Chapter Text
„Minyard! Get your ass up and put some armor on! Abby, Greene, get the infirmary in shape, border control just spotted a motherfucking Drakon in the woods!“
As if Wymack’s order triggered it, an ear grating screech echoes all the way to the big house.
The camp counselor curses.
„Move it people, there are half-bloods out there that need to get to safety!“ He yells, jogging down the hall, and barking out instructions to the scouts.
Aaron, who has been filling out his reports for the day, abandons his desk in favor of his chest plate and armguards.
Abby is a phosphor green whirlwind where she partially hops through the wood of the house to change sheets and prepare equipment as fast as possible.
„Med kit for Aaron, Kaitlyn, and make sure there are enough of us on stand-by.“ the Dryad directs, before morphing into the walls again.
It's pretty impressive to see the speed with which Abby can get her infirmary on track if she needs to.
„Got it!“ Kaitlyn calls a moment later, dragging the portable Med kit with her.
Aaron is in the middle of fastening the last pieces of his armor, and when Kaitlyn sees him struggle, she bats his arms away to do it herself.
There will never be a day where Aaron won’t be impressed with his girlfriend’s steady hands, so he lets her make sure everything sits right.
„Okay. Ready.“ She proclaims with a last tug at the leather straps, that hold the armor together.
A quick pull, and a chaste good-luck kiss to his mouth later, Kaitlyn smiles. „Be careful.“
Aaron steals another few quick kisses, while grabbing the med kit and moving to the door. Kaitlyn follows.
„Promise.“ He says, and with his head still swimming from her lips, he hurries to meet Wymack’s scouts at the hill that marks the camp border.
As paramedic, he isn’t supposed to fight. In fact, the others are mainly there to protect him and his patient, and make sure they get back to safety. Still, Kaitlyn is right to worry, it’s a dangerous job.
Matt Boyd from the Ares cabin is waiving, as soon as he spots Aaron, all ready to go. Dan Wilds is there too, of course, talking animatedly to Kevin, and a stone faced Wymack.
A Drakon is exactly the kind of challenge both of those maniacs thrive on. Aaron still gets goosebumps when he remembers the last time Athena and Nike teamed up for ‚capture the flag'. Their combined stubbornness is the shit nightmares are made of.
„Need help with that?“ Matt asks, gesturing to the med kit. Decked out in armor, you would think Matt has his own things to carry, but with his size, and the considerable amount of muscles Matt has to offer, even his shield is more of a Frisbee.
Aaron’s own strength isn’t dismissible though, so he grunts a refusal.
„Attention you two.“ Wymack barks, the flames normally living as tattoos in his crossed arms, are bright and flickering, like always, when his protegee’s are threatened.
That is the purpose of Wymack’s immortal life – providing home and hearth to all half-bloods that seek shelter in his camp, the way his mother Hestia is doing for the gods.
Apparently, when this safe space was created, and the gods were discussing who to put in charge, Hestia stepped forward with a part of the flame that makes up Olympus‘ heart.
That flame became Wymack, and while he sure is grumpy after decades of dealing with bratty half-bloods, he is the best they could have gotten.
„Here is the deal.“ Wymack says now, directing all eyes to the forest. „The Dryads are saying the monster is moving to the eastern hills. They were too scared to make sure, but as far as we know, it is after two half-bloods.“
„If they lost orientation, there is a good chance they will keep moving towards the water and get cornered.“ Dan chimes in, and Wymack nods.
„If I could, I would give you Reynolds to keep in contact with the Nymphs, but she isn’t coming back until summer break starts next week, so you will have to do without her.“
In all honesty, Aaron is pretty happy with that. While Allison would be a great addition for this rescue, he can’t say he is on good terms with her. Since Seth died on the other end of Zygós last year, it has been a bit frosty between him and the daughter of Hermes.
It doesn’t seem to matter that Aaron has no control over if his dagger heals or kills, and while he can sort of understand her, Zygós only weighs a persons life choices, their qualities and potential, and luck. Hence the name, scale. It’s a pretty fucked up system, no one can predict.
But that’s just what you get when Nemesis tries to be a supportive parent. Six knives and two armguards for her fighting son, and a dagger that can either end, or safe a life, for the one that wants to be a doctor.
What the entirety of Olympus needs is a fucking parenting class.
Maybe the level of personal stupidity that caused Seth’s death, was why he deserved to carry the full consequences of his actions. Maybe it was something deeper.
At the end of the day, Aaron doesn’t know the reason behind the choice that was made. Seth had already been chewed up too badly to fix, and Zygós had been a last effort to save him.
That being said, Aaron would rather do without the way information and messages find their way to Allison, if it means having some peace.
„I gather we will be circling towards them from the west then?“ Aaron asks.
