AN: Hey! New cover! I won't prattle on like I usually do, I know most of you skip this bit anyway! PJO and HOO are owned by Rick Riordan. Sorry for the wait, enjoy!

Annabeth, Camp Half-Blood, Woods

Needless to say, Percy did not spend much longer in the infirmary. As soon as Seth left, he got up and started putting his clothes back on, with only the occasional hiss of pain. When Luke returned, Percy stood there silently and let him rant. After that, Luke just sighed and asked:

"What am I going to do with you?"

To which Percy smiled and replied, "Feed me."

"Come on, Commander, your troops are waiting."

The soldiers left the infirmary and I've hardly seen him in the three days since. In these last three days, it feels like everything has changed. Percy quickly set up round-the-clock watch for the entire perimeter of camp and he and his soldiers set up an alarm bell system for communication between the guards. On top of the extra security, each of the Army's squad leaders has taken 'x' amount of cabins under their wing to train for combat. Nico, Percy, and I have also been training campers to deal with the Arai.

I've been having this huge, stupid internal conflict with myself about whether I should try to get Percy alone to talk to him. Part of me needs to give him a better apology, and I also want an apology from him. The other part of me tells me to woman-up and to respect his distance. For now, I'll woman-up. He's busy, I'm busy. Preparing for war takes priority over feelings.

Malcolm is walking back to camp with me after a long four hours of being on watch together. We talked about some battle strategies and what 'Akai' has been doing with training and battle preparations. "I'd bet you a drachma that guy is a son of Athena," Malcolm had said after we debated a bit about some attack plans and defensive strategies Akai had started teaching. "I don't believe that he could come up with something that brilliant from experience alone." I took him up on his bet, holding back snorts of laughter. If Percy is a son of Athena, I'm a guinea pig.

As we exit the woods, a figure runs past us in a blur. None of the alarms are sounding, so it can't be a monster attack. I wave down the next person to come round the corner. It's Lee Fletcher.

"What's going on?" Malcolm asks.

"Some Ares kid challenged a soldier to a duel! He accepted and they're about to fight in the arena; everyone's going to watch." He says it quickly then runs off towards the arena.

Despite being exhausted, Malcolm and I start running too.

When we get there, the arena is packed. We rush over to where the Cabin Six usually sits and catch our breath. It seems like everyone is here, aside from those on watch duty. I look around for Percy, but neither he nor Luke is here. I guess they're on watch together, though it seems a little strange for Commander and First Lieutenant to be on guard together. They're probably doing Army stuff.

Standing over by the Ares kids, Sherman is sauntering around, his chest all puffed up with pride.

Though I would love to see a camper beat one of the soldiers, I highly doubt Sherman has the ability. He's a great warrior, yeah, but he's also hilariously stupid. And I haven't seen anywhere near that kind of stupidity from the army. Chaos said that he brought in the best of the best, and I believe that.

Sherman is saying something about a "stupid Asian prick" when Rin walks into the arena.

"Finally! I thought you weren't going to show up!" Sherman smiles broadly at his opponent.

"You mean you hoped."

"Big words for a little man. You sure you wanna get your ass kicked in front of all these people?"

"Funny, I was about to ask you the same thing!"

"Bring it on!"

Chiron intervenes. "Excuse me. As he was the one who was challenged, Muto Rin will choose the weapon they will be fighting with. The rules are: no killing or serious maiming, the first one to submit will be the loser. Are there any questions? No? Good. Rin, weapon?"

"Spear," he says without hesitation.

Campers 'ooh' at that. Ares' children are powerful with any weapon, but are particularly gifted with spears. Rin retrieves his spear from another soldier, who punches him in the shoulder playfully. Sherman grabs one off the weapons rack at the end of the arena.

"Fighters ready? Begin!"

Rin stays back and lets Sherman rush at him. Rin sidesteps and uses the butt of his spear to smack Sherman in the stomach. Sherman lets out a little whoosh of air, but spins quickly and recovers, blocking Rin's next strike. Rin uses the block to his advantage and tries to get under Sherman's guard, but Sherman moves backwards and swipes for Rin's feet.

They continue, back and forth, all over the arena.

Sherman slips, accidentally letting Rin cut his left hand by sliding his blade down the shaft of Sherman's spear while Sherman was trying to block a feigned head strike.

"Getting a little sloppy, son of Ares. Take the elevator and get on my level."

"That elevator only goes down, soldier!"

