━━ chapter twenty-one
dreaming
( savreen )

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    ━━Savreen knew she was dreaming. 

    She knew it, she was just disappointed it wasn't the dream she wanted. 

     Deep down, whenever she fell alseep, she started to wish to hear the song her mother had sung that night a Camp Half-Blood. Savreen wished she could see her face again, listen to her words and feel her fingers through her hair. 

     Savreen once had a father. She once had her Dadi and Dada. But she never had a mother. She might've been young; barely four years old, but Sav remembered the question she asked her father one night. She had asked him: why isn't Mum here? And she remembered better than yesterday the hesitant look on his face. Now, Savreen realised it was because her mother is a goddess, but back then, she used to think it was because her mother didn't want her. And that stuck with a four-year-old girl. 

     Savreen's memories of her father were here and there; thin and falling through her fingers like sand━falling away. Savreen couldn't really remember the day he died, which hurt her. The psychologist she saw at one of her foster homes when she was eleven had mentioned to her carers that it was something common to children who experienced trauma. They don't remember it: a form of defence and protection from the brain. Savreen barely remembered anything before the foster homes. She barely remembered the stories her Dadi told her, barely remembered the times her Dada picked her up from her first years of school. Her head didn't want to remember. Even now, Savreen hated tragedy: she wanted to avoid it as much as possible. It terrified her. 

     She had always been scared of tragedy, like it was rooted within her bones; an instinct. All thanks to her best friend's father (how complicated was that?). 

     No, she wasn't dreaming of her mother, no matter how much the little girl in her was desperate for it.

     Savreen was dreaming of something else. 

     At first, she didn't know where she was. It was dark━very dark. All around her. And it was cold. Not cold in the way she might be stuck in the snow of a very freezing winter night. No, it was cold to her bones; chilling and omnious. 

     Sav thought she heard whispers; cries and screams, but they were like a distant wind━howling and yet quiet past her ears and making her gasp, spinning around to try and see what was there ... but there was nothing. 

     Until she saw a strange silhouette. They were hunched over━unwell and barely standing, as if the very thought hurt them physically and metally. Savreen frowned, tilting her head. She was hesitant, but took a step forward, confused but also curious. "Hello?" she called out, and her voice sounded like she was talking through through a microphone and hearing it from speakers at the same time.  "Hello? Who's there?"

     They glanced around and Savreen felt her breath hitch. Just like that, her eyes welled up with tears and her heart rose up to her throat. As they stood up straighter, she saw their face━gentle, loving, and handsome in features. Savreen choked, recognising her immediately. "D━Dadi?"

      "Savreen?" she questioned back; though her eyes were distant. They weren't fixed on her, but Sav didn't focus on that. Her brows knitted, her throat ached. It was her━it was her voice. Savreen hasn't heard her voice in years, so long she had almost forgotten it. And yet, here she was━her grandmother was right there. "Priya, come have dinner."

      Sav faltered, confused. She glanced around, frowning. Her grandmother wasn't looking at her, but looking past her, and it made something inside her drop. "Dadi?" She said, less sure this time. "What are you talking about? I'm right here." The language slipped off her tongue without her realising, but it felt different━it had been a while since she's let herself speak it. The foster homes preffered her to speak English, and Savreen found out pretty quickly in school, and outside━even in her foster homes━that speaking the language she grew up with never went well. Everyone would look at her like she was going to hurt them, like she was carrying around an explosive in her backpack. 

     Her grandmother looked sick, like she had before she passed away. Savreen's cheeks were wet with tears she didn't realise had fallen, staring at her Dadi as she waved over towards the space behind Savreen━as if she was invisible. 

      The necklace in Savreen's pocket weighed heavy, as if reminding her of the truth. She hated the truth━the truth that she might've been the reason behind her father, and her grandparents deaths. Tragedy followed her like a shadow━a curse she was born with, even without the necklace keeping her down. She felt like Midas. But instead of everything she touched turning to gold, it turned to dust. 

