(Recap:Grover was still walking away, and I didn't know what to do. Should I stop him? Should I talk? Or should I reveal myself? What if he becomes angry at me for reveling myself so late and running away and abandoning him. Or worse, what if I don't, and he blames the campers for all I went through and attacks them siding with end. Grover's alliance is gonna be the deciding factor, so should I? Or should I not?)
"Alright Grover. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have crossed that boundary. But tell me one thing, is this what he'd want? That you abandon the place he'd once considered his home?"
"I don't know and I don't care. He's not here now."
"Don't be a naive fool Grover. You know all too well that those innocent campers don't deserve this. You know they were misguided, and I know you've been keeping tabs on them through your sources. You know they've paid for what they did, you know they're repentent."
"Will their repentance bring Percy back? No? Then I don't want anything to do with them."
"You're not just Percy's best friend Grover. You're the Lord of the wild. The best friend of Percy Jackson, who accompanied him on multiple quests. Lord Pan himself gave you his blessings. A kind caring loyal person. You're throwing all that into the drain for want of a vengeance that's centuries old. They already feel guilty, and there's nothing more they can do. They're gonna die Grover. We all are. This war is beyond us without your help. So I suggest you rediscover yourself."
"I.. I...I'll think about it." He said hesitatingly. I could see he was seeing sense in my words. It was very important that he started trusting the campers again. I could have simply revealed myself and he'd have followed me anywhere, but now we both had very different roles in our lives then back when I was 12. He needed to get along with them. I'd taken upon myself to make him realize how childish he was behaving. And by his looks, I was just a little push away from success. So I continued.
"Grover. Listen. They may have done wrong, but forgiveness is divine. And from what I've heard about you, I thought you'd have forgiven them a long ago. You didn't. Okay, but right they all need you. They were your family. Fights happen in a family. You don't abandom them because of that. If you do though, then it means you'll leave them to die. And if that's going to be the case, them I'm sorry, but you're no better than end. You might as well join forces with him and attack us."
"I can't do that! I'm angry not some evil being!"
"Well then, you figure out a way because you not helping us and you allying with them is gonna mean the same to us."
He contemplated the meaning of what I'd said for a few moments.
"I'll help them. I'll give them one chance. One last chance. But tell them Commander, if this time they screw up I will literally follow your advice and attack them with all the wild forces myself."
I smiled at that. My G-man was back. Now that he was, it was time I let him know about myself.
"Thank you. Like I said, it's in your nature to forgive. And I'm kind of counting on that, as I'm going to need you to forgive me for something else as well."
"What something?" He asked comfused. I could see curiosity burning in his eyes.
"This." I said, and pulled off my mask.
"Hey G-man. It's me." I smiled a small smile.
He just stared at me dumbstruck for long. Then in what appeared to me like a deja vu, I clarified everything. Deja vu because the same had happened with the campers and Thalia and Annabeth and Juniper. Stuttering, saying my name, poking me to check if I was real, then me explaining my story and then finally them absorbing, understanding everything, sometimes a bit of not-so-painful hitting for my disappearance and keeping them in the dark, then either shaking my hand or hugging me. So right now after almost an hour of the revelation, here we were, with Grover hugging me tightly muttering "I don't believe this, you're back. Juniper was right. I gave up. She didn't. She said you'd be back for me. Thank you." He was in tears, and so was I. Grover was my closest and best friend. What made our friendship most significant though was that when we found each other, we both had found the very first friends of our lives. Before we found each other, we didn't have anybody. And together, we became so much more than what anyone including us could have anticipated.
"I missed you Grover. I'm so sorry I didn't tell you earlier. I just couldn't get myslef upto it. I was so ashamed at myself that just because of some event in my life I let you and everyone who cared about me down. I abandoned you all and ran away."
"No you didn't. Your circumstances were different. And some good came out of that. Now look at you. Commander and all. Way to go Perce." He whistled. And just like that, I got my best friend back.
"The campers are really repenting what they did Grover. I've forgiven them, so should you. Just a suggestion."
"You were always the forgiving type, no wonder you forgave them. And yeah, I think it's time to let go of that hate. I'll talk with them, maybe after the war. Make sure things are how they're supposed to between us."
I nodded. Grover has matured.
"Okay listen. You head to camp with every force you can gather. Let the campers know you're back. I have one more errand to take care of."
