Virgils POV

My head shot up to look at Roman and Logan. They were standing by a bulletin board, reading a flyer.

"W-what?" I asked. I had hoped no one would ever call me that ever again.

"Look at this." Logan said. I walked up to the board and grabbed the paper they were looking at. My eyes widened in dread as I read the words.

One of my school photos from last year was printed on it with the word 'Missing' above it in bold font. The words under it said:

'Missing- 15 year old Virgil Morgenstern

Last seen at Queens Village bus station heading East

If seen, call authorities or his father Sebastian Morgenstern at 917-716-9364'

I just stared at the paper I was holding, my hands were shaking.

No, Morgenstern was not secretly my last name. I knew that this flyer was just Sebastian taunting me. To me, saying that I had the same last name as that asshole was his way of telling me that I basically belong to him, that I couldn't escape him.

Also, printing on that poster that he was my father? Really? My real father may be a deadbeat and the literal ruler of the Underworld, but I'd take him over Sebastian a million times with no hesitation.

I wouldn't let myself have another panic attack. Not in front of Roman. So I steeled myself and crushed the paper in my fist.

I looked around the room and noticed that multiple copies of this stupid flyer were pinned up all around. Sebastian really came all the way to Manhattan to spread these around? I roughly shoved the crumpled up paper into the nearest trash can and pulled my hood over my head.

"Come on." I mumbled, walking towards the doors leading to the platforms. "We're gonna be late."

"Wait, are we seriously not going to talk about this?" Roman asked incredulously as he and Logan followed me up the stairwell to the train platforms.

"Nope."

I pushed the doors open with my hands still stuck firmly in my pockets.

"But Virgil-" Roman tried, but I really did not want to talk about it.

"Drop it, Garcia." I snapped. He went quiet but I could tell he was having a silent conversation with Logan behind me.

I handed our tickets to the staff member standing by the doors and stepped into the train. I dropped down heavily in to a window seat and placed my bag on the seat next to me because I couldn't deal with my friend's questions.

I turned and stared out the window as we began to move out of the station, contemplating just how messed up my goddamn life is.

I cursed under my breath as I wiped a stray tear off my face quickly, hoping no one saw it.

Logans POV

I definitely saw Virgil wipe away a tear on his cheek.

This isn't good. Feelings are the figurative bane of my existence, I'm not equipped to lighten anyones emotional state.

Feelings are always Patton's department, not mine. I had to force myself to stop thinking about my boyfriend and focus on the task at hand since every time I thought of him since he had been taken, a dull ache would echo through my body.

I looked to Roman for assistance but he had taken a small compact mirror out of his bag and was picking at his makeup while looking into it.

I sighed, knowing that he wouldn't be any help in this current situation. I turned back to Virgil, who was facing away from me, and began to search for some kind of way to start conversing with him. Eventually I spotted something I could actually talk about.

"Virgil," He didn't turn his head but I could see him looking at me in the window reflection. "Where did you obtain that sword? To my knowledge, camp doesn't supply weapons of that material."

He turned his head at that and looked down at his silver scabbard with a surprised expression.

"Uh, it was a gift from my... father, I think." He looked back up at me. "Why doesn't camp have other swords like this? Is it rare or something?"

"May I take a look?" I asked, extending my hand.

Virgil glanced at me warily but slid his blade out and placed the hilt hesitantly in my palm.

"Thank you." I raised the weapon closer to my face to get a better survey point. I hovered my hand over the dark blade, the chilling aura confirming my hypothesis.

"What's the verdict, Dr Strange?" Virgil inquired, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the backpack beside him.

"Who's Dr Strange?" I asked, confused. Virgil looked affronted and slightly disbelieving.

"You don't know who Dr Strange is?" I shook my head no. "What about Bruce Banner?"

I looked at Roman, who had tuned into our conversation. He looked as bewildered as I did.

"Tony Stark? Not even Peter Parker?" Virgil exclaimed, searching for some kind of recognition in our faces. We just stared at him blankly.

"Are they singers or something?" Roman questioned.

He buried his face in his hands.

"Why oh why am I friends with these people?" He mumbled to himself in despair.

Roman looked to me in confusion but I just shrugged.

"Back to the point," I began, gesturing to Virgils sword. "I can indeed confirm that this was a gift from Hades, there is no other possibility."

Virgil extracted his face from his fingers.

"Well I kinda figured that since it appeared on his alter. But what do you mean there's no other possibility?"

