A demigod tragedy

by Just Somedude 1

Brandon Harper is a son of Athena, he's also a soldier. When Percy and Annabeth find an old box under Annabeth's bed from World War II, they're not entirely sure what it is. When they investigate into it a bit further, they discover why it was hidden away.

Hey ya'll, okay so I just came up with this idea randomly about 10-15 minutes ago and I thought it was cool so I decided to make my first ever one shot. So, without any further ado, enjoy. Please read and review and let's see what you guys think. ALSO! WHO CAN SPOT THE SAVING PVT. RYAN REFERENCES?

Private first class Brandon Harper

United States Army's 1st infantry division

June 6, 1944

Normandy, France

Omaha beach: Dog green sector

The waves were choppy, slamming against the assault boat. A few guys inside the boat had already gotten seasick, throwing up either on the floor of the boat or on the guy in front of them. I steeled my nerves and hoped that my fear wasn't projected on my face.

"Mom," I whispered, gripping my rifle tight "Please don't let me die here, please."

Perhaps I should back up a little bit, explain who I am maybe. The name's Brandon Harper, son of Athena. In 1942, I would've been nineteen at the time, I enlisted with the United States Army to go and fight evil across the seas. Being a demigod, battle came naturally, but a sword fight wasn't shit compared to the battlefields of Europe. The hardest part was telling Julie that I was leaving, I think she was more afraid for me than I was.

"Brandon," She had told me "Please be careful, I know you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I laughed

"It means," My mother said "Your sister understands how 'protective of the weak' you can be."

Julie and I were born from the same father, but he died when we were very young. Athena had been decently active in our lives since then, and I was grateful that she at least took the time to be a mother, which she tried to with most of her kids. I was ripped back to reality when an officer started yelling for all of us to get ready for the landing, and bullets started bouncing in the water around us and hitting the boat.

"Boat in front just took a mortar!" Somebody yelled

"I want plenty of space between men!" Captain Wilhelm called from behind us "Move fast and clear the mortar holes, we have to take the beach so that our armor can move through!"

"We're about to hit the beach!" Somebody yelled "Get ready!"

"Uncle Sam's gonna stick it up Hitler's ass today boys!" Frank yelled "Hooah?"

"HOOAH!" The soldiers echoed

More bullets hit the boat and I saw a mortar round hit the water on the side of us, rocking the boat. I heard a whistle and the sound of hinges as the front gate to the boat was lowered, and all hell broke loose. Bullets bounced into the boat, mowing down the soldiers in front of me in twos and threes. Frank took one and dropped to the ground, blood spilling from his neck.

"OVER THE SIDES!" Captain Wilhelm yelled "NOW!"

I jumped over the side of the boat, praying I didn't get hit on the way down. I dropped into the water and went under, holding my breath. Bullets bounced into the water and hit the guys in front of me, turning the water red. I had dropped my rifle when I hit the water, and I knew I didn't have time to go search for it. I pushed my way to the surface and swam forward, coming up next to Captain Wilhelm's body, floating in the channel.

"Get your ass to that beach!" An officer behind me yelled "Move!"

I swam as fast as I could, but I was a good fifteen or twenty feet from the shore, and it didn't exactly look inviting. Already, the bodies of American soldiers lined the beachhead and were floating in the water. There were huge, concrete bunkers mounted on the rock walls. German machine guns fired from inside them, tearing down anybody that got near them. Everybody was scrambling for cover and trying to get off the beach, I still had yet to actually get there.

"Fucking move!" The same officer yelled, grabbing me "Do you want to die out here!"

"No, sir!" I yelled back, moving with him

It didn't take long for us to get to the beach, but the officer I had gone with didn't make it all the way. When we stepped on the sand, a burst of fire hit the ground, throwing up sand all around me and ripping into his chest, putting him to the ground. I ran as fast as I could, trying to find cover. I almost tripped over somebody who had been completely blown in half, and another guy who was lying on the ground with his guts lying next to him, screaming for a medic. I had no time to help him, to grab him and move him to cover or anything. If I stopped, I'd be dead.

"Who are you with?" A soldier asked me as I ducked into a mortar hole with them

"Big red one!" I yelled "I got separated from my guys, I don't even know where the hell I'm supposed to be!"

"Nobody's where they're supposed to be!" A Corporal yelled "All that matters right now is that you're somewhere doing something! Where's your rifle?"

"Somewhere in the bottom of the channel!" I yelled back

"Get one!" He yelled

I poked my head out of the hole and checked, making sure I was clear. Although there was bullets bouncing pretty much everywhere, I had a small opening. I saw a dead soldier with a rifle lying to the side of him, and I broke for it. I slid to a stop next to him and ducked down as several bullets hit the sand around me, even hitting the body of the soldier who's rifle I was taking.

