Looking For Help

Chapter 29

Percy winced. "I'm sorry." He said. "This must be tough for the veterans."

"Not many left." Reyna said, her voice tainted in sorrow. "Not many left."

"Fuck." Percy swore. "We're marching with a bunch of kids, aint we?"

Reyna schooled her expression. "We marched as a bunch of kids three years ago. Things don't change. At least not as much as we'd like them to."

Percy bit his lip and forced himself not to look back at the mass of teenagers nearing their first dance with death. "We've got the Avengers."

Reyna shook her head. "No heroes in war." She said. "Y'know how that is."

"Yes." He said, his gaze darkening. "I know."

"Then you ought to know that having them here is foolish." She said. "They aren't demigods, they aren't soldiers. Fighting for the Gods won't be enough for them. It barely is for us."

"They'll help." Percy said firmly. "We don't have a choice. We march against Ouranos, the last time we marched against a Primordial..." He swallowed. "It's my turn."

"No." Reyna said firmly. "It's mine. You are still needed, the second prophecy you told me about." She licked her lips. "Tartarus and Nox will go down by your blade."

"Don't you dare, Reyna." Percy hissed. "Don't you dare leave the legion without her praetor. Don't you dare put these children what was forced onto us at the end of the wars."

Percy could see the sadness that filled her eyes. The sorrow and regret that caressed her lips. The cloudy thoughts of fallen friends.

"It's a never-ending cycle, Percy. And it's our turn to lay on the mud." She said. "Our turn to lay down our lives to let them build something better, something greater."

Percy looked away. "I hate when my own words come back to bite me in the ass." He said, a tone of resigned amusement lacing his words.

"That's what you get from staying away from politics for so long."

-----

"Halt!" Reyna's voice echoed through the entrance of the Gardens.

The incessant noise of the march halted to her voice. The Avengers looked around, mirroring their peers. Peter noticed the shuddering sigh that came from Calypso.

"You alright?" He whispered, looking concerned.

"This is the entrance." She said. "I must move to the front."

"Do you want me to come with you?" The boy asked. "You won't have to be alone."

"My sisters wouldn't take it in kind." She explained. "It has to be me and me alone. I've done many sins to our family, I don't want to drag you into it."

To the front of the column, Reyna eyed Ladon with narrowed eyes from afar. She willed herself not to shake at the sight of the monster that had plagued her nightmares for years.

"Hesperides!" She called. "Reveal yourselves. We seek path through your Garden of Twilight."

Something shifted in the air. Percy grasped his pen firmly, ready to battle at any moment's notice. His last encounter with the daughters of Atlas hadn't been exactly cordial.

As if phasing to existence, the sisters appeared in front of them. Her eyes were puffy and red. Her eyebrows sunk in a frown as they snarled at them. "The Legion again." One of them, the oldest, said. "You dare ask for passage through these lands after what you did the last time you were here?"

"Saturn had settled his base on the top of this very mountain." Reyna said. "We had no choice but to march through your gardens."

"I am not talking to you, roman." The Hesperide hissed. "I was talking about him. You come here with our forsaken sister, force her to face against Ladon and go on to battle against my father, trapping him back in his burden. Why would be let you pass when you aid with this leech?"

Percy glared at her, her words cutting deep. He opened his mouth to retort, but was cut of by a new voice.

"Sisters." Calypso said, walking towards them. Both Reyna and Percy turned to her voice. "We must walk through. Our father is involving himself with Grandfather, this will not end well."

With a sudden wave of anger directed to her sister, snapped at her. "What would you know about father, Calypso?" She said. "He is suffering, keeping Grandfather away from Gaia. He doesn't want everything he and his siblings fought for to vanish."

"Aegle..." Calypso breathed. "Father... He is..."

"Fighting." The Hesperide, Aegle, said. The other sisters nodding along, tears in their eyes. "We listen to his screams at night, when Hypnos decides to torture us. But he keeps strong. We help his as much as we can, but he doesn't allow us to share the burden."

"I'm sorry." Calypso said. "But for my sake, let us cross. We war against Ouranos, not against father. We will help him as much as we can."

A dark, bitter laugh crossed Aegle's lips. Her sisters looked at her with surprise and fear in their eyes. "Olympians in the aid of a Titan." Aegle said. "You've sold yourself, Calypso. You were always the most naïve of us. Even Zoe and her foolish unfulfilled promise cannot compare to your foolish ideals."

Calypso filched as Aegle's words struck her, she looked away. "Let us pass sister." She said. "We only wish to aid."

"Ladon will not wake against you." Aegle promised. "But do not mistake this, sister. You cannot fool me. The Olympians are not welcome to these lands. And mark my words, I will not hesitate to unleash Ladon the next time you dare to show up in this place."

After that, Aegle glared at all of them as she and her sisters disappeared, leaving the three half-bloods behind. Percy eyed Calypso from the corner of his eye. Silent tears trailed down her face, her gaze glued to the place where her sisters had vanished.

She took a shuddering breath and bit her lip. "We ought to move. Night is falling fast." She turned around and headed to the group of the Avengers.

"She must survive." Reyna told Percy. Her voice steady but heavy. "Her life has been one of torment and punishment. Let her at least have... this."

"Yes." Percy said. "I lost her sister in this same place years ago. I'm not losing her."

Reyna didn't offer him aimless words of encouragement. Meaning words of sorrow or regret. She hit him softly in the shoulder, silent comfort reaching out to him.

Percy smiled thankfully. Reyna had always known what to say. What to do. How to talk.

She and him were alike. Leaders, soldiers, veterans. Their relationship had never been one of love, but there was affection. They were friends that shared deep scars.

Reyna went ahead, leaving Percy behind. The boy's gaze shifted to the sleeping dragon, the same beast that had killed hundreds of demigods, if not thousands of them.

The same beast that had doomed Zoe with its poison.

He shut his eyes and walked to the rest, shaking his memories away. Remnants of a blurred past.