"What could you possibly wanna take care of with the war of our lives so close?" Groves asked confused.
"If things work out the way I hope they will, then you'll see. Tell the campers I'll be back before the war begins."
"Okay. Take care, and hurryup. We'll need you to be on time."
"Yes I will. Hey, wait. Actually, I do want you to pass on a message from me. A letter."
I took out a pocket notebook and a pen and scribled a note addressed to skylar.
"Take this, and hand it over to Skylar. No one else, okay? Strictly, nobody else should even know that such a note exists in the first place let alone read its contents." I instructed, handing over the note to him.
"Got it. I'll give it to her and only her, when nobody's watching. You go do what you were about to, let me worry about the note."
"Thanks buddy. I know I can count on you." I said, then we hugged once more and I put on my mask and set out to arrange a gamble. A gamble that if it paid off would give me a rich dividend in the form of victory over endzbut a bad play and everything and everyone would be left to end. Oops, bad pun.
-----------------2 HOURS LATER---------------
I had arranged for some things to take place, and I needed them to take place at the right time otherwise all would be lost. I'm not being a pessimist, just realistic. As a leader I can't tell people on their face that we'll lose if we don't do something reckless, dangerous and risky. I'm sure even some immortal campers and Skylar, Elmont, Fritz knew of the situation but they were hoping against hope they were wrong. But they weren't. Oyr situation looked pretty gloomy. End, Gaea, and both of their armies of monsters. Those were some serious numbers, and with two Primordials leading the charge there was numbers with power. Practically an impossible fight. The campers and the army were going to be destroyed by sheer numbers while, like I said earlier, if it came to a two on two with me and Sky pitted against End and Geae, I didn't gmfancy our chances. Besides, I just couldn't bring myself to thrust Sky on Geae and watch and hope patiently that Sky won. Not that she was incapable, but there were 50-50 odds, and I didn't like the 50 stacked against my girlfriend. I soon reached camp. The defense line was set, the sky was buzzing with pegasi who I guessed had been ordered to keep watch from above and warn us of a sneak or an arial attack. My soldiers who saw me saluted me, the rest were probably positioned at various boundaries as defense line. I went yo my cabin and discussed the plans with Elmont. Skylar and Annabeth and Thalia were there too. We'd just finished discussing the plan, and it looked good. After the meet, I pulled Annabeth aside and asked her what was going on with Grover.
"It's not as bad as it was. He's not completely comfortable, but I'm sure things will eventually work out. Thanks Percy, calling him to help was indeed amazing." She said.
"I'm glad. Besides, I didn't have a choice if we wanted to win this war, and I wanted Grover to be by my side."
She eventually excused herself. Apparently she saw someone wasn't in their designated position and decided to have a chat with the fellow. Poor guy. I know how Annabeth can get if you mess up her plan even the slightest.
Me and Skylar hadn't said a word to each other about the letter I'd sent her through Grover. Fortunately she knew better than to bring it up in the presence of privy eyes and ears.
Everyone was on full preparation mode for the war. The Amazons and hunters were practicing since hours, or so I'd heard. The campers were either tending to the wounded or practicing themselves, trying to go up against the hunters and the amazons and getting their asses handed over to them in the process. The senior campers along with Skylar, Elmont and me were running things and making sure that everything was pitch perfect for when end came. No pun intended of course, doesn't hurt to be an optimist. Fritz was training with the Council's Army.
Just then, all the airborne Pegasii started screaming shrilly. The defense was being breached from underground. Probably Gaea with some cheap tricks.
"Sound the conch! We're under attack!" Jason screamed, hovering in the air beside the pegasi. Whoa. I'd almost forgotten we had our very own brand of superman.
The conch sounded twice, signalling the camp was under attack. The most confused ones though were oyr defense line, since they could see no enemy in sight in any of their posts. But it doesn't take a genius to figure out that uf only the airborne can see something, it's quick and underground and very sneaky. Elmont, Fritz, the hunters, amazons, all campers all came out from wherever they were, dressed in full battle armour and ready for war. The two Roman preators were in their royal purple capes. Hazel and Frank of course, Reyna was still injured so Hazel had been given emergency promotion. Elmont came rushing to me dressed in full battle regalia and with my armour. Once I was in my armour, I asked him
"Where's Sky?"
