“Are you alright?” Harmonia asked.

It was the morning now, after they’d performed the bizzare Pandora's Jar experiment. 

“I’m fine...that Jar...it shouldn’t be here. It’s too dangerous.” Baekhyun reflexively rubbed his wrist.

“It's Hephaestus. He orders the general to do things like this. Sometimes I wonder if he actually cares about the resistance or if he's just using us as pawns…” Harmonia admits, "It wouldn't be the first time a god has done so,"

Baekhyun wanted to tell her the truth. To yell and scream that its true. Hesphestaus was using them so that he probably was going to kill them all off if he had the chance.

“It’s easy to forget that the enemy we are fighting is the same breed as the one under our noses,” Baekhyun said.

Harmonia nods her head, “What was that all about by the way?”

“What was what about?” Baekhyun asked.

“You know...how the general basically ran up there to save you.” Harmonia raised an eyebrow.

“Oh that...well I don’t know you’ll have to ask him,” He shrugged.

“If I wasn’t mistaken, the general seems to take a liking to you now,” Harmonia's voice was indescrnable. 

“You can’t be mistaken. It’s in Aphrodite blood to know when someone has strong emotions for another person,” 

“Are you admitting your feelings for the general?” Harmonia looked at her halfbrother like he’s gone nuts.

“I’m not admitting anything...just that...there's good inside him that everyone else can’t see,” Baekhyun somehow is able to defend the cruel general once again.

“Hmm...my aphrodite senses are telling me someone has feelings for the general too,”

The side of Baekhyun's mouth slightly lifted up. He wasn’t a blusher as everyone knew, but he could feel the tips of his cheeks become slightly hot.

“I’m not going to answer that question-” 

Before Hamronia could roll her eyes in annoyance that her brother wasn’t stating the obvious, the door rattled with a knock.

Baekhyun was surprised to hear the knock come exactly at 6:00 am in the morning. In fact, he was more than surprised. He could see Chanyeol becoming more and more fond of this presence.  Sometimes he’d come even a few minutes early. That was unheard of.

When he opened the door the general looked impatient as he tapped the tip of shoe on the dirt.

“It’s about time,” Chanyeol said.

Baekhyun wasn’t an expert in reading people's minds but he could sense a slight form of sarcasm tinged with a little bit of playful teasing in his voice. It was only slight, something only Baekhyun who’d known him for years was able to notice.

They took to the training field which for the meantime, was empty. Baekhyun took out his arrow and immediately began firing blanks towards the sandbag dummies to warm up. He watched Chanyeol out of the corner of his eyes watching the man with an intense stare.

“What are you looking at?”is what he wanted to say, but he knew simple phrases like that could piss off the general. 

It was strangely not that awkward being next to Chanyeol after the Pandora Jar incident. He expected none 

Instead, he hesitantly turned his head to the side, Chanyeol sighed.

“You can use charmspeak, correct?” Chanyeol said in a low voice, almost inaudible.

“Yes,” 

“Tell me more about it,” 

After a thirty minute session about the origins of charmspeak and a crash course about the ancestral lineage of Aphrodite, Chanyeol seemed enlightened, but slightly overwhelmed.

“So you can speak anything and someone will do that very thing,”

“Put quite simply, but yes,”

Baekhyun watched carefully how Chanyeol reacted. It was like his mind was doing cartwheels. It was like a memory was surfacing. 

“They say...well there is a legend that with the help of charmspeak, the spawn of Zues could use it to take flight,”

Chanyeol blinked slowly taking in the information, but a small bitter smirk painted over his face.

    "Since I answered your question you must answer mine," Baekhyun insisted.

   "Very well," Chanyeol pressed. 

  "Where does Hesphestaus reside?" 

Chanyeol looked surprised at the questions like he'd half expected Baekhyun to ask him something immature or something concerning his personal life (of which he knew nothing of anyway). 

"Is it that important to you?" Chanyeol asked.

Baekhyun nodded. 

"His lair is located in the depths of my office. You have seen the door to the side of where my desk is? That leads to underground valley of stairs which ultimately to lead you to Hephaestus,"

"I see," baekhyuns mind was somewhere else.

"No one can visit him" Chanyeol reminded him.

"I know," Baekhyun said absent mindedly.

