Disclaimer:
I have no affiliation with Miraculous Ladybug or Percy Jackson and the Olympus or the Heroes of Olympus series. Also any similarities to real life events or people are unintentional unless explicitly stated.
Dear Diary,
Sometimes it's difficult being friends with Alya. She's too smart for her own good. For example, when I sat down next to her at breakfast she immediately said, "Wow, you're in a good mood today. Is it to do with a boy?"
How does she figure this stuff out so quickly? The macarons incident only happened last yesterday! And I only realized my feelings an hour or so after that!
She thought they boy was Leo at first, but I told her that I didn't like him.
I mean, I like Leo but only as a friend. He's a good person and he always tries to make others laugh. But as a boyfriend? I don't like him that way. He's not my type. He's a bit too cocky and he's always making puns. They're not even that funny. Okay they're not always that bad. That "time to get a watch" pun deserved a laugh. What I can't stand though is that he has to show off and I'm not into guys like that. I'm a little hard on him. He has a lot of cool things about him. He's good to the other Hephaestus kids and his automatons are really inventive, if somewhat bizarre like that side table of his…
Maybe I should've told Alya that I did like him so she wouldn't have found out who I do like, but I couldn't do that to Leo. She would've teased me about him instead, and then Piper would've heard and then he would've been invited into the conversation. Then they would've kept saying that I had something to say to him until I blurted out, probably in a massive crowd that just so happened to be there because my luck works both ways, that I don't like him romantically. And that would've been awful to Leo. I think he's got a bit of a crush on me, you know.
Actually, no - telling the truth of was the best thing I could've done. Alya would've figured out the truth anyways. If she thinks that there's a secret, she'll uncover the truth.
After I told her that it wasn't Leo that I liked, it didn't take her long at all to figure out that I like Adrien.
THERE! I WROTE IT!
And yes, Piper overheard us talking about it even though Alya and I should've been alone in the strawberry fields during lunch! Aphrodite kids must have a sixth sense for anything love related.
As the Aphrodite Cabin's senior counsellor, Piper has declared that it is her own personal quest "to spread love and bring people together" and offered an alliance with Alya who, despite my protests, accepted. So for the rest of the day they would tell me every time he was within the vicinity - as if I didn't already notice – and then invite him to join the conversation.
At least I have no fear of blurting out to Adrien that I like him because I can't even get a coherent word out when he's around.
Ugh… I'm in so deep. Gods and goddesses, help me.
"Morning guys," said Piper McLean, interrupting Nino and Adrien's conversation about the latest Jagged Stone single. "Do you mind if we sit next to you for breakfast?"
"But don't we have seats over-ouch," said Leo, rubbing his side where she elbowed him. "Never mind."
Jason Grace did nothing except raise an eyebrow while she continued to smile.
"Not at all," said Nino, making room for them. He then pointed at the newspaper that Jason was holding. "What activities are going on?"
He squinted slightly and read, "In the morning the Apollo cabin has sword fighting followed by Greek lessons and then friendship bracelet making."
"Sword fighting sounds good," said Adrien. "I use to do fencing."
"What kind of son of the god of archery are you?" asked Nino.
"Actually," interjected Piper, "in one of the epics was written that Apollo rode into battle with a sword."
"Wow," said Leo, sarcastically, "Beauty and brains. Ouch!"
"And in the afternoon?" said Nino.
"There's baking with Marinette at 2 o'clock," said Alya sitting down at the table with Marinette. "And don't forget to read the killer article on the front page written by yours truly."
"You're actually starting the baking classes?" asked Nino.
"You bake?" said Adrien.
"My father owns a boulangerie in Paris and I help out sometimes," she explained, quietly. "I'm not that good though."
"Nonsense!" explained Leo. "The macarons were amazing! Marinette you're really-ow Pip-ow!"
"What are you teaching in the class?" said Nino.
But Marinette was hardly paying any attention. She stood up and excused herself from the table.
"Leo!" hissed Piper.
"Piper!"
"Not now, Jason."