      Another figure stepped in and Savreen shook her head. It felt cruel. She didn't want to see this━she didn't want to relive this memory. "No," she whimpered, stepping back. She hated this place. She hated this. "No, please━please━"

     Her grandfather stepped in close to her grandmother, brows knitted in concern at the way she took a deep breath just when she shuffled closer. Savreen wanted to close her eyes. She wanted to clasp her hands over them, but she couldn't find the energy. She was enamoured━like she was watching a show that she knew she'd hate, she knew she'd cry from, she knew it would break her, but she kept watching and watching and watching━

     "Are you all right?" whispered her Dada, placing a tender hand on Sav's grandmother's arm.

     Savreen's heart pounded━but in the worst, possible way. "No," she sobbed weakly. 

     Her grandmother met her husband's gaze. She opened her mouth to speak━

     And then she collapsed. 

     "Kaeya?" Her Dadi was suprised for a second. Then, he dropped down to his knees━old and in pain, but that didn't matter when she was there, unconsious. He didn't know what was happening, and Savreen remembered the distress in his voice. "Kaeya?! Kaeya!"

      "Dadi?" Savreen heard herself. She gasped, spinning around to see a six-year-old version of herself run past. "Dadi?!" She crouched down beside her grandmother, shaking her with confused cries, "Dadi, wake up!"

     The memory faded away and left Savreen alone in the darkness, weak-limbed and sick to her stomach. She took a deep breath, trying to stop her tears, but it did little use. 

     "A tragic memory," sighed a voice. 

     Savreen jumped and looked over. She wiped away the tears from her eyes to see better, focusing on an old woman beneath a robe. She was almost unrecognisable, but Savreen would never forget the face of the woman who gave her the dreaded necklace. Her brows furrowed into a scowl━Sav was rarely angry, but when she was, others often got scared. 

      She doubted she'd scare a goddess, though. 

     Hera gave her a weak, sad smile. "Mortals fade so quickly."

     "Where am I?" Savreen asked instead, fury bottling low in the pit of her stomach. "Why are you here?"

     "This is the Transition," explained the goddess, huddled over and raspy. "A place for those not dead, and yet not particularly alive. A place of tragic memories━your own, or others."

      Savreen choked, "I━I'm dead?"

     "No, child," scolded Hera. "Did you not listen? You are neither dead nor are you alive at this point. Midas touched you, and you are encased within gold. It is easier to appear within a place that's not entirely a place, and so I'm taking this chance to see how my gamble is going."

     She was too exhausted to even think about what she meant about life and death, so Savreen focused on something else. "Your gamble? What does that even mean?"

     Hera sighed again. "You were always meant to hold that necklace, Savreen Arora. Whether you wish to ignore it or wish to accept it. That is the weight meant to be bared by the daughters of Harmonia."

     "I don't want it," stated Savreen, her voice cracking. "I don't want to be her daughter. All its ever brought me is━is pain, a━and suffering and I've lost nearly everyone. I don't━I can't━I don't want to lose anyone else."

      "I'm afraid that's not how it works."

     "You gave this to me!" Savreen pointed at the goddess, not even thinking of the reproccusions. "You gave me this curse of this necklace! And now you expect me and my friends to come and save you? All you've done is make us suffer, too!"

     Even looking so frail and so weak, Hera's eyes flickered with a vegeance that Savreen knew will end up coming back to haunt her. "Watch your tone, demigod. I did what I had to do to save my family, to save all of you ungrateful halfbloods. I made a terrifying gamble. But if I win this gamble, then we might win this war. I need you to use that necklace, and accept what it brings, otherwise we will lose and you, and everyone you care about will die a horrible, painful death."

     Savreen wanted to shout, but she stopped herself. She clenched her hands. Hera took this as a chance to continue. "Hephaestus created that necklace to amplify bad luck. It made its wearers young and beautiful, but in return, made their lives dreadful. But it also amplifies everything about the wearer."

