Start of a Legend

[Aaron Fletcher]

Aaron's life had become... well... Aaron wasn't sure how to describe it. Reality was... different. Gods, goddesses, all the Greek myths and legends were now fact. Had always been fact. Why had mortals forgotten? Aaron regretted that. That they had forgotten. Life would be so much simpler if people just knew. So many religious wars avoided, so much death, anger, hate, all of it. Yet such was the way of life. People chose not to believe in the truth. Arrogance....

Now Aaron was at Camp Half-Blood, crowded inside Herme's cabin. Thoughts tumbled inside his head. About his life, about his parents. One parent stood out the most.. But which parent? Who was his mother? Who was his father? Which had been the deity? So much mystery. It seemed life only offered questions. Never answers.

Aaron sighed in frustration. He'd think this topic til death. Hopefully, he would be claimed. That was the hope. Right now, Aaron's worst nightmare was remaining unclaimed for eternity. The unknown was a pet peeve of his. He hated not knowing. He had to know. But there was only one way to discover the truth. It was out of his control. He hated it.

A voice interrupted his thoughts. "Aaron, Chiron wants to see you." Aaron looked toward the voice. It was Gale, the satyr who'd rescued him that fateful day. He wouldn't forget that time. Well, he wouldn't forget the confusion. To this day, he still wasn't entirely sure what had happened; how it had happened. It had just.. happened. Aaron rose from his sleeping bag and followed Gale to the Big House.

[Hadley McMiller]

Hadley was sitting on one of the benches that surrounded the cabin commons, reading a book. It was the story of Perseus and the Gorgons. Classic. Because of her dyslexia, she was reading the Ancient Greek version. Then one of her little sisters - Gertrude - ran up to her, looking small and pale like always "Hadley! Chiron sent for you. He needs you at the Big House." Hadley sighed and nodded at Gertrude, who scuttled away like a little bug.

The daughter of Dionysus slipped her book into her bag, stood up, swung her bag onto her shoulders, and started toward the Big House, looking at the setting. Camp was ... glum as a plum. There was no other way to describe it. Hadley saw the Big House from a distance, its tall, silhouette. The sky was sort of a whitish-grayish color. As she neared the Big House, she could see its features.

Slowly, Hadley opened the door. Sitting on one of the chairs - looking a bit tense and anxious - was a boy with blonde hair and nervous features. A newbie. Right away, Hadley knew the expression of Chiron, who was standing next to him looking very ... horsey. She now knew that Chiron was going to tell her to give the new boy a tour of camp and blah dee da. "Hadley," Chiron started "This is Aaron. I'd like you to ... show him around a bit." Hadley sighed. She had totally known that it was coming.

She walked over to them a little, and ran a hand through her dark hair. "Alright," she replied lamely, with very slight, inaudible attitude. She turned to the kid. Aaron. "If Chiron hasn't already said this, Welcome to Camp." she held out her hand for him to shake it "I'm Hadley."

Okay, Hadley was seriously trying to think of all the things that she'd rather be doing right now. Training, growing her insanity fruits, reading old Greek novels. All much more fun than giving some stupid kid a tour around camp, when the camp was plagued anyway. Hadley had helped out at the infirmary for about five hours straight one day, because she was just a stray person who happened to know how to grow herbs and some fruits which could easily be turned into some sort of medical concoction. So she had supplied some indegrediants, but helped out with healing for a little too. And figured out that she liked making meds . She could be making meds right now, too.

But she wasn't training, growing things, reading novels or making meds. She was stuck giving some imbicile boy - who came in the middle of some of the camp's darkest days, and give him a stinking tour. She saw Chiron nod at her. He was trying to get her to help. She was a little secretive when it came to what she was doing. He was getting her ... more invovled. But this just wasn't what she really wanted to get invovled in.