"It's made of Stygian Iron which only comes from the Underworld." I informed him as I handed him his blade back.

"What makes Stygian Iron so special?" Virgil said has he put the sword back into its sheath. "Even the name sounds extra."

"Extra what?" Roman asked looking interested.

Virgils face was a mixture of amused and hopelessness but he just waved to me loosely to tell me to continue.

"It's special because the iron is mined and forged in the Underworld and cooled in the River Styx. Since it's cooled in the Styx, only children of Hades and other Underworldly deities can wield weapons of this material." I told him as I pushed up my glasses.

Virgil stared at me, and then at his sword, which only had the handle visible.

"There is... so much about my life that I have absolutely no idea about." He said slowly.

Me and Roman shared a small understanding look, we both remembered being in his exact position. Except, with lessened amount of stress.

"Well," Roman leaned closer into our group. "What do you want to know?"

Virgil let out a puff of air.

"Where do I even start? Okay, what the hell is with all demigods being completely uneducated in pop culture? You guys are like aliens sometimes!"

The next few hours were filled with me and Roman advising Virgil on all the basics he'd need to know about Greek mythology. I believe I had successfully distracted Virgil from the events in Manhattan. Eventually, we got off the train in Pittsburgh but we didn't stay there for long. We simply purchased tickets to further our commute to Ohio, and climbed into a bus.

Roman and Virgil sat next to each other this time, Roman taking the window seat, but I didn't really mind that much. I simply pulled a book out of my carry-on and began to read until my concentration was broken by a quiet squeak of surprise.

My head snapped up but instead of danger, I saw a rather cute scene.

Virgil was asleep with his head leaning on Roman's shoulder. The son of Aphrodite was sitting as stiff and still as a rock with his face bright red was staring down at Virgil's unconscious form with frantic eyes.

I covered my mouth to try and stifle a laugh but Roman heard and turned his head to me quickly, freezing as Virgil shifted in his sleep. He glared at me and mouthed

'I will smother you in your sleep'

I gave an amused thumbs up and went back to being absorbed in my book.

Until I heard glass break and a yell.

Virgils POV

I woke up when my head hit the empty seat next to me roughly.

I groaned and rubbed the side of my head until I realized,

Wait, empty seat?

I looked up to see a broken window and a large absence of Roman.

"What the hell happened Logan?" I quickly pushed myself up and crawled to the shattered window, ignoring the shards of glass digging into my hands and knees, and looked out. In the air a bit behind the bus was two figures I couldn't make out, but one was flailing like crazy.

"I don't know! One second he was there, and the next he wasn't!" Logan replied, quickly jumping to his feet and shoving our belongings in his bag.

I cursed as I felt the bus grind to a halt. I swung both mine and Romans bags over my shoulder and pushed the rest of the glass out the window so I could jump out. Logan followed close behind me.

I could hear the bus driver yelling at us to come back but I was completely focused on the rapidly shrinking form that was some flying creature and my... friend.

A cab honked at us and I realized that we were in the middle of the highway. I dodged a motorbike as Logan and I ran after whatever had taken Roman. What is it with mythical beings stealing my friends?

"I know what that is!" Logan called to me over the hum of engines. "Its a gryphon! And it's very unlikely that its alone!"

"Shit!" I cursed, sliding over the hood of a car to cross lanes. The gryphon was carrying Roman over to a forest to the side of the highway. "And what are the chances it's taking Roman to its nest or something?"

"Incredibly likely."

"Great." I leaped over the concrete barrier and slid a bit on the gravel. We crashed through the trees with all the grace of a demigod with a week of training, which is to mean that I stumbled and got a face-full of leaves. Logan didn't seem to have any problem of course.

Our movement must've alerted the gryphon above us because it released a high pitched screech that made me wince.

"I think we're going to have company in a moment." Logan informed

"Might as well make this a party." I smirked a bit as I pulled my sword out. It felt perfect in my hand. I glanced at Logan. "Care to join?"

The gryphon above us began to lower and I could hear Roman yell

"UNHAND ME YOU WRETCHED CREATURE!"

Logan rolled his eyes but reached out his hand and his staff flew into his grasp out of nowhere, a curved and glimmering piece of blessed wood.

"Thors hammer much?" I muttered.

"I'm not even going to pretend to understand that sentence."

We burst into a clearing that had multiple piles of sticks with a ton of shiny objects thrown into them, including shimmering golden eggs. The gryphon nests.

