Before you read this fanfic, and before you fling flames towards my general direction, please note that I HAVE NEVER, I DO NOT, NOR WILL I EVER ADVOCATE WAR.
This is just a fanfic I wrote trying to see things from Sherman's POV. He's a son of Ares, so it's unavoidable for him to talk about wars like as if it's not a big deal.
It's very hard for me to put myself in that kind of 'casual relationship with wars' way of thinking, but I just like to try and see things from different sides. This time, it's Sherman's side, and the timeline is somewhere between The Last Olympian and The Lost Hero.
By the way, I forgot whether he has a family name or not, so if he does, please tell me about it, and I'll fix it.
Lastly, disclaimer: PJO is not mine, and the Greek gods belongs to Greek people and culture.
Hi. My name is Sherman. Yes, like the general's name, and yes, also like the tank's name.
I am the son of Ares, the Greek god of war.
I don't have a family name. Never had one, never need one. Sherman is all the name that I need.
I've lived full time in Camp Half-Blood, together with my half-siblings since I was 12, and now I'm alredy 18 years old.
Sometimes I feel that it's hard being a son of Ares. Everybody never seems to like our presence, including - and maybe even especially - other demigods.
I think the one thing that makes other demigods doesn't like the children of Ares is that they somehow underestimates us. Not physically, though. Everybody knows that physically, children of Ares are alway better developed than other demigods.
It's just that they judged us as socially incompetent, barbaric, violent bunch of people.
Don't get me wrong, those things are true but only when we're angry, though. Yes, when we're angry, we tend to get barbaric and violent. And it doesn't help that most of us are easily angered.
But even as the children of Ares, we can't be angry all the time. There are times when we're just like any other demigods - or any other mortal people for that matter. We like relaxing and doing hobbies. Well, most of our hobbies might still have something to do with military or war, but still, it's not always about military and war.
Like my half-brother, Mark, he likes models. Yes, he specializes in military vehicle models, but he can also make other models when he's in the mood. And Clarisse, our cabin's counselor, she might look like a gruff and violent woman - yes, I said 'woman', she's already eighteen, come on! - but most of the time she used those qualities to nag us, her half-siblings, to take care of ourselves more, like tidying up our bunk-beds, taking showers, and things.
So, yea, in daily life, we're just like any other people.
The one thing that we keep as a well-guarded secret to most people is... well... let's just say that we are one of the main sources of income for the camp.
You see, we are the children of a god of war, so it's only natural if we are good at fighting in wars. So, sometimes, the US military used our services in doing it's job.
Don't you think it'll be weird if the US government got a bunch of people who are very adept at the battlefield, and don't use those bunch of people in fighting wars? And please, don't act all surprise that the government knows about us. Some of the people in the government did come from this camp.
The camp usually sends one of us that already reached the age of 18 to fight in wars where the US military are involved, and in return, the US government paid the camp for our services.
Me? I just hit 18 this year so I've only been on very few missions, compared to other more senior member of our family.
Oh, don't worry, we also got our share of payment, and it's more than enough.
It might sound strange, but unlike any other people or demigods, we - children of Ares - don't need any time at all to adjust in a new battlefield. We're wired to feel most at home when we're in the battlefield.
We're all effective and efficient fighting machines. Give us our objective, and we will see to it that it is done.
We tried to keep our contact with mortal soldiers as minimal as possible, but sometimes we struck inevitable friendships. Cameraderie on the battlefield is sometimes too strong of a force for us to resist.
One thing that we don't like, is prolonged war. It just feels unnecessary and a waste of time. Children of Athena sometimes used this kind of war for strategy purposes and what-not, but for us, it's just frustrating.
We like wars where we can just barge in, kick all the asses that we needed to kick, and get the hell out of there as fast as we can.
It's simple, it's effective, it's efficient. What else do you need?
Another thing that made people kind of afraid of us, is that we're easily adjusted to the things that are demanded of us in a battle. In other words, we don't have any aversion whatsoever in killing our enemies on the battlefield.
If there's an enemy military personel standing right in front of me on the battlefield, you better believe that I'll blow him up to Hades and back.
To put it in a simpler term, we do not hesitate in killing our enemies.
But - and this is a big 'but' - it doesn't mean that we like killing people. Yes, we don't have any problem in 'dispatching' our enemies, but we still have problems in killing people outside of the battlefield settings. Murders, lynching, maiming, assassinations, those things still brings dread to us.
We are the spawns of the god of war, not of the deity of killing indiscreminately. We still have our moral compass.
In the battlefield, we do what we have to do, we did what we needed to do. Nothing more, nothing less, nothing else.
Yes, even in normal society we might easily said things like "I'll kill you", "I'll murder you", "I'll pulverize you", and things like that, but it was all just an expression, not a statement of a real planning of action.
Oh, and there's another thing.
When in camp, we tend to lose more than we win. That's a fact that I'm willing to accept. In most situations where it involved brains, and wits, and things like that, we do not accel.
But, if you think about it, being the children of Ares, with better developed bodies, how come we also lose in other things that only requires minimal mental process and more on the physical side of things?
The answer is, we lose because we're too busy holding back.
That is not a hubris. It's really the truth.
For instance, in wrestling, we have to really concentrate in controlling our body just to make sure that we won't snap someone else's spine. In dueling, we have to hold back so much, that we usually resorted to using heavier weapons so that we'll concentrate more in weilding the weapon than on using it for impaling our opponent.
So, yeah, it's problematic, being a member of Ares' cabin. People judged us, branded us, and quite unwilling to see things from our perspective.
But, whatever. We don't really care. If someone really wanted to be our friend, they'll see past these supposedly barbaric exterior of ours, and they'll see that inside, we're just like anybody else.
We have our quirks, we have flaws, we have negative qualities, we have our shorctomings, just like anybody else, but see past through all that, and we're just another demigod, trying and strifing to find our place in this world.
So, yeah, the next time you see a child of Ares, say hello and smile. Oh we'd still give you swirlies, but don't take it personally, that's just our way of saying hello.
So? How's it? I hope you enjoyed it. I know it's short, but leave a review anyway. Flamers, once again, be kind, for I am a man with a very weak heart. I don't want my death to be a burden in your conscience. LOL