".. It's a big, big world, it's easy to get lost in it.."
-UP by Justin Bieber ft. Chris Brown
CHAPTER 1: And So It Begins..
The night is silent, very silent.
So, no one saw it coming.
The first raiders came from the left of the Argo II, the entire demigod crew completely unaware as they restocked their ship midway of the journey to Camp Jupiter. The creatures lay in hiding, waiting, biding their time until the demigods parted ways to perform their tasks and duties.
When only a handful remained, they stroke.
"We're under attack!" Annabeth called out. "Coach, Thalia, defensive positions!"
Jason, Leo and Piper were out to fetch certain supplies at the nearest store and gas station, which left Annabeth, Coach Hedge and Thalia aboard the flying ship. Annabeth was stationed by the helm, her dagger in hand and slashing her way through the monsters. Coach Hedge was on the deck, his club pummeling two with each strike and screaming battle cries and insults Annabeth deemed inappropriate to be mentioned in polite society. Thalia was up the mast, shooting arrow after arrow at the invaders.
Yet with each downed monster, two took its place.
They were overwhelmed in minutes.
"There's too many of them, Annabeth!" Thalia screamed from above.
"Just hold on until the others come back!" Annabeth yelled back, a frown on her face, shooting cold calculating glares at her enemies. These creatures were nothing they've ever seen before. They were made purely of dirt, their faces a melted heap of mud and their movements sluggish yet fast, like newly made zombies, brainless with one mission in mind: Attack.
Through the fray, Annabeth failed to notice the monsters creeping behind her back.
Annabeth failed to notice nothing. But in battle, Percy always had her back.
Except Percy wasn't there.
And Annabeth retaliated too late when the monsters grabbed her.
"ANNABETH!" Thalia screamed from her perch and she quickly made her way down but it was too slow.
"Hedge!" Thalia called as she plummeted to the deck.
"I'm on it, sweetheart!" Hedge said as he darted toward Annabeth and her captors with a fierce determination on his face. "Die, you mud-faced dirt bags!"
Thalia landed on a crouch, shooting arrows non-stopped as the monsters started to overwhelm her. A monster had a muddy hand-shaped limb on Annabeth's mouth and another held her hands behind her back. She thrashed around, kicking wildly but to no avail, her eyes wild like a raging storm of panic and resistance. Hedge was surrounded and his club couldn't possibly handle that much foes at the same time.
Thalia growled and she shot two arrows in one strum of her bow and they both embedded on the two monsters heads. Hedge saw it as a cleared path and ran away, positioning himself to a more advantageous ground. Thalia turned back to Annabeth, her eyes filled with defiance.
Then, the monsters that had Annabeth jumped from the railing with her.
"NO!" Thalia screamed as she passed Hedge and he barricaded Thalia's pursuers along with his own load of foes.
She jumped from the railing, managing to lodge an arrow through the monster's shoulder that held Annabeth's mouth shut.
"THALIA!" Annabeth cried desperately.
More monsters were holding her down now and more monsters came to stop Thalia but she just kept shooting arrow after arrow, even more desperate upon reaching Annabeth. Her desperate cry was the last thing Thalia heard as Annabeth was overwhelmed, her eyes wide in fear as she was plunged into solid earth.
It was four days and three nights after when they sailed on Argo II.
Two days and a night since the attack and a day that they found the Roman camp. They left Coach Gleeson Hedge to man the ship as they crossed the Little Tiber. Lupa, Chiron's opposite, was not so glad about the company Jason kept but she begrudgingly let them pass. The wolves stood a mile away from the camp, patrolling the perimeter.
For one gifted of a silver tongue, Piper was lost for words.
She was exhausted and worried and she had lost a friend. Annabeth.
She's been taken two days ago while they were out gathering supplies. They could only guess that Gaea's monsters had taken her. As far as they all could guess, the fight was a distraction to kidnap their friend.
She couldn't help but feel guilty though.