"Move! Move!" Somebody was yelling

A mortar hit the beach about fifteen feet in front of me, sending three guys flying up into the air, bringing one of them down without his legs. I grabbed the rifle and moved up the beach, trying to find anybody from my squad. I saw one guy from my squad lying on the ground, screaming for a medic. His arm was gone, and he was using the body of another soldier to stop the bleeding. I looked up to see six guys disappear in a massive ball of fire when the one carrying the flamethrower got hit, burning all of them up instantly.

"Harper!" Somebody was yelling "Harper!"

I looked around, trying to find the source of the voice. Ahead of me, I saw a group of soldiers lying down behind a pile of sand, trying to keep covered. One of them was waving to me, trying to get my attention. It was one of the newer guys from my squad, I think his name was Thomas. I broke for where he was at, dodging bullets and mortar fire as I ran.

"Good to see a familiar face!" Thomas yelled as I threw myself down next to him "Thought everybody was dead!"

"Third party!" A Sergeant yelled, grabbing the radio operator "First wave is ineffective, we do not hold the beach! Say again! We do not hold the beach! None of our armor made it ashore, and only about forty percent of us can fight! Charlie company is scattered all over the fucking beach, we can't even regroup!"

"Move up!" Another officer yelled "Move! Come on! Let's go! Everybody move now!"

We started running, giving no thought to being shot or blown up. I had learned early on that if you gave any thought to that, you'd end up being one of the guys curled up in a ball crying. Bullets were bouncing all around us, mortars were hitting on the ground everywhere. I couldn't even see where the rounds were coming from, but I almost got hit twice before we got back to cover again. All I could here was the constant machine gun fire, explosions, and screaming men.

"Mama!" I heard somebody yelled

I risked a glance towards the sound of the voice, and my heart sank. He was a kid, couldn't have been more than eighteen, he was screaming. His legs were both gone, he had five bullets in his stomach, and his left arm was severely burned.

"Mama!" He yelled again "Help me! I wanna go home!"

I couldn't stop myself, I broke for him. I didn't recognize him at first, but a second look told me all I needed to know. His name was Scott Helms, and he was a son of Athena too. He had arrived at camp two years before I had enlisted, but the two of us never had much of an interaction. I never even knew he had enlisted.

"Scott!" I yelled, sliding down next to him "You're gonna be alright buddy, don't worry, I've got some ambrosia!"

"Mama!" He yelled again "Oh my gods it hurts! It fucking hurts! They got me! Those god damn Krauts got me!"

I pulled a small square of ambrosia from my bag, giving it to him. Julie sent me ambrosia whenever I ran out, and I kept it just in case I ran into any demigods. It was known among the demigods that if you were wounded during the war, you were supposed to start yelling for Chiron, to hint to any other demigods that might be there that you were a demigod too.

"I know they got you buddy, I know!" I told him, dragging him off to the side "Don't worry, I've got you! You're gonna make it out of here, Mom will protect us!"

Move him! I heard a voice in my head yell suddenly NOW!

Mom? I thought

MOVE! She yelled again

I grabbed Scott and dragged him to a mortar hole, falling into it just as a mortar round hit where we had been. Bullets bounced in the sand all around us as I gave Scott another square of ambrosia, but he couldn't take anymore. The burns on his arms had faded and the bullet wounds had closed, but I couldn't do anything for his legs, this is where I needed a medic.

"Medic!" I yelled "I need a medic!"

I saw two guys get up a few yards in front of me and start back to us, dodging bullets. They jumped down into the hole and took over, trying their best to stop the bleeding. A bullet bounced into the hole and took one of them in the head, dropping him to the ground.

"Get out of here!" The medic yelled "Get up to there and help them out, you can't do anything more for him!"

I nodded and broke out of the hole, making my way up the beach to the rest of the soldiers, who were ducked down below the bunkers, taking cover from the machine gun fire. There were still soldiers making their way up the beach, but the once beautiful beach was now littered with bodies and various body parts. I threw myself down in the sand with the rest of the soldiers, taking cover from the guns above me.

"Oh for the love of God!" An officer yelled "So what unit are you trying to find?"

"Big red one, sir!" I yelled back "I'll find them afterwards! Right now, I'm just trying to make it through this!"

"We need to get around these bunkers!" He yelled "Follow me, we're going under!"

He jumped out from cover and broke for the bunker, and we followed. Immediately, bullets started hitting all around us, mowing down even more soldiers, but the majority of us made it under the bunker. I pinned myself against the wall, turning back to the beach. Bodies were everywhere, mortar holes, screaming men, it was chaos.

"Fuck this place." I muttered

"Alright, we got an MG nest just up the hill!" The same officer yelled to us "Take it out, move in on the trenches and this beach is ours!"

"You!" Another officer said, pointing to me "Take Lester and Red and go, we'll give you cover fire!"

