PJ 9. Optimism

9. Optimism

- a Percy Jackson next generation story –

Sfea Jackson was known to always see the positive side of even the worst thing that could happen in a demigod’s life. When you would claim that a certain monster you’re facing was too big or too dangerous, Sfea would point out that you would only feel more accomplished then when beating it.
Every time her older brother River tried another shot at archery only to fail miserably, Sfea would soothe him with the remark that he at least didn’t hit Mr. D all the way back at the Big House again.
Even when someone came to die, Sfea would mutter in a quiet voice that at least they were now at peace and never had to look over their shoulders or fight for their lives again.

The day Nate Castellan, the eldest of the Castellan trio at Camp, however left on his first quest, even Sfea failed to see what exactly there was to be optimistic about.
Nate was her best friend and, yes, also crush even with the Aphrodite cabin trying their best to trample that hope. With his blond hair and silver eyes Nate had become the dream of most Aphrodite girls and they jumped on every chance they got to ask him out or spend time with him. Nate however always blew them off claiming he had better things to do. The next minute he would be at the forest with Sfea, laughing as he retold the shenanigans of his younger twin brothers.
When Nate left with an Apollo boy in the lead for the quest at hand and an Ares kid to close the rule of three, everyone had travelled to the Camp’s border to wish them luck. Everyone, except Sfea. She couldn’t be all happy and positive in front of everyone with the idea floating in the back of her mind of the one she loved the most possibly dying in the next few days.
The older Selene blood with Hermes skills had smiled at the absence of the youngest Jackson because this had been the sign he had waited so long for. The sign that she cared as much about him as he cared about her.

The next days at Camp seemed to move way too slow for Sfea. She spend the entire day at the forest in an attempt to clear her mind from the doom scenarios that kept buzzing in her head. Only for dinner and when night came she would return to the heart of Camp Half-Blood only to be a quiet shadow of her once bubbly and optimistic self.
On the fifteenth day of her meditating marathon, Sfea somehow felt restless. It felt as if the Camp was buzzing with excitement and she channelled that energy but felt at a loss when it came to what to do with it. And that’s when her ears caught the amused chuckle she knew oh so well.
“Figured I would find you here at the forest instead of being part of the welcome-back-parade, Snow White.”the same voice chuckled. Sfea was on her feet in a second and trapped Nate in a hug. “You’re back.”she mumbled relieved in the fabric of his shirt. “Only because I had a reason to come back.”he told her before softly kissing her lips.