The Darkness Begins to Rise [Agatha/Apate, Phobos]

[djsorrenson]

D.J. had followed something dark into the woods. It was a shadow, but at the same time a full person. He had caught them attempting to break into the armory. After the first time it had been destroyed (he had not caught who it was) there was no need for it to be again. All he caught of this person was a whip of blonde hair in the moonlight, wearing some sort of brick red suit. Whoever it was, he hadn't seen them before. And anyone mysterious breaking into an Armory was bad news. So he had chased them. Chased them far into the woods, possibly past the borders of the camp, which was highly dangerous in itself. There were plenty of monsters roaming around, he knew that well enough. It wasn't until he had run a decent length before he stopped. The trail had disappeared, and that person had been unnaturally fast. Whoever they were, they were long gone by now. He cursed to himself, rather annoyed he couldn't take them out for ruining part of his home.

D.J. sighed and turned around, ready to head back to camp but paused. Something weird was going on. It took him a moment to realize that the forest was shrouded in complete silence. It was the heat of the day. There should have been wildlife scurrying about, bugs buzzing so obnoxiously that his ears would hurt. But it wasn't there, there was just nothing. He took a small step forward, causing dead leaves and the ground beneath him to crunch, echoing for miles. It almost made the Son of Ares flinch. Almost. He gripped his sword a little tighter before beginning to walk in the direction he came. Back toward Camp Half-Blood.

[Apate]

Apate sat cross-legged on a fallen tree and idly picked dirt out from under her fingernails. She was bored, simply put. After her interesting little excursion a couple nights ago, she was getting to see even more how dreadfully dull this place was. She’d had so much fun driving a couple unexpecting little tourists to the brink of insanity. Ah, the looks on their faces that they would have sworn they’d seen something absolutely dreadful chasing them. Shame they didn’t watch where they were running. Oh well, so she’d lost a bit of time with her entertainment. Trouble was, now she was really craving something to do. She was seriously pondering pulling out that lovely little mirror on someone. She was getting curious as to how it worked. But chipmunks and random stocked monsters weren’t good entertainment in that or any field.

And, as luck would have it, that was about when the Fates delivered to her a fine young demigod. Perfect. She watched in silence as the young man ran into a clearing just a little ways off, seeming to be searching for something. Demidorks were such an interesting breed. They always seemed to think they needed to run off and take on the world. Ah, one of the reasons she liked them: easy prey. He looked so disturbed. Poor guy. Well, she’d have to end his pitiful little misery for him, wouldn’t she? Only humane thing to do. She straightened the corner of her bright blue tank top and black leather jacket and watched patiently. Some things were worth the wait.

Apate stayed silent until he was a little closer before she spoke up. “It’s so peaceful out here, isn’t it? For some reason the monsters don’t like to come this far. That’s why I like to come out here. It’s a nice break.” She smiled pleasantly. Sure the monsters didn’t come out here. She wasn’t letting them. She was reminding them of imaginary things they needed to do immediately, or just plain freaking them out and driving them away.

[Phobos]

Phobos was still beaming form his last kill. He has been lurking around Camp secretly for a period of time. Oh if the half-bloods only knew how easy it was for him to get in and remain unnoticed. He smiled at the thought. Now, he just needed an army and a leader for that army to go through with his plans. He couldn’t be bothered with fighting half-bloods while there were Gods to face. Phobos would be able to take care of the demi-gods easily but he knew that his father and Zeus would be all over him before he could even lift a finger. He was still working on that recent speed bump. It still didn’t mean he wasn’t able to have more fun around camp.

The forest was a good place to remain hidden, only the stupid half-bloods with a hunger for getting killed came here. That Blake kid was fun, but it had ended too quickly. That fear was something he hadn’t felt before from someone. Phobos had never really killed a demi-god before. Maybe once or twice in the last couple centuries. The whole thing with Kronos made Phobos realize that other Gods should get a chance at the big top. Too bad he wouldn’t be able to get good old Great Granddad Kronos back into the picture. Now say, there was an idea. Phobos scratched his chin, bring back the big old Titan himself. Then again Phobos saw how well that worked out last time. He erased the idea from his head and continued on.

He heard a voice nearby. His face lit up with recognition, it was Apate. Phobos hadn’t checked on her in quite a while. He wondered how she was fairing with operation demi-dork. Phobos vanished from his spot only to appear seconds later in a cloud of yellow smoke on the tree where Apate sat.