Meanwhile, Marinette had walked over to the Aphrodite table where Chloe and Drew Tanaka were laughing.
"Excuse me," Adrien overheard Marinette say.
"Why should we?" said Drew, "You're the one bothering us."
"Actually, you're bothering me. I couldn't help but hear your conversation from over there and I really don't think that you should be saying those things at all."
"How do you know what we're talking about? You're Chinese."
Marinette huffed and put her fists on her hips. Was this the same quiet girl from a moment ago? "I know that I look Chinese but I am also French and have lived in Paris all my life and I understood every single word that you said."
"Mind your own beeswax," said Chloe. "We weren't even talking about you."
"And that makes it okay? If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all."
"It's not as if they understood," said Drew.
"Just because you're speaking in another language it doesn't mean that you can say such rude things about other people. And how do you know if they don't understand? You didn't realize that I spoke French!"
"What is going on here?" said Chiron.
"Nothing," said Drew and Chloe.
"Chloe and Drew were saying some awful things about the other campers behind their back in French."
"Is this true?"
Adrien was struck by how quiet it was now. Everyone was paying attention to what was happening at the Aphrodite table.
"Well if anyone wants to add anything you can speak to me later or to your head counsellor," Chiron announced.
"Sir-"
"Thank you, Marinette, for standing up to them, but I'll take it from here. You may speak to me later."
"But-"
"You've done your job. Thank you."
"Yes, sir."
"As for you two," said Chiron, addressing Chloe and Drew, "I'll need to speak to the both of you in my office after lunch. But first apologise to the campers you insulted and get ready for your morning activities."
Drew spoke up. "May I remind you of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states, "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression-"
"Ah, yes. And "the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers". I was there when it was written," said Chiron, tapping a hoof on the ground. "May I remind you that most legal systems recognize that the freedom of speech is not intended to conflict with other rights and freedoms, or as France's Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen states, "Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else; hence the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the society the enjoyment of the same rights." Do you understand?"
They didn't say anything.
"I said, "Do you understand?""
"Yes, sir."
"If I hear more complaints about you I'll have to begin taking away your privileges."
"You'll hear from my father," declared Chloe.
"The phone rights will be the first to go."
Chloe and Drew stayed silent.
"Good," said Chiron. "Now where is the Aphrodite head counsellor?"
Piper stood up. "Here, sir."
"See me once everyone in your cabin is all settled in their first morning activity."
"Yes, sir."
Chiron clapped his hands. "Everyone, go back to your breakfast."
Marinette sat back down at the table.
"That was great Marinette," said Nino.
"I didn't know that you were mixed Chinese and French," said Leo.
"It's a bit of a complicated story, but yeah, I am."
"No wonder that you're really pretty – Ouch. What is your problem Piper? You're pretty too! Is that what you want? Don't look so glum."
"Oh, never mind," said Piper. "I'm still not used to being the head counsellor."
"Don't worry," said Marinette. "You're doing a fantastic job!"
Alya hugged Marinette. "And you did too! I'm so proud of you, Marinette. What do you think, Adrien?"
"I thought that it was very brave."
She avoided his eyes. He wondered if he said something wrong.
Alya smiled brightly though. "Thanks to Marinette, I now have a headlining story for tomorrow's bulletin. Now all I need to do is come up with a catchy headline!"
Dear Diary,
Today the Hunters of Artemis arrived for some war games in preparation for the war against the giants. Jason Grace has been trying to organise this for several weeks, but they've been busy doing Hunter stuff until now.
Tomorrow, we'll be having a Capture the Flag game against them as per tradition. The current score stands at 56 to 0, their way. That's unacceptable.
Everyone at camp wants to win against the Hunters. Even Clarisse and Annabeth have set aside their differences (mostly) to defeat the common enemy. The Apollo kids are especially pumped up because of the sibling rivalry history between Artemis and Apollo.
