Welcome to the lovely mess of this one-shot called Murder. That's a lovely word, Bellatrix. This story doesn't have a hole lot to do with murder, but it's the best I can come up with in between Psychology and Economics homework. Oh, not to mention history. Blech. But it's done! Takes place during the war, which is the only really logic places to base this story on.
A/N: Okay, to my loyal readers, and that Guest that's been saying these are all distractions that I'm using to not update my Mark of Athena: the chapter's almost done! I was not using these one-shots as distractions-the ideas come, and I write them down. I'm also going on a semi-hiatus on everything, but the Alphabet Challenge (well, it won't be my turn for a very long time), so there should be, what? Three more updates (one of them is the next Mark of Athena!) in the month of September and the first week of October (maybe before then) and then, I'm on hiatus for a few months, but expect something by Christmas. Just to let you guys know, so you don't think I've abandoned my Jayna ship yet. I'M STILL HERE!
Now that I'm done droning on and on, onward with this story! Read if you dare.
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own anything, but those characters I made up.
P.S. Like always, I am Athena daughter of Zeus, your word is down below.
Murder
Two weeks earlier...
"Dimitto!" Xavier Hudson hollers to his cohort, holding on tightly to the reins of Hannibal. "Theresa and I will take on the giant. Help our praetors up front!"
"Ave! Senatus Populusque Romanus!" The Third Cohort shouts, banging their shields and swords together as they march over to the front of the Titan base. The monsters had sneak up behind them, and the Romans had to quickly switch to a mix of defense and offense.
Xavier spares a brief look over at the battle at the entrance as he prays that Fortuna is on their side. Grumbling, he turns back to the giant that was approaching him and Theresa. "Godsdamnit," the centurion mutters as he keeps one hand on the reins, the other hand holding a gladius. "Ready, Reese Puff?" Xavier says quietly, his hazel eyes studying his opponent.
Theresa Mason ignores the nickname this one time as she peeks over her fellow centurion's head, a poisoned arrow loaded. "Ready."
And they charge.
"Seinna! What in the name of Jupiter are you doing? The ventus aren't just going to fly away!" Octavian Desouro, the centurion of the First Cohort (her cohort, unfortunately) shrieks. "Kill them! Nunc!"
"If you wanted a killing machine, ask any kid of Mars," she replies, gritting her teeth. "Just..." Seinna reaches into her pocket and takes out an egg, tossing it near the group of ventus, and the egg exploded, with the winds cursing in Latin as they disappeared.
Seinna grins as she puts her hands protectively in front of her pockets. "Dear Ian, my brother, I won't pull a prank on you for a week," she vows, ignoring Octavian's annoyed expression.
"Stop talking to yourself and keep going! The Roman Empire didn't raise you to be weak!" Octavian shouts, slashing at a nearby dracaena.
The fifteen-year-old rolls her eyes, but continues tossing bombs and dodging large fists (courtesy of the giants) as she makes her way towards the praetors.
"Behind you!" Jason Grace, centurion of the Fifth Cohort shouts, and Seinna is this close to being severed in the head. Jason had just threw a pugio at the advancing dracaena before Seinna could get a chance to shove some itching powder in its face.
"Tha-get the Pluto out of here, freak!" Seinna cuts herself off as she grabs an arrow from a son of Apollo's backpack and stabs the monster creeping up onto Jason. The auburn-haired girl catches the monster's sword before it could fall onto the ground and sheathes it.
"Thanks, S," Jason says, flashing her a quick smile, looking behind her.
Seinna turns around and sees Reyna fighting with a giant. "Debts can't go unpaid. How about you go over there?" she suggests, smirking at the expression on his face. "I'll help out Yoko and Lawson."
"I'll be right back," he promises, running off. Seinna lets a small smile spread across her face before unsheathing the sword and trying her luck with it.
"Klevin! No, no, c'est impossible! " Catherine Bocque, daughter of Venus, sobs. She is crouched over a shivering son of Mars, lifting up his shirt to assess the damage. "Riley, Christie! Anybody! Please save him!"