"I have no idea. Last I saw her she said she wanted to check the north side defense."
"Was Fritz with her?"
"Of course he wasn't. In your absence he has to lead your army, in case you forgot. He can't be the bodyguard. Why?"
"Because everyone can hear the pegasi screaming, but no one here exactly understands Pegasii language!"
"Why are you freaking out Percy? What exactly are the Pegasii saying?"
"Attack from the North." I was about to rush to the north side when Jason screamed
"The North and the forest! They're attempting a breach from both the sides!"
"Crap! El, take the army along wiyh Grover and the wild and rush to the forest, I'll take the campers to the North. Let Fritz guard the front, this may be a diversion for all we know."
He just nodded and rushed to carry out the orders. I signalled Annabeth and the Roman Preators to follow me along with the campers' armies, but I rushed to the site of attack before their backup reached me, hoping against hope that Skylar had hidden somewhere for backup rather than engage herself with the enemies single handedly. "Then where was her walkie talkie? She could have just called for backup" my sane self told me. "No, maybe the walkie talkie fell down, maybe because they caught her off guard?" My desperate self argued back. "And someone catching a warrior like Skylar off guard is a good thing right? That explains why she couldn't ask for help!" My sarcastic side argued. Ugh, ADHD is a sacry thing sometimes, leaves no stone unturned in making you beleive you've totally lost it.
Soon I reached where the Pegasii had spotted an attack.
"Oh Gods." I muttered. This area was a battlefield. Monster dust lay everywhere. No site of any human, let alone Skylar. Soon the campers came.
"Whoa, what happened here!" Leo exclaimed.
"Whoever did this had to be on our side, and pretty powerful. I mean just look at all that monster dust!" Hazel said.
"It was Skylar. She was here last." I muttered open mouthed. I couldn't see her anywhere and that made me worried sick.
"Skylar? You mean Princess Skylar? Why would she come here?" Frank asked.
"Elmont last talked to her a few moments ago, and she'd said she wanted to check up the north defenses. Besides, I know her aura, she'd very powerful. And I can feel it here. It was Skylar. The question is, where is she now?" I said, and began looking everywhere in the battle struck area for any signs of my girlfriend. So did everyone. Once we didn't find anything, we decided maybe she was injured and went to the sickbay. She could teleport after all, so she didn't have to necessarily pass by us. But even there I was disappointed. Now I was really, really worried. I even sent El to check Celestio, and again it was a failed attempt. Right now we were in a meeting with all leaders and immortal campers as well as Chiron present. My friends were all reassuring me and saying how it was going to be alright, bit that did little to lessen my worries. In fact, my worries were worsened. I had just learned that the army that had attacked us had retreated. When you have advantage in numbers, you only retreat if you have an even more leveragous position. I began thinking the worst, and the more I thought, the more it made sense, and the more I wanted to dig a hole and die.
"I think Skylar has been captured by the enemy." I said in shaky voice. But I could see that only a few of my audience had a bit of a shock displayed on their faces. So the others had already pieced it together and figured it out. God, how dumb could I have been! We are in the middle of a war, one of our most important warrior goes missing, the enemy retreats from a position of advantage. It wouldn't take Einstein to connect the dots.
"I know it sounds bad, but trust me, we're assuming the worst here, and even if that's the case, we'll get her back. Together." Fritz said.
"Fritz. Relax, you don't have to feel guilty here, it wasn't your job! You were on some other duties." Elmont tried reassuring an almost completely devastated Fritz who looked ashamed at something that was probably my fault. Just then, a mist seemed to be appearing in front of us. We all sat up straight, curious to know who was sending a message during such a dire time. Maybe some good or at least hopeful news.
The mist became clear, but unfortunately a lot many things became unclear. We saw Omega on the other side in a very dark room, barely recognizable and he was wearing what looked like the enemy's colours.
"Omega... Is that.. Is that you?" I asked surprised.
"Percy. Been so long huh? It's indeed me. Like my new attire?" He asked when he saw us staring at his clothes.
"What's going on Omega? What are you doing in our enemy's colours? Where are you? Where were you since so long? Ever since you retired it's like you dissappeared from the face of the universe!"
"Oh relax Percy, doesn't matter where I was, now, here I am! Isn't it great! All of us together again! Me, you, Elmont, Skylar.... Oo someone call Mordridge and it'll be a reunion!"
