Lee
I guess I did not expect what will happen.
So here I sat, back in my old table with my half-brother, Michael Yew. Most of the younger Apollo campers were asking both of us what it was like to be in the army. The others just randomly asked me questions.
When they all ran out of questions, I frowned. I realized that someone didn't talk to me and Michael earlier.
I tilted my head slightly and looked at the head counselor of Cabin 7. He is looking down, as if avoiding our gazes.
I caught Lambda's eye, and his eyes followed the direction of where I was looking at. His eyebrows furrowed.
"Will?"
As soon as his name was mentioned, Will Solace looked at his half-brothers. He smiled at the lightly. "Hey."
The guy is sitting between Lambda and I, so it wasn't difficult to swing my arm into his shoulder. "Long time no see, huh?" I asked him.
"Yeah," Will answered.
"Why do you act like you're avoiding us?" Michael asked.
Solace looked back at his plate. "Well, it was weird seeing you after so long. And I figured.…you wouldn't like me taking your positions."
I fell silent after his words. I stared at him with raised eyebrows. "I forgot how stupid you can be."
The three of us knew what those words meant, and we immediately burst out laughing. Few campers glanced at us, but I just ignored them. It was nice being back here again.
Will and Michael continued laughing. My eyes scanned the surroundings with a tiny smile. But when my eyes landed on a particular spot, my smile faded.
"Where's Percy?"
Both of them stopped immediately. Michael has a look of confusion of his face. Will seemed to be looking guilty.
Both of us looked at him, expecting for an answer. When he didn't spoke up, I asked the question again.
Will gulped. "I think I'll start from the beginning..."
"Duh," Lambda said, rolling his eyes.
"After the Titan War, we had another war. Percy is the subject of it yet again," —I groaned, just thinking of the pressure he must've gone through—"but this time, he has help from six other demigods. Annabeth is one of them, along with two Greeks and three Romans. They fought against Gaea—"
"Wait," I cutted him off. "Gaea. Like, the literal earth. The primordial goddess?"
Will nodded and continued. "Though, someone had to sacrifice himself to win the war. He was not seen ever since. No one knew of what happened to him. He just...disappeared.
"Then, a few weeks later, a new demigod arrived here in camp. His name is Logan. Soon, he was claimed by Poseidon, who came here personally. He was nice to everyone. He made friends with us and acted very nice. But little did we know that he was just using us.
"He framed Percy for things he didn't do. Everyone was angry at him, even me. But it got to the point where Poseidon falsely accused Percy of killing his own mother. He was so convinced of it, he didn't even payed attention to what he was doing. And so, Poseidon disowned Percy."
I glanced one more at Michael. Why do this have to happen? Can't Percy just have a nice and perfect life?
Will continued his story. "Percy lost his powers over the sea. And he ran off towards the woods. He attempted to seek comfort there with the silence, but what he saw there made his heart break once more. He caught Annabeth, his own girlfriend, cheating on him with Logan. He ran off once again, and it was surely because he started packing his things. After that, no one has seen or heard of him."
"Why?" Lambda asked immediately.
"Nobody knows, but the last thing he left here is a ring. It looked like he was planning to propose to Annabeth."
I was furious. How could that mere demigod, Logan do that? I assume it was all because of jealousy. I mean, who does that to his own brother?
I would love to march all the way from here to the Athena table like now, but I restrained myself from doing so. I remembered that we will have Capture-the-flag after this, so why not take revenge later…if we're fighting against her cabin.
I sighed. This would be a loooooong night.
But little did I know it would be longer than I thought.
——————————————————
Dinner finally ended. I reunited with my allias, to the whole army, the assassin, and the Seasons.
"We made a plan while you are all…catching up with the recent events," Delta informed us.
I discreetly glanced at her and almost smirked. It was so weird seeing her being a leader and all.
Chiron stomped his hooves. "We will now announce the teams," he said. I noticed that someone is missing. That Spring girl.
Two girls came into the clearing, holding the flags. The one has blond hair. Annabeth.
I looked at the other, and my eyes widened. I-is that Spring?
"Campers versus the Seasons, Assassin, and Soldiers! Every camper is asked to participate. Hunters will be on their side. The campers, or blue team, has the east of the woods! The red team can have the west. The creek is the boundary line! Flags must be visible. No maiming or killing. Hostages may only be disarmed. Not bounded, or gagged. Any magical items are allowed." The centaur paused for a moment, as if thinking if he forgot something. "Arm yourselves!"
He spread his arms, and the table was full of weapons and armors. The Army grinned. None of us would need that. Everyone turned to the Assassin, who was apparently the leader.
"We're the red team," he informed us.
"We know," Spring retorted.
He ignored her. "Let's go! Onwards!"
We all followed him. The Seasons stayed at the back. There were only four of them, but they all seem tough. The Assassin looked pretty strong. And intimidating.
