I Capture Something More Valuable than a Flag

Author's Note: I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long but school calls! I hope you enjoy this chapter.

I decided that before Capture the Flag began, I would want a weapon that I was comfortable with.

"Why don't you just use a sword?" Apollo asked. He seemed to be shadowing me everywhere I went.

"You love archery, you should understand. When I pick up a scythe, it becomes a part of me. The scythe and I are one. When I use a sword, it's just not the same."

"I saw you school Jackson that time. You're very good with a sword too." He complimented. He was following me to the workshop. I was going to see if any of the Hephaestus kids could make a decent scythe.

"Thanks and I knew but I was born to wield a scythe. It's in my blood." I mean that metaphorically as I was pretty sure I had no ichor in my veins.

When we entered the Smith shop, I realised how hot it was immediately. It was pretty dark too. The constant hammering and clanging was a bit annoying but no one else seemed to be bothered by this. A Hephaestus kid approached us. He was tall and muscular.

"Hey. You look kind of lost here. May I help you?"

"Urm..." I trailed off. I was a bit nervous.

"Yeah, Stephanie was wondering if anyone here knew how to forge a scythe." The chattering and hammering immediately ceased.

"We don't make weapons of that sort." He said.

"What do you mean by 'that sort'?" I asked, rather offended.

"Evil weapons" He said as if it wasn't obvious.

"Terry, I think you will find that all weapons are used with the intentions of doing harm, therefore all weapons are evil." Apollo stated.

"That may be so, my Lord; but I still can't make a scythe for her. It's not a conventional weapon for a half-blood, so we don't know how to make it.

"Terry, I hope you know that I'm god of truths."

"Yes I do know my Lord."

"Then you should know that I know that you're lying. I know you specialize in combat weaponry. Though you have never made one, you know how to make a scythe. So if you don't want to be turned into a lump of ashes, I suggest you get working." Apollo's eyes were fierce and I could see flames in them. I wasn't scared though. I was pleased to see another side to him. Gods Apollo was sexy. Terry immediately bolted away to start on my scythe.

"Thanks" I said

"Anything for my Angel" He gave me a light kiss on the mouth and I saw a few surprised looks around us. Apollo and I supervised Terry as he made the scythe. It was no Backbiter but it was pretty spectacular. I even got him to carve my name in Greek and Kronish, an ancient language used by the Titans. When I picked it up, something strange happened. It began to glow.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"You're giving it life." Apollo answered.

"What do you mean?"

"Every magical weapon has an essence. It's not technically alive but it has its own power."

"I don't like the feeling." Terry moaned.

"Yeah, you wouldn't. The scythe is radiating negative energy." Apollo explained.

"I told you it was evil." Terry muttered. Apollo snapped his fingers and Terry's top was set on fire. He immediately panicked and screamed. I on the other hand grabbed the nearest fire extinguisher and put him out.

"Real mature Apollo." I said. He shrugged his shoulders.

"What? He was annoying me." I failed to stifle a few giggles and we promptly left the workshop. Soon it was time for the two teams to get into positions.

"Have fun" Apollo said. Then he kissed me in front of everyone! He cupped my face in his hands like a delicate rose petal.

'I think I'm going to be sick.' Kronos commented

'Don't you dare' I replied. I've heard of parents going on dates with their daughters before but usually they were in a separate body! There were a lot of cheers and swoons. When he pulled away, we momentarily gazed in each other's eyes. I was only half aware of some scornful looks from the Aphrodite cabin.

"I know you'll make the right decision eventually. And don't worry too much about the prophecy. It will sort itself out. I don't want anything bad to happen to you because I l..."

"I hate to break the love fest but we have a game to win." Clarisse interrupted. She didn't seem to care at all.

"Oh, off course" Apollo said "I'll see you later." He gave me a sad smile. "By the way, I understand completely. You have to do what you have to do. Family is important. Let me know when you need help." What was he talking about?

"Sorry, I babble a lot. I probably shouldn't have said that. Bye."

"Bye" I said, confused. He vanished in a flash of light. Clarisse looked pretty smug about herself.

"Did you have to do that?" I asked.

"No, I wanted to- besides, I'm not ready to lose this game." She replied. The key word here was game.

I suited up in black armour in a classic Greek style. It was my exact size and it was the only one in black, so I was suspicious. It had a note on it:

'I thought you might prefer black leather. To win, you need to dress like a winner- comfortable and confident.'-Apollo

It put a smile on my face- something only he could make me do these days. After getting dressed, I followed my team, the blue one. A lot of them became wary when they saw my scythe and stepped back.

"Hey Jackson" I said

"Oh hey Steph. It's nice to see that you have finally joined us. We thought you might have deserted us for your new boyfriend." He teased. I blushed, a deep crimson.

"Shut up"

"Okay, you all know the plan, right? Just to recap, Stephanie and I will advance together, find any traps and act as decoys. Clarisse will go with the Janus kids and find the flag. Apollo cabin will defend our flag with Christina and the Demeter cabin. Ares cabin can go on a blood-thirsty massacre and the Hermes cabin is in charge of setting up various traps. Got it?" Percy wasn't half bad at strategy. Still, the other team had the Athena cabin so we would have to be on our guards.

When the horn sounded, it was time for Percy and me to move. Seeing as how he knew this place better than I did, I let him lead. We got to a quiet area on our own. Percy moved forward and immediately, he tripped a wire and he flew up into the air, dangling from a rope. A bunch of campers came out of their hiding places and attacked. This was so not what I needed.

