#pjo kronos
Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Rating:Teen
Genre:Angst
Characters: Will SolaceWill’s life might sound like a fantasy, but at the end of the day it’s still a reality.
My response to this week’s @flashfictionfridayofficial (this week hosted by @stories-by-rie) prompt, “fairytale ending” . This one clocks in at 707 words, according to MSWord. Something short and scrappy because I’m on holiday and neglecting my poor boyfriend to write this; some Will pov on Michael’s death and the war.
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Will Solace is thirteen years old when he realises there’s no such thing as a fairytale ending.
When he was younger, before demigods and Apollo and monsters and Kronos, when it was just him and Mom and no real stories to speak of about his absent dad (Mom had never had anything bad to say about him, she’d just never really said anything about him at all), sometimes in his wilder daydreams he’d thought what if his dad was someone super important, or famous. What if, like those stories he heard, like those songs Mom sang or played on the radio, one day he’d sweep back into their lives and Will’s life would be exciting and special (although he never quite wanted to be like Luke, with a villain for a father, no matter how much he loved watching and rewatching Star Wars even though Mom insisted he was too young for it).
The irony is that Will’s life is exciting and special. He’s a demigod, his father is Apollo, a name everyone’s heard of even if they don’t know the legends (lots of things get named after Apollo; when Will first heard the name it was in relation to the space missions, not the god).
It’s also, he realises with a stomach sinking so fast it must be lined with lead or even kryptonite, a real life, entrenched in reality despite the fantastical nature of it, and reality doesn’t leave room for fairytale endings.
Will Solace is thirteen years old and his big brother just got swept away in the rapids of the river below as the bridge shatters. He’s thirteen years old and the screams of Nathan are still ringing in his ears as the hellhound dragged him away and tore him to shreds. He’s thirteen years old and he’s not the oldest in cabin seven but he’s the one with the most beads and he knows what that means.
His bow is gone, broken or maybe just dropped at some point when Kronos – Kronos – of all people advanced down the bridge in Luke’s body (not Luke Skywalker but Luke Castellan and being corrupted and possessed isn’t a fairytale ending, either), golden eyes laughing at them all but not nice laughter like Apollo’s golden eyes. Cruel laughter, laughter that knows resistance is futile just as much as Will knows it, but Will also knows they won’t give up even though that’s the choice they’re being offered.
Theycan’t give up, not after Michael sacrificed himself to pause Kronos’ advance (not stop it, no matter how much Will wishes one sacrifice, one shattered bridge is all they need to lose to win the war), not after so many have died to get them this far.
Will clutches at the little pot of paste as Percy drags him away, the older demigod either not realising or not caring that Will’s the one in charge of cabin seven now by default and leaving his siblings with futile orders to save someone that’s already dead (not that Will wants Michael to be dead, far from it, but reality’s come crashing down and he can’t feel Michael in need of healing, there’s a void where his injuries had previously been singing out and Will knows what that means even if he wants to scream and cry, but he can’t because Annabeth needs healing and he’s the only chance she’s got). That little pot of paste is all he has left, now. Everything else has been dropped or used up and all he has is a little pot of godly paste he woke up with the morning Typhon burst free, after Apollo gave it to him in a dream (they’d all woken up with gifts that morning).
They’re not giving up but they’re losing and unless something changes they’re going to keep losing. If this was a fairytale, this is when a knight in shining armour would appear, or when a god might come to fight alongside them and save the day. When a miracle occurs.
But Will’s realised that isn’t going to happen. And even if it does,it still won’t fix things.
His life might sound like a fantasy but it’s still reality, and reality doesn’t have fairytale endings.
