladiator style.
The training arena is filled with a flurry of clanging swords, victorious shouts, and cries of the defeated. It's quite the dramatic showdown. A bit too dramatic for Leo and Annabeth's taste.
The time machine they've been working on for the past few weeks is...coming along. They can't say it's coming along nicely, because in reality, it's a disaster. After finishing their first prototype, they decided to send a small apple seventeen seconds (Leo's lucky number, don't ask) into the future, and to the exact coordinates the've just input--the same ones they originally placed the apple. Annabeth, had her chart to log their progress, and Leo, with... well, he has nothing but himself and a pair of safety goggles.
"Listen," he told Annabeth when she confronted him about his lack of safety gear or visible dedication to their project. "Just me being here means this project will go amazing! I'm the Bad-boy-McShizzle-Supreme!"
Annabeth simply sighed, sending mental prayers to her mom that Leo explodes again or something, and powered the machine, and the apple was zapped into what they've dubbed 'the ether.'
Once the machine's code ran it's course, the apple should return to its intended place!
Across the relatively empty Hephaestus cabin, sat Jason and Percy, playing Uno. Percy was making up a multitude of non-existent (and very dumb) rules to keep Jason from winning. It was very similar to a child coming up with random scenarios to stop their toy from dying to yours.
"No, listen, lightning boy," Percy sighs solemnly. "When you have one card and I press the deck," (an action he in fact did not do) "You have to draw ten more cards."
Jason gives him a dubious look. "That sounds... stupid, to put it kindly." He mumbles suspiciously, narrowing his eyes.
"Shhhh," Percy whispers, pushing the deck to him. "Don't ask questions, just get the cards."
Leo gave him an odd look, but Annabeth--an avid rule breaker-- simply gave him a grin and thumbs up, whispering "Get his ass, Seaweed-brain!"
Leo stomped on her toes for that.
The machine begins to whirl and rattle, and Annabeth checks her stopwatch. It had already been fourty-three point two-five-eight-nine seconds, and the apple still hadn't reappeared.
She sighs. "There's probably something wrong with the coordinates, or it was sent back in time." She mutters, and Leo's brows furrow.
"While i'd like to say the machine is perfect," He pouts, "It is new technology--so you're probably right. You must've messed something up." He says, poking the vibrating machine.
"I messed it up?" Annabeth, asks, offended. "You should take some responsibility too!"
"Uhm, Nah-uh."
"Yah-huh!"
You know, because they're mature.
Suddenly, their time machine begins to clatter, making even Jason look over, still drawing an unknown number of cards. Percy's trickery and deceit knows no bounds.
"Uhh," Leo stammers out, looking at the time machine hesitantly. "Wise-girl," he earns a pinch for that, "I think you messed up--like, big time. I told you we should have added the emergency self destruct."
Annabeth takes a step back, pulling an unprotected Leo with her. "And I told you that you should have put on more protection than safety goggles!" She shrieks, skittering backwards. Percy quickly gets to his feet, and Jason follows.
The blonde accidentally knocks his hips into the edge of the table, effectively throwing their rigged game of Uno to the ground, but none of them paid it any mind.
"I think it's going to self destruct even without my input." Leo complains. "The others are going to kill me! We just finished adding a system to the cabin that automatically plays Despacito whenever someone who isn't a child of Hephaestus walks in!" He reaches up to pull on his hair. Annabeth realizes that's why music had started playing the moment they walked in.
It was pure discrimination.
Jason snatches the back of his tee-shirt and pulls the boy behind him, Percy doing the same--though in a much gentler manner--to Annabeth. "I don't care what you installed to the cabin," Jason hisses, tilting his head to glare at his boyfriend. "I care that you didn't listen to my warnings about messing with time!"
Leo huffs, pulling off his safety goggles and tossing them onto the table with the discarded Uno cards. "Blah blah blah," He grumbles, "I do what I want." He sasses, before the machine begins to spark.
"And doing what you want is going to make us blow up!" Jason snaps.
"I'll try to fix it then!" Leo pinches the blonde. "I wont blow up again!" He immediately cringes, as do the others. When Leo had first blown up, it was a shock and wave of grief over the other Seven. Leo's high pitched and slightly raspy voice didn't fill the silence, and there was no late night clanging of Leo making random renovations to the ship.
It was too... Leo-less.
"You better not." Jason threatens, "Or I'll go to the underworld to bring you back."
Leo gives the face a smug cat would. "Okay!" He drawls out, before slipping out from behind Jason and rushing to the machine.
The sparks the machine continues to pour out set the son of Jupiter on edge. Leo immediately gets to tinkering. Jason can't quite discern what the boy is doing, but it seems to be making everything much worse, with how violent the tremors have become.
Then, it stops, and with a ding, the apple appears in the exact coordinates. They wait a moment, before letting out a collective sigh of relief.
"See?" Leo grins. "I had zero doubts about it! I think we should name it--" Then, it blows up with a flash of white.
The cards settle with a flutter on the chair, table, floor, and on a few roll up mattresses.
There isn't a soul in the Hephaestus cabin.
"You did great!"
"It was a shit performance on your part. 2/10."
"Be more supportive!" Sirius hisses to his brother. "James just lost to Hufflepuff because he got hit in the head by a Bludger, and their seeker found the snitch." He sighs, eyeing the bandages around his friend's head.
His brown hair was forced flat due to the wraps, and his new goofy look--with one eye covered, due to the particular place of the injury-- earned him the title of 'Prongs the Pirate,' which James has actually found that he quite likes.
Regulus taps the top of his boyfriend's head, and the slightly whoozy boy glances up, giving a loopy smile. "You don't mind, right, Prongs?" He asks, and James simply shrugs before going back to twiddling with the thin glasses in his hands.