He looked over at her and cracked a sly grin. “Don't you look poetic sitting on a fallen tree.” Phobos glanced up to see that he had carelessly appeared in front of a demi-god. Well, wasn’t that a coincidence.

“I didn’t know you had company.” He said smirking at the half-blood. “I would have announced my presence before poofing in like that.”

Phobos gave the half-blood a once over. A greater smile stretched his lips twisting into a malevolent grin as Phobos recognized the features of this particular demi-god. He hopped down off the tree and took a seat close to Apate keeping his distance from her. Phobos studied the half-blood for a moment and folded his arms across his chest. “Brother.” he said with a hint of laughter. “Didn’t expect to see you here, I thought you’d be smarter than to wander into the woods alone. So many, dark things lurking about. Deceitful things.” Phobos gave a side glance to Apate, behind his shades there was a hint of playfulness.

WORD COUNT"460

[djsorrenson]

The foreboding creeping its way through D.J.’s veins heightened when a voice came from behind him. He drew his sword again, and spun, around and prepared to defend himself from—a young lady? Well, D.J. was no stranger to the idea that looks were definitely deceiving, especially to a Demi-God. He didn't know how to respond to her just being there, let alone how he hadn't noticed her before when he first arrived. But there was something familiar about her. Now he knew he didn’t know her specifically, but still there was something familiar about her. Like he’d seen her sister or something at Camp before. D.J. gave her a shifty smile. Something about the way she was perched on a fallen tree made him feel insecure… almost like prey. He shook it off in his head before he sheathed his sword. Probably not the best thing to do in a situation like this but, out of politeness, he couldn’t seem to help it. His better judgment told him to keep his sword out, in case there were monsters and other nasty creatures around, but D.J. tried as best as he could to be an optimist.

Apate, though D.J. did not know her by this name, seemed to be thinking the same thing he was. The woman was right, he hadn’t seen a monster at all on his way out here chasing… whomever that was he’d seen. He sighed and placed his hands on his hips, glancing around before back across the glade at her. “Strange, there’s no monster in sight,” he commented, just loud enough for her to hear. Strange there wasn’t really anything around either. Strange enough that it should have been a bright red flag for the Demi-God. “Though I can see how this would be a nice place to come out and just think.” His smile lightened a bit and he lifted up a single hand, somewhat like a wave. “I’m D.J.”

That’s when Phobos seemed to show up out of nowhere. D.J. jumped a foot and a half back, his hand on the hilt of his sword, but had the sense not to draw it. Either this was a really wacked out monster, or a God. He knew one of the worst things to was piss off a God by challenging them to a fight. He’d learned that his first year at camp when Percy Jackson fought it out with his own father, God of War. The red smoke was enough to creep anyone out, and there was just an air about him that made the hairs on the back of D.J.’s neck stand up. He hadn’t seen Phobos’s face yet, that was until he turned and gave him an odd look.

“Brother Phobos,” he commented respectfully, not really sure if he was happy to see his half-brother. The last time they had crossed paths, Phobos and his twin had done what they did to every Child of Ares who was given the chance to take out their Dad’s Charriot. Made their life a living Hell. Then again, he was somewhat relieved to see someone familiar.

That didn’t settle for long, though as Phobos had that haunting look and a rather sinister sound to his voice. He was happy about something, and when Phobos was happy, that usually didn’t mean good news. And that look he gave the woman, something was way too unsettling here. “I followed someone,” D.J. told Phobos with a firm voice as though this gave him gratification for being here at all. D.J.’s eyes fell upon Apate once again, wondering why Phobos would seem so conversational around her. She certainly didn’t seem like the type that would get tied up with him. D.J. was liking this situation less and less with each passing second.

[Apate]

Apate smiled serenely like nothing at all was out of place, staying where she was on the tree. It was rather comfortable. Ah, the presence of death and decay. More her brother’s field, but perhaps it was the fact that it was in the family that made her so accustomed to it. “Yes, that’s what I thought at first too, when I first found this place. Beats me why no monster seems to like it. But I’ve found nothing wrong with it. Seems rather tranquil, actually. Nice place to sort out one’s thoughts, as you said.” Or have a little fun away from prodding eyes. That worked too. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, D.J. Does that stand for something? Out of curiosity. Either way, I’m Apate. I suppose you live in this camp?” Stupid question. Of course he did. She’d seen him around. Of course the only times he’d seen her around she looked like a sweet little nine-year-old. Details, details. Ah, she loved her job.

