Chapter Eleven

Percy/Jason

All the signs indicated that the Trojan Sea Monster was heading for Camp Jupiter, which meant he had a massive advantage. He had spent nearly four days setting up the perfect ambush just outside the entrance to the Little Tiber's underground cavern. The seaweed was heavy there, which gave him decent cover to wait for it.

The heavy spear that Triton had gifted him was laying next to him. He had studied it carefully since it had been given to him, and it had to be some form of artefact or heirloom. It was made entirely of the rare Celestial Bronze, but didn't weigh much more than a pilum, though it was nearly four feet longer. There was some battle damage on it, but for the life of him he couldn't place where it would've come from. Celestial Bronze went back before the Olympians were in power, so it feasibly could have come from anywhere.

It was on the sixth day that the monster approached. He felt it miles out, the vibrations it made as it swam towards him hitting him like a strong wind. He blinked at the force behind it. Gods, it must've been huge to displace so much energy. Percy let out a quiet breath as he grabbed the spear, bracing himself for what was to come. The Trojan Sea Monster wouldn't be like anything Percy had fought before. Like Salacia had told him, it had yet to be killed since Hercules did it. Depending on how long it had taken to reform, he guessed that it had been stalking the seas for at least a millennia, if not longer.

It was closer now, less than a mile out, and Percy risked taking a peek to see if he could spot it.

Oh.

Yeah, that was a big monster. Percy blinked several times to make sure he was seeing it right. He was, and that made it all the worse. The monster was as long as two greyhound buses and maybe half as wide. It was, in essence, a massive snake, body weaving back and forth as it cut a path towards Camp Jupiter. If it got into the Little Tiber, it would have a strangle-hold on the city, being able to harass any demigods who were stupid enough to venture near the river. He wasn't sure the legion would be able to kill the beast without suffering horrendous casualties.

Jupiter's Throne, Percy wasn't sure he would be able to kill the beast without suffering horrendous casualties. He waited with baited breath as the monster approached, and when it was fifty metres away, he shot to his feet and hurled the spear with all the might in his body, using the water to propel it even faster.

The Celestial Bronze weapon shot through the water like a knife through butter, impaling itself in between the eyes of the monster, which let out a horrid scream as it thrashed about, slamming into the sea-bed and coming to a stop at Percy feet. He blinked once and then twice. That had been far easier than he expected. He swam forwards towards the monster. It hadn't dissolved yet, but he bet when he pulled the spear out, it would finally die. He huffed as he thought about all the warnings different people had given him about the mighty Trojan Sea Monster, but it died like any other. He gripped the haft of the spear tightly and—

It wasn't dead.

In hindsight, Percy should have realised it wasn't dead when it didn't dissolve into monster dust, but in his arrogance, he had thought it had been that simple. He had thought he was dealing with a regular, stupid monster. That hadn't been the case. The moment he grabbed the spear, the monster's eyes opened again, and Percy realised just how screwed he was.

With a flick of its head, Percy went flying back, slamming into the rock face around the mouth of the Little Tiber's entrance, groaning at the impact. Something had broken, but he wasn't sure exactly what, the water rushing to heal him. Percy flung himself to the side to avoid getting torn into mincemeat by the monster, drawing Crocea Mors out of instinct, and scoring a thin gash along the Trojan Sea Monster's neck. All that did was serve to infuriate the monster, which used its tail as a bat, and hit Percy into the mouth of the Little Tiber. Instantly, he felt the change in the water as it went form pure salt to brackish, but he didn't have time to think about that, instead moving again to avoid another strike from the monster. The spear was still lodged in its head, and Percy was really running out of ideas on how to either remove it or force it deeper—

He hadn't seen the tail again, and this time, it hit him with the force of a train. He also knew what bones were broken this time, and if he had to give a quick summary, it was about everything. His ribs, sternum, and collarbone all cracked under the force, and while the water was doing it's best, there was only so much blunt force trauma Percy could take. Thankfully, his armour, reinforced by Atlantis' greatest smiths, had tanked much of the blow, which was really a huge testament to their skill. Any other armour and he'd be dead from the impact.

Percy hissed as he moved again, his bones not properly healed, and he studied the monster carefully as he avoided its strikes. Its skin was too thick for Crocea Mors to pierce, and he couldn't see anyway to retrieve the spear without losing body parts. Worse still, they were creeping closer towards the mouth of the Little Tiber proper, and it wouldn't be long before they entered the river inside the boundaries of New Rome. Another dodged strike, and that was when Percy noticed it.

The Trojan Sea Monster had a very large mouth. Continuing down that line, it also had a very large oesophagus. Much larger, even, than an armoured demigod. He could—gods, this monster was persistent—theoretically, slide down it's throat, and maybe, possibly kill it from the inside. That would, however, require the monster keeping it's mouth open long enough for him to get there, and hopefully it wouldn't be able to dissolve him instantly with it's stomach acid. It was worth a try.

"Hey Lil' T!" Percy called out to the river, "I'm not sure if anyone's taking a dip right now, but if they are, you really should get them out of the water."

Normally, it would be suicide to address a river spirit like that, but Percy hoped the Little Tiber understood his lack of respect at the moment. If he survived, he'd give a big sacrifice to the river, among others. He wasn't sure if he imagined it or not, but the water seemed to warm up just a little, almost as if it was letting him know that it had heard him and would help.

With a groan, Percy thrust his arms forward, and a pole of hard-water formed in the gaping maw of the monster, and after snatching Crocea Mors back, he darted forward, sliding into the monsters mouth. Despite catching on some of it's teeth, he made it to the throat, and with a wave of water behind him, forced himself down the Trojan Sea Monster's gullet. As he entered the literal belly of the beast, Percy thought about that old expression.

Fortune Favours the Bold.