Speaking of sibling rivalry, it turns out that Jason is the younger (older?) brother of Artemis' Lieutenant (she was a tree for some time and now she's immortal so there's a bit of confusion about her age). He's been teaching us some Roman war tactics. Granted, we're not that organized yet with all of the new talent coming in now that the gods and goddesses have to declare their children, but who knows, maybe all we need is a little bit of pressure for everything to click into place.
We've come up with a really good plan at the war meeting. We'll have three main teams; Annabeth's, Clarisse's and Jason's. Annabeth's team is going to defend our flag and consists of most of the Athena, Demeter, Hephaestus and Apollo (those who aren't on the medic team) Cabins. Clarisse's team with the Ares, Dionysus and Hermes cabins are the decoys. They'll be entering enemy territory first to draw the Hunter's defences, and when they find it, they'll send a Hermes camper as a messenger to Jason's team who will be waiting on our side of the river. Jason's team mostly consist of back-up for Clarisse's team or jail-breakers, but there are three small teams whose role is to capture the flag because there are only allowed to be two people guarding the flag.
I'm leading one of the smaller teams to try and get the flag. The idea is that we need all the luck we can get to win.
Piper managed to convince everyone to put Adrien on my team on the grounds that we "work really well together during training." I suspect that the reason that we were often grouped together was because of her even if she wasn't present.
I'm nervous, but there are more important things to worry about!
There's no need to worry about the Hunters finding out about this plan. My diary is protected by a lot of traps. And if a Hunter tries to break in, they'll be caught and have to miss out on the game.
Tomorrow, the Hunters will become the hunted!
All we need to do is to stop Leo from fraternizing with the enemy.
They Hunters claim that they've forsaken men or something, but there's one called Lila who is such a total liar it makes me question the integrity of their vows. Apparently she's flown on a private jet with Prince Ali, she's had Jagged Stone write a song about her, and she knows Steven Spielberg.
The worst thing is that she's been talking to Adrien, the love of my life about her incredible "life".
Focus Marinette! We have a war to win!
"Hey!"
Adrien snapped back to reality and noticed that the leaves of the branch he was hiding behind was rotting and disintegrating. He apologised to the nymph who left, grumbling about how teenagers haven't changed over the millennia with absolutely no regard for life forms other than their own.
Silence came back to the forest. Adrien was waiting with Jason's team near the river on the campers' side. They were waiting for a Hermes' Cabin scout from Clarisse's team to bring those updates.
"CHARGE!" The command reverberated in the forest.
"That sounds like Clarisse," said Jason. "I told her not to do that."
The clashing of swords and battle cries followed. The campers greatly outnumbered the Hunters, but Artemis' loyal followers claimed that they would win regardless.
"See anything?" Jason asked Piper who was looking at her knife intently.
"Nope," she replied. She returned her knife to its sheath and then pointed down to the forest floor. "Is that Alya?"
It was. Alya went directly to Jason to give him her report. "Clarisse's team found the flag by Zeus' Fist, but they're losing ground," Adrien heard Alya say.
"And my sister?" Jason's sister was the Lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis. "Where is she?"
"No idea."
"Then she must be trying to steal our flag," said Jason. "Thanks for the information. We'll go to Clarisse, but can you pass on the information to Annabeth?"
"Sure." Before Alya left, she waved to her best friend, Marinette, and then said to Adrien, "Make sure she doesn't get hurt, okay?"
"Okay." Adrien didn't want to let the campers down. They entrusted him with this job.
Jason turned to address the team. "Okay. Marinette's team, you go to the Fist's left, Connor's, you take the right, and Travis's team will come from behind. If you can't get it, make sure to get a signal out."
"Yes, sir."
Adrien followed Marinette and one of the Nike twins through the canopy. He had no idea why he was in Marinette's team. He wasn't sure that she liked him much. She never really said anything around him. He respected her though. She was a good leader and was known for being able to come up with really good plans on the spot.
What he could see of the battle through the trees was pure chaos. Jason was flying around like a blond Superman. Chloe was too, but she didn't have flying powers.
"SAVE ME!"
She was saved by Piper.
