Champion of Love

Try Me, Bitch

A Coast Guard boat picked them up, but the men were too busy to keep them for long, or to wonder how three kids in regular clothing had gotten out into the middle of the bay. There was a disaster to clean up. Their radios were jammed with distress calls.

They dropped the questers off at the Santa Monica Pier with towels around their shoulders and water bottles that said I'M A JUNIOR COAST GUARD! and sped off to save more people.

Their clothes were sopping wet and though it was summer and they were in California, it still got pretty chilly at night. A breeze blew by and made them shiver.

Percy was also barefoot, because he'd given his shoes to Grover and wet socks were the worst thing ever, so he'd stripped those too. Better that people wondered why one
of them was barefoot than wonder why one of them had hooves.

After reaching dry land, they stumbled down the beach, watching the city burn against a beautiful sunrise.

Percy felt as if he'd just come back from the dead–which he had. His backpack was heavy with Zeus's fucking master bolt, holy shit.

"I don't believe it." Annabeth murmured in shock. "We went all that way–"

"It was a trick." Percy growled. "A strategy worthy of Athena. Someone really wants this war."

Annabeth and Grover looked at him worriedly. Percy shook his head, a scowl marring his face.

"I should've known from the start not to trust him." He muttered bitterly. Remember what he'd said about assuming things getting him into trouble? Well, Percy had assumed that the bag was from Aphrodite because Ares knew her personal touches to the things she always gave Percy like the back of his hand by now and used that to trick the Champion. Percy had been played by his mom's jerk boyfriend.

He'd been on the shit end of this scenario so many times when he was a tiny little kid trying to keep from getting underfoot in his own apartment while his mother spent all her time working because her husband was a lazy piece of burning garbage and spent all of his own paychecks on his bad habits. He was so mad that he saw the waves start getting choppier, responding to the anger making him want to destroy Ares stupid bike and make sure every piece of it was dust. He wanted to find the ear god, grab one of his weapons, and shove it down the gods throat before firing.

The champion glanced at his friends and noticed Grover's face turning red and blotchy. He took a deep breath and breathed out slowly. The waves calmed some.

He looked down the beach and saw exactly who he'd been hoping for. He marched forward and his friends followed wearily.