"Nah, you're right." He admits. "I've been off lately. What Pandora said the other day has really been getting to me."
Lupin's lips thin, and he passes the injured boy their blunt. "I'm sure it's just nonsense." He consoles him, though they know it's all useless. They really do believe Pandora's prophecies like someone would believe in the superstition of ghosts.
James accepts the blunt, and Sirius speaks up. "All she said was that people from the future would be coming to Hogwarts." He says, waving away the cloud of smoke James sighs out.
"And that's not the least bit concerning?" He presses. "What if they tell us we're all, I dunno, gonna die!" He emphasizes.
Regulus rolls his eyes. "We will all die." He huffs.
James turns to glare at him. "Dude, you're like, not helping." He grumbles, before carefully reaching up to press at his bandage.
Sirius swats his hand away, as if he were a naughty child. "Quit touching it."
Remus sighs and strays a bit. Pandora's vision foretold the literal invention of time travel. Did the muggles come up with a machine? Or was it a spell? How far in the future are these people?
A soft groan is picked up by his sensitive ears, and he pauses, slowly turning to look in its direction.
A string of a language Remus can't quite pinpoint fills the dewy morning air, before someone answers in a language he can recognize--Latin. Although he doesn't understand what they're saying, the fear in their voice is almost palpable.
Separated by language, united by rage for their friends.
Remus slowly creeps over, his hand reaching for his wand, a defensive spell ready on his tongue. He slowly pokes his head around a large pillar, whipping his wand out in preparation of offense.
He sees two children arguing.
Two different languages, each with a boy in their lap. One is a girl, with dry golden curls and a grey streak. Her skin is a dark bronze, scars covering her arms, her face a mess of freckles. Her eyes are a piercing blue, and Remus freezes when they suddenly turn to him. Time seems to stop--or, at least slow down. He instinctively knows this is the work of the girl.. Everything goes quiet, and his wand slowly lowers.
Typically, he feels.. almost an air of superiority. Knowing if it was the full moon that he could snap their necks; that he could maul them if they got too close. But now? Now he feels like should he push this girl too far, even just the smallest bit, a rage he doesn't quite recognize would befall on him.
The boy, on the other hand, is less intimidating outwardly. He has similar blonde hair, but it’s paler. It’s buzzed down at the back, left messy and almost spikey towards the top.
His eyes are a stormy grey, and his lip has a small notch of a scar. His skin is a bit lighter than the girl’s.
He follows the girl’s gaze, locking eyes on Remus, who raises his wand a bit higher, emphasizing the weapon he holds.
“Who are you?!” He demands harshly.
The girl glares, shaking her ponytail off her shoulder.
”Who are you?” She shoots back.
Remus falters. “I asked first..?”
She raises a brow. “Did you?”
”Yes.”
She gives him a dubious look.
Gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss, or whatever the saying is.
The sky rumbles menacingly, and the boy shifts his grip around the other boy in his lap, holding him closer.
“Where are we?” He asks. His voice has a lighter lilt than the girls fierce attitude.
Remus frowns. “Hogwarts.” He says slowly, finally noticing their odd clothing choices. Opposed to Hogwarts’s more muted colors, the strangers were clad in bright orange shirts, and shorts the color of coffee.
The girl—who was the only girl of the group— pressed her fingers to her forehead. “And where is Hogwarts?”
The boy’s eyes turn up. “We aren’t in New York, are we?”
Remus scoffs. “No, we're in Britain. Why would we be in America?” He asks, narrowing his eyes. “Are you lot American?”
The girl scoffs. “Yes. We are the ones that threw tea in your harbor; fear us.” She says flatly.
Remus rolls his eyes. “Way to be a smartass.” He mumbles. “I just want your names.”
The girl sighs. “I’m Annabeth,” she explains, before pointing to the boy in her lap. “This is Percy.”
Percy had short black hair, most likely not brushed, he also had grey streaks—is it a couples trend? Does he and Sirius have to get matching grey streaks in their hair?— and dozens of scars.
Merlin, what happened to child safety?!
His skin was the color of a lightly fried hash brown—specific, yes, but Remus likes to be specific.
Opposite to Annabeth, in the blonde boy's lap, lays one who looks like a humanized Brownie; kind, yet tricky magical beings, who, when pissed off, absolutely destroy your living quarters.
His lobes are connected to his head, a trait Remus recognizes as rare, and are pointy at the tips. His skin is dark, and littered with a fair share of scars, the most prominent being a large burn. It creeps from his back, up the nape of his neck, a few strands curling up the edge of his jaw.
His hair is a messy, as if it hadn't seen a brush in years. It's a dark hazelnut brown, with a few lighter strands strewn around.
Remus swallows. "May I know your names?" He asks, eyes tracking the blonde and his companion.
"Jason," He says, voice a bit louder--more confident, maybe, that Annabeth introduced herself? Is she the leader? "And this is Leo." He gestures to the boy, who lays snoring in his lap, revealing a gap between his two front teeth.
A shift in energy whorls in the air, and time seems to resume its usual pace, and Remus grimaces at the wave of dizziness that washes over him. That's gonna warp his time perception for a while.
The girl seems lax now, though she eyes the wand in Remus's hand. It's less from fear, and more from curiosity.
"What is that?" She asks, curiously.
Then, she pauses, as if realizing something. "Wait, you said we're at Hogwarts?" She asks, eyes widening.
Remus frowns, nodding. "Ah-yes. Is..something wrong..?"
"And remind me what your name is?"
"Remus Lupin--ah, you sly witch-" he growls, a bit peeved at being forced to reveal his identity.
Annabeth grows pale. "Like, the werewolf from Harry Potter..?"
Remus's entire body locks up.
She..knows..?