Even before they saw the giant, Klein Maddox was having a pretty bad day. In fact, it was a pretty bad couple of days - so obnoxious that it all seemed to be blending together into one big lump of suck.
The depression that was cut into the forest was easily the size of a football field, trees cut down to make an enormous purple bonfire. Littering the ground were aimless rocks and logs and an intriguing array of construction equipment: an earthmover, a tree harvester, and another machine that the daughter of Apollo didn't even want to ask about because why does it look like a guillotine?
Laying her eyes on the giant, Klein couldn't be sure what the hell hr could have possibly needed with any of the machinery. Enceladus was easily thirty feet tall, matching the height of the remaining trees that lined the area. Waist up, the giant appeared remotely human. His skin was a deep bronze that almost blended in with the armored breastplate he wore, and his biceps were bigger than any of the demigods surveying the scene. He was riddled with scars, hair braided human bones. And his face... well, it looked like somebody had dropped a clay figure they'd been crafting in art class, all crudely misshapen.
But that was where the humanlike characteristics ended. Waist down, Enceladus had scaly green legs with claws instead of feet, as if he was meant to be a dragon but the sorting process down at the factory had gotten messed up.
And as though things weren't already looking bad enough, the spear that Enceladus kept dipping into the fire was the size of a flagpole. Jason was six feet tall, and Klein didn't even want to guess at how many of him stacked up on top of each other it would take to reach that height.
Klein was not six feet tall - and that was not a comparison she was willing to make.
"Okay," Hedge started, "Here's the plan-"
"You are not charging him alone!"
"Aw, c'mon."
Things only continued to decline from there.
On the other side of the clearing was Tristan McLean, unconscious and limply bound to a post. He was just barely visible over the purple flames of the bonfire, but it didn't take Drew Tanaka super-fan to recognize the movie star.
Each of the demigods were beginning to wish that this all was a movie. If that was the case, Piper's dad would slip out of his ties and take care of the giant for them, and something like Stayin' Alive by the Bee Gees would be playing in the back.
Unfortunately for a dismayed Piper and the curiously dressed group of demigods - this was not a movie and her father was about to be eaten alive.
"There's five of us, and only one of him."
"Oh, yeah." Klein turned to the satyr with a less than impressed look, "And if we all climb on each others shoulders, maybe we'll be half his height!"
Hedge (unsurprisingly) dismissed her and proceeded to point to everyone respectively, "So me, Valdez, Maddox, and Grace, distract him. Piper sneaks around and frees her dad."
Was it the best plan in the world? Not exactly.
Did they really have any other options? Not at all.
After a moment of contemplation, everyone turned to look at Jason. When he noticed, he furrowed his eyebrows and frowned. "What? I'm not the leader."
"Yes, you are." Piper nodded.
"But... what about Klein? She-"
"No." Klein immediately cut him off.
"But-"
"No."
The Grace boy was in no way amused by the way Klein was cutting him off. Nor was he amused by the way she held her hand up, offered him a lazy smile, and said, 'I vote Jason as team leader'.
Leo quickly seconded, and Jason glared at the two like gee thanks. But finally, he sighed. "I hate to say it, but Coach Hedge is right. A distraction is Piper's best chance."
"Alright then. Let's boogie." Leo pulled a hammer from his belt, "Before I come to my senses."
Klein did not appreciate the way that the group's eyes seemed to fall to her neck. She rolled her eyes from where she was crouched in the ground, tossing her hands up by her sides and reaching back to pull the silver bow off her back.
"You heard the man, 'let's boogie'."
They did not 'boogie' well. In fact, like most everything else in her life, things went wrong almost immediately.
Piper ran off first, scrambling along the edge of the forest while the rest of the group marched right into the center of the clearing.
Jaosn summoned his golden lance and raised it over his head. And then, leaving everyone baffled, he yelled, "Giant!"
Klein's eyes widened and she turned to him with murder glowing on her face.
"That was your whole plan?" She hissed.
If they survived this, she was going to kill Jason Grace herself.
Enceladus stopped chanting at the growing purple flames, turning to face the demigods with a dismayed grin that brandished tiger-like fangs.
"Well, what a nice surprise."
"That is such a lame line." Klein's grumbled.
Hedge stepped forward as Leo inched the opposite way towards the bulldozer, "Let the movie star go, you big ugly cupcake! Or I'm gonna plant my hoof right up your-"
"Coach." Jason snapped. "Shut up."
Enceladus roared with laughter. "I've forgotten how funny satyrs are! When we rule the world, I think I'll keep your kind around. You can entertain me while I eat all the other mortals."
"Is that a compliment?" Hedge glanced back at Leo with a frown, "I don't think that was a compliment."
