Alternate Chapter Title: Chaos' Eve
(A/N: Let's get one thing straight: while the past two chapters were long.. those aren't actually the longest chapters I have ever written.
One chapter in my Clone Wars / Freezing crossover clocked in at 7,452 words long.
My longest is a chapter in my Clone Wars / Attack On Titan crossover fanfic clocking in at 7,860 words long (including author's notes). So yeah, you think these chapters of up to or over 2,000 to 3,000 or more words are long.. this is normal for me.)
Surprise, surprise, it was Austin and Caeli. Also, to be completely honest with you, both of their jaws dropped after noticing me holding hands with Kayla.
"We can talk about me and her later.." I said to them. "What are you two doing here?"
"Chiron called.." Austin explained. "Told us about Luke and that any demigod willing to help defend camp would be greatly appreciated. Truth be told, we're still trying to process it all."
"Well.. we just happened to come up on a supply mission.." Michael replied. "..so as much as it a surprise to see you two here, it's great to have you both back. And Caeli, meet one of your younger siblings, Kayla Knowles. Kayla, meet Caeli."
When it came to this couple, there was only one thing to know about these two: these two could kick ass in more ways than one. Caeli may have been the blonde haired beauty at five foot five inches tall with dark blue eyes, but believe me when I say, she was lethal. She was a really good healer and a darn good archer.
She once killed three hellhounds at the same time with a well aimed arrow, a rare feat.
Austin, with his messy black hair, multiple body scars, a good six foot and two inches tall, green eyes, and muscular build, was no less of an intimidating sight on the battlefield, and a darn good tactician too. He preferred throwing knives as his primary weapon of choice, and as a secondary, a good sized sword. He had been on only two quests during his time at camp.. one had been on Luke's failed quest that ended in a fight with Ladon. The other.. with the help of Caeli, as well as a former Athena camper named Albert, managed to defeat the forces of the Titan Pallas when he, with a small army, attempted to destroy an incredibly important temple of Apollo located in Louisville, KY. Pallas himself was nearly killed by Austin in the fight, though the Titan managed to escape.
So yeah, these two were very lethal.
Caeli didn't speak, she was in shock. Kayla did the talking for them. "Yeah, I know. The famous Kayla Knowles is a daughter of Apollo. Shocker, right?" she said, and I smiled. Gods, I love that girl.
"It's.. definitely a shocker.. are you and him.." Caeli said, still looking at the two of us. "..dating?"
The minute I nodded, Austin moaned. "Don't tell me.." he said. "..her siblings gave you the talk."
"Unfortunately.. yeah they did.." I said back to him. "As to we got to this point, it's a long story."
Kayla nodded. "What matters though.. is that I love him, with all of my heart."
Caeli cooed in adoration, while Austin just looked at me in amazement. "I gotta admit Colton, I don't think in a million years would I have expected you to be the one that hooked up with Kayla Knowles" he said, before he walked over and gave me a good hug.
"I.. missed you so much.." he cried, before steeling his nerves and looking real angry. "..but I guess now is not the time for feelings. Not when that bastard Luke is out there."
"You can say that again.." Michael added. "Let's get back to camp, shall we?"
And so, the five of us once again left for camp, all of us unaware of the two figures up on a nearby rooftop watching us - one of them being the same figure from last night and the other being their daughter.
- — - — - — - — -
Just like the trip into NYC, the monsters again kept their distance from the five of us as we headed back to camp. We could visibly see them, but for some reason, they did not attack us.
"Why are they just visibly standing there?" Austin asked, looking at a hellhound who just glared at us from some trees at the edge of the woods as we cleared the suburbs of Brooklyn. "They smell you all, why don't they attack us?"
Caeli flashed nervous looks around the area, her head moving left then right and then left again, seemingly unnerved by the situation.
"I have no idea.." Michael replied, still carrying the sack of celestial bronze I had assigned him to carry. "It's just so weird."
Austin decided to shift the subject. "So.. you and Kayla, huh.." he said to me, as we all walked down the side of the road. "..gotta admit, you must have had some balls to be able to win the heart of a girl like that. And all that time I was at camp when you were around, you didn't even show any interest in finding someone. What changed?"
I looked at him. "Would you think I was crazy if I told you that I got a prophecy while cleaning the attic that promised we'd end up together?" I asked. Austin thought about it for a good while. "Yeah I would think you are crazy.." he said, drinking some Gatorade.
"Good. Because that's exactly what happened first.." I said, and he spat the Gatorade out, with Caeli gasping. "Shut the front door! Holy shit!" Austin spat out. "When the hell did this happen?"
I proceeded him to tell about what had happened, and by the end of it, both he and Caeli were dumbfounded. "So when did you and Kayla meet up?" he asked.
"Last summer, while Thalia's tree was poisoned.. right at the end of a Colchis Bull attack.. Clarisse killed one.. I got a headshot on the other at point blank range and almost was trampled by it, diving out of the way at almost the last second.. that was when we first saw each other. I decided to pass out for some reason soon afterwards, and it wasn't until a few hours later that we actually met."