     "It makes them beautiful and unable to age," stated Savreen, shrugging. 

    "It makes them powerful," corrected Hera. "And with power, comes great sacrifice."

     "So ... what's it supposed to do to me?"

     "That's the gamble," said the goddess. "Question is whether you'll help me take it, Savreen Arora."

     Savreen frowned at her, admittedly scared. "Sounds like I don't have a choice."

     Hera pursed her lips, suddenly looking rather solemn. "Everyone has a choice, even gods and goddesses. Whether we make the right choice? Whether we're ready for what comes after it? You never know until you make it. But I admit, I need you to make it. Everyone does."

      "Is Percy Jackson your other gamble?" asked Savreen before she lost her courage, or her time. She didn't know why, but she could feel it slipping away━whether it be to life or death, she didn't know. "Where is he?"

      Hera had a dangerous gleam in her eyes now. "Right now? In a deep, deep sleep. But while he continues to dream, you must now wake up from yours. Do not fail the world, Savreen Arora."

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    ━━She was shivering when she woke up, though she wasn't sure whether it was from what she had seen, or the winter. Savreen trembled, breath hitching and tears still in her eyes. She could see the others staring at her: Jason, Piper and Leo, as if waiting for a reaction. Piper looked drenched and shivering under a blanket beside a fire. Leo looked shaken, but Savreen was sure he must've warmed himself up. She wondered whether if she looked as bad, or even worse. 

    When she didn't say anything, Leo glanced briefly at the other two before carefully asking, "Sav? You all right?"

    Jason frowned, concerned. Savreen saw him grab a blanket and soon felt it around her shoulders. Sav clutched it with nimble, cold fingers. She forced back her tears, trying to figure out where they were. Next to her was the campfire, turning the air sharp with smoke. Firelight flickered against rock walls. They were in a shallow cave, but it didn't offer much protection. Outside, the wind was howling. Snow blew sideways and Savreen couldn't even tell whether it was day or night. 

    "What happened?" Savreen managed. Her voice didn't sound her own. "One second there was Midas, next second━"

    "You were a statue of pure gold?" offered Leo. He also supported a blanket, not looking too great, but still pushing a smile onto his face for her. "Yeah, happens to the best of us mi vida."

     Savreen nodded. She hugged the blanket tighter to her, unable to remove the memory of her grandmother collapsing from her mind━or Hera's words. Leo's smile fatlered. He knew something was up━more than just possibly a case of hypothermia. But Sav was never one to cry in public. 

    Unable to look him in the eye, fearful that all of her secrets will spill out, she set her gaze on Piper. Her friend was shivering, and she looked sick. Savreen had a horrible flash to the look on her Dadi's face. "P━Piper? Are you okay?"

     Jason glanced at her, worried. Leo pursed his lips and explained, "We had to dunk her in the river to get her back completely. We tried to dry her off, but ... it's really, really cold."

    "You've got hypothermia," Jason told Piper. "We risked as much nectar as we could. Coach Hedge did a little nature magic━"

    "Sports medicine," the coach's face suddenly loomed over Piper. "Kind of a hobby of mine. Your breath mght smell like wild mushrooms and Gatorade for a few days, but it'll past. You probably won't die. Probably."

    Piper made a face. "Um ... thanks. So ... h━how did you beat Midas, Jason?"

    Savreen wondered that, too. He told them the story, putting it mostly down to luck. But Coach Hedge snorted. "Ha! Kid's being modest. You should've see him. Hi-yah! Slice━!" he made motions with his hands. Piper had to lean back. "Boom with the lightning!"

     Jason went blank faced, "Coach, you didn't even see it," he said. "You were outside eating the lawn."

     This caused for Sav to snort a weak chuckle, unable to stop herself. But she was thankful for it. Coach Hedge was only warming up. He continued his tale with a dramatic and brave, "Then, I came in with my club and we dominated that room! Afterwards, I told him: 'Kid, I'm so proud of you! If you could just work on your upper body strength━'"

    "Coach."