Chanyeol decided to change the subject. 

“By the way that combined power you're talking about- that's impossible. Even if this was true, you need air in the sky for the spawn of zeus to fly. I used to be able to fly...I cannot in this environment.

“What if I said you could?” Baekhyun smiled.

The general looked at him perhaps in a way that he could not comprehend. A little hopeful and a little skeptical.

Chanyeol glanced field around him noting that no other demigod was awake, “We have time,”

---------------------------------------------

It began with baby steps. First, Baekhyun needed to assure Chanyeol that although he hadn’t flown in months he was still capable of doing it. He was the only living son of Zues, if he wanted he’d grant him the powers to fly to the moon. 

“Instead of Charmspeaking a person, one can charmspeak an object. In this case, tiny particles of air will obey my command.” Baekhyun said, twirling his finger around.

He moved them quite fast so that it picked up some dust from the ground, revealing that the wind was moving.

“I can do that,” Chanyeol said cockily.

Baekhyun rolled his eyes, “Yes, but you can’t do it for the air around you.”

The son of Aphrodite looked at the general intensely before closing his eyes shut. He mumbled something under his breath. Before he knew it Chanyeol’s body was outlined with a tinge of pink dust. 

Chanyeol looked at his body in awe. The moment only lasted for a few seconds though as it snapped out of existence.

“What happened,” Chanyeol asked.

Baekhyun, who could feel a small bead of sweat forming on his brow, sighed, “You’re not helping me. You need to move the air around yourself,”

Chanyeol nodded.

They tried again. Fail.

It was like they were sixteen again, trying out the newfound power. It was like nothing had progressed and they were in the same state from before. It made sense, Chanyeol hadn’t used this power in years.

“This isn’t going to work,” Baekhyun tapped his chin.

He thought about ways in which he could push Chanyeol to use his powers more. It was obvious he was being hesitant. He was the son of Zues so it made no sense for him to be this fragile.

“What do you suppose we do?” 

“Follow me,” Baekhyun's face lit up.

They both went to the top of the cliff where Chanyeol’s headquarters were. The edge of the cliff overlooked the entirety of the resistance. Although it was mostly dirty, the barracks and lazily placed sandbag dummies, Baekhyun found there was a slight beauty to it. 

It wasn’t approximate, but they were at least 20 meters above ground. It was a dangerous drop. It was the perfect set up. Baekhyun had faith in himself. He just hoped Chanyeol knew where this was going.

Baekhyun had his back against the view of the resistance camp while Chanyeol stood in front of him, his eyes furrowing in confusion. 

“What are you-”

Baekhyun took three steps back and he could feel the edge of the dirt, sharp and yet crumbling beneath the heel of his shoe. One stone fell to the ground.

“You better fly,”

Baekhyun fell backwards, plummeting to his death.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

The gravitational pull almost made him unable to charmspeak, but once he reached a certain point Baekhyun whispered mantras in his head, “Move, Fly, Move, Fly,” He repeated with his eyes closed shut.

He could feel the pressure of the air as he dropped, making his ears pop. At one point he may have accepted his embarrassing death which would be later termed as a suicide. He wondered what was taking Chanyeol so damn long.

I can only help you a tiny bit, you need to do the rest, he hoped Chanyeol could read his mind.

Once he felt like he couldn’t fall much longer he braced for the impact. 

Except at one point he felt the air push the opposite way with such force he felt like he was being taken to heaven. 

It happened for sometime until he felt like he was moving in the opposite direction.

When Baekhyun opened his eyes hesitantly he was relieved to see Chanyeol carrying him a slight pink glow covering his body, his eyes trained up towards the cliff where he’d fallen.

He’d done it, Baekhyun closed his eyes in relaxation.

All it took was bait.

It wasn’t hard to see Chanyeol's weakness. It had slowly, but surely become Baekhyum himself. After what had happened with the pandora’s jar incident Baekhyun was sure that the general was developing feelings for him, whether that be friendship or love-he could tell right away. The general would have easily let any demigod die in that situation, but he couldn’t see Baekhyun die. His head beat more deeply and his stomach fluttered with butterflies.

When Chanyeol brought them back to the ground, Baekhyun wobbled to stand straight, but eventually fell over, bringing Chanyeol down with him. They lay there, Baekhyun on top of his him hands flat on the ground. Out of breath. Sweaty. 