Klein was about to inform the satyr that it was absolutely not a compliment, but Enceladus beat her to it. He opened his mouth wide, and his fangs started to glow.
Her eyes widened, "Oh, fu-"
"Scatter!"
Truthfully, they did not succeed in chattering very well. Leo made a mad dash to the right, avoiding the flames behind the construction machinery. Coach Hedge went right as well, though it didn't seem like his canary yellow jacket was going to survive either the stray spray of flames or the mud on the ground.
Klein, thinking nothing but 'please don't get lit on fire again' lunged to the left, bow tossed aimlessly ahead of her as her arms came up to try and cover her head. Jason, in his stupid heroic nature, dove to the left. He did so with little regard to his own safety, and he practically tossed himself on top of the Maddox girl like he was hoping to act as an extra barrier between her and the flames.
When he finally rolled off of her, Klein lifted her head with a groan. "Ouch."
"You okay?"
"Yea-" Klein cut herself off when she noticed the smoke coming up form behind Jason, eyes widening as she practically launched herself at him. "Oh my gods, were you trying to get barbecued?!"
She whacked at the scorch marks on his shirt until he managed to brush her hands away "Trying to keep you from getting barbecued, actually."
Then, as demigods did, they charged. As did Coach Hedge, ripping off his burning yellow jacket and charging alongside of them.
Before they could get very far, Enceladus lifted his spear and slammed it against the ground. The entire mountain shook with the impact and sent those around to the giant flying backwards.
Klein scoffed as she hit the ground, growing more annoyed than she was in pain. She was at least relieved to see that Jason and Leo had both managed to stagger back to a stand. Coach Hedge, however, wasn't as lucky.
He was completely unconscious. Face down, furry hindquarters up, and yellow pants around the knees.
Because that's what they needed to see right now.
"I see you, Piper McLean!" Enceladus let out another roar of flames as Piper ran through the burning underbrush, "I'm happy you've arrived - and you've brought me my prizes!"
Klein liked to think there was a few different kinds of fuck-ups. There was the stupid kind: not knowing what you were walking into and getting screwed over because of it. Then there was the fucking moronic kind: knowing exactly what you were walking into and still getting fucked over.
Clearly, they had gone with the second one.
The giant laughed at Leo, who looked like he was about to drop dead. "That's right, son of Hephaestus! I didn't expect you all to stay alive this long, but it doesn't matter. By bringing you here, Piper McLean has sealed the deal. If she betrays you, I'm as good as my word. She can take her father and go - what do I care about a movie star?"
Tristan McLean, the movie star in question, looked extremely unhealthy and as close to dead as someone could be without actually being dead.
An ugly thought in the back of Klein's mind taunted that-that was how she looked when she was taken down in the final battle. That it was the look that distracted Kieran Maddox enough to get him killed.
Piper drew her dagger and turned to face the giant, "Let him go!"
Was the dagger going to do anything against a thirty foot giant? Absolutely not. But brownie points for bravery, Klein supposed.
"Of course, dear! Swear your loyalty to me, and we have no problem. Only the others must die."
"He'll kill you!" Leo warned, "Don't trust him!"
"Oh, come on now. You know I was made to fight Athena herself? Mother Gaea made each of us giants with a specific purpose, designed to fight and destroy a particular god. I was Athena's nemesis, the anti-Athena, you might say. Compared to some of my brethren - I am small! But I am clever. And I will keep my bargain with you, Piper McLean. It's part of my plan!"
If Enceladus was small, the daughter of Apollo had zero desire to see his brethren.
Then Enceladus roared, so loud that it echoed throughout the entire mountain valley and probably made it all the way to Titan Land. At the edge of the woods, half a dozen ogre-like creatures rose straight out of the earth.
Klein gaped, "What the fuck are those?"
Each of the ogres looked like seven foot tall, deformed mud statues. They each had six arms: one pair in the normal place, another sprouting from their shoulders, and a final pair jutting out from their rib cage.
Worse than the sight of them was the stench - six ogres, six armpits each, and no deodorant in sight.
"What are those?" Leo yelped.
"Gegenees."
"In English!"
"The earthborn." Piper clarified, "Six/armed giants who fought Jason - the first Jason."
Jason: the original Jason. Jason: the first Jason.
Jason: major pain in the ass.
Klein turned to the boy at her side, "This is also your fault."
"No it's not."
Enceladus was delighted at the sight of the smelly monsters, "They used to live on a miserable place in Greece called Bear Mountain. Mount Diablo is much nicer! They are lesser children of Mother Earth, but they serve their purpose. They're good with construction equipment-"
"Vroom vroom!"
