Hello, all.

I'M ALIIIIIVE! I know, I know, **dodges pots and flaming flamingoes** Please don't kill me!

You'll get your money, Jabba. I just need more time! (Star wars reference, anyone?! :D)

Fandom Confession: I don't ship Leyna. I ship Caleo. But, in the beginning of the story, I did not add Calypso, so I will do Leyna instead. It's not a terrible ship, but Caleo is just WORLDS better in my opinion.

Wow, chapter ten. Crazy. Insane.

I AM SO SO SO SOOOO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING I've actually had a lot of stuff to do. My life has been a bit busy. BUT THIS IS NO EXCUSE FOR MY WONDERFUL READERS BOOHOOHOO I AM SO SORRY!

My s key is gone. I have no idea where it ran off to, but whatever. I can still press the button, but it's weird and GONE! D:

Also… people wish to know what Plan Hydra is. I think. You guys need to review, PLEASE!

The rumors are true. I have fallen spell under the dreaded WRITER'S BLOCK. Luckily, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Giles helped to break it. Sort of. I still feel the after-effects, but no matter! I shall continue, even with the dreaded Writer's Block side-effects and a sprained finger that makes it so hard to type.

Reyna's Pov

We stepped outside, curious as to what had happened.

My heart plummeted at the sight of a fallen kingdom.

Clarisse had broken us out, with that weird Hispanic guy, but not without the help of a few guards. Okay, not a few. A lot of soldiers crowded the square. Dead bodies littered the streets. Blue-and-white men fought with men in green-and-black uniforms.

Just to add to the fun, an army of red-and-black uniforms marched out of the forest, carrying a banner with King Maul's symbol plastered on it. King Maul himself rode on horseback behind his troops, holding out his sword and shouting orders along the lines of "Kill, Kill, Kill!"

Slaughtered bodies lay, strangled and stabbed, slashed to bits and cut to pieces, blocking our path. I tripped over the body of a man who no longer had a face, only a mass of flesh seeping with blood. I nearly experienced a panic attack. Luckily, Piper hauled me to my feet before I could think too much about it.

"Come on!" Clarisse shouted to us, barely heard even with her roaring voice over the conundrum of the miniature war before us. "We can't lose any ground! Plan Cheetah! Plan Cheetah!"

Apparently, she was saving Plan Hydra for after we re-grouped and were safe.

Plan Cheetah was simple: run. Run until you can't run anymore, until your legs stop moving, your lungs stop heaving, and your heart stops pumping. It's used in dire situations, but if Clarisse was planning to use Plan Hydra, then there was no other hope. I'm glad she decided to use Plan Cheetah instead.

Clarisse yelled at Chris to follow her, and we basically followed her. The non-princesses caught on; they ran with us. And they didn't stop. I was third in our little mob/line. I couldn't tell if anyone had made it behind me. I was worried, but I couldn't think about it. I had to protect myself. Once we regrouped, it would be about my siblings.

I thought about our pact while I ran. Clarisse, Thalia and I, being the oldest of the family, had decided that we would protect Annabeth, Piper, and Hazel, no matter what the cost. They couldn't fend for themselves when they were younger; we helped them. When we entered the kingdom, we already knew that we could be self-sufficient. Even when Annabeth, Piper, and Hazel grew up, we were still the best fighters, the strongest. So one day, when Annabeth, Piper, and Hazel had left to go shopping for candy or whatever, Clarisse, Thalia, and I had gathered in a room of the castle. Clarisse had come up with the idea, and we agreed with no second thoughts. We had sworn our lives on their safety. If it was in our power to save them, we would sacrifice ourselves to make sure they lived.

Now, we knew that we needed to fulfill that pact. Our lives were in more danger than ever now, and there was nothing we could do but make sure our siblings were kept safe.

I stumbled over a body, and tumbled to the ground. An arrow whizzed over my head, and another arrow pierced my leg. I cried out in pain but continued on, pushing off of the ground and limping away as quickly as I could. Before I could fall again, someone was at my side, supporting me.

It was Leo.