If they were there, fighting alongside her, they could have protected her a lot better, eased the burden and watched each other's backs tighter. She had been training with katropis so hard with Annabeth these past few months that even Annabeth admitted she was ready for a battle, maybe not a full-scale battle but enough to defend herself and those around her. She wonders that if she was there or Jason or Leo, maybe they could have prevented this catastrophe, this tragedy, from happening.
Now, their friend lies in the hands of the enemy.
Piper is not naive.
She knew what happens to prisoners of war.
The story she had heard the last time Annabeth was captured sent a voltage of anger down her spine. How she was used by a man she had once saw as a brother and a friend, a man she trusted, had tricked her into taking the burden of lifting the sky on her shoulders. Every time Piper saw the pale streak of gray on her hair, a wave of anger would rush through her ever since she had heard the tale.
"How much further, Jason?" she heard Thalia ask.
Thalia sounded agitated and tired, her usually proud posture weary and slumped. She had dark bags beneath her eyes and she was paler than her usual color. Piper could only guess she blames herself for their friend's demise.
"Almost there." Jason muttered, through the darkness, the sun had set a few minutes ago and they were engulfed in darkness. "Stay close."
Piper could see a flickering of light up ahead. "Is that it?" she asked.
"Ye-" Jason never got to finish.
A gleaming bronze sword suddenly cut the air and headed straight to Jason's head. As fast as lightning, his gladius had blocked the strike. Piper could hear shouts everywhere as warriors emerged from their hiding spots and camouflages. The one that attacked Jason was heavily dressed for battle, with armor over a purple T-shirt and a long purple cape to match his station as a high ranking officer, his helmet covering half of his face.
He was a total match for Jason, both in strength and in skill.
Piper deflected a warrior running her way by sidestepping the well-aimed blow to head and katropis was immediately drawn from her sheath. She bent low as the warrior made a dash for her again and kicked his knees. Her opponent kneeling she pointed her knife on the back of his neck. She looked at Thalia, she was battling hard, her bow used to knock her opponents out instead of letting arrows fly around. Leo had fire on his palm, a hammer on the other. They were both yelling for the attackers to stop, careful not to harm any of them and Piper realized why.
They were all dressed in purple T-shirts and armor.
The Legion.
"Stop!" Piper yelled, her power resonating through the air. They did. She raised her hands gently in a friendly and weaponless gesture. "Please, we're not the enemy."
She released the man from her clutches and helped him up but he flinched away from her in disgust and fury, hissing, "Graecus."
"Jason?" someone called out from the attackers and murmurs erupted. Out from the crowd came a girl in a purple cape, identical to the demigod that fought Jason. She covered in a glorious golden armor, her helmet at her side. She approached them slowly, careful but determined.
"Reyna." Jason greeted. "It's good to see you."
"You're back." Reyna stated and looked at his companions. "And you made friends."
Reyna had long, wavy brown hair tied loosely on one side with doe-like yet strong eyes to match. Her armor gleamed under the dim light, a pair of silver and gold automaton dogs flanking her sides. The Romans grew restless at the word 'friends' and Reyna ordered them to stand down.
"Yes, I did." Jason said, chuckling slightly. "I think it's safe to bet that you might have a stray here in camp."
The person that Jason battled took off his helmet. Piper gasped inaudibly as she caught sight of his elegant and electric green eyes resembling so much like the ocean. He had jet black hair that hung over his eyes, his body lean and his posture defensive and stiff. He held a three-foot celestial bronze sword that glowed under the dim light.
"I think that would be me." he said.
Piper could only guess that this was Percy Jackson.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
I'm not a Bieber fan but there you go. It's an awesome, btw. Especially, his 'OVERBOARD'. It just reminds me of Percy so damn much, I listen to it as I rewrite this. Come to think of it, I've been listening to it from the very first draft, really. So, after some many stressful days and sleepless nights of college and summer school, I've finally had time to rewrite this. For those of you who've read this before the rewriting, thank you for reading my story and giving me such wonderful reviews. I hope I've met some expectations but fear not, I might still go and get this beta-read. If I have the time to look for a really cool beta-reader with all the things I have to get done before summer's over.
Leave a comment on what you think.
PERCY JACKSON IS THE PROPERTY OF THE TROLL KING, RICK RIORDAN.