Apparently the party doesn't start until we walk in because the second we stepped foot in the clearing, a dozen gryphons closed in on us from the skies, not including the one holding Roman which was still hovering further up.

The gryphons themselves were a cross between eagles and lions, each adorned with wickedly shark talons. Oh yeah, this would be fun.

They all dived at us and I sliced clean through one and stabbed another through the chest. When I turned to look at the aftermath, there was nothing but puddles of shadow.

H'uh, I didn't know I could do that' I thought absentmindedly as I dodged some seriously fast talons and beaks with instinct alone.

I turned my attention to Logan for a moment.

He threw his staff at one gryphon and it bounced off that one and hit multiple others. They all burst into clouds of feathers and the staff returned to Logans hand.

"Come on!" I scoffed as I melted another monster into a puddle. "Now you're just stealing moves from Captain America!"

"Captain who?" He replied, bursting another one.

"I'm on to you."

With my attention drawn away from fighting, I had let down my guard. Allowing a gryphon to tackle me to the ground. I held it a good distance away from me, but it still managed to get a couple good scratches in on my face and neck.

It had knocked my sword out of my grip when it tackled me, but I rolled through the dirt, grabbed it and stabbed it through the screeching bird creature.

I rose to my feet as I picked a twig out of my hair.

"Damn. My appearance just can't catch a break." I said to myself as I thrusted my blade through a gryphon that thought it was sneaking up on me.

The gryphon holding Roman hostage above gave another screech and I knew another wave was coming.

"Logan! I have a plan!" I called to him. He looked at me in faux disbelief.

"You have a plan?"

I paused for a second.

"I have... part of a plan." I answered with a sly smile even though I knew he wouldn't get that reference. "I just need you to give me a boost."

He nodded.

"On my mark." I sheathed my sword and got in a ready position.

"1," I could hear the flap of wings.

"2," The trees began to rustle.

The newest wave of gryphons burst through the foliage.

"3!"

I ran as fast as I could, launched myself off of Logans interlocked hands, and flew through the air.

Was what I did incredibly stupid? Definitely. Would I do it again if I knew it would save Roman? Absolutely.

I landed hard on the back of a white and brown gryphon. It shrieked in outrage and attempted to toss me off by flying in circles.

"Virgil I am seriously concerned for your mental wellbeing!" Logan yelled from the ground.

"Tell me about that later! I'm kinda busy right now!" I called back as I struggled to stay on the back of my newfound steed.

Finally, I managed to wrap my hands into its mane. I pulled on one side and it turned in that direction, makeshift reins.

I kept close to the back of the gryphon as I directed it up towards where Roman was being dangled. He was still flailing.

"Stop moving you idiot!" I yelled out. "If you fall from this height your pretty face will be turned into mulch!"

He looked utterly shocked, probably because I was riding on the back of an eagle-lion, but he listened and stopped his excessive movement.

I latched my legs around the belly of the gryphon I was riding and I let go of its mane to unsheath my sword.

The gryphon holding Roman gave a nervous squawk and tried to fly away.

"Oh no you don't!" I said as my gryphon glided within arms reach. I stabbed the other monster , leaving nothing but the remnants of melted shadow which fell to earth.

Roman began to fall and I felt a surge of panic until I swooped down and grabbed his hand. I pulled him up onto the back of the gryphon just behind me, he looked visibly shaken.

"You, Virgil August," He panted through heavy breaths. "Are insane."

I shrugged.

"Tell me something I don't know."

AN- All comments are read and appreciated <3

Yo! Sorry for the delay in updates, but I got cursed with a classic case of writers block. I'm not all that good at fight scenes so I hope that sufficed. Also, I've only taken a train like three times and that was in Toronto, not NYC so I have no idea what I got right 🤷‍♀️

By the way, YOU GUYS ARE I N S A N E!!! 3k reads? Over 200 votes?? woah. I do not think I deserve all this attention but appreciate it any way!

Also, I'm starting high school next week (September 3rd) so I think my updates may become more spaced out... sorry but I can't do much about it ):

AND since someone (who's username I forgot... sorry!) gave me this idea, I hope you guys will do this too! If you have a TikTok, feel free to post video reviews after each update about your thoughts, theories, references you understood 😂 You don't have to, but it's something I'd love to watch :))

Fun fact: Logan stays at camp year long and Patton & Roman go home for the rest of the year. However, only one of them is actually happy at home.

Its currently 1:59 and I should go to bed, but I'll probably just end up reading Spideyson fanfic until I pass out, so peace out!

Hope you enjoyed :)