Then she sensed something: the nearness of another great power. And speak of the devil, Phobos appeared on the tree just next to her a few seconds later. She laughed, still sounding unnaturally good-natured, as though this was part of a joke, a normal occurrence. “Well, seems we spoke to soon of there being no monsters, didn’t we, D.J? Yes, yes, shame on you for interrupting, Phobos. Didn’t your parents teach you any manners at all? Seems you already somewhat know my young friend here, D.J. That’s nice.”

When Phobos made a not-so-concealed reference to her presence here, she smiled slightly and shrugged noncommittally. “He has a point. The woods aren’t exactly safe, even this quiet spot. I heard someone was killed recently even.” Though the fact that Phobos was here made that little point a lot less of a mystery. But then D.J. mentioned someone else here. Well, Apate hadn’t lured him out here. And Phobos had, so it seemed, not even known he was out here. Who else was out here? She had met Hecate closer to Manhattan, but that had been a long while back, and far off. Eris, perhaps. She had said something about staying around camp, hadn’t she? “Followed someone? Who were you following?” Whoever it was, she wanted to know.

[Phobos]

Phobos held his head up high as DJ greeted him. A cocky smirk planted itself on his face and did not leave. He watched his demi-god brother from behind his shades for a minute. A small chuckle escaped past his lips. The boy had followed someone eh? It was either Apate’s doing or Phobos had another demi-god to look for and have fun with. His attention was brought back to Apate.

“When your father is God of War manners do not apply. Who ever heard of manners in war.” He sniffed and gave a shrug. “Some would like to think there are general rules for War but who really listens to them?”

Phobos examined DJ once again and adjusted his shoulders puffing his chest out a little. He didn’t like the kid. Then again Phobos wasn’t a really a fan of any of his half-blood siblings. They were fun to pick on at best but other than that he didn’t really see why they existed. It was almost an insult to the pride of Ares. If his father wouldn’t get so upset at him, Phobos would have taken care of them all with help from his twin Deimos. He thought back to the chariot incident with their sister Clarisse. That had been a whole lot of fun until Percy Jackson came along and stuck his seaweed nose in where it didn’t belong.

Phobos chuckled darkly at Apate’s comment. The death had been his doing. He killed that son of Boreas by succumbing him to his greatest fear. It was probably the highlight of his summer thus far. As soon as Phobos brought Percy, Camp Half-Blood, and Olympus crumbling he would be able to die a happy God. Then again that was just a saying seeing as how he couldn’t honestly die. Immortal had its perks.

“Tragic about the death of a half-blood. The Gods should have been watching more carefully. It just shows how little they care about their children.” Phobos said with a sad look to Apate. The fire in Phobos’ eyes only sparked and fluttered when he learned that Apate had nothing to do with DJ’s presence in the woods. Oh this was going to be good. Another half-blood to track down. The smirk wavered on Phobos’ face for a moment when he realized that it might be a God out here. Then again if it was a God against his cause they would have shown theirselves by now...right? Phobos glanced over his shoulder and then back to DJ.

“You’re old enough now, shouldn’t you know not to talk to strangers let a lone follow one into the woods?” Phobos questioned. He tiled his head. “Unless you know who you followed in any case you should probably tell us so we can watch out for them too.”

WORD COUNT"469

[djsorrenson]

D.J. couldn’t help the odd feeling that was growing in the pit of his stomach. Everything about this situation, the older girl and Phobos, just screamed warnings and red flashing signs in his head and mind. And he should have been mindful of such things. His body’s natural reaction was to take a step back, but only one. He forced himself to stop moving; he didn’t need the two Gods thinking he was scared and going to run away, and even if that was the case, there was no way he could outrun them. There was another way he was going to get out of this situation, he just had to find it before bad things started happening.

