»So you're telling me that you can actually have a girlfriend?« A girls voice sounded through the noise of people talking.
»Or a boyfriend, whatever floats your boat.« A boy answered.
»And you can split from the group anytime you want?«
»You just have to tell someone in command the details, as long as the trip's not dangerous and pointless.«
»And you don't actually hate girls?«
»I don't really see a reason why we should, although I think a few of ours are even a bit afraid of girls.«
The camper, a daughter of Apollo, threw her hands up in frustration. »Ugh, why can't be the Hunters be more like you guys? You're free to love, you're not sexist and don't even spend all the time in the woods!«
Alex smirked at the girl, his brown eyes shining. »Jealous much?« That earned him a pout from the camper.
»Kind of… But why are the Warriors a boys-only group? You're so different from the Hunters and even some girls would like to join you.« The pair was talking in the middle of Camp Half-Blood, with most campers circling other boys, that clearly did not belong to the camp.
The black haired boy thought a bit, but then simply shrugged. »Not sure… Probable because Artemis already hates us, imagine what she would do if we were to 'steal' away girls. And hey, real nice meeting you, but I really should go and drop off my bags now.« They said their goodbyes and parted ways.
Alex started walking around camp and took notice of his surrounding. Altrough he looked like he was 18, he's really over 40 years old, so he was already used to the demigod world - he was not at all confused by the wolfs (werewolves, he though) running around, the younger demigods running after them. He frowned disapprovingly at that. There was a bunch of campers surrounding teenage boys, who were obviously not a part of the camp. They still had their bag with them and they sticked out with their casual clothes between a bunch of orange and the occasional purple shirts. Alex readjusted his own backpack and moved towards the cabin area, searching for a certain dark cabin (and a bit gloomy, he couldn't help adding). It looked a bit small, but he was sure that 20 or so boys could fit in there.
On his way he passed a lot of other non-campers, but he stopped by a certain tall redhead. Another non-camper who got mobbed by teens clad in orange asking questions. »Art, come on, we don't have the whole week!« Art looked up as he heard his name being called and locked his dark red eyes with Alex. After a moment and hearing a wolfish growl coming from Alex he hastily excused himself from the campers and silently hurried to the growling boy.
»If those two come back to camp and see that we didn't even get to the cabin, we're dead. Some of the guys even transformed – in the middle of camp! The two'll be here in only fifteen minutes! And you, dear Arthur, alongside me, are going to suffer the most. And I'm not even officially in charge, for gods sake, why do I have to suffer with you?«
After Alex managed to get his mini rant out, Arthur sighed and ran a hand through his messy fiery red hair. Somehow, being in charge of a group full of teenage boys made him do that a lot. »Yeah, yeah, I know… I'll call the guys, you go ahead to the cabin and collect as many as you can on the way.« They, too, parted with a quick goodbye.
But again, assembling a group of wild teen boys is not really an easy task, even for the bulky Art, who just got frustrated trying to get them together. Five minutes later, there might or might not have been a lot of loud yelling heard in Camp Half-Blood.
»I don't care what you are doing, but you better get your asses to the Hades cabin right now! Jean separate your face from your girlfriend, you had a lot of time before! And I can see you sneaking to the Eros cabin, Daniel, you better get here right now, you little bastard! I will not get punished because of you guys, not today! Especially the god damn mutts running around! The last 5 that come to the cabin get trippeled training for the rest of the month, plus an extra punishment from the command!«
If the boys didn't listen to Arthur before, they certainly did at the mention of training. Their faces became pale and they somehow got the motivation to run to their cabin as quickly as humanly possible. And that got the campers thinking about their training and leaders. Even the wolfs turning around and trotting after the other guys.
By the time the two famous leaders, Jason Grace and Perseus Jackson, arrived to camp, the Hades cabin was overflowing with well behaved boys. The two demigods made their way in the cabin and stopped in front of Arthur, who stood up straight at the sight of his leaders. Even if they did not always act like it, they were the two most powerful demigods known and they deserved all the respect in the world (even if they always told him to stop acting so formal with them).
Perseus took a look around the cabin and nodded approvingly. He spoke up. »Any problems?«
»None that have not been dealt with.« Art replied in a casual, but respectful tone.
»Have you spoken with Chiron yet?«
»Already informed him about our stay. We're also having a game of Capture the Flag later with a group of campers.
Jason smiled. »Haven't played that one for a while. How about Kaia?«
Alex walked past right in that moment and answered himself. »Nope, not around. Believe me, I searched. But we did meet Sarah – apparently Kaia hasn't been back in a while.«
Jason sighed. »Oh, well, it was worth a shot. So, any more details about the Capture the flag? It's gonna be good practice.« His tone was different, like he was hiding a smirk behind it. So he was definitely hiding something and Art caught on that.
»Practice for what?«
Percy grinned at Arthur and replied loudly, so that the rest of the boys in the cabin can hear him. »Guys, the gods got us a new quest.«
Boys from the elite group. A group, some say the male version of the Hunt, that was formed years ago after the Giant war by two heroes. Travelling around and accepting quests too hard for only campers to complete. Saving young demigods, helping their patron and Olympus in any way possible. Those boys are the Warriors of Olympus.
A/N: Well, that took me long enough to come back with the Warriors. Some things have changed in the idea of the group and story, but it's mostly the same. This is probably going to be a series of one-shots, with a connected plot, and I'm going to try to update as much as I can. Hope you enjoyed!
-Ice