„Right on the money Minyard.“ Wymack agrees. „And you have to hurry. The Pegasi aren’t any good with how dense the forest is, so you have to reach them by foot.“
Aaron, Kevin, Matt and Dan nod.
„Well then, move it. And remember: your life first. Nobody needs a dead hero.“
*
The one good thing when dealing with a monster as big as a Drakon is, that it is hard to miss. Even without the wood nymphs leading them they have a pretty solid idea on where to go, based on noise and destruction alone.
So, they follow their plan, rounding up on where they can easily intercept the path of the Drakon, and hopefully get the half-bloods away.
The goal isn’t killing the monster, it almost never is in situations like this. Getting everyone behind the Camp line is more important, and if the Drakon sticks around, they can still ask Renee and her hunters to take care of it.
„I think we are close.“ Dan says, as they are climbing over a fallen tree. The next roar of the monster is loud enough to hurt, and Matt pulls a face.
„Yeah. Too damn close.“ He says. „Does this thing sound angry to you?“
„How would you feel if your food ran away from you?“ Kevin asks.
„Feeling Sympathetic, I see.“ Dan mocks, but Kevin just shrugs.
Since he showed up at their camp line about a year ago, bloody and exhausted, Kevin has grown a lot more human, but the practical thought patterns of the camp he ran from still make him numb to a lot.
It’s okay, Aaron can deal with that. In fact, he prefers that Kevin is blunt, as much as he is annoyed by him sometimes. No one needs a fucking sugarcoating when it comes to survival.
„Ever fought a Drakon, Kev?“ Matt wants to know. It might sound ludicrous to them, but apparently Camp Evermore used to throw Kevin in the ring with all sorts of monsters, so it isn’t impossible.
„No, too rare.“ Kevin denies though.
Then, just as they are rounding one more hill, they spot a slumped body on the ground. Aaron's training kicks in, and he sprints forward with a curse, Matt hot on his heels, and ready to defend his back while Aaron checks on the injured person.
Kevin and Dan position themselves a bit further away, weapons drawn, and on the lookout for both danger, and the other half-blood.
The guy Aaron turns over doesn’t look too good to be honest.
There are leaves and sticks in his dark auburn hair, from where he slid down the slope of the hill. Dirt and a little bit of blood are smeared in his scraped up face, but he has a pulse.
The real problem is the acidic burn covering his shoulder, and parts of his chest and neck.
Aaron keeps cursing lowly under his breath as he takes in the raw, bubbling flesh, hands suspended in the air as he searches for a good point to start. Matt behind him groans „Oh dear gods.“ He chokes, swallowing a gag.
„Okay. Okay, shit. We can fix this.“ Aaron mumbles to himself. Even with the adrenaline coursing through him, his hands are steady as he opens the med kit, but before he can get to work, dirty fingers catch his sleeve.
„Andrew.“
The words „wrong twin.“ Are on the tip of Aaron’s tongue on reflex, but he swallows them down. It’s been years since there was someone he could have been mistaken for.
Then Aaron’s head turns, and he finds himself caught by two otherworldly blue eyes.
The guy is conscious
The realization is such a shock, Aaron almost drops the med kit in his lap.
Somehow, even while breathing through enormous pain, there is something intense in the guys look, that grates on Aaron’s nerves. Like there is an expectation Aaron isn’t meeting.
„What?“ he asks a bit harder than necessary. The guys eyebrows furrow.
„Andrew, he is …“ a rattle in his throat interrupts the guy for a second, but he catches himself quickly. „Andrew. The Drakon. You need to help him.“
Something in Aaron pulls and snaps. It's been three years since Andrew died on the quest that was meant to be Aaron’s.
Three years, since he left with a prophecy promising he would come home, only to never show up again.
Three years, since Aaron had yelled at his brother that he wished he was dead, only for his funeral to happen not even a year later.
He can’t breathe. He is breathing fire. Aaron doesn’t know which is true, but it hurts in his chest nonetheless.
There are more people in the world called Andrew, he tries to tell himself. It’s a coincidence. It can’t be anything else. If Andrew would be alive, Renee would have found him.
He isn’t a fan of Artemis' lieutenant, but with that he is sure.
„Stop. Stop.“ The guy with the burns tries to bat his hands away, when Aaron starts cutting away his shirt for better access to the wounds. He doesn’t miss the countless scars that reveals.
„You are injured, I’m a paramedic. We are getting you to Camp half-blood.“ Aaron replies stoically. The longer those burns go untreated, the worse his condition will get.
The redhead is having none of it.
„I don’t care. I don’t care. Stop wasting time. You have to help him.“
„Stop moving.“ Aaron bitches back, trying to get him to be still, so he can pour one of Kaitlyn’s tinctures over the wound.