Baekhyun grinned, “See that wasn’t so hard,”

Chanyeol’s  face flushed and eyes still wide from what had just happened, “Have you gone insane!” 

      The man flipped himself over so that now he was hovering over Baekhyun. His face was visibly angry.

“Chanyeol, it’s okay I knew what I was getting myself into,” Baekhyun reassured him.

Everytime his name graced his lips it felt like a far away dream. So informal-as he’d known him for years.

“But what if-I wasn’t able to,”

“I trust you,” Baekhyun told him softly.

He brushed a hand over Chanyeol’s tense shoulder sending chills down his spine. 

“Why?” He asked, “Why do you trust someone like me?”

Baekhyun looked at the general’s face closely, seeing his cheeks dust over with a tinge of pink. It was true, he thought. Why was he trusting someone like Chanyeol? A man who had admitted working in teams was useless. That in their upcoming battle it was a free for all and you couldn’t rely on everyone. There was only one explanation.

Because I know you, Baekhyun thought. I know how caring and sweet and sensible you are. I know how much you want to help people. I know that even in unfairness you look optimistic. I know you Chanyeol.

It killed him not to say those very words. 

“I-I don’t know,” Baekhyun looked to the ground, “Why did you try to save me from pandora’s jar yesterday?”

When the son of Aphrodite looked back up he was surprised to see Chanyeol’s face closer than ever. His eyes dusted glassy but looking straight at Baekhyun’s eyes. His pupils were dilated like he was looking at something he never wanted to let go of.

“Because you drive me insane…” Chanyeol's voice trailed off, his eyes fluttering down to look at Baekhyun’s lips. 

Baekhyun leaned in and allowed the general to kiss him. There were still sparks when their lips met. It was like a magical experience-riding a roller coaster in disney land where the lights went all crazy. He could feel Chanyeol’s lips, warm and soft, hungry, wanting more.

The son of Aphrodite, out of habit, s his hand to Chanyeol’s nape, finding the spot that he knew the demigod was most sensitive to.

In hindsight, perhaps that wasn’t the smartest thing to do. The general let out a small grunt from the feeling of Baekhyun's hand against his neck. 

Immediately, Chanyeol retracted. It was like he’d touched a burning stove and had only after realized he’d been severely injured. Really, it was the feeling 

“I’m sorry,” Baekhyun apologized,

Just then the gong that woke up most of the campers and called them towards the training grounds sounded. When Chanyeol realized if they stood any closer, people may be suspicious, he flew back, breathing heavily.

Baekhyun  pulled the hand that was on Chanyeol’s neck behind his back like he’d committed a crime. Like there was blood left on it that could become evidence against him. He wasn’t sure how to feel. Now that he knew Chanyeol had some sort of feeling towards him he felt hopeful, but at the same time that didn’t mean he had his memories back. 

When he saw Kyungsoo and Mina look at him from the crowd of demigods he jogged over to them, eager to start their second last day of training.

His old time friend immediately noticed his flushed state, but before he could ask what had happened, Kai had already begun to walk out amongst the demigods instructing them on their next lesson. 

Baekhyun’s eyes flickered towards the general, who avoided him.

“The day is slowly approaching. My father grows restless. He wants to know that his army is worthy. There is no specific training regime today, only your and your thoughts. I will give any demigod who does not want to continue into the resistance a chance to move forward and state this. After this...there's no turning back.

It had been almost a month since they’d arrived here and Baekhyun felt his friends’ eyes bore into him. He was the leader, they looked for him to find answers. When Kai said those words he wasn’t sure how to react, but he understood what the repercussions were. 

When they stepped foot in that camp, no matter who they had been before they were traitors. They needed to rely on themselves every step of the way. 

It was too late to back down now.

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Authors note: I'm trying to update a few chapters at a time! I've left this fanfic a little for the past month and haven't been updating. I want to try and update regulary. Please stayed tuned guys. It would also mean the WORLD to me if you guys could comment, maybe leave your throughts, impressions, and your predictions about what will happen. A lot of this story ghosts most of Percy Jackson series, in other words, there will be a lot of parallels throughout the story. Stay tuned!