18 [Omen]

Fate/Defiance

Chapter 18 [Omen]

By theMadLad

"No Icarus! Sleeping for only 20 minutes multiple times throughout the day is not healthy for you!" Asclepius shouted at the only other occupant of his room while at the dead of night.

"Asclepius, buddy, you're forgetting something crucial! The thing that can make anything possible!" Icarus yelled in reply with a smirk while flailing his arms out in a dramatic fashion.

"Oh, and what would that be?" Asclepius snarked back sarcastically.

Icarus smirk grew wider as the muscles on his face stretched to accompany it, "Magic!"

Asclepius groaned before putting a hand to his face in exasperation.

"C'mon, there has to be a chance it would work." Icarus pleaded to his friend.

Asclepius took the time to sit down and think it through while Icarus stood silent waiting for him to finish contemplating. Eventually, Asclepius sighed before looking Icarus in the eye before speaking, "Suppose that I could, why should I help you with this? Why would you want to put yourself through so much difficulty with care?"

Icarus slowly sat down at the chair adjacent before speaking his reasoning, "Did you know we live a third of our lives asleep?"

Asclepius just raised a brow, "And?"

"Imagine how many things I could do with that time, how much more stuff I could learn along with more time spent living due to it!" Icarus exclaimed in optimism before being shot down by Asclepius' retort, "Time that is used for your mind to rest and body to grow."

Icarus frowned, about to respond before Asclepius cut him off, "Speak honestly, what is it truly that you need this time for? I know you wouldn't consider something so demanding without a greater meaning."

Icarus' eye twitched as he felt the heated glare from his friend.

"Well, I'm waiting." Asclepius demanded from Icarus silence.

Sighing, Icarus brought his hand to his face before tightening it with a reminiscent look in his eye, "Must everything need some greater meaning?"

Asclepius listened in silence as Icarus began to ramble, "I simply want more time to experience life and live as much as I can, as I know better than anyone that it only takes a little bad luck to destroy everything you've ever worked for, and I hate it. I don't like leaving anything to luck."

"You know as much as me that destiny is not something we can change, it lies in the hands of the Fates." Asclepius rebuked with the shake of his head.

Icarus chuckled before speaking, "I believe a man makes his own destiny. After all, how could the strings of fate make a man arrive at his destiny if he refuses to even take a single step towards it."

Asclepius didn't think the same, "Hmm, but what if that was his destiny in the first place? And he may stop himself from taking a step but that does not mean his destiny will not come for him instead. Remember, the Fates are a guiding hand from behind the scenes, you could never know what they are manipulating from the shadows. They may have had your entire life planned out from beginning to end."

Icarus smirked, "But what if you already knew how things played out and you were able to cast that guiding hand from the shadows—into the light."

"Whatever you say, Icarus. As much as I would like to debate the whims of the Fates and self-fulfilling prophecy, I must inquire what this has to do with anything?" Asclepius as with a drawl.

"Say that…hypothetically, you knew the way you would die, wouldn't you do everything to avoid it?" Icarus asked with a pointed look.

"Y-you know how you'll die?" Asclepius stuttered from his shock.

"Hypothetically, what would you do?" Icarus responded in a meaningful tone ignoring the prior revelation.

Asclepius gulped before nodding and replying with a thoughtful tone, "I-I don't know what I would do...maybe just continue trying to make medicine, ha! Or even develop some cure for an incurable disease!" He smiled towards the end, "Just continue doing what I am doing now, it's what I love after all."

Icarus smiled at his friend's passion and spoke, "I thought you'd say something like that."

"R-really." Asclepius stuttered with a blush, embarrassed from his outburst of passion for medicine.

"Yeah, it's fine. Nothing wrong with wanting to make medicine, not everyone needs to be some super strong monster slayer." Icarus spoke to him in confidence.

"Thanks." He replied, still a bit nervous. Asclepius had always been sort of insecure about his hobbies, while other demigods were carving their names to legend on the blood of monsters, he stayed holed up in his cabin, making medicine.

He deep down felt inadequate, comforting himself by thinking it was another way to spite his father.

"I wish others thought the same as you, Icarus." Asclepius sighed in response, he truly did wish that. Even though he was friends with the other camper he knew they looked down on him subconsciously for not wanting to train like a 'proper' hero.

Their friendship was much more tight knit between themselves then with him, but then again, he stayed in his cabin all day and rarely went outside to interact.

If it had been daytime he surely would've glared at any light seeping through the room.

"Don't you know Asclepius?" Icarus took Asclepius' attention with his words as he continued, "A society which separates its scholars from its warriors, is run by cowards and fought by fools." Patting Asclepius on the back, Icarus gave an encouraging grin, "So don't worry too much, just keep doing what you're doing, there's nothing wrong with trying to cure people."

While Acelpius was stunned by Icarus' words, Icarus secretly gave himself a mental pat on the back for leveling up his shamelessness.