He manages to cover most if it, and the guy screams when it hits, but the ambrosia mixed with Kaitlyn’s concentrated herbs will keep the burn from spreading.
„Everything okay down there Aaron?“ Dan asks, her spear pointing into the woods in a defensive stance.
„Yes, for fucks sake!“ the guy on the floor yells back. „Now stop being stupid and go, or I will do it myself!“
To Aaron’s horror, the guy actually tries to stand up, hand grasping for something. Probably the bone made weapon discarded a few feet away.
Luckily, Matt reacts a bit faster then Aaron.
„Whoa, whoa, okay buddy. Calm down, we were just going to get you situated before we find your friend.“ He says, gently holding the guy down on his uninjured shoulder. „We are here to help.“
„Then go.“ He says voice breaking. „Just go … please.“
He slumps back with a grimace, and that is when Aaron understands that all of his abrasiveness and anger are rooted in a bone deep fear.
With Matt talking the guy down, whatever glacier was covering his emotions moves, and the despair shows in his eyes.
They start to cloud with pain, and Aaron knows he is about to get unconscious, but just before that happens, he zeroes in on Aaron again.
„Fail Andrew again,“ He whispers hoarsely. „And I will kill you.“
It could be an empty threat, delirious rambling because of the pain, the guy is looking at Aaron so deliberately, as if he recognizes him.
„Matt –„ Aaron’s own throat is closing up, but that’s all he needs to say.
„I'll get him back to Abby.“ The son of Ares promises, but there is something more in the look they share. Something breathless, and surreal.
Aaron can’t quite wrap his head around the implications being made, but he nods, and when Matt carefully hoists the guy up, he is ready to go.
The frantic beat of his heart carries Aaron over the uneven terrain like he is flying.
Andrew’s name is playing on a loop in his head, memories of cold hazel eyes and a face as unbothered as Aaron wished he could be.
It’s impossible. Absolutely impossible, that after three years …
Fail Andrew again …
Somewhere along the way Aaron lost sight of Dan and Kevin, he knows that isn’t good, but his stomach is turning, his lungs are seizing, and adrenaline is shaking him to his core.
It doesn’t make sense. Nothing makes sense.
And then he reaches the Drakon.
The beast is huge, longer then a school bus, with two razor-sharp claws at the front and a gruesome dragon like head.
It is also beautiful. White and Emerald colored scales shimmer and glint like jewels in the sun that falls through the leaves, and it has a glittering mane of something that looks like the iridescent wings of a firefly.
Compared to the other figure in sight, the Drakon is almost unremarkable though.
Aaron comes to a clumsy halt at a tree, his knees almost collapsing under him, because that is Andrew, moving around the monster.
That is Andrew.
No doubt left. His torn clothes are still as black as the armguards keeping his knives, though he fills them out remarkably better then before. His hair a bit longer and dirtier, but his moves still hold the same, bored grace.
The Drakon screams in rage, and Aaron hears it like it’s miles away.
Every single thought that was racing through his head is gone. There is nothing but eerie stillness in both his mind and chest.
There are a million things he knows he should feel – grief, joy, anger, betrayal, relief.
But for this very first moment, Aaron is encapsulated in ice. Unfeeling. Uncomprehending.
He watches as Andrew launches himself at the Drakon fearlessly, and follows one of Andrew’s Stygian iron knives as it imbeds itself right in the soft spot underneath the Drakons jaw. A perfect hit.
With a screech, that Aaron is deaf to, the monster thrashes before it explodes, covering Andrew in a truck load of monster dust.
He is so close right then, but to Aaron it feels like a vision. A hallucination. As floaty and surreal as if he is back on his mothers drugs.
The way Andrew spins his knives before stashing them away is familiar. So is the silent distaste palpable, when Andrew shakes his hair out.
Spitting whatever remains of the Drakon made it into his mouth to the side, Andrew finally looks up, and Aaron stumbles forward automatically. Their eyes meet, and for one timeless moment Aaron just stares.
Looking at Andrew's face gives him the uncanny sensation of gazing into a warped mirror. One, whose reflection he doesn’t recognize.
Three years have changed his brother considerably.
There is a double scar running through one of his eyebrows, for one, and the width of his shoulders has Aaron question how the fuck they are identical.
However jarring, it aren’t the physical changes that send Aaron reeling.
Before leaving for this quest, Andrew had always been … dull.
He was perpetually bored, moods changing on a whim, impossible to understand and unreachable behind his apathy to the world.
Andrew is still blank, still stoic, and still an absolute force to be reckoned with. But dead inside? No.
No, for the first time Aaron can remember, his brothers hazel eyes are … alive.
Aaron doesn’t know how else to describe it.
Andrew is awake, like he is now an actual participant in his own life, and that is what has Aaron reeling.