The realization of how bad things really were was when the goddess introduced herself as Apate. The true embodiment of Deceit herself. He’d heard small rumors about her, which went as far back as being locked inside Pandora’s Jar. If she was considered one of those evils, she definitely wasn’t a good being to be around. D.J.’s fingers tightened and flexed slightly, his body pumping adrenaline and ready for a battle if it came to that. “They’re the initials of my first and middle name,” he replied, a touch stiffer than before. No one called him by his first name, except his old girlfriend, and she was dead. Hearing people call him ‘Daniel’ made his heart ache for her, turned him into a hollow shell. He wasn’t about to go to that now, not when Deceit and Fear were squaring him off alone in the middle of a creepy clearing in the forest. “Yeah, I’ve been at Camp for a good few years now.”

His eyes shifted to Phobos when Apate mentioned his being a monster. That was definitely something D.J. himself would not have called his half-brother, even away from his face, but his finger twitched slightly. It was like the pot was calling the kettle black, but there was no way he was going to voice that opinion either. That just warranted a death sentence. “Yeah, I know my half-brother,” D.J. commented offhand. Phobos was also acting like a smartass, seemingly wanting to start a fight with Apate, which D.J. had no desire to be in the middle of. Certainly his comment about being a child of Ares pardoned them from manners did not apply to himself. His manners were going to have to remain in check in front of these two.

D.J. had heard too, that someone had been killed recently in the forest; all the more reason that made him not so keen to be out here alone. Then again, he had stopped that one woman from trashing the armory again. That’s when Apate asked who it was. Well, she certainly was a nosey little Goddess. “I don’t know,” he replied, his voice a bit more firm than it should have been. “She wasn’t someone from camp. Shoulder length blonde hair and was wearing red leather. Apparently someone with her description was trashed the armory earlier this summer and I wanted to make sure she didn’t do it again.” He just hoped he wasn’t imagining things. The last thing he needed was to end up in this situation because his mind was playing tricks on him. It then occurred to him that whoever had trashed the armory would have fought him unless they wanted to lead him out here astray. He cursed to himself. This was bad.

Not once did the Son of Ares believe Phobos when he commented how the Gods didn’t seem to care about their children. One thing that D.J. understood that no one he came across seemed to understand was that Gods were Gods. They had jobs to do to keep the world from tumbling into the Apocalypse, and had more children than could count. It sucked not having a Dad around, but it was something he learned to deal with. “You probably knew who she was if you saw her. Well, would know.” D.J. commented to the both of them. “Anyway, I should be getting back to camp. Phobos, Apate.” He nodded to both of them, not really turning his back on them, but slowly backing in the direction from whence he came. He knew better than to turn his back on a God, especially one such as his half brother. He learned that one the hard way.

Word Count: 731

[Apate]

Apate shrugged. Sure, she’d met Ares last a couple hundred years ago or something - easy to lose track - and his manners weren’t the greatest. Though with an attitude like that, one would think she would get along with him a little better, but the whole deal with him being an Olympian sort of spoiled that pretty fast. Oh well, his loss. Apate watched Phobos out of the corner of her eye and somehow managed not to laugh. The guy looked like a freaking puffin when he got all huffy like that, which was definitely not the most impressive, imposing image, but she wasn’t about to tell him that. Being like four foot nothing - okay, a bit of an exaggeration - probably made it a little hard on the little scaredy-cat god to look actually intimidating.

She listened half-heartedly to the conversation, a little bored with it, and shoved her hands idly in the pockets of her jacket… to find a small compact mirror. Apate never was one for make-up, so it seemed an odd thing to have on hand, except that applying mascara was about the last thing anyone in their right mind would want to do using this particular mirror. Ah, another reason to consider Eris such a nice, agreeable goddess: she did lend the most entertaining little toys.

At D.J.’s description of the mystery person, her eyes lit up for a fraction of a second. Well, well, speak of the devil. If that description didn’t sound familiar. So Eris was still here! What fun! She would have pondered this a little longer if the brat of a demidork didn’t start walking off. Oh, no, no, no, no. They couldn’t have someone go shooting his big mouth that they were here, could they? That would spoil the game! Her eyes flashed black. “Oh no, you’re not leaving already, are you? Don’t you want to stay a while?” Now if she could just convince that little idiot he really didn’t want to hang around to immensely dangerous deities, that would be perfect! Then again, there was always plan B; her fingertip ran over the smooth surface of Eris’ mirror in her pocket…

Word Count: 380

[Phobos]

A delicious smile played on the edges of Phobos’ mouth. Blonde hair and red leather. There was only one god that Phobos knew with that description, and it was almost too good to hear. And while he couldn’t sway Eris to his side the goddess of strife and chaos sure was helping him out a lot. He nodded thoughtfully with mock sympathy on his face. With the trio of fear deceit and fear fun shenanigans were bound to take place.