Enceladus continued, "They also have a score to settle with heroes. Especially ones named Jason."
"Your fault." The Maddox girl repeated.
The Grace boy sighed, "Yeah, I'm starting to get that."
"Yay-son!" The earthborn all started molding balls of dirt into alarmingly pointy looking stones, "Where Yay-son? Kill Yay-son!"
Enceladus grinned, "You see, Piper, you have a choice. Save your father, or, ah, try to save your friends and face certain death."
Even from her place across the clearing, Klein could see Piper's face blazing with rage, "You will not take the people I love. None of them."
The force of her words sent the earthborn stumbling backwards, "Okay, okay, sorry."
"Stand your ground, fools!" Enceladus turned back to Piper, "This is why we wanted you alive, my dear. You could have been so useful to us. But as you wish." The giant held his hands out, "Earthborn! I will show you Jason!"
Enceladus did not point to Jason. He didn't even point in Jason's direction.
Instead, Enceladus turned and pointed straight at Tristan McLean, still dangling from a pole and looking good as dead.
"There is Jason.Tear him apart!"
"Oh, fuck."
It wasn't even Klein who cursed that time. No, it was the son of the lord of the sky standing right beside her, sword gripped in his hand and eyes looking as angry as ever.
There was not a single plan discussed beforehand except for Coach Hedge's 'climb the mountain, kill the giant, and get out of there'. Yet somehow, even flying blind, the four demigods shared one look and ran like they'd never been more prepared in their life.
While Piper rushed to her dad, Leo dashed for the tree harvester that separated the actor from the earthborn and soon enough the arm of the crane was swinging dangerously.
On the other side of things, Jason and Klein charged the giant.
Jason was more direct in his attack, dancing around the giants spear so that he could stab and slash at Enceladus's ankles. Klein, however, was busy rotating between shooting arrows at the giant and keeping the fresh batch of earthborn busy.
"Yay-son?!"
Six arms grabbed Klein from behind, causing her to drop her bow and let out a yelp of surprise. Doing the first thing that came to her mind, Klein went nuclear - channeling a hot and bright glow that burnt the earthborn enough to cause it to drop her.
"Hands to yourself, asshole!"
Then she jabbed an arrow through its chest.
Sparing a glance over her shoulder at Jason Grace, her stomach dropped when she realized that her fight had been going far better than his was. Half the mountainside had been set alight by the flames, each jab that Jason managed to land on the giant resulted in yet another roar of fire.
Jason narrowly missed a swing of Enceladus' spear, but he was quick to jump forward and stab his lance - which unfortunately looked more like a toothpick in comparison - into the shin of the Giant.
"You are pesky, son of Rome!"
Certainly not as pesky as the daughter of Apollo who started shooting arrows at the giants face. Enceladus roared in annoyance, swatting out again with his spear, this time only narrowly missing the Grace boy as he started to move slower as the ground tried to pull him down.
"I am not some minor monster! I am a giant, born to destroy gods!" Enceladus taunted, "Your little gold toothpick can't kill me, neither can your silly little arrows!"
Jason raised his javelin to deflect the next blow, but the giant still managed to graze the boys shoulder.
His arm went numb.
Klein saw it on his face, the determination not to give up, the pain and exhaustion already creeping in on him, the need to keep Enceladus's attention on him so he could keep everyone else safe.
"The mighty Jason Grace... yes, we know about you, son of Jupiter. The one who led the assault on Mount Othrys. The one who singlehandedly slew the Titan Krios and toppled the black throne."
What the fuck was he talking about?
Enceladus' taunts managed to distract Jason just enough for the giant to let out another ball of fire that blazed against the boys back, too slow to completely get out of the way.
Jason staggered to his feet, but Klein struck first. She shot two arrows straight into the back of the giants knee, narrowly avoiding getting squashed herself as Enceladus bellowed in pain and staggered back a step or two.
"It is not your turn, daughter of Apollo!"
"Well I'm impatient!"
She was also stupid and had nowhere near enough arrows to even entertain the giant for another minute. Just barely did she catch Jason's eye, and he nodded his head in one direction. Hoping she understood what he meant, Klein lunged to the left.
Jason faked an attack and dove between the giants legs, aiming straight for his back. And for a second Klein was sure it was going to work.
But Enceladus whipped around and swung his spear.
Jason's javelin didn't stand a chance.
The explosion was hotter than the fire from the giant's breath, and momentarily blinded the two demigods nearest the blast. Klein had tumbled to the ground, her ears ringing as she aimlessly grabbed for her bow and tried to blink the white spots from her vision.
Jason sat on the rim of the crater, clothes steaming.
He had no weapon and he stared directly at the giant.