He watches Andrew step towards him with bated breath, heart beating in his throat.
„Andrew?“ he croaks, ready to have that conversation, ready to ask all his questions – ready to start again.
Instead, Andrew disregards him after a long look, and walks right past him without a word.
Aaron is stunned, the same way a brain is sometimes unable to translate pains as enormous as a severed arm.
He feels like he is eleven again, with Higgins promises of a brother fresh in his ears, just for Andrew to leave him standing in front of the big house without a word.
Aaron feels just as much like crying as he did that first time Andrew glanced over him the way he would with a houseplant.
It seems like nothing has changed between them.
The ache in his chest gets toppled over by a wave of old, too familiar anger, that comes alive in his bones.
What the actual fuck does Andrew think he is doing? Showing up three years after he left, like nothing happened.
After letting them worry and mourn and suffer …
After leaving him.
Fuck no. Andrew can act as haughty as he wants, he owes Aaron an explanation.
Boiling, Aaron jogs after his twin, able to catch up with him at the spot they picked up the injured half-blood.
„ANDREW!“ Aaron yells, too frustrated to even try covering up his emotions.
When Andrew actually turns, Aaron almost stumbles over a root in surprise, and he is half victorious for getting his attention, when he sees the murderous intent written in his twins stoic face.
„Where is he?“ Andrew asks darkly.
„Who?“ Aaron answers, too shaken to make the connection.
Andrew takes a threatening step forward, showing the grey duffle he picked up. The bone sword nowhere in sight. „Neil.“ He says. „Bit taller then me, reddish-brown hair, burned by Drakon acid.“
„Fuck you, he is on the way to camp.“ Aaron hisses, annoyed by being sidetracked. „Can you fucking talk to me now? Where have you been, Andrew? I thought –„ but before Aaron can finish his sentence, Andrew slings the duffle bag over his shoulder and marches in the direction of the camp border.
„Not now.“ He throws over his shoulder.
Aaron just stands there in utter disbelieve. He grapples with words for a moment, but Andrew is getting farther away by the second, and his temper is rising with every step that separates them.
If someone would have asked him this morning, how he would react to seeing Andrew again, Aaron would have thought that he has grown enough as a person to be calm. He would have thought he would know better than last time, that they could put their issues behind and learn to understand each other.
In reality, Aaron explodes.
„Would you maybe fucking stop for one second?!“ He shouts, storming after Andrew. „You show up here after years – years, Andrew! And you have nothing to fucking say to me? You – Stop fucking walking away from me!“
In his fury Aaron darts forward and grabs hold of Andrew’s arm, a mistake, he has no time to regret.
It happens so fast, he doesn’t even know what is going on, before the rough bark of a tree is digging into his back, and Andrew’s blazing eyes are in his field of vision.
Shock doesn’t even begin to describe what he is feeling.
Andrew has never reacted that way towards him. No matter what Aaron used to throw his way, if insults, or tantrums, or punches, Andrew never cared.
Now Aaron’s insides freeze at the look boring into him.
„Do not touch me.“ Andrew warns lowly.
The air catches in Aaron’s throat again, when Andrew leans in further and the cold bite of stygian iron stings his neck. „And while I would love to remind you that there is nothing we have left to say to each other, I do have one question. Tell me brother, aren’t medic's supposed to stay with the injured?“
„Matt is –„
„Matthew Boyd was never, is not, and will never be part of the camps medical team. Correct me if I’m wrong.“ Andrew interrupts.
„The guy … Neil, he said you needed help.“ Aaron tries, feeling so pathetic to be shrinking under Andrew’s gaze again.
„And did I?“ he asks derisively.
When Aaron only stammers a half hearted justification, Andrew pushes against him harder with a scoff, something close to disgust in his sneer. It stings.
„You better hope nothing happened to him because you ran into a fight you would have been a liability in, instead of doing your fucking job.“ With that, Andrew turns, and continues his way to camp.
Mouth open and pulse hammering in his ears, Aaron slumps against the tree. He is shaking. Does he have to throw up? His skin feels clammy, like it is pulled too tight over his bones, not to mention the pressure in his head and chest.
„Aaron!“ Dan’s voice rips him out of his spiral, and he looks up, just as she and Kevin come to a halt in front of him.
„By the gods, are you okay? You just disappeared, and then the Drakon stopped making noise and we found the dust. Do you know what happened? A monster like this doesn’t just …“
„Andrew killed it.“ Aaron says shakily.
Dan’s frantic movement seizes, but Aaron’s gaze is drifting back to where his brother disappeared.
„Andrew, as in …“
„Andrew as in my brother, yes.“ He says, before he starts walking after him … again. Always, always chasing Andrew, and never once reaching him