He yelled something at me, but I couldn't hear him. I looked at him questioningly, and he said a bit louder, "What is Plan Cheetah?"

"Run!" I managed to say, gritting my teeth from the pain. My leg was burning. Every step was another dosage of pain that I had no antidote for. My lungs struggled to keep up, and I gasped for air. With Leo's help, we barely made it into the woods again. As soon as we crossed the threshold and I knew that they couldn't see us anymore, I fell. Leo tried to stop me, but there was only so much he could do. I ended up on the ground, feeling the cool, damp grass between my fingers. I closed my eyes, trying to get rid of the pain in my shin. Leo was telling me something, but I couldn't hear him, I couldn't say anything, all I could do was scream and scream and will my pain to leave but it wouldn't obey, it wouldn't do what I said, why wasn't it leaving?! Why couldn't it go away?!

"Please." I begged it. "Just go. Leave me alone!" I screamed at it, tears running down my cheeks. I could feel the blood seeping down, rolling off of my skin and into the fresh green grass. I sobbed in pain until the darkness overcame me.

LINE BREAK

Hazel's Pov

I raced to catch up with Clarisse, but I couldn't run fast enough. I was too small. I tripped, but luckily Thalia was there to catch me. Before I could thank her, she pushed me on, determination set on her face. That's when I realized how bad it was. I looked back a moment to see what I had tripped over.

Nothing could ever get the image out of my mind.

I screamed in terror as I stood, paralyzed with fear, staring at the body.

It was a man. But it wasn't a man anymore. This man was dead.

I had seen the dead before. It wasn't uncommon for a peasant to come up to the doors of the castle and die. I didn't know why they did that, but it still happened. They would curl up, and they would just stop moving. Forever.

But this dead man was different. He was cut into little tiny pieces. His left arm was blown off, the blood still poured out of it. His face was in four different places. Both of his legs were thrown in different directions, separate from the body. The chest was cut deeply, and five…no, six arrows stuck out of his stomach. Two arrows were placed in each nostril, as if he were trying to pick his brain through his nose. Since his skull was split, his brains were splattered all over the pavement. It was a horrid, gruesome sight. I wished I hadn't turned.

Tears I didn't want began to flow freely from my eyes, and soon I was stuck there, unable to move. Paralyzed.

"Hazel! Hazel!" I heard Thalia screaming my name, begging me to move, but I couldn't do anything.

I finally came to my senses when an arrow landed at my feet. I watched it a second, confused. Then I turned quickly. Sure enough, big men in uniforms were shooting arrows at us. Thalia pushed me forward, and I sprinted as hard as I could. My mind was in a blur, I couldn't see, I could barely hear. I didn't even know that Thalia wasn't behind me anymore.

When I made it to the forest, I grinned. We made it! I thought. I spun to face Thalia, but she was gone. I looked around, like I thought it was a joke.

"Thalia?" I said quietly. No answer. The birds didn't chirp merrily, like they had the last time I had passed this kingdom. The animals didn't moan, bark, or cry out. The woods were silent. "Clarisse!" I yelled. "Reyna! Piper! Annabeth!?" I cried, wandering, lost.

I didn't have to wander long.

"Hazel!" I heard my name. Clarisse.

"Clarisse!" I ran towards the noise. She appeared, and I fell into her arms, sobbing.

"Hazel. What happened? Do you know where anyone else is?"

"I…dead! Dead! Dead!" I sobbed hysterically, my body shaking.

"Shhh. Shhh." She calmed me down, gesturing for me to take a deep breath. I did, somewhat shakily, before explaining.

"I was running, and I tripped. Thalia caught me. I looked back, and…" I trailed off, imagining the dead man. I was sure that I would never be able to get that out of my head as long as I lived. "…there was this…dead guy…." I sniveled, but held back the tears. They could wait. "…I screamed, and I couldn't move. Thalia kept telling me to move, but I couldn't until the arrow. These big guys shot this arrow in front of me, and I ran. When I got to the woods…I thought she was behind me. She's gone, Clarisse, she's gone!" I cried into my sister again, ignoring her boyfriend's look of sympathy.