"Aw, so sad that you're already at your best and you still can't hope to beat me."

Sherman gets a lucky jab at Rin's leg, which quickly starts bleeding. "You're gonna regret acting so tough when you're on your knees."

"Oh, I think I just won a bet. I figured that's the way you swing, but you're not really my type."

This sets Sherman into a rage. He starts attacking Rin with all he's got, and Rin does the same. For a long time, it doesn't look like there's going to be a clear winner, but with an expertly timed feign and attack, Rin swipes his blade across Sherman's chest, leaving a shallow gash.

"Oh, come on. They led me to believe you were better at this!"

"I'm gonna kick your teeth in!"

"Ooh! Scary!"

They're so absorbed by each other, they don't notice the hooded figure striding onto the battlefield. In two quick motions, Percy grabs both of their spears and rips them out of their hands, disarming the two idiots. Percy uses the shock to sweep Sherman off his feet, and then Percy turns to face Rin.

"Explain yourself, Muto."

Rin snaps out of his shock. "Sir, he challenged me to-"

"I don't give two shits about whether he challenged you to a duel! You deliberately disobeyed my orders!"

"Sir, with all due respect, he insulted the army and he insulted my pride!"

"Oh, your pride?! How will your pride feel when I send you back to Domum for insubordination?"

"Sir, you can't do that!"

"Oh? I can't? I am your superior, Muto, and you should feel incredibly lucky that I don't want to fill out the paperwork for a court marshalling. We are at war and you want to compare dick sizes? These people are our allies! We need them to fight with us not against us, dammit!" Rin opens his mouth to speak, but Percy beats him to it. "I will not be sending you to Domum, Muto. No, I have a better punishment. You are going to tell them all who your godly parent is."

Rin looks at him with complete and utter horror written all over his face. I hear other soldiers gasp.

"No," Rin says quietly.

"Well, maybe I do have time for a court marshalling!" Percy says cheerfully.

"Wait- fine!"

"What's that?"

"I'll do it, sir."

"That's what I like to hear. Go on," Percy gestures to the arena.

"I'mmasonofvskngk." Rin grumbles.

Percy smacks him with the butt of his spear.

"Ow fuck! What the hell, Akai?" Percy raises the spear again. "Fine! Shit! I'm a son of Venus."

The arena is silent for a minute, then Sherman and the rest of the Ares cabin burst into laughter. Some of the other cabins fall into laughter as well, including some from Athena cabin.

"Quiet!" Percy shouts. The laughter is choked back. "Aeneas, Julius Caesar, Silena Beauregard, Piper McLean. Children of the goddess of love can be just as powerful as children of the god of war. Parentage is not something you can choose. Grow up and learn to live with it, Muto." Silence. "Now, you two, go switch out watch with whoever is guarding Thalia's Pine. Spend some quality time together."

"Oh, come on! Haven't I been punished enough?!"

"That is an order, Muto Rin, and it would be in your best interest to obey."

"Why me?" Sherman grumps. "I'm not one of your soldiers you can order around, you know!"

Percy whips around and closes the distance between them. "Yes! Thank the gods that you are not one of my soldiers, because if you were, I would make your life a living hell. I could train a monkey to be a better soldier than you! You've got some courage and skill, but you use your parentage for intimidation. You're not a hero; you're an asshole, and it's not a secret."

"Oh, yeah? You use your status for intimidation, hypocrite! You're doing it right now!"

Percy chuckles. Then he says darkly, "Am I intimidating you?" A pause. "I'm using my status for its intended use, to make sure that punks like you remember that we're all on the same team here."

"You don't scare me. Who's your parent, then? Since apparently it doesn't matter."

"It doesn't matter," Percy says. "I'm a son of Poseidon."

You could hear a pen drop in the silence of the arena.

I put my hand out, palm up, and Malcolm places a drachma in it, still gaping like a dying fish.

AN: Ooh! Hope you liked the chapter, sorry that it's so late and that it's a little short. Thank you all so much for your support! You guys mean a lot to me. Special thanks to Rhino109 for being cool and motivating me to get this chapter done.

Also, I owe you guys an apology for not updating when I said I was going to, that's not cool of me. So, once again, my apology is in the form of a new cover. Like the last one, I drew this (with references and a lot of luck) and have uploaded it here for you guys to enjoy. It feels a bit weird drawing fanart for my own fanfiction, but it helped me to be able to step away from writing but still be productive for Again. I hope you like it.