Kayla nuzzled into my side suddenly, tears in her eyes and shaking with worry. She was most likely having flashbacks of the summer that almost broke her light, if it hadn't been for me. Caeli and Austin looked on with worry. "She okay?" Austin asked.
I nodded. "Poor girl got hit pretty hard.. nearly broke during those days.. pretty sure it was safe to say I was the one that helped her through it. Between Tantalus, the Stymphalian Birds, and a snake day.. she really clung to me as a lifeline.." I said, and Caeli looked so appalled.
"My god.. poor thing.. I feel awful for not being there.. I could have helped.." she said, and Austin took his girlfriend's hand in his. "Yeah.. that sounds rough.. how bad did it get?" he asked.
"To the point that when the birds attacked, I'm sitting up in my sniper's perch loading and firing my Whitworth like a man possessed, using the monster cluster rounds, almost straight down into the amphitheater area while birds are trying to chew their way through to me, protecting everyone else while Tantalus is sitting off to the side like a useless idiot.. and Clarisse is stuck attempting to win a chariot race.." I said. "..not to mention when I dueled Tantalus to save everyone."
Austin gets in front of me, and just stops, eyes wide. "Hold up.." he said, probably never even believing what I had just said. "..he brought chariot races back? And you dueled him?"
"First of all.. yes, he did and secondly, yes.. because that mf turned out to be an agent of Kronos.. held Mr.D at sword point.. I won though.." I told him. "Just earlier this month, I got sent into the labyrinth looking for weapons.. ended up spending nearly two weeks on Calypso's Island thanks to Percy Jackson.. and once I got back, that's when me and Kayla hooked up."
Caeli and Austin just stood there, both stunned. "That's one hell of a story, that's for sure.." Austin said. I nodded.
"Indeed.. now come on. Let's get back to camp.." I said, and we all started walking once more, once again missing the duo from earlier still watching us, this time from the cover of one of the houses behind us.
- — - — - — - — -
We found the stash of supplies Ares had promised after we got back inside camp, sitting right on the driveway of the big house with the sign "For Colton".
There was a steel helmet among the boxes of ammo for both my Whitworth and MG42 that we found when we got back to camp, plus a manual on the emplacement of German MGs, conveniently translated to Ancient Greek. There was also a shovel, some sandbags, and a few dozen spare barrels for the MG42 in their containers.
I smirked. "Well.. well.. this is nice.." I muttered. Austin and Caeli looked confused. "Is all this ammo for your Whitworth, Colton?" Austin asked.
I turned back to look at him. "Nope, it's for the MG42 we now also have.." I said. "Michael, Kayla, please get Sherman, Clarisse, and Lee."
The two nodded and ran off to find them, leaving me with the two now flabbergasted college demigods. "HOLD UP!" Austin shouted, recognition evident on his face. "MG42?! When did this happen?"
"Somebody dumped it and some other stuff in the lot opposite Yankee Stadium in Queens. Travis found out via one of the Gray Ladies, who pointed it out to him. Gave it to me as a birthday present on my birthday in January of this year.." I explained, and Austin just had the biggest grin of excitement light up on his face that I had ever seen this far in my life.
"This.. this is good.. really good.." he said, knowing full well the massive increase in firepower we had with an MG42 in the camp's arsenal. That's when Kayla and Michael returned, with Lee, Clarisse, and Sherman close behind. Needless to say, all three behind my girlfriend and Michael were as equally surprised between the massive pile and the appearance of two familiar campers.
"Austin? Is that you?" Clarisse called out.
"In the flesh, La Rue.." he called back. "Me and Caeli are here to help."
- — - — - — - — -
By nightfall, with the assistance of Beckendorf and Jake from the Hephaestus Cabin, I along with Michael, Lee, Sherman, and Austin, had completed digging in a light machine gun position according to the manual. It was located along the far side of the valley leading up to Zeus' fist and the labyrinth entrance, on a spur of the ridge that led to Half Blood Hill in the tree-line. Although it was a couple meters higher, the position offered a perfect spot to rake any enemies advancing out of the labyrinth with a deadly lash of MG fire.
Although the manual called for a slightly curved, 1.4-1.6 m trench with two short trenches on the sides pointing towards the rear, and also recommended to be 60-80 cm wide at the top and 40 cm at the bottom, for ease of movement.. since we added in an alternate MG position a good 25 yards down to the left of this position when facing Zeus' fist, we had it about close to 90 cm wide at the top and about 70 cm wide at the bottom. One of the armor protection trenches - the short trenches curving back towards the rear - jutted out towards the cabins, so we made it a firing point for an archer or two, while the other one, which we dug straight to the rear after using what was supposed to be the other curved part to connect the two MG positions, led to a staircase made out of dirt that led up to ground level. It was about a good 10 yards long down the straight path to the staircase, and the trench itself for the position was about a good 12 yards long, with shelves cut into the dirt behind the firing positions on the back wall to store the ammo, spare barrels, and arrows for the two archers with me.
