The Runaways - A PJO AU

chapter four - "wounded" •ariadne clark•

Battle was in full swing. The monsters had approached as Annabeth had predicted and together the demigods and Hunters decimated the monsters, but the best part? Ariadne Clark seemed to be having the time of her life.

The daughter of Poseidon laughed as she slashed a dracaenae to dust. "That's twenty four, Elsa!" she boasted as she charged another monster that was going to ambush her mortal friend. She cut its head clean off before it dissipated. "Twenty five!"

Elsa grunted and drop kicked the empousa before stabbing her in the chest with her spear. "Thirty." she muttered as she spat out blood onto the concrete. Aria waved her off in slight envy. Elsa was fierce, she'd admit that. "The red headed devil caught me with a right hook." she complained while rubbing her jaw.

Aria looked around to see that most of the monsters were handled. She watched as Nora rounded up a group of dracaena, taking their weapons in the process. Seconds later, Leo set them on fire with his abilities. They were ash in seconds. Impressive, but Aria had seen them in action tons of times.

"That battle was quick." Elsa observed, her hazel eyes scanning the streets. "Too quick."

She nodded in agreement. It seemed so easy that she was certain they weren't finished. Like clockwork, a screech that could be better described as a roar filled the air. Aria froze. "Drakon!" someone shouted.

Her dark blue eyes widened, as did Elsa's, she was sure. She didn't know what the thing was, but it was big, scaly and looked as if it wanted to eat her. "Holy Hera." Aria gasped as Leo blasted the drakon with fire. It didn't seem to bother the creature, in fact Aria would say the it enjoyed the inferno.

"Retreat!" another voice cried and most obeyed.

Of course, Aria's friend had to be one of the ones who didn't. "As if." Elsa spat and charged toward the drakon.

The girl had been causing Aria trouble since day one when she met her on a train heading to California from Washington. There had been a herd of telekhines and it would have been fine if Elsa hadn't charged into their car with swords blazing.

Aria scoffed and headed after her. Three others had been fighting the beast, already and the thing was swatting them away like flies. "Aria!" one of them shouted and she realized it was Annabeth. "Blast it!"

With water? she asked in her head. If Leo's fire didn't work what makes her think water would? Either way, she summoned water from the river and blasted it continuously at the drakon until she felt as if she was going to fall over. Luckily, the pressure of the blast toppled the monster over just as she stopped. Aria took a few steps back before falling on her butt, cursing on impact with the ground.

She struggled to get up, forgetting all about the drakon and finally gave up due to exhaustion. Aria watched Elsa, Annabeth and a mean looking girl destroyed the drakon. The unnamed girl drove a spear deep into the creature and it went limp, turning to dust shortly after. Demigods cheered while Aria sat on the ground, practically helpless. She felt saved when the guy Annabeth was talking to, Percy jogged over, helped her off the ground and offered her a canteen.

She told a sip and spat it out, shocked at the flavor. She held out the canteen and inspected it, suspiciously. It tasted just like her homemade peanut butter brownies. Not only was it weird to taste as a liquid, she was positive never shared the recipe with anyone."What in the gods' name is this?"

Percy grinned. "Nectar, the godly drink. Helps us heal and what not."

With a shrug, she downed most of the canteen and instantly felt halfway decent. Aria handed him back the almost empty canteen, sheepishly. "Thanks man, you have no idea how much the water works take out of me." she said, grateful. Her crew was going to have to get their hands on some of that nectar stuff.

"Weirdly enough, I do." Percy replied while scanning the ranks. Monsters were out of sight, but most demigods were still on guard. "My dad's Poseidon and I'm guessing he's yours, too." His tone indicated that he was trying to be casual.

Aria laughed in shock and resentment at the world. Oh, today was just going to be one of those days, huh? she told herself. She had a brother! That was great. All her life she longed for some type of family and the universe hands her one on the day she would most likely die on. Go freaking figure.

She opened her mouth to reply, but snapped it shut when something caught the corner of eye. "Sword out, dude." she warned him, then shouted out to the others, "Ambush! Stand guard!" and what seemed like hundreds of monsters flooded the streets around them.

Beside her, her new brother was fighting like a demon. Slashing and dodging in ways she had never seen before. Of course, she couldn't pay too much attention without getting herself decapitated. Somehow, they ended up back to back, fighting off a circle of monsters.

While slashing her two swords through a Laistrygonian, she noticed a demigod with an eyepatch aim a knife at Percy's back. No, she demanded to herself and whoever else was listening. Not him. So she dived in front the knife. The blade sunk into her left shoulder and she cried out, dropping her left sword.

Aria shoved the one eyed demigod to the ground and placed her boot on his chest, holding her other sword to his throat. The pain was unimaginable. She hadn't been stabbed before, but now she knew how it felt. Two words: not fun. Percy was fighting off the monsters and shouting for help.

Soon the monsters around them were destroyed with help from Annabeth and Thalia, but Aria didn't move her sword from the boy's throat, despite her pain. She kept her eyes trained on the boy, daring him to move an inch. He looked frightened. Good, she thought.

"Aria." Annabeth tried getting her attention, but she didn't pay no mind to her. This boy decided to turn against his kind and kill them? Aria had half a mind to ki-. "Ariadne, stand down." The daughter of Athena's voice rang out.

The daughter of the sea, let out the breath she was holding and stumbled back. The real pain of her shoulder wound impacting at the same time, causing her to gasp. Annabeth hurried to her side and put pressure on the wound.

"Percy, go get Will and meet us up in Olympus." Thalia instructed as Aria noticed two things, both good and bad. The humans were awake and the monsters were, but a few. "Bring the wounded."

Though he didn't seem too happy about getting orders, Percy nodded and ran off.