"I'm sorry, Catty," Klevin Taylors, centurion of the Fourth Cohort groans, his shaking hand holding her hand loosely. "I love you. Kill some monsters for me, would you? Murder them like they murdered us. I know that's not your forte, but..." He trails off, wincing. His eyes are drooping as his breathing slows down.
"Love you too," Catherine whispers as she plants a kiss on his lips. She watches as he takes his last breath, and with steady hands, she takes his gladius and stands up, a hardened look in her usually light green eyes.
"Catherine, a little help over here!" Parker hollers from the right, in a battle with a few ventus along with Bobby. "Join the Fourth and Fifth Cohort over here, would ya?"
"For Klevin, centurion of the Fourth Cohort!" Catherine screams over the noise as she enters the ring of fighting, gladius griped tightly in her hand.
"We're breaking through! Come on, agito!" The centurion of the Fifth Cohort, Gwen Gallo commands, riding a black metal horse.
"Ave! Senatus Populusque Romanus!" The Romans around her cheer, slashing the monsters left and right as they try to gain access to the throne room.
Gwen stabs the giant's foot as a distraction so her ex-fellow centurion, Gordo Nowak could behead the monster. But as soon as he (almost) succeeds, the giant, as a last-ditch effort, grabs the centurion on his flying metal horse, and crushes him in between his meaty hands.
"Agito!" Gwen cries, steering her neighing horse out of the way as the almost beheaded giant collapses onto the ground. Almost all of the Romans got out of the way before the giant fell, but there are a few unlucky few that are squashed, along with the suffocated Gordo Nowak.
Gwen stares at the remaining legionnaires, her hands trembling slightly as she continues to remain calm. "We will pay tribute to the fallen after we have this victory. Now, persevero!"
"Ave!" The legionnaires turn around and see the weary faces of their praetors, Yoko and Lawson.
Lawson nods at Gwen before marching in on his pegasus, Yoko following his lead. The Romans clang their shields as a cheer as they charge into the throne room, Gwen keeping lookout at the front.
"Second Cohort, leave the fighting to the Fourth, Third, and First Cohort and get into the throne room!" Ethan Geralds yells to his cohort, his dirty blonde hair stained with blood. "Reyna and Jason, mind going inside as well?"
Reyna nods at her fellow centurion, her eyes filled with determination. Jason follows her lead as the pair and the Second Cohort march inside with the rest of the Fifth Cohort and the praetors.
"Don't get hurt," Lexi Millers, his best friend says, giving him a death glare. "As-tu comprends?"
He salutes her, forcing a grin. "I'll do my best, Miss Venus," he promises before plunging his gladius into a monster that was getting too close for comfort.
Her hand lingers on his arm, but when she hears Jason's voice from inside, she flashes him one last smile before rushing in.
Ethan grits his teeth as he surveys the legion spread across the battlefield, hundreds and hundreds, and thousands of bodies that have fallen in battle from both sides. "There will be Pluto to pay after this is finished," he mutters under his breath as a knife flies an inch from his ear.
Sprinting over to Octavian, he lets out a battle cry that echoes throughout. "For Rome!"
"Lawson, just go, defeating Krios is more important!" Yoko Sato insists, her face emotionless as she keeps the pain of having her foot cut off under the mask. "We won't have much of an advantage if you get me to the Apollo kids that have actual healing equipment."
Lawson Bach groans, knowing that his fellow praetor won't make it if she doesn't get some help. He turns to the nearest Apollo kid. "Lilly, can you try your best to heal her on the spot?" The girl hesitantly nods. "Good. Dakota, Emily, keep guard." The male legionnaire nods, tossing his flask of Kool-Aid aside for a moment while Emily pulls her sword out and Lawson smiles grimly. "The rest of you, just attack according to Jason's plan."
"Talee!" Heather Fawks gasps, pointing to a corpse that thrown carelessly under a table. "Murder, murder!" she cries, the memory of her friend flashing through her mind.
"I think they've heard us," a legionnaire states quietly, and Lawson pauses, hearing footsteps in the distance.
The male praetor's expression hardens as he loads his bow. "Agito!"