Unsurprisingly, Kayla decided to be one of those archers, while Caeli took up being the other. With his girlfriend in here, Austin set himself up in this position as well, being the one who would fend off any monsters that got into the position. I was the MG guy, with the MG42 set on the two legged bipod on a half circular platform about 20 cm deep and at least a yard across, with the alternate position have a similar dug platform.
The manual did call for the use of camouflage, but since you know we're Greeks, we didn't think too much about it. Instead, for protection we piled up the dug dirt and the sandbags as a parapet on the front side of the position facing Zeus' fist with gaps for both archers and both MG positions set up. For further protection, we placed a couple of tall wooden planks on either side of our firing positions and then used some special kind of glue - I forgot what it was - to fix portion of tree logs on top and sort of on the front of the planks, in such a way that we were protected mostly from any return fire, such as arrows or spears. We also had a loophole set up to allow me to be able to fire my Whitworth too.
The other campers had set up traps and other machines down in the valley to our right, although with the help of Chris, the Stolls, and Austin, I had set up some barbed wire as well in front of the labyrinth entrance as a further obstacle.
It was a good position, but now, all we could do was simply wait and wait... and wait. I feel asleep with Kayla that night thinking.. I hope to the Gods that me and her both survive this.
- — - — - — - — -
The next day, the 30th of June, came and went with great anxiety. Kayla, Me, Austin, Michael, and Caeli all waited at our posts the whole day, though me and Austin took part of the day to emplace some spare coils of barbed wire directly in front of our position. Nothing much happened though, much to both our relief and again our anxiety.. since that meant they wouldn't be here today. We also had yet to hear anything from Percy and Annabeth since they were still down there in the labyrinth with that Rachel girl.
I worried about them a bit, I'll admit. Because hey, as much as I view Percy as a rival when it comes to who is the strongest in camp, I still cared about him. I also worried about everyone else, even Kayla.
She may have come a long way from those dark days she had in her first two weeks at camp, but this would be much, much different. I honestly hoped that she wouldn't crack under the stress and pressure of real war.
Even so, I still felt like it was going to come soon. In fact, I had a gut feeling that tomorrow would be the day we all were dreading. Michael and Austin felt the same way. So that night, much to the annoyance of our partners' who wanted to sleep with us and keep their nerves at ease, the three of us slept out in our positions that whole night. Given the situation, the Harpies didn't show up at all.
- — - — - — - — -
The morning of July the 1st dawned bright, much like it probably would have in July 1863. Having slept well the night before, the three of us took our positions and kept a close watch after helping ourselves to some poptarts. We were joined by Kayla and Caeli after breakfast, with Jake going over to assist his siblings.
The Stolls had gone into the woods near the labyrinth entrance about an hour later, looking for some last minute supplies for us to improve our defenses. I think Chiron told them to just look for anything that might help. I'm not sure.
Anyway, not long after they went into the woods, a couple of shouts from behind had us turning our heads and seeing familiar faces rejoining us. Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson. I didn't see Grover, but I had to assume he was off doing something else. Either way, a loud cheer went up from the campers, but the sound of snapping branches and feet running like crazy turned us back to Zeus' fist.
Travis and Connor came running out of the woods, panting and out of breath, looking like they just heard death coming for them. They barreled past Clarisse and took up their positions with their siblings, fear present on their faces.
I was just about to shout a question as to what had happened when I heard it.
A rumbling noise started in the distance, at first quiet, but then gradually getting louder and louder. The sandbags started to shake a little, then the parapet, small clumps of dirt knocking themselves loose from it and falling into the trench. My eyes widened when I realized what it was. I hopped forward, grabbed the MG, and cocked the handle.. then stood waiting. Waiting for what was coming.
Because the sound was unmistakable.. the monsters were coming all right.
Clarisse noticed and she quickly realized what it meant. "Lock Shields!" she shouted, and before anyone started to protest, the ground started shaking all around. The noises were now audible for all to hear.
This is it. The moment all of us have been dreading is finally upon us. Luke's army is coming.
In the last moments before battle, I think of Kayla. I know she's right next to me, but it's down to me to protect them and Clarisse. I have a shit load of rounds next to me, plus plenty of spare barrels, so I'm not too worried.
The ground explodes, and they rush out of the labyrinth like a damn mob. A rich mass (or blob) of targets, too good to pass up. I don't need to be told to fire. I pull the trigger, and the carnage begins.
The silence of the valley, if it hadn't already been shattered by the rumbling, the noises, and the cacophony of shrieks, yells, howls, and other noises of the monsters, was now permanently shattered by the rattle and ripping cloth sound of the MG42 as the Battle Of The Labyrinth kicked off.
Seems like the next part of my prophecy was here. Hope I survive.
(A/N: I'm debating whether I should start a book of one-shots dedicated to Colton and Kayla.)