Love Games (Leo Valdez/ PJO Fan Fiction)

Chapter 7 - Capture the Flag

I lift my arms as Piper assists putting the heavy leather armour on my body. After a long day of working our asses off for Drew and Aubrey, we get to exhaust ourselves even more so with a 'friendly' game of Capture the Flag. 

Of course, Drew made an alliance with the Ares cabin, since she's sleeping with one of the actual attractive guys from that brutish hellhole. Unfortunately for us, that means that we get to be on the red team for the game with them. Of course, we are going to be annihilated by the blue team, which is composed of the Hephaestus, Poseidon, Athena, and Zeus, so basically the most powerful cabins on one undefeatable team. We're all pretty much dead already.

"Thanks," I mutter to her, not bothering to look at her deep brown eyes. All I can see is the tree in front of me, the tree that I brought Leo up in just last night. Now that it's daytime, you can see all of its green leaves and brown branches extending in the sky towards the sun. I can almost see Leo leaning against the trunk, beckoning me over. It's too good to be true.

Piper sighs, taking out her knife and clutching it in her right hand. "No problem." This time I actually do take a minute to glance at Piper. Determination is evident in her eyes, she wants to come out with a win and prove the impossible to be quite possible. If I had to guess, I'd say she isn't a daughter of Aphrodite, she's too bad ass and talented for that. She nods as a silence falls over the red team. 

I take a step back and ready myself to begin running. My heart pounds harder in my chest as the suspense rises along with tensions. Clarisse from the Ares cabin stands at the front of the team, one hand on her hip, the other on her sword. I'm not exactly the biggest fan of Clarisse, but you have got to admire her bravery and fearlessness. Sunlight falls onto her tanned face as she looks in front of her, searching for any sign of movement. 

There is rustling sound ahead of us, along with the sound of running footsteps. I flinch at it, but Piper doesn't even tense up. I wonder how she does it, how she's so brave, yet so fragile at the same time. I haven't looked at her the same since she told me about what was going on with her father. Piper has an impossible decision to make, yet she hides it and acts brave for the rest of us. 

"Charge!" Clarisse yells, snapping me out of my thoughts. The team pushes me forward, and I loose Piper in the midst of the madness. There's already fighting going on, the blue team has already reached us. I see plenty of my team being brought down, some even maimed. The sight of blood makes me absolutely nauseous. 

Unsure of what else to do, I race to our own flag in hopes to get away from all of the bloodshed. But suddenly, there I see it, there in the distance: the blue flag so easily in sight, only a few meters away from our own flag. It waves in the wind, calling to me. Surprisingly enough, there aren't any guards in sight. It's just by itself. I suppose the blue team got a little bit too cocky.

Having nothing to loose, I tip top over to it, not believing that it's completely unguarded, that would be completely idiotic, which is something I haven't got to know the Athena cabin as. 

But there it is, the words of a song I've heard so many times before, but never here at camp. It's the song I've been listening to all school year by myself, the song that broke my heart into two pieces. The voice is melodic and baritone.

Close the door, 

throw the key.

Don't wanna be reminded,

don't wanna be seen.

Don't wanna be without you,

my judgement's clouded,

like tonight's sky.

 To my surprise, it's definitely a male voice. "Undecided," I sing softly, going up an octave from the original key. "voice is numb, try to scream out my lungs, it makes this harder. And the tears stream down my face."