Enceladus laughed, "Impressive! Unfortunately, that was your last trick, demigod." With one jump, Enceladus stood over Jason in the pit, a foot on either side of the demigods body and his spear positioned directly above him, "And now - my first sacrifice to Gaea!"
No!
Klein scrambled for her bow, poising the arrow and pulling back on the string. She begged herself to focus, begged the shake of her fingers to disappear and the waver of the weapon to stop.
But she wasn't a hero, and she wasn't going to be the one to save Jason Grace.
And she wasn't. Leo Valdez was.
"Heads up!"
A large black metal wedge of machinery slammed into Enceladus with an impressive thunk!, plowing him over and sending the giant straight into the pit the explosion had created.
Klein was sick to her stomach, slowly lowering the bow and turning her gaze to where Jason still laid non-moving on the ground.
She's not a hero. She was not a hero.
But how could she not pull her shit together to save him?
The three other demigods rushed towards the boy, Piper immediately yelling something about how he was not allowed to die.
"Klein, why didn't you-"
Piper looked like the Maddox girl had committed a personal offense against her. And for the first time, Klein didn't even blame her.
Why didn't she?
They didn't have time to talk about it, or fight about it, or even think about it any longer. Down in the crater, Enceladus was pushing himself up from the ground, tearing the ax place from his armor.
"Good try." Enceladus winced as he picked his spear off the ground. "But I cannot be beaten."
Leo let out a curse behind them, "What is it with this guy? Die, already!"
Enceladus smirked. "My fate is preordained. Giants cannot be killed by gods or heroes."
"Only by both." Jason looked like he'd been struck by lighting by the idea, and the giants grin faltered. "It's true, isn't it? Gods and demigods have to work together to kill you."
"You will not live long enough to try!"
Jason pushed himself up from the ground with a wince, "Leo, if you've got a rope in that tool belt, get it ready."
Then he glanced at Klein, "You're with me, right?"
Klein wasn't quick enough to answer that she couldn't even move to help him the last time, for Jason didn't waste a second lunching for the giants legs.
"Enceladus!" Piper yelled, "Look behind you!"
When the giant turned, Klein muttered a curse to every god above and lunged for the other leg.
The trio slid back down into the crater, Jason scaling the giants shoulders and Klein repeatedly jabbing an arrow between the scales of Enceladus's ankles so he wouldn't be able to stand yet.
Jason closed his eyes, almost oblivious to the swatting hands of the giant. Klein had half the mind to shout and ask what the fuck he thought he was doing, but all of a sudden a metallic scent filled her nose.
No fucking way.
The second Enceladus spotted the storm clouds, he knew what was happening too. He pushed himself into a sitting position, fighting his way to be able to stand.
Panic filled the Maddox girls' body - if this didn't work, they were screwed. Enceladus was going to tear them to pieces if they weren't all electrocuted to death first.
"Klein, let go!"
Instead, Klein raised her hands. A bright beam of light shot from them, and Enceladus let out a deep screech as he was momentarily blinded, crashing back to the ground.
"Klein!" Jason shouted, his voice far more urgent that time.
She did as she was told, scrambling up the side of the crater as a huge crack! echoed through the air.
Mount Diablo groaned and tore apart, splitting in two with the force of the lightning strike. Jason was thrown clear as Enceladus slid down, clawing helplessly at the glassy side of the lower pit.
The giant fixed his eyes on Jason with the most pungent look of hatred imaginable, "You've won nothing, boy! My brothers are rising, and they are ten times as strong as I. We will destroy the gods at their roots! You will die, and Olympus will die with-"
Enceladus disappeared into the crevice, the mountain stopped shaking, and the earth stopped pulling at their feet all at once.
After that, it was a blur. Leo offered Jason and Klein a rope, the former just barely avoiding falling into the pit himself. Coach Hedge was slowly waking up, Piper rushing towards her father who was similarly returning to consciousness.
But then it was just Klein Maddox and Jason Grace standing on the edge of the crater, eying the destruction around them with purely exhausted disbelief before they managed to meet one another's eyes.
Only one of them could hold it.
Jason looked relieved, happy they were both in one piece, happy that the daughter of Apollo was still standing in front of him.
"Are you okay?" He asked, breathless and tired but a smile still pulling at his features despite it all.
Klein, however, looked like she'd swallowed something sour. All she could see was the arrow she couldn't get to line up in time in order to keep Enceladus from spearing Jason. All she could see was the hydraulic ax taking the giant out because she couldn't manage to shoot.
Jason Grace was almost dead in front of her and it was almost her fault, and it made Klein feel sick to her stomach.
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me?? cut a fight scene in half so there's two reasonably sized chapters instead of one mega chapter??? never. <3