    "Yeah?"

    "Shut up, please."

    "Sure," he sat down at the fire and started chewing his cudgel, rather nochalant. 

    Jason put his hand against Piper's forehead to check her temperature, and Sav tilted her head, finding the action sweet. "Leo, can you stoke the fire?"

    "On it," he summoned a baseball-sized clump of flames and lobbed it into the campfire. It sparked. 

    "Do I look that bad?" shivered Piper.

    Jason froze for a moment. Then, he said, "Nah."

    "You hesitated," stated Leo.

     "Uh━no, I didn't."

    "You're a terrible liar," said Piper, but there was a little smile on her face. "Where are we?"

    "Pikes Peak," answered Jason. "Colorado."

    The girls frowned. "But ..." Piper glanced briefly at Savreen, "... that's━what━five hundred miles from Omaha?"

     Jason shrugged, "Something like that. I harnessed the storm spirits to bring us this far. They didn't like it━went a little faster than I wanted, almost crashed us into the mountainside before I could get them back in the bag. I'm not going to be trying that again."

     Piper mock shrugged him, amused despite her state, "Something like that," she copied. Jason broke out into a chuckle. 

    Savreen shuffled closer to the fire, desperate to get warm. It was like after visiting that place━The Transition, Hera had sad━she returned with a constant chill to her spine. "Why are we here?"

     Leo sniffed, "That's what I asked him."

     Jason's eyes drifted out towards the bellowing storm as if watching for something. "That glittery wind trail we saw yesterday? It was still in the sky, though it had faded a lot. I followed it until I couldn't see it anymore. Then ... honestly, I'm not sure. I just felt like this was the right place to stop."

    "'Course it is," Hedge spat out some crudgel splinters. "Aeolus's floating palace should be anchored above us, right at the peak. This is one of his favourite spots to dock."

    "Maybe that was it," Jason's brows knitted. "I don't━I don't know ... Something else, too ..."

    "The Hunters were heading West," remembered Piper, watching him. "Do you think they're around here?"

     He rubbed his forearm as if the tattoos were bothering him. "I don't see how anyone could survive on the mountain right now. The storm's pretty bad. It's already the evening before the solstice, but we didn't have much choice except wait out the storm here. We had to give you guys some time to rest before we tried moving."

    Savreen wasn't going to object. Though, she was scared if she closed her eyes, all she would see was that horrible place again━or worse yet, relive that memory. 

    Jason awkwardly glanced at Piper beside him. Sav couldn't really tell, but she thought she saw a blush coat his cheeks. "Um ... we━uh━we have to get you warm," he held out his arms, stiff and awkward. "Uh━if━you don't mind if I...?"

     Piper matched his blush. Leo had to hide his snickers, turning them into more of a cough into his blanket. She tried to shoot him a glare, but it didn't work. Instead, she did her best to sound nochalant, "I━I suppose," but it was very high-pitch and quick. 

    As Jason carefully wrapped his arms around her and held her━as if scared the world was going to end by touching the girl he definitely had a crush on━Leo kept making fun of Piper with subtle kissing faces and love-heart symbols with his hands.

     Savreen reached out and flicked for him to stop. She was glad to see that large grin on his face, even if she wasn't feeling good herself. Finished tormenting Piper, he pulled out cooking supplies from his toolbelt and started frying burger patties on an iron skillet. "So, guys, long as you're cuddled up for story time ... something I've been meaning to tell you. On the way to Omaha, I had this dream. Kinda had to understand with the static and the Wheel of Fortune breaking in━"

    "Wheel of Fortune?" frowned Savreen, very confused. But as he looked up from his burgers, she could tell he was serious.

    "The thing is," said Leo, "my dad Hephaestus talked to me."

    He told them about his dream. And despite the Wheel of Fortune, it didn't sound good━and the storm and firelight didn't help. Once he was finished, the air was tense.