"NOO!" Krios cries, staring at ichor flowing from where Jason had stabbed him with his golden sword. "I cannot be defeated!"
Jason snorts. "Well, I just defeated you."
"Your departure is long over-due," Reyna adds, allowing a small victory smile to appear on her lips.
The rest of the legion cheers when they see Krios disappear, leaving only golden ichor on Jason's sword. The blonde picks up his weapons and stares at Reyna, not knowing if it is truly over.
"I think that's the last of them..." Bobby says, answering the centurion's silent question. "Awesome!"
All the Romans erupt in victory cheers and shouting. "Ave! Senatus Populusque Romanus!"
Two weeks later...
"So many..." Dakota moans, his eyes never leaving the parchment filled of names of people he knows, knew. He could put a face to every single name on it. Gordo Nowak, Klevin Taylors, Melody Summers, Samuel Underseas, Yoko Sato, Talee Winters...and the list goes on.
"Dakota, can we have the sheet back now?" Lawson says tiredly. His arm is bandaged and he looks as if he aged fifty years in two weeks, but there's still the essence of pride in his walk, like every praetor has.
Dakota shoves it at Lawson as he turns quickly to his Kool-Aid. He can't stand dwelling on those names any longer.
"Two weeks ago, our people had battled one of the most hardest battles in our history. And even though we won, we have sacrificed a lot to have this victory," Jason says, and the Field of Mars is so silent that Jason is sure that everyone can hear him grind his teeth. "Half of our legion gave their lives so we could live safely again. Half of our legion was killed so we could thrive again and live without fear," the blonde continues, and Reyna can't help but feel the way he does, all the anger and pain is laced in his words. "One of our finest legionnaires, Talee Winters, went missing two months before the war started, and two weeks ago, we found her dead in the Titan's base."
"Murder, murder!" Some of the Romans shout, and Reyna winces as she remembers Heather saying the same thing, but she's dead now too...
"We will not let anyone bring us down," Reyna speaks up, standing alongside Jason. She sneaks a look at Lawson, and sees him slightly relieved from not saying anything. "We are Rome, the greatest empire, and we will do whatever it takes to protect our own!" Whistling and cheering is heard all across the field, and Jason and Reyna smile at each other. The son of Jupiter holds out his hand, his eyes never leaving Reyna's.
She takes it, the sparkle that made Jason fall for her returns in her warm brown eyes. Their joined hands makes the cheering louder.
"Ave! Senatus Populusque Romanus! Ave, Reyna and Jason!"
Looking around her home, the talk of murder and loss is forgotten for the moment because the daughter of Bellona knows that with the help of her Lightning McQueen, and her camp, they can conquer anything, and nothing will stand in their way.
Dimitto: Leave
Nunc: Now
Agito: Move
Persevero: Continue
There are probably not right, but everywhere I go (I mean Google), they are giving me different words...but you guys will hopefully understand. Rules below:
-We'll go through the alphabet choosing each other's words as we go. I just did 'A', so the first person to PM me or review saying they'd like to compete will get their 'B' word from me. Then when they post their story, they will give the 'C' word to the next person on the list.
-There will be a limited number of people to compete. I want to ensure that every author get to post at least three stories, so maybe 8? If you and another author want to work together in the contest, that's perfectly fine. Just make sure to let me know!
-All of the one-shots entered must be Jeyna. Jasper or Leyna may be included, but only as a drama-angst starter. Non of the stories can end with Jason picking Piper over Reyna, or Reyna (for whatever deluded reason, they've never met!) dating Leo.
-To join the contest, you must PM me before the next person posts 'B'. After that, the contest is no longer open.
-You must review every story in the contest if you are part of the contest. It's common courtesy, people.
-Stories must be one-shots over 500 words.
-You have 5 days from the day you get your word to post your story.
-Stories can be future, past, present, or AU as long as all characters used as kept in character.
-After we get to Z, I'll post a poll on my profile with all 26 stories on it. Everyone can vote for their favorite, and the author who wrote that story wins!
I have nothing say, but...I am Athena daughter of Zeus, your word is...NYLON!
Is that a hard word? Je ne sais pas. Oh well.
Please read and review!
-DOTE