'Hoho, can't be plagiarism if you were technically first!'

While slowly bumping up Icarus to the status of 'best friend' in his mind, Asclepius suddenly remembered something!

"Wait, you said you were going to die!?" He shouted at Icarus in panic.

Icarus winced from the volume before smirking, "Sheesh, that's not even what I said. But, eh…close enough."

"How come you're smiling!? Wait, how do you even know about your death? …Did you meet some kind of oracle?" Asclepius yelled before calming down, determined to help Icarus in any way he could.

"Don't worry too much." Icarus replied with the shake of his head before elaborating, "If I die, I die. As long as I accomplish my goal in the end and live what I can to the fullest, I probably won't have any regrets." He finished with a tilt of the head.

Asclepius was going to ask more questions before failing to speak as he spotted a sudden shift in Icarus' demeanor, his presence seemed to rise as a golden glint radiated from his eyes, as if showing a glimpse of a greater whole.

"Heh, and trust me…if I do die from something like fate, it won't be without me fighting against it by tooth and nail, every step of the way."

Asclepius' eye twitched at Icarus' attempts to sound cool before asking another question, "How long do you think you have?"

Icarus sighed before speaking, "That's why I wanted your help with the sleep schedule, I likely don't have much time. Probably until my late teens at best."

"…That is not that long."

"Yeah, I know. It only gives me a few years to gain as much strength as possible and for that I need more time." Icarus lamented, "So, could you please help me."

"Y-yeah, it will take some time though." Asclepius responded, "I have to account for the lack of sleep's effect on your growth and try to mitigate any lethargy, and a few other things. But, I should be able to do it."

Icarus bowed in gratefulness, "Thank you my friend."

Asclepius just waved him off with a laugh.

With that, Icarus left the cabin to turn in for the night.

——————

Icarus had awoken the next day with Atalanta curled up into his chest, she was already asleep when he had come back late at night after his talk with Asclepius but managed to be like this in the morning.

Patting her head, causing her to wake up with a yawn, they soon left the cabin to see the rest of the campers.

He had joined them as they sat on the grass, facing Chiron who seemed a bit on edge but not too nervous.

Icarus knew there had to be something big going on soon if even Asclepius with his white robes and hood he wore to block out the sun was here.

"Alright everyone, an oracle has come in and we have some important news." Chiron spoke with a somber tone.

Icarus glanced at the other campers noting their reactions, Castor and Pollux looked mostly impatient—likely bothered by the interruption from morning training, Heracles and Asclepius looked indifferent, while Jason...

"C-c'mon teacher, spill it out! It can be that bad, can it?" He stuttered out nervously.

The others glanced at him in various forms of pity and disgust while Chiron continued.

"No this is bad news, even those on Olympus seemed nervous." He remarked, causing all the campers to whiplash from how quickly their attention focused on him.

"What could be so serious that even the Gods are nervous about it…?" Heracles murmured.

"It appears the remnants of an ancient enemy of the gods have birthed creatures that will soon arrive in Greece, named the Gigas, who seek nothing but to destroy anything they come across." Chiron spoke mournfully.

"What are they exactly?" Heracles asked and was quickly followed by another question from Icarus, "And how do they affect us directly?"

Chiron nodded at their questions before replying, "They are giants consumed by nothing but wrath for all living things, as for how they affect you all…."

His face turned especially grim, "There are circumstances which prevent the Gods from interfering, and you all—being the current generation of heroes—will likely be the ones to fight."

"Due to this, I will be accelerating your training in the coming months to try and prepare you all. Please try to stay positive and remember, there are opportunities from danger just as there is glory in death. Don't be afraid, young heroes, as Olympus stands behind you." He spoke somberly before shifting towards a more optimistic outlook.

This turned most of the campers face's dark while the opposite was true for Jason, who looked as pale as a sheet of paper.

While Icarus was lost in thought, although he knew he was in the Fate Series there wasn't much to go off of from his knowledge of it.

And while he noticed Chiron was being vague and seemed to keep some things to himself, he was still able to scrounge up memories of his knowledge of Greek Mythology and come to a conclusion.

…The Gigantomachia was upon them.

==============

The Gigantomachia (Which is a war between the Gods and Giants, but also includes heroes like Heracles) is still a bit away so expect a couple more chapters for training and interacting with the other campers until a time skip.

I want to flesh out the other characters and their personalities a bit more, so this chapter focused a lot on Asclepius.

Remember this does follow Fate Lore so for those that don't understand things may be confusing due to being different from mythology. I also have changed the timeline a bit so ages might not add up, that's why I said it was kind of AU.

For example, one of the reasons the Gods won't fight the Gigas much compared to mythology is because in Fate Lore the thing the Gigas are made from gave them actual PTSD.

Hope you liked the chapter, please give feedback as it motivates me to keep writing!