"Yes sir!" I yelled, nodding

They leaned around the corner and opened fire on the nest, and we took our opportunity. The three of us ran for a small trench that had been dug a little ways up the hill, firing on the machine gun nest. The sandbags busted open and the Germans inside of it tumbled down the hill, falling right in front of us. They stood up, trying to put their hands up, but they weren't going to find any mercy from us. We fired into the four of them, dropping them to the ground.

"Move up!" Red yelled to the men behind the bunker "Let's go!"

We made our way up the hill, struggling to climb the steep incline. When we finally reached the top, the Germans were waiting for us. I ducked down behind a rock wall as bullets hit around me, hitting one soldier in the chest and sending him tumbling back down the hill. I leaned over and fired, hitting one of the Germans in the head.

"Your father was circumcised by my Rabi you pricks!" Lester yelled, firing several rounds

"Move in!" Somebody yelled

We piled over the wall into the trench, making our way around to the bunkers. I saw other American soldiers piling into the trenches on the other side, overrunning the Germans inside it. We moved to one of the bunkers and leveled our weapons at the door, gunning down the Germans as they tried to run outside.

"Let's go!" Red told me "Move up around the center, we've got these bastards on the run!"

I followed Red out of the trench and up the center, firing at the retreating Nazis. I got one in the back and another in the chest as he turned around to fire back, the rest of them just kept on running. We moved in on a bunker where two Germans got out, holding their hands in the air. Red and I leveled our rifles at them, and they started to panic.

Počkejte! Nejsme Němci!" One of them yelled "Jsou to nutí naše lidi k boji!"

I didn't know what he said, I didn't care. Over the two years I had been fighting, I had grown bitter of the Germans, they were starting to get on my nerves. I squeezed the trigger of my rifle and dropped both of them, spitting on them as Red and I walked by.

"What did he say?" Red asked me

"Look!" I laughed, putting my hands up "I washed for supper!"

Red and I laughed and continued on our way to regroup with our respective squads. I never did see Red again, I heard that he had been wounded and sent back home a few days before we liberated France. Scott didn't make it, he bled out before the medic could do anything. I lived the rest of my life convinced I could've done more to save him, and it ate at me until the day I died.

Percy

May 4, 2012

Camp Half-Blood: Athena cabin

"What are you doing?" I asked, stepping inside the almost empty cabin

"Going through this old box I just found under my bed," Annabeth said, showing me "I never noticed it before. It belonged to some girl names Julie Ann Harper."

"How long ago?" I asked, sitting down next to her

"Well," Annabeth shrugged "Judging by the letters to some guy named Brandon and the black and white pictures, I'd say sometime in the forties."

"Where was it?" I asked her, picking up a picture

"In the very back," She said thoughtful "Almost like she wanted to hide it."

"Or maybe it was too painful," I suggested, holding up a picture "Looks like this Brandon guy was a soldier."

It was an old black and white photograph, showing a girl and a boy standing by the Big House. Chiron stood behind them in Centaur form, all three of them were smiling. The girl wore a simple dress and had her hair tied in a ponytail, with her arm around a boy looking around eighteen or nineteen wearing a military uniform. They both had blonde hair and probably grey eyes, couldn't really tell.

"The date on the back says that this picture was taken on Febuary 4, 1942." Annabeth said, turning it over

"There's letters in here," I said, pulling a handful out "My gods, this guy was at Normandy."

"And the battle of the Bulge, and North Africa," Annabeth said "Italy, Germany, France, he's been almost everywhere, it must've been amazing."

"Annabeth," I reminded her "He was probably getting shot at and blown up for a good portion of it."

"Yeah but even then," She said "Just the chance to see the world."

"I'd like to not get shot at while I'm doing it." I said

"What's this?" She asked, pulling a slip of paper from the bottom

It had the seal of the U.S Army on it, and it looked really official. When Annabeth finished reading, she handed it to me, and I understood why the box was hidden away.

Dear Miss Julie Ann Harper

It is with the deepest regret that we inform you that your brother, Corporal Brandon K. Harper, was killed in action on May 4, 1945, at 4 p.m. Reports indicate that your brother sacrificed his own life against a battalion of SS soldiers so that a group of wounded Americans could be evacuated. I personally understand that there is nothing I, nor anyone else, can say that will take away the anguish you feel after the death of your brother. I can only hope that you will take comfort in the fact that he died a hero's death, sacrificing his own life to save the lives of others. I'm told that he never faltered in the face of adversity, and that he was fearless in the face of tyranny. I hope this brings comfort to you in your time of mourning. Yours truly and sincerely

-General Dwight D. Eisenhower

So what's everybody thinking? Read and review please, God bless. Thanks for reading! Also, shoutout to Civil Chuck for catching my mistake on the dates!