[Aaron Fletcher]

A brown shaggy haired, bearded centaur stood in from of him. "I'm Chiron, the activities director," he said, offering a hand. Aaron shook it. "Sorry I didn't have a chance to meet you when you first got here. I was otherwise engaged." The door to the Big House opened. A girl with long, black hair stepped across the threshold. Chiron turned to her. "Hadley, this is Aaron. I'd like you to... show him around a bit."

Hadley didn't seem to pleased by this request, judging from the expression on her face. Chiron continued on, "Aaron, I want you to follow Hadley around a bit. I'm sure you two will get along if given the chance. Any questions before you leave?"

Aaron thought for a moment. There was a plethora of questions bouncing inside his skull. Who was his father? Who was his mother? Which had been the deity? Would he ever be claimed? What was for dinner? When could he begin archery training? Yet, Aaron didn't feel like voicing any of these inquiries. So, he just said, "No, sir."

"Good. Now run along you two. I have business to attend to." Chiron left, leaving Aaron alone with Hadley.

Aaron put on a big smile. He made sure his back was straightened. He was skilled at faking confidence when he didn't feel it. Right now, he felt slightly timid. The expression on Hadley's face was a little disconcerting. Plainly, she'd rather be doing something else. He extended a hand to her. "Aaron Flether at your service." He tried to make his eyes twinkle, to appear friendly.

[Hadley McMiller]

As soon as Chiron left, Aaron smiled at Hadley and shook her hand. Like he looked all that brave. She had to admit, he was a wicked actor when it came to faking bravery, but Hadley wasn't an idiot. She could see right through him. "If you're expecting the grand tour, and me telling you how great it is to have powers and crap and how amazingly awesome it is here, you can leave right now. Because this world isn't damn like that." she told him sadly. Hadley beckoned him to get up, and led him out of the Big House.

As she started walking to the main cabins, she talked a bit, "Okay, I know that you really wanna know who your godly parent is, but no one really knows until you're claimed. And, yes, you will get claimed soon. Sometime within the next month. I don't know where you'll turn out, but you start at rock bottom when you come here, if you haven't already seen that." she paused then said "Hermes Cabin. Not the best place to be. But there are tons of other unclaimed kids there. And, just telling you, make sure all of your belongings are locked very, very tight when you go to sleep, because you're living with Bailey Allison." Hadley pressed her lips together, but then said "You'll understand later." then they were at the cabin commons.

The cabin commons was wide and open, and benches surrounded it. All of the cabins were off into a little semi-circle. Hadley lazily pointed to all of them, "The first one's Zeus, then Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Ares - don't go near there, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Hermes, Dionysus - I live there, and then the Minor Gods and Goddesses are packed into that little last one over there." then she turned to the benches "Those benches are pretty much for sitting, thinking, reading, drawing, and other stuff that anyone wants to do when they sit." and then she started walking around for a bit.

Camp was dim, sad, nearly vacant. The few people that were outside looked sad and kind of tired ... and very depressed. Hadley scrunched up her nose. Did someone die or something? Maybe that redheaded girl that had the bets finally let it go. Nah, it was just normally like this. But it still seemed sadder. It was getting worse everyday. Hadley sighed in her nose, and kept walking, until they got to the arena, which only had about one or two kids training in it. Which was sadder than sad.

[Aaron Fletcher]

Aaron followed the black haired girl to the circle of cabins. As she listed off each one, he observed his surroundings. The campers seemed somber. Something was happening. Something big. Aaron wasn't sure what was going on. But he knew that, whatever it was, it was bad. Really bad. Intuition told him that his training would be important. If he were to have a role in the solution to the problems that ailed the camp. However, he couldn't do anything if he knew nothing.

"What's wrong with everyone?" Aaron asked Hadley. "I can't help but get the feeling there's something horrible happening. What is it? And how can I help?"

Aaron half expected the girl to reply with something snotty. She seemed very sarcastic in an unpleasant way. She also seemed to dislike him, though he'd done her no wrong. Perhaps that was just her personality? Aaron decided he best tread lightly around her. He would stay on his guard until she warmed up to him a bit. If she warmed up to him a bit.