I found my self next to the Assassin. He has his hood down, so I could see his face. I decided to talk to him.
"What's the plan?" I asked.
"I'm not really comfortable leading," he confessed. "It is usually Synn who does this."
"Who?"
"The Lieutenant. But she's not here now. Went away to ask Chaos something. Who knows what's up with that girl. Anyway, you can call me Paenitet."
I nodded silently. Though, I can't shake the feeling that this guy seem familiar.
Finally, Paenitet spoke up. "Halt."
Spring went forward and handed him the flag. He jumped somewhere with it, and came back down.
"Where did you put it?" I asked.
Paenitet grinned at me. "They said the flag has to be visible. They never said anything about the flag being duplicated."
I looked up, and saw two identical flags on two different tree. It was so obvious, but it was also confusing on which is real.
I whistled. "Nice."
Somewhere from the back, the dark one spoke up. "I'll guard it."
Everyone turned to look at him. "Winter?" The Assassin asked. "But—"
"I need time to think," he said. "And this is a perfect opportunity to do so without any annoying campers bothering you until later."
I swear I heared someone scoff, but no one went against what Winter said.
Paenitet told us the plan that he had came up with. It was simple. One of us should go with Paenitet to get the flag. Then, the rest will distract the campers from different directions.
That was cool with me. The distracting role, I mean. I get to show these campers the extent of my powers.
But unfortunately, the Assassin seemed to know what I am thinking, and gave me the job of getting it with him. Oh well. At least I might bump into a certain daughter in Athena later...
We were all set, and we waited for the signal. Spring is leaning on a tree. Summer kept on tapping his foot impatiently. Autumn sat on the nearby rock. Commander is examining her knife.
Finally, we heared the signal.
Paenitet
I nodded at Lee Fletcher, and mentioned for me to follow him. He walked behind me, and we delved deeper into the woods.
"I think I know where the campers hid their flag," my companion said to me.
I looked back at him with raised eyebrows. "Of course! It would be so obvious! They would put it on Zeus's Fist."
He gave me a weird look. That's when I realized what I said.
"How do you know about that?" He asked.
I gulped. "I…might've been a camper once?"
It came out as a question.
Theta nodded. Though, I knew that he still suspect me. But he decided to let me get away.
After that, we walked in silence. None of us spoke. It was awkward.
But that is, until I heard something.
I stopped abruptly and turned around. Lee looked at me worriedly. "Did you hear that?" I asked.
"What?"
I silenced him and listened again, but I heard nothing.
I could've sworn I heared someone call my name.
The son of Apollo opened his mouth to speak but suddenly, the bushes rustled. Out came six people.
It was Annabeth Chase, Piper McLean, Jason and Thalia Grace, Nico di Angelo, and Clarisse La Rue.
"I thought the others had them distracted?" Theta muttered next to me.
I scanned each and everyone of them. All of them looked determined to beat both of us, and I almost laughed out loud. No offence, but they can't.
I grinned at Lee. "Ready for a fight?"
He nodded slowly. "As I could ever be."
Annabeth narrowed her eyes. "Two versus six. You're outnumbered."
Her pride getting into her, I thought.
I looked up at all of them. "What are we waiting for? Fight!"
And right after I said that, the clangs began.
Piper, Jason, and Clarisse attacked Theta. Annabeth, Thalia and Nico headed towards me. I smirked and unsheathed my sword.
Thalia was the first one to reach me. How ironic. The huntress attacks the male first.
She thrust her spear into me. I recognized the shield in her hand. With Medusa's head, who wouldn't recognize Aegis?
I blocked her attack with my sword. Nico had tried to land a blow on my head. Keyword: tried. It did not work because I moved out of the way.
The daughter of Zeus swiped at my legs, but I was able to knock her spear out of her hands. She looked at it for a second, and cursed. The lieutenant of Artemis backed away and started shooting me with her bow.
Nico feinted on the left and striked at the opposite side. But I was ready to stop it. He slashed at me, but I parried his strike. The son of Hades backed off for a moment, and attacked me again.
Suddenly, skeleton popped out of the ground. Great, he brought his undead army into this.
My eyes widened. Out of instict, I whipped behind me with me sword.
There was a loud clang when the dagger met my sword. I mentally hit my head. I had forgotten all about Annabeth.
I dodged an arrow headed on my way, and decided to end this quickly. Nico had started attacking me again, and I blocked his strikes. Finally, I managed to hit the base of his sword, and disarmed him. Then, I banged the hilt of my sword on his head.
Nico di Angelo crumpled on the ground. I dealt with his skeletons after that, which was easy to fight because their master is down.
Annabeth had backed away again, probably studying my every move before attacking. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lee fending off the three demigods who attacked him. He looks like he's having difficulty, especially with the child of Aphrodite.
I concentrated on Thalia. She fired another arrow on my direction, but I split it in half. She looked surprised, and that's enough distraction I could get.
