Hearts Crossed - Kayla Knowles (2)

Colton II (SON)

Chapter Title: I Get Drafted Onto A Quest

If I had to describe how I actually felt after going on that kind of a rampage inside the fort, honestly.. I have to say, I actually felt great. I mean, I felt really really great, like I hadn't done something like that in a long while for some reason. I don't know why. Either way — it didn't really matter all that much. Not when I had successfully taken a step towards restoring the honor of the Fifth Cohort. Now, it was time — in the near future — to see exactly what sort of other steps would have to be taken.

While Percy and Frank had taken the enemy colors out of the keep triumphantly while on the back of Hannibal with Hazel, the rest of the Fifth Cohort forming ranks around them and all of them parading out of the fort, past stunned enemies and lines of equally mystified allies.. and with Reyna circling low overhead on her pegasus, shouting "The game is won!" seemingly as if she were trying not to laugh — I don't really know.. I had stepped out of the fort and stood a good distance away from all of it, near a stand of trees southeast of the fort even as Reyna also shouted, "Assemble for honors!"

As to why I had done this, it was simple really. I just needed time to think and plan out my next move. While the tactical upset of the balance of power in the War Games at my hands and brain for that matter had done at least a good amount of work at restoring the honor of the Fifth Cohort, due to what I had already seen, it was painfully obvious to me that much more work would be required before said goal was completed.

I hadn't been there long before I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to my right, and there standing next to me, was Gwen who then took a few more steps so that she was now standing in front of me. I had to admit honestly, even with all of that armor on, she still was a bit pretty. With reddish brown hair, ice blue eyes, and a basically perfect face, she looked like the type of girl destined to become a warrior legend — if you know, she hadn't had the misfortune to be placed in the Fifth Cohort, mind you. Even so — she had done much despite it, if her rank of Centurion had anything to say to that regard honestly.

"Why aren't you with the others?" she asked calmly.

"I needed some alone time to think.." I said back.

"Alone time to think? Why?" she asked back.

I was going to reply to her, but that's when my body moved as if I wasn't controlling it anymore. I don't know how or why, it just acted like that completely out of nowhere, completely blindsiding me to be honest here. It caught me completely off guard. It was as if I was hooked up to a video game controller and someone else had just turned said controller on and taken control of my own body.

With amazing speed, I reached around, and grabbed an object coming at me from behind as if I had known it was coming at me. I barely prevented the object from piercing me — I could just about feel the point of it pressing up against my armor. It was some sort of spear, made of what seemed to be wood less than what I estimated to be ten millimeters thick and about six hundred millimeters long. Any later than the time I turned around and I probably would have been a dead man.

Gwen must have been in a state of shock because she didn't even say anything right now for the moment. The whole event must have been so sudden for her.

Everyone had now noticed what had happened and was looking on at it with shocked expressions. Some of them were also horrified for some reason, which confused me.

It was then that I noticed something on the weapon. There were marks engraved in the shaft of it, reading off CHT I LEGIO XII F. I started to boil over with rage as my mind put two and two together. That weapon had belonged to the First Cohort.

Someone had just tried to kill me.

"WHO?!" I bellowed. "WHO DID IT?!"

My eyes scanned the crowd, looking at all the shocked faces until I found the source. The only likely one who could have possibly thrown that damn thing at me and Gwen. Octavian was standing there, watching the whole thing with more interest than concern, as if he were examining one of his stupid gutted teddy bears. God, the whole thing about him gutting teddy bears pissed me off even more. I don't know why, and I didn't care. Either way, he didn't have a weapon in his hand, and his weapon most likely probably was the long spear I was holding in my hand right now.