He Shall Return, The One That Lost It All, A Close Friend Of His Will Fall

Chapter Thirteen (Part One) (Percy)

Percy's concentrated hard as he studied what was going on. What was the best move to make at this point?

Percy thought for a minute as a plan formed in his head, growing and getting more complicated. It spread out through his head as he thought about it like the roots of a tree, developing based off of the different circumstances, spreading through out down through the ground as the tree grew taller and taller. He narrowed his eyes and looked at his opponent, the leader of the other army.

He moved one of his army members forwards. His opponent did the same with a different price after a minute of thinking.

These two opponents knew each other well. They knew some of each other's plans without even needing a spy or communicate with the other in any way. But they didn't know all of it, and that's what each of them was counting on. Some of the trees roots are obvious; you could trip over them, while others you can't see, you know they have them, but you don't know exactly where they are.

The two narrowed their eyes at each other before commanding their armies one by one. The game got faster and more realistic as the game went on.

Lives were lost, yet the two opponents remained standing, and hadn't moved from their spots at all.

Percy narrowed his eyes again at his opponents before taking a sip of coffee, never taking his eyes off his enemy.

Percy set down his coffee and commanded the king to move. He realized something was wrong, but he had already finished the order. He forced his face to remain impassive.

His enemy may have overlooked it if he hadn't known Percy so well. Percy's face looked impassive, but Percy could never hide much from him. He managed to catch a glimpse of Percy's eyes and a smile reached the corner of his mouth. He knew that Percy had made a mistake. Within seconds he had found it.

But before he made the move, he hesitated. He wasn't sure if Percy had planned this and he was faking. He studied the situation carefully before making the order. He was about to address his army, when-

"Percy, Nico?" Both Nico and Percy jumped, and they knocked the table. Percy was able to save the two cups of coffee, but the same could not be said for the game. As if in slow motion, the chess board and pieces fell all over the table and the ground.

"Oh come on!" Nico shouted. "I was about to win! Two more moves and I would've won against Percy! For the first time, too."

"I'm sorry," Gaea apologized. "I should've waited."

"No, I'm sure it's very important," Percy said. "What is it, grandma?"

(A/N Yes I know she's his Great Grandma, but they call her "grandma" or sometimes even just "mom".)

"A mission," Gaea said. "As soon as you can. It sounded very urgent."

"Thanks, grandma," Nico and Percy replied. Gaea smiled.

"You're welcome." Gaea then left the room to go do grandmotherly stuff(you know, hunting, cooking, going on a secret mission to go kill the enemies).

"Go ahead, Nico," Percy told Nico. "Go get the details. I'll clean up this mess. And bring your coffee." He handed Nico his coffee.

"I can help," Nico said.

Percy shook his head. "You go on. I'll meet you by the motorcycles. You can fill me in on what the mission is then."

"Okay," Nico replied. "Bye."

"Bye." Percy kissed Nico before smiling. Then he kneeled down after putting down his coffee and picking up the chess pieces from the ground.

Nico left the room to go see what their mission was going to be.

(A/N I wrote this at 1:35 AM. Sorry I had to publish it the day after Christmas instead of on it. Sorry if it's not very good. Anyway, chess is good for improving planning skills and battle strategies, which is why they were playing it.)