The war with Gaea was over, and even though Octavian had been fully pardoned for being possessed by Gaea, the camps still didn't trust him. His siblings wouldn't sit near him at meals, any conversation he tried to have would be full of monosyllables.

In an attempt to redeem himself in the eyes of his fellow demigods, he started teaching an art class. Most of the kids there were only there because Reyna had ordered them to 'give him a second chance'.

As they shuffled into the room, they stared at Octavian blankly, some with flickers of spite. Octavian sighed and started the lesson.

Once everyone was seated at an canvas and painting, the room was deathly quiet. Octavian awkwardly shuffled from one foot to the other.

Then, a red-headed blur burst through the door.
"SORRY I'M LATE." Rachel said, panting, her arms full of paintbrushes.

"The Apollo cabin moved the archery range and nobody told me. I was getting SHOT AT. Seriously, aren't Apollo's kids supposed to be good at archery?!"

Octavian walked forward and picked an arrow out of her hair, stopping her mid-rant.

"Ummm thanks." She said, her face turning red.

"No problem." Octavian said smoothly, holding the arrow between his thumb and forefinger.

Rachel suddenly realized that they were extremely close, too close. And there were twelve other demigods watching them, with either hateful glares or knowing smirks, or just plain confusion. As Octavian realized this as well, he blushed and took a fast step back, muttering something that sounded like "Graecus".

If possible her face became even more red and she quickly sidestepped Octavian, going to sit at an empty canvas in the front.

She looked at him, raising an eyebrow.
"Well?" Rachel said, gesturing her hands toward the front of the classroom. "Teach us some art, Mr. Augur." She said, leaning back in her chair and crossing her legs.

Gulping, Octavian made his way up to the front of the class.

Octavian did not know how to paint. After a few times of attempting to mix paints, he just sighed and told them to paint whatever they wanted.

Weaving through the demigods, he saw that many of them were painting scenes from the war. Three demigods, back to back, facing a horde of swirling black with red eyes. A satyr playing pipes, bringing vines up from the ground to strangle a hellhound. A dark purple shroud covering what must have been a body, as orange purple-tipped flames reached for the sky in the background.

He tried not to look her way more than often, but not too little to seem as though he were avoiding her. Rachel had made a pencil outline of some in distinct blob in the middle of her canvas, while the background was a pretty mix of purple, red, and green.

Rachel seemed to notice Octavian staring, and turned around in her seat, resting her arms on the back of her chair.

"What are you doing?" Octavian said, sounding irritated. 

She had her thin black paintbrush between her teeth, and her fingers were covered in sticky splashes of red, purple, and green.

She gingerly removed the paintbrush from her mouth while wiping her hand on a rag. "Painting." Rachel said in a poor imitation of Octavian's voice.

Octavian stood there, looking thunderstruck. She looked so cute, with her sleeves rolled up.... and that dap of green paint on her cheek...

Without thinking, Octavian reached forward and wiped the paint of her cheek gently with his thumb.

Rachel's face turned as red as her hair. Standing up abruptly, she practically dragged Octavian outside. The other demigods looked at each other, and shrugged. There were a few exchanges of "He's dead" and "They're so cute"and everyone went back to painting.

*kissing scene, you have been warned*

Rachel marched Octavian around to the other side of the building, facing the woods.
"What was THAT?!" Rachel exploded.

"Sorry... I ..." Octavian stuttered, blushing.

"Do you have any idea what you do to me?! How am I supposed to understand the effect you have on me?! I'm supposed to hate you, for Zeus's sake, but you're making it pretty damn hard!" Rachel shouted at him.

Octavian's eyes darkened and he pushed Rachel against the back of the building , placing his hands on either side of her head.

"How do you think I feel? You're supposed to be an eternal maiden! How do you think it feels to be in love with someone who could never love me BACK?!"
Rachel froze in her efforts to push him back, her gaze locking on his eyes.

"What did you say?" She whispered, slightly breathless.

Octavian blushes and looked away. "I..... um.... love you?" He said, not meeting her eyes.

Gently, with the hands of an artist, she turned Octavian's face towards her. His breath hitched as they got closer and closer, their breaths mingling. Rachel pressed her forehead to his, smiling, her dazzling green eyes glittering.

Without a second thought, he put his lips on hers. Their lips moved in sync, Octavian's hands sliding down to rest on her hips.

Rachel's hands tangled in his hair, making him kiss her harder. Octavian wanted to stay like this forever, just the two of them, alone in this moment, not having to worry about the future or past. Sadly, they had to breath, and they pulled apart gasping for air.

Regret flashed in Rachel's eyes.
"I'm sorry... I shouldn't have done that. I have to go." Rachel said, her voice cracking as she ran off.

Octavian stood there, dumbfounded. All he could think was: "That girl was one hell of a kisser."

With a heavy heart, he went back into the building. He got a lot of looks, some people wondering why he was still in one piece, but he didn't care. All he knew, was that they could never be together. Apollo wouldn't allow it.
————————————————————
The next day, when Octavian entered the art room, he saw a single canvas sitting in the center of the room. On it was the picture she - he couldn't bear to say her name- had been painting. It was a brown teddy bear, with button eyes, a dagger by its side with bits of stuffing clinging to it. A hand was shown, skillfully mending the rip in the bear, with a needle and thread.

The hand had freckles. Across the top, in black paint, the words were scrawled: "I love you too."

Hi.... turns out I'm not dead.... hehe. Sorry for not including any mortals, I just felt as though we were in  need of a heart wrenching Octachel. Let me know if you want one with mortals. Also, I don't want to do a typical cliche jealousy thing, but let me know if you guys want one.

See you next time, my little ghosties!
~Ari 👻 💀