'Don't worry, I'm here to help' Kronos assured me. I advanced, dodging arrows from two kids wearing armour with arrow pierced hearts. They must be Eros' kids.

Their archery skills were superior to all except the Apollo cabin. Still, I managed to slow down so I could successfully dodge the volley of arrows. Then I attacked some Athena kids with my scythe. I left one begging for mercy whilst another tried to help their injured team mate. On instinct, I lunged at them with my fist.

"Hey, cool it would you!" I said to Kronos.

'Sorry, I was getting in the zone."

'Well get out of it.'

Kronos groaned at me in his ancient language but I eventually got my way. I cut Percy free and we fought the rest of the enemy campers together.

"We make a good team." Percy said, whilst collecting the rope.

"I suppose we do." We continued on in search of the flag. "Clarisse must have gotten held back or something. I don't hear cries of victory." That's when I saw the flag, a few feet away. "It's ours for the taking. Let's grab it and go."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." A voice said. Hey, I recognise that voice. Nico appeared from the shadows and stood between us and the flag.

"Another fight, I can handle that." Percy said boldly. Please, I was the one fighting, He was hanging around.

"Well that's good for you because you aren't leaving the flag without a fight." Nico replied.

"You are losing the aim of the game." Kronos said

"No I'm not"

"The point of this game is to give you cover. You can kidnap Jackson without anyone knowing."

"Right, let me just finish this fight." Kronos was growing impatient. He once again took control of my body and snapped my fingers. In that instant, Nico froze.

"Go get the flag Percy" I told him. He ran after it and returned quickly. "We had better get back before Nico gets back to live time." I said.

"Okay. Give me one second." He gave me the flag and tied Nico's legs up.

"Now is the time. Get him whilst he's vulnerable!" Kronos was right. If we ran back to base to return the flag, I would never get the chance I need. I waited for him to almost finish tying Nico before I him across the head with the end of my scythe. I didn't want two halves of him after all. He hit the ground with a thud; he was unconscious before I knew it. But still part of me wasn't sure if this was something I could go through with.

Should I really let Kronos win? As I was debating in my mind, I heard the rustling of some bushes. A figure came forward. It was Christina. She had on her full Greek armour and she wielded a sword. She was out of breath and her face was visibility sweaty. Her eyes grew wide as she realised what had just happened.

"Oh my gosh Steph. I hope you realise that he's in our team!" Did she really think I was so innocent?

"I know that"

"Oh..." She swallowed hard. "Stephanie, think about what you're doing. It doesn't have to be this way. You and I am still befriends. I promise to always have your back from now on. I was really scared back them is all." As she talked, a figure appeared. It was a man with two heads. If I wasn't mistaken, he was the god Janus.

"Choose wisely young demi-titan" The right head said.

"A bad decision can, no-will- scar you for the rest of eternity." The left warned

"I've made my decision." I nodded. "I'm sorry Christina but pray that this is the last time you seem for the next time, only one of us will be standing by the end of the reunion." A tear trickled down my face. Parting with my best friend was harder than I thought it would be. I still cared for other despite the fact that we should be enemies. She looked absolutely destroyed, to say the least. I wanted to go hug her and tell her that she still meant a lot to me but I couldn't. Being friends with the enemy would be too risky.

At that point, Nico came back to live time. My concentration must have wavered.

"I told you that friends were just a distraction."

"Shut up" I yelled. A flash of light was emitted and Hannah came forward.

"Hey there" She greeted me. Nico chose that moment to charge. Hannah quickly intercepted him and their swords clashed. That meant there was no one to stop me from grabbing Percy- or so I thought. Christina held her sword to my neck and we both suffered.

"What are you doing?" I asked her.

"Isn't that obvious?" I'm stopping you." She barked.

"Enough!" Kronos fumed. I felt him wrestle for power. Soon he had complete control over me. Christina's eyes widened as she saw my golden eyes.

"I advise you step back, child." Kronos snarled.

"W-who are you and what have you done with my friend?" She stammered.

"It's him, it's Kronos!" Nico yelled. I turned around to see him get stabbed by Hannah and collapse to the ground in agony.

"Stop him Christina! Use you powers!"

"Go on Chrissie." Kronos mocked my nickname for her. "Oh, that's right- you're a coward. So do whatever it is you cowards do. Drop your weapon and stand aside or be prepared to die." Terror and sadness were in her eyes. Tears flowed down her cheek as she dropped her sword.

"Good" My lips curled into a smile. Kronos thrust my hand towards her and a force seemed to throw her at a tree. "Maybe Zeus will turn you into a tree." She crumpled into a ball and shook from fear.

"Master, should I kill the boy?" Hannah asked, referring to Nico.

"Do what you feel is necessary." Kronos replied. As Hannah got ready to plunge the sword through his heart, I regained control.

"Don't you dare!" Hannah froze in her tracks.

"But..."

"But nothing, let's just get out of here." Hannah and I grabbed Percy, both of us putting an arm around our shoulders. Christina just stared at us as we disappeared.

Author's Note: Good girl gone bad! Yes, she has turned to the dark side. I do like an anti-hero but I want to know what you think. PLEASE REVIEW! How do you think Apollo feels about that? Will she still love her? Find out next week...sorry.