     Finally, Piper spoke up. "I don't understand. If demigods and gods have to work together to kill the giants, why would the gods stay silent? If they need us━"

    "Ha," said Coach Hedge bitterly. "The gods hate needing humans. They liked to be needed by humans, not the other way around. Things will have to get a whole lot worse before Zeus admits he made a mistake closing Olympus."

     They all shared a startled exchange.

    "Coach," said Piper, taken aback, "that was ... that was almost an intelligent comment."

     He huffed. "What? I'm intelligent! I'm not surprised you cupcakes haven't heard of the Giant War. The gods don't like to talk about it. Bad PR to admit you needed mortals to help beat an enemy. That's just embarassing."

     "There's more, though," muttered Jason. "When I dreamed about Hera in her cage, she said Zeus was acting unusually paranoid. And Hera━she said she went to those ruins because a voice had been speaking in her head. What if someone's influencing the gods, like Medea influenced us?"

    Savreen didn't like the sound of that. She shivered again in her blanket no matter the warmth of the fire. Leo set hamburger buns on the skillet to toast. "Yeah, Hephaestus said something similar, like Zeus was acting weirder than usual. But what bothered me was the stuff my dad didn't say. Like a couple of times he was talking about the demigods, and how he had so many kids and all. I don't know. He acted like getting the greatest demigods together was going to be almost impossible━like Hera was trying, but it was a really stupid thing to do, and there was some secret Hephaestus wasn't supposed to tell me."

    "A gamble," muttered Savreen knowingly. They all turned to her, confused. She pursed her lips, then sighed and explained her dream. Quiet, distant━she avoided the memory, knowing that if she even mentioned it, she'd choke up. 

    It was silent again when she finished, too.

    Piper and Jason stared at her, having only just heard about her necklace. Savreen hunched up, ashamed. They'll kick her off, now. Who would want a walking bad luck charm on their quest? She knew she wouldn't. Her fingers reached into her pocket and pulled out her necklace, staring at how it glowered under the light of the flames━as if begging her to put it around her neck. She heard Piper gasp.

     "I'm going to ruin this quest," croaked Savreen. "All I bring is ... is tragedy and ... and I can't stop it. I━I'm sorry..."

     She told them how she got it. How Hera showed up and passed it off. The story of the curse, and who made it. She told them what Hera said in her dream, how they were her gamble, and she relied on Savreen wearing it with no idea what could happen━hoping on a whim that it would start them on a winning streak in this war no matter what consequences it will cause. 

    Savreen wiped away a tear before they saw. But she had a feelig they did. But there was something in the air━something that made her feel comfortable in telling them all this; to shed a tear in front of them. Not just Leo, but Piper, Jason and even Coach Hedge, too. They've gone through so much in the last few days. No matter what, they were entertwined. More than a team, more than friends: it was something stronger than that.

    She realised ... they were starting to become her family. 

    And that scared Savreen, because every family she has had in her life has died, or turned her away. She didn't have family, not any more. Not without pain, and suffering and disappointment. 

    And now, they were going to turn her away again. Jason will tell her to pack her bags, to leave out in that storm and not return. 

    But then, Jason reached out and covered the hand clutching the necklace with his own. Savreen's eyes widened, meeting his friendly blue gaze. "It's okay, Sav," he promised her. She felt that sob crawl up her throat again. "We're here together. We've survived━we've reached this point, and we're going to get to the end. You're not a curse, you're not some harbringer-of-tragedy. We need you. And we'll all figure out this necklace together, too, just like everything else."

     Savreen was emotional. Her brows knitted, she pursed her lips, eyes welling up with tears. Automatically, she glanced over to meet Leo's gaze, and without a word, he gave her a genuine, determined nod. She found herself believing him. 

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    a/n: sorry this took until the afternoon to get out. i had to multitask with adulting and figure out wtf went wrong with my new phone ahahah.

    this isn't edited, hope you all enjoyed it!! jason and sav are the cutest brotp i love them. see you guys soon!!!