When they arrived at Zeus's fist, the two guards were already distracted with Connor and Travis' teams, so that meant it was up to Marinette's team to go and steal the flag.
Marinette pointed at a spot in the tree, and Adrien nodded. The twin kept watch. Adrien threw his spear into the tree. It embedded itself deep into the bark with a satisfying thump. Marinette flung her lasso and caught the spear. She gave it a tug to see if it could take her weight before swinging down to grab flag.
The hair on the back of Adrien's neck stood up and he twisted out of the way to narrowly avoid being hit by the Hunter, Lila. The Nike twin was captured. Lila played a tune on her flute and a snarling fox appeared. Adrien raised his hand up, but nothing happened. His javelin was still stuck in the tree and there was no sunlight to return his weapon to his right hand. He was left defenceless.
Just when he thought that he was going to get bit by the fox or thrown into jail, Marinette swung into them on the rope. She grabbed his arm and swung them both to safety. They landed on their feet and ran towards Travis Stoll but he was hit by an arrow.
Jason landed in front of them. The fighting had reached Zeus' Fist.
"Go!" He threw a lightning bolt at a Hunter and then yelled, "Greeks! Protect Marinette! Protect the flag!"
"You heard your leader!" Piper said over a celestial bronze megaphone. "Protect Marinette and the flag!"
A group of people including Adrien surrounded Marinette and the flag and started running towards the river. They had to fight off the hunters and all of their snares and traps that they laid out.
Sunlight filtered through the trees and Adrien got his spear back.
One by one, the campers surrounding Marinette were claimed by the Hunters until only Adrien remained. He heard the whistle of an arrow, turned around and spun his spear. The arrow was deflected.
They were close to the boundary now. Adrien could hear the river, but he could also see the bright orange Camp Half-Blood flag. That meant that the Hunters had made it past the Demeter Cabin's growing trip hazards, and Ares Cabin's booby traps.
But the Hunters hadn't won yet.
A pegasus galloped in. Its head came off and Leo emerged from his super-fast Trojan Pegasus automaton.
"You may be hot," he yelled, "but I'm hotter!"
A wall of flames erupted along the banks of the far side of the river. It was hot. The roar and crackling of the flames muffled clash of weaponry.
Marinette glanced backwards and cried, "They're gaining on us! If only - the trees!"
Adrien looked at what she was looking at and somehow he knew what to do. "Leave it to me." He stopped and held his hand out on the nearest trunk. The nearby trees began to wither away and they toppled over blocking the Hunter's path.
The heat dropped suddenly and Adrien could hear the sound of the river again. He turned around. The wall of fire had extinguished. Leo lay on the ground, an arrow protruding from his back. Marinette and the Hunter's Lieutenant both made it to the river banks, the opposing team's flag in their hands. They ran through the hail of arrows, but none were able to touch them. Both crossed the river, but Adrien didn't see who crossed first.
The sound of a conch shell resonated through the forest signalling the end of the game. Everyone stopped except for the medics who were busy removing arrows and putting people on stretchers.
Chiron came galloping in. Everyone looked at him expectantly.
"IT'S A TIE!" he bellowed.
The campers cheered and the Hunters groaned. It was the first game that didn't end in the campers' defeat in fifty-six matches. Adrien was lifted up on to people's shoulders and carried to where Marinette was.
She looked bewildered, clutching onto the flag like her life still depended on it. Adrien beamed at her and raised a fist in her direction. "Good game."
She tapped it with her own and smiled. "Good game."
Author's Note:
I'm so sorry for the long delay! I had so many things going on, I just couldn't write. I wanted to get this chapter out as soon as possible, so I apologise if the quality isn't that good. Please let me know if there is something odd.
I don't know if I'm breaking too many rules of canon by having them tie a Capture the Flag game against the Hunters without Percy, but let's just pretend it happened.
The question Alya asked Marinette at the start of this chapter is actually one that I asked my best friend one morning class, and she was in a good mood because of a crush! I was just joking though.
And thank you for reading, and thank you for reviewing! I really appreciate it!