"Stop messing around Omega. And Skyla's not here, we fear she's been taken by the enemy, who so happens to wear the same colours as you do. So quit beating around the bush and explain." I said firmly.
"Oh but she is here!" He looked back, then mockingly said "Oh sorry my bad, I must've forgotten the lights." He said. Then with a snap of his fingers he turned on the lights, and my mind shut itself. I couldn't think, I couldn't feel, I couldn't speak, nothing. Because right in front of me on the screen and just behind Omega was Skylar. But her predicament is what terrified me. Her hands were chained to the wall ceiling, and the height of the ceiling was such that her feet were left dangling in the air. She had multiple cuts on her face, arms, legs, almost every part that I could lay my eyes on. She had a gag stuffed in her mouth to prevent her from screaming. A gash on her abdomen was bleeding profusely. All around her there was her golden ichor, and she was groaning in what looked like unbearable pain. The back of my hair stood up seeing her this way. I'd seen many people tortured, but not women. And even if they were, they would be criminals we'd be interrogating. Hell, I'd done my part on them as well, but this was so different. This was one of the most innocent girls I'd ever met, and she was receiving the worst treatment one could get. Many people in the room had their hands covering their mouths in disgust at the brutal predicament of the Princess. Some looked shell shocked. Fritz looked furious.
"What does this mean! What is this! What happened to her!" Fritz asked in a loud voice.
"Oh, the great assassin Fritz. I've heard a lot about you. Too bad we couldn't work together like I always wanted to. But that can change! We can still work together if you like!"
"What have you done? What's going on? Stop blabbering nonsense and get on with it!"
"Oh. Straight to the point. Very professional. I respect that. Okay. Here I go. See, you all saw what's happened to her. But the good thing is she's not dead yet! True, she's immortal, but hey, I'm sure I can arrange for temporal steel from somewhere!"
"You have turned. And you did this. To Skylar! We were all friends! How could you?!" I asked finding my voice.
"Oh I haven't turned yet Percy. You see, I always wanted to be the Council's Army's leader, going on all those solo missions and all. But then you came along and I had to train you for something I wanted my entire lufe. Now I have the chance to take it away from you. Whether I turn or not depends solely on you! My offer is that I'll let Skylar live and I'll dissppear again like I did before if you forfeit this war along with both your armies and you resign from that spot. If that spot isn't mine, I won't let it be yours either. Or you can just refuse and let your precious girlfriend die miserably."
"All this, in such perilous times for a stupid position? What's happened to you Omega? I always knew you were silent, but I took it as professionalism not bitterness! And again, you say you haven't turned but you wear our enemy's colours. How can I trust you anymore?" I said tensely.
"You can't. But you don't have a choice. You have three hours till I call back. As to why I'm wearing this, you see, this is the glimpse of the future in case you decide that Skylar needs to be killed. I officially become part of Gaea and End's forces."
"Officially? What are you like an unofficial member?" Elmont said confused.
"I approached them, but obviously given my background with the army, they don't trust me. They told me to do something drastic to gain their trust. So that's what I did." He said spreading his arms around the room to showcase the 'drastic' step.
"You've become crazy. You did all this just to make a point? And that too in front of a psycho?"
"Yes Percy. So what if he's a bit crazy. He can get me power. So I'm not gonna complain. And now enough talks. Decide. I'll call again in three hours. If you haven't decided then I'll kill her and attack you al well, so don't try to stall." He swiped through the mist and the message disappeared, Skylar's soft grunting still audible in the pin drop silence. I couldn't believe what had just happened. The man who was once my leader, the man who once taught me most of what I know today, that man has gone on to side one of the darkest beings the universe had or will ever see. I needed to tell Lord Chaos immediately. So I IMed him. When he appeared in front of the screen looking all happy and energetic, I said
"Sir. We have some bad news."
"Oh. You look awfully depressed. Also, where's my daughter?" He said seriously once he saw our faces.
I looked him in the eye and said
"Your daughter has been captured by an old friend. He has sided with our enemies."
"Wha..Who.... How.....!! " He stuttered, stunned into silence.
"Our Ex-Commander Omega has turned. I'm sorry." I said.
(A/N: PLEASE VOTE AND COMMENT, CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM IS APPRECIATED.)