Phobos slid his left hand into his pocket and examined the other one. He picked at his fingernails concentrating on the task while the anxiety radiated off of D.J. Phobos loved the taste of fear in the morning, or well, afternoon. Either way this was turning out to be quite fun. Who knows where the rest of this encounter would take him. “Yes well, I’m sure we would.” Phobos said glancing up from his hand.

The tone of Apate’s voice made Phobos chuckle a little. He was in agreement though. He was not ready to let D.J. just toddle off back to camp. The fun hadn’t even started yet. Phobos was formulating plans already. He was starting to think there were too many sons of Ares out there, what would one less mean? Sure his dad would be a pissed, but what daddy didn’t know didn’t hurt Phobos. Phobos vanished and reappeared beside D.J. He threw an arm around his brother’s shoulder.

“I’m with Apate on this one little brother. I think you should stay with us. Running away would be disrespectful,” the light tone in his voice dropped. “And you wouldn’t want to disrespect the Goddess of Deceit or the God of Fear, would you D.J?”

His eyes, from behind his sunglasses, glared at D.J. as he waited for the response that he wanted to hear. Phobos watched him with a serious expression. “Of course you wouldn’t. So why not stay and chat with us for a little bit. We are family after all.” Phobos slapped D.J. on the chest and gave him a sideways grin, full of cruel intentions.

WORD COUNT"351

[djsorrenson]

D.J. would have been fine just walking away from the situation. The small snag that he was stuck in the middle of an unwanted conversation between the Goddess of Deceit and the God of Fear made it ten times worse. All they needed was Hecate or Erebus and they could have a picnic. This was a conversation only the bravest, and probably stupidest Demi-Gods would feel comfortable in—more than likely his more hard tempered siblings or even clueless Percy Jackson. This wasn’t the time for his mind wanderings, though. D.J. needed to think of a way to get back to Camp Half-Blood without upsetting either of the deities in front of him; it was a feat he knew was going to be hard, if not almost impossible. The fact that it was going to be difficult though, didn’t change the fact that it had to be done, or his life could possibly be on the line. He’d held his own against Phobos and Deimos before, and that was hard. Who knew what in Hades would come of a pairing like Phobos and Apate. It didn’t’ seem as though they had planned on meeting together, but the fact that they were here and getting along like two childhood friends wasn’t really in D.J.’s best interest.

The eyes of the Demi-God moved toward Apate as she pleaded, almost like a child begging for candy. It was hard to miss her reaching for her pocket, though what was in her pocket was probably going to make this little party shoot off like fireworks. He hesitantly took a step back, minding not to reach for his sword so he wouldn’t piss the Gods off and have his body implode on the spot. That was when he felt Phobos’s hand behind him, keeping him from leaving. He bit his lip as his temper shot up for a split second, stopping his reflexes before they did something incredibly stupid. He held in his temper before forcing a smile, trying to keep his voice as calm as humanly possible. “No, I wouldn’t. That wouldn’t be a good idea,” he replied to Phobos, and he meant it. The last thing D.J. would ever do would intentionally piss off the Gods. Then again, whether Demi-Gods tried to or not, they always seemed to be pissed off one way or another.

Again, D.J. didn’t like the way Phobos was looking at him, like he was his next meal. Or victim. But would the God of Fear Phobos really kill his own brother? Especially since his father, God of War would probably send a good thrashing his way? Unless Ares didn’t find out… No, D.J. didn’t want to think about that possibility. But then again, what if Phobos was here and did nothing while Apate turned a few dirty tricks into foul play? Surely Phobos wasn’t going to let, as he put it, his family go to waste? He was a God of Fear, not of Death. D.J. couldn’t help but be bothered by this string of paranoia. Then again, who else could be blamed if they were put in his shoes? “Is there something specific you wanted with me?” D.J. asked as politely as possible to the two of them, glancing down at the ground so he wasn’t seemingly attempting to act as their equal or superior by looking them in the eye. Maybe if he found out what the wanted, he could be back on his way to Camp.

Word Count: 581