Chapter 55 – A Rest Before Returning to the Road
The dim light of the motel room cast soft shadows across the worn carpet and simple furniture as Annabeth and Dante finally settled in after a long, exhausting day. The faint hum of the air conditioner filled the silence, and the distant sound of traffic on the highway reminded them they were deep in the mortal world now far from camp's safety.
After finally managing to find a place to stay a modest roadside motel with peeling paint and neon signs flickering outside Annabeth and Dante were tidying up the room, unpacking their bags and making the space feel a little more like home for the night.
Dante flopped down on the room's lumpy sofa with an exaggerated sigh of relief, stretching out his long legs. He looked at Annabeth busily organizing their things and said: "Well, it was a really crazy day. Helping Medusa get freed like that giving her peace after everything—and then, after all that emotional stuff, you guys almost got run over by a truck on the way here.
Annabeth, who had just finished making the bed with fresh sheets from her bag straightening the corners perfectly out of habit looked at lazy Dante sprawled on the sofa and said teasingly: "Well, you're not going to help? You're just going to stay there watching me do all the work?"
Dante said smiling mischievously, not moving an inch: "Well, I used up all my energy today fighting fate, devouring curses, the whole hero thing. I can't move anymore. Completely drained."
Annabeth rolled her eyes, grabbed a pillow from the bed, and threw it at his face with perfect aim, saying: "Yes, I really believe that. Mr. Dragon King is too tired to lift a finger."
Dante smiled broadly, caught the pillow effortlessly, and held it against his chest. He then looked at her thoughtfully and said: "You know, I was thinking about something serious amid all this chaos. Being a demigod isn't really that great, right? When you break it down."
Annabeth paused, setting down a water bottle, looked at him curiously, and asked: "What do you mean? How so?"
Dante said, propping himself up on an elbow: "Look, even if you're a child of a god, it doesn't give you many benefits that truly make up for the bad things that come in the package. Like, you're not bulletproof at all, and any weapon that kills a normal person can kill you too no extra lives. Plus, you don't have very good defense or recovery in general. Like, if you get run over by that truck earlier, the chance of dying is much lower than for a normal person because of your enhanced durability, but you'll still get really hurt from the impact broken bones, internal damage, the works. No instant healing without specific powers."
Annabeth thought for a bit, sitting on the edge of the bed, and said: "Well, that's true. It's a raw deal in a lot of ways. But we still have the divine powers we inherit from our parents the water control, wisdom bursts, strength. I think that's the only thing that really shows we're special and makes it worth it sometimes."
Dante said nodding: "Well, that's true. I have to admit that Percy's ability to regenerate when touching water is very useful in a fight practically cheats death in the right environment. Plus, he can also manipulate water on a big scale, but he probably can't do that yet still training."
Annabeth said: "Well, that's true. Percy's powers are really cool and versatile. But after all, he's a son of one of the Big Three, so that's normal high-tier stuff. Does your mom have those powers? The water ones?"
Dante said shrugging: "Well, I don't know for sure. After all, I've never seen her fighting seriously or getting hurt enough to see her using them in action. But she must have. After all, like Percy, she's also a legitimate child of Poseidon direct bloodline. So she must have more control or variations. I think she prefers to use her wolf powers more, though. After all, it's more practical in most situations. After all, not everywhere has water nearby to manipulate."
Annabeth said enviously a bit: "Well, it must be cool to be like you guys who have more than one power set besides your divine blood multi-tool kit."
Dante said: "Well, even though I'm Poseidon's grandson, I must have a bit of that water power inherited somewhere. I really don't see much point in using it or training it. After all, you know how legacy powers are pathetically weak compared to direct children. So I don't see a reason to try learning or relying on it when my dragon stuff is way stronger."
Annabeth said conceding: "Well, you have a point there. But there's something I'm curious to know for a while: what are your powers like exactly? After all, in myths, dragons usually spit fire and use their giant dragon form to destroy everything in sight. But you don't spit fire and you've never used your dragon form in front of us. So what is your power? The real details."
Dante looked at her cautiously and asked: "You really want to know? You're not going to get mad at me for the injustice of the world—how unfair power distribution is?"
Annabeth said firmly: "Of course not. Tell me already I'm curious."
Dante said, sitting up a bit more seriously: "Well, my power is divided into two main parts: my spatial power and my dragon power. In my dragon power, it gives me monstrous physical strength even in my human form, making any conventional human weapon useless against me. Meaning, even if someone attacks me with missiles or tanks, the max is leaving me naked, without clothes minor inconvenience. And I also have a lot of physical strength, capable of destroying mountains just with my fists if I punch hard enough. Plus, I'm immune to all types of magic divine or monstrous and can devour elements like water, fire, air, lightning, among others, to replenish my energy or satisfy my hunger instantly. Meaning, if I want, I can live without consuming any normal food, just devouring nature's elements around me. Well, in my dragon form, it doesn't change much fundamentally. It just removes the limiter of the weak human body structure. Like, if in my human form I can only fight with 30 percent of my total power to avoid self-damage, in my dragon form I can use 100 percent of my power safely. Well, to give you an idea: with 30 percent I can wipe out several cities the size of New York if I go all out. And with 100 percent, I don't know if I can destroy the entire planet or just stay at planetary surface destruction level total devastation. After all, unlike the 30 percent where you can go to the middle of the Pacific Ocean, release an attack into the sky and calculate the damage afterward, with 100 percent it's impossible to test safely. Well, there might be some more minor abilities, but in general that's it the core."
Dante then had a pillow thrown hard at his face with surprising force.
Dante removed the pillow from his face slowly, blinked, and looked at Annabeth and asked innocently: "What was that for?"
Annabeth smiled sweetly but with a dangerous glint and said: "Nothing. I just finally felt the feelings of anger that the poor have against the rich. Now me having to deal with monsters with a sword and you can destroy them with sneezes or less."
Dante said defensively but amused: "Well, but look on the bright side: our kids will be truly strong, unlike the current demigods who have to scrape by."
Annabeth threw another pillow at him even harder and said: "I'm a current demigod—watch it!"
She got up and went to the mini-fridge to get something for them to drink sodas or water before he said anything else and she had to make him sleep on the sofa for real.
Dante left the room quietly to look for some sweets from the vending machine down the hall to calm his lioness chocolates or chips, whatever would work.
Annabeth, watching Dante leave with an affectionate eye roll, smiled to herself and thought: How strange. After hearing him talk about his strength in detail like that, normally I'd be very worried terrified even. But I'm not that worried. It's impossible not to be a little worried, though. After all, the strength he mentioned is huge world ending potential. But I trust he won't overdo it or lose control. After all, even with that strength, he's here fulfilling this quest for gods he clearly doesn't like, just to not hurt anyone innocent. And even with that power, he still helped and apologized to someone he could simply have destroyed without effort. After all, it was a monster threatening lives. But he preferred to save her soul, give her peace. Well, I think he has enough responsibility to use that power wisely. But I'll still think of ways to help him not need to use it at full and ways to use it without hurting any innocents. After all, I'm his girlfriend. Taking care of him guiding him is what I have to do.
Dante, who had left walking down the dimly lit hotel corridor with its faded carpet and buzzing fluorescent lights, thought with a wry grin: Well, who understands women? They say I can tell everything and she won't get mad, but there she is getting mad anyway pillows flying. It's hard, man. Really hard.