I knocked her bow out of her hands, and knocked her out, too. Then, I turned around to find a certain daughter of Athena looking at me with her dagger drawn.
I wonder how long she would last, I wondered.
She snarled at me, but did nothing. I grinned. Nice move, letting the opposing side strike first. But I just stood there.
And then she whipped out her Yankees baseball cap. Annabeth vanished out of my sight.
I cursed again. She is sure making this hard. Alright, if that's what she wanted, I'll make it hard for her.
I closed my eyes and extended my senses just enough to know where she is. Annabeth is already making her move towards me silently. Wise.
Then again, she's the child of Athena. Surely, she already made a plan in her head.
Then, I turned to her direction and blocked her dagger. There was that clang again, but I did not open my eyes.
The fight went on. I side-stepped and returned her blow. She staggered a bit and her cap fell off. I opened my eyes again.
Annabeth attacked me again, and I was able to roll out of the way.
She sure is a good dagger fighter than the others I had met. Oh well she still won't stand a chance.
I did what I did to Nico earlier. Though, I added a twist. She was careful, so I am not able to disarm her easily. Instead, I feinted on the right and slashed at her left with the dull side of my blade. It distracted her enough, and I tried to disarm her. But she was fast enough to kick my sword out of my hand.
"No one had done that to me before," I said while watching the sword skid on the floor. "Maybe except for Synn."
Then, I drew out a dagger, and fought her. I guess that Annabeth did not expect me to have a back-up. Probably because she thought I would be stupid enough to think I had thought I am strong to not bring a back-up weapon.
Within seconds, I disarmed her easily. Then, I slammed the butt of my sword on her head, and she too fell on the ground.
I looked back at Lee to see how he's doing. I smiled. Piper and Clarisse had already passed out. He made his last move on Jason, and the guy crumpled to the ground.
Lee wiped a sweat. "That Aphrodite girl is really getting to me. Forcing me to stop fighting and stuff, I mean."
I laughed and patted his back. "Don't worry. Now, let's go!"
We searched for Zeus's Fist, and found two Hunters guarding it. I rolled my eyes. "I have no time for this."
"Me too," Theta agreed.
So instead, I sneaked up and stole the flag. Being an assassin just had its perks, you know.
Both of us returned to the friendly territory with no one attacking us thanks to the Seasons and the Chaos Soldiers. The conch horn blew, signalizing the end of the game.
"Red team wins!" Chiron had announced.
The campers' flag changed and became identical to our other flag. I smirked at the campers and hunters' look of disbelief, and turned to Winter.
"What happened with you?"
He shrugged. "Nothing much. Just shot ice to those stubborn campers and hunters' who wants to take the flag. What about you?"
"Got delayed," I said. "Annabeth, Piper, Jason, Nico, Thalia, and Clarisse attacked us."
He darkened at the mention of the names, but I tried my best to ignore it. I fist-bumped with Lee.
The other Seasons and the rest of the Chaos Army dashed next to us.
"What took you so long?" Spring accused as soon as she reached us.
"Campers and a lieutenant of Artemis," Theta answered for me.
Autumn was jumping up and down. "We won!"
"Yeah," Spring said with a smile. "We did."
But my victorious smile quickly faded when something shimmered in front of me. Everyone immediately shut up and stared at it.
It was an Iris Message. Though, I did not expect the person who IM-ed me. Well, her condition, I mean.
"Paenitet!" Synn hissed. "What's happening there?"
I stared at her wide-eyed. The surroundings are dark, but I could still see the tint on red dripping down her skin and her red-stained clothes.
"We finished on Capruee-the-Flag," I replied immediately. "What happened to you?"
She glanced behind her. "That explains it. I was trying to contact you earlier."
I thought about what I heared during the game. I knew that someone called my name!
"Why?" I asked.
"We don't have much time!" She whispered frantically, and I looked confused. Anything that could rattle her would make me nervous. "They're coming!"
"Who?" I asked.
"Them!" She said stressfully. "Something's wrong in here! And—"
Whatever she's saying was cut short because of the loud bang somewhere in her location.
I became nervous. "What's happening?"
Synn looked back to me, her eyes filled with desperation. "I-I don't have time to explain. Tell them! Tell everyone who we truly are!"
"What?" I asked, horror-stricken. From all the years I know Synn, she never, ever told me to reveal who she is to others.
Synn's image flickered.
The campers gasped, but the Seasons looked lost. The Army was confusion written all over their faces.
Synn winced. "It's a trap! A ruse!"
I had no idea what a ruse is. But again, I don't know what she's getting at.
"I don't get it!"
"Listen to me!" She whispered loudly. "Don't trust them!"
"What should I not trust?" I asked. "And why are you whispering?"
Her image flickered again.
"Don't trust h—!"
And the connection was broken completely.
Dun, Dun, Duuuuuun!