Clarisse cursed under her breath. "Chris, go get the others. We need a head count." Chris nodded, coming back quickly with Piper, Annabeth, Piper's boyfriend, Annabeth's boyfriend, another blond guy, and a short dark-haired boy.

"That's it?"

"I think I saw Leo and Reyna, but I don't know where they-" Piper was cut off by a scream. We ran towards it, hoping against hope that it was Reyna or Thalia or maybe even that Leo guy that Piper thought she saw.

Clarisse crashed into the clearing first. She knelt by the side of a wounded girl. It took me a moment to recognize Reyna. Her leg was messed up, hit by an arrow. A scrawny boy was next to her, trying to help her, but nothing was working.

"Nobody happens to know First Aid, do they?" Annabeth asked tentatively. We shook our heads. "I thought not." She sighed, watching Reyna worriedly.

Reyna was breathing heavily, her eyes squeezed shut. She was screaming something, something like Go away! Leave me alone! I couldn't see why she was telling us this. We were trying to help her! Clarisse clamped a hand over Reyna's mouth.

"If they hear us," She said, checking the area for enemies, "then it's all over. We're all dead."

"So…who's missing?" Chris asked, actually worried about us.

"Thalia." The blond boys spoke in unison, grim looks on their faces. Tears slipped down my face, and I brushed the away. It would be okay. Thalia was tough. She could handle it, whatever it was.

"Chris and you." Clarisse pointed to the blond boy who stood alone. "Come here." They stood by her side. "One of you, take off your shirt. We can use it as a bandage. The other, hold her down. I'm going to take out the arrow. Annabeth, make sure she doesn't scream."

Chris and the other one exchanged a look. After a moment, Chris walked over to make sure Reyna didn't move and the blond stripped off his shirt.

"Do you need the whole shirt? I mean, I'll get kinda cold…" He said, shifting uncomfortably.

"Uh, yeah! The blood will soak just a part of it. I need the whole thing. Depending on how much blood, I might have to make a tourniquet…"

Annabeth inhaled sharply. "But doesn't that mean she'll lose her-"

"Only if we keep it on too long. We'll have to get to the castle as soon as possible."

"But what about Thalia?" The blond boy with a shirt on, I think his name was Jason, spoke up. "She'll die if we wait!"

"But Reyna will die if we don't!"

"How about we split up?" Percy suggested. "Half of us can go and search for Thalia. The other half can take Reyna back to the castle."

"…splitting up is a terrible idea."

"Everybody knows that something bad happens every time a group splits up."

"Yeah, but he's right, guys. It's the only way to save both of them." As if on cue, Reyna groaned in pain.

"Fine." Clarisse agreed. "We'll split up. Hazel, Piper, Annabeth, you," She pointed to the kid with the dark hair and pale skin, Nico I heard Chris call him, "and I will take Reyna back to the castle. Chris and the other guys-"

"Wow, so glad I have a name." Leo rolled his eyes. I snickered.

"Well, we don't exactly have the time to introduce ourselves. Now, the rest of you, get going, keep safe. I don't want to lose another ally. Chris?" Clarisse turned to her boyfriend. She claimed that he wasn't her boyfriend, but come on. I can tell. "Is Peme an allied kingdom?"

"Yeah. Peme will follow me, and I follow you."

"Great. Thank you." She stood. "Good luck. Come back with my sister."

"Will do."

Jason touched the tip of his golden eyebrow with two fingers, and pushed them out casually towards Clarisse. The gesture was simple, but Clarisse obviously took it to heart. She nodded grimly, and we watched as they departed.

"Will they come back with Thalia?" I asked her. I knew that either they would or they would die, but I needed to hear her answer.

"Of course. They'll come back, and everything will be just how it was." She reassured me. I nodded, smiling, but inside I knew that that was a lie. Nothing would ever be the same. I could tell, something in my siblings' eyes that was never present before. They had broken somewhat inside. And, I realized, I had, too. I had just witnessed my first real death.

That's when it hit me.

We were at war.

I was terrified.

Again, sorry for not updating! I had Writer's Block of the worst kind. I will try as hard as I can to update quickly. Thanks for your support!