XXXXX

Jason

Something was in the water. That was all he knew, but whatever it was, it was big, and it was moving. The legion had been scrambled to a battle-ready state, but there was nothing they could do while whatever was down there was still submerged. All he knew was that if the sea monster had made it here, Percy had failed. Whether or not that meant he was dead, he didn't know. He also didn't want to think on it. The Fifth was, as usual, anchoring the left, with the Fourth immediately to their right.

The Praetors were moving down the lines, giving words of encouragement to the legion, but Jason noticed each Centurion had detached to follow them. Knowing what that meant, he left Gwen in charge and moved to meet with them. Once they were all gathered, the Praetors spoke.

"Jackson failed," Maria started without preamble, noticeably not looking at Tony, "we don't know if he's alive or not, but the monster made it here, and that means he failed in his task. How along ago that happened, I don't know, but we've had no word from him or anyone else indicating that this was meant to happen, so until fur—"

She was interrupted by the monster breaching the surface, shooting straight up. Someone called for pila to be made ready, but there was something about it that made Jason pause. The monster was thrashing, almost as if there was something wrong with it. Before any other orders could be given, a spiral of water rose around the body of the beast and began squeezing tightly, and that was when he noticed the glint. There was a spear sticking out of the monster's head. In the time that it took Jason to put everything together, Julia had already figured out what was happening.

"Gods be good, Percy's inside it!" She cried out, and Jason felt his heart skip a beat.

The monster kept thrashing and thrashing as clouds began to roll into the sky above them, and the water of the Little Tiber became choppier and choppier.

"We need to pull back," he heard himself say, "we need to clear the area. This storm—"

"Legio!" Maria bellowed, cutting him off, "recedere!"

The Twelfth obeyed without hesitation, and everyone began moving backwards away from the brewing storm. Everyone but Jason. He heard people calling out to him, but he ignored them as he strode forward, breathing deeply as he focused.

"Sorry about this, buddy," he said to Percy, though he knew he wouldn't be able to hear him, "this'll probably really suck for you."

A massive bolt—no, two massive bolts—of lightning dropped from the sky, and Jason knew that his cousin had the same idea as him. The only bad news was that meant Percy was about to get hit by two divinely summoned strikes of lightning. Jason flinched as they made contact, the water serving as a conductor and amplifying the results. The monster jerked and jittered as it was electrocuted, before finally collapsing forwards, slamming into the bank of the Little Tiber, spasming intermittently as it lay there.

Jason dropped to a knee, the effort from summoning such a large electrical strike having worn him out. Julia was at his side within minutes, helping him to his feet. After a few more moments of rest, he was able to walk on his own. He led the small group of officers that approached the monster, which somehow hadn't dissolved. Maybe it was a different breed? One that would decay instead of dissolving into—

It wasn't dead. How in his father's name want it dead? The beast opened it's mouth, eyes snapping open as it prepared to lunge at them. Jason began summoning another bolt, but he doubted it would reach the monster before it could kill him and the other centurions. The monster recoiled in preparation for it's strike, but before it could attack, a massive chunk of it's body below the head vanished, erupting into a golden mist and chunks of flesh. The beast shuddered one last time before collapsing forward.

And crawling out of the gaping hole in the monsters body, covered in golden ichor and red blood? None other than Percy Jackson, a twisted grimace on his face. His cousin scrambled forward, hurling onto the ground, coughing up a combination of ichor, blood, and water. After a moment, he collapsed onto the ground, rolling onto his back and clutching his sides. Jason and Tony were next to him in a moment.

"What in the name of the gods was that, Percy?" Jason demanded as Tony's hands roamed his body, looking for injuries.

"Fortune favours the bold," Percy laughed, before coughing. Jason flinched as blood came up, more than should ever happen. Tony swore and began stripping Percy's armour off, and once the cuirass was removed, Jason joined the centurion in swearing.

Percy's chest was a mass of bruises, and one of his ribs was poking out of the flesh. Beside them, the monster finally dissolved into dust, a breeze coming in and blowing it away, but Jason's mind was on his cousin. This wasn't the first time he had seen an injury like this, and he had never frozen in the past. This time was different. This was personal, and Jason felt like his heart was in his throat. He couldn't speak, but he was fortunate in that there were others there who reacted quickly.

Tony called for medics instantly, and Julia dropped to the ground beside him, her cape coming off as she tore it into pieces, wrapping up the myriad of cuts along Percy's body. Compared to the panic around him, Percy was oddly at peace, a content look on his face. He reached out and grabbed Jason's hand as the medics arrived.

"It's alright," he said quietly, "New Rome is safe. The Legion is safe. That's all that matters. That's all that ever mattered…"

Jason didn't know how to respond to that, but he never got the chance, as his cousin was lifted onto a stretcher. Michaela Haley, the Centurion of the First, picked something off the ground and slipped it into Percy's hand as he was carried away, the legion parting solemnly as he was rushed to the tent of the Prima Medicus, Dustin Cole. If anyone would be able to help Percy, it was Dustin.

"C'mon kid," Tony said softly, helping Jason to his feet, "let's go get you cleaned up. You can't help Percy if you're a mess."

It was only then that he realised he was covered in his cousin's blood. So were Tony and Michaela, but for Jason… Percy had suffered so much. He had suffered under his stepfather, suffered under Lupa, and then suffered under the Legion, and he was still the same self-sacrificing ass he had always been. To Percy, the only thing that mattered was Rome, but he never stopped to wonder what would happen if he were to die. He never wondered how people would react.

Jason hadn't had a family since he was three, but then, two years ago, his brave, selfless, idiotic cousin had shown up, and the gods be damned if he was going to lose the only family he'd been gifted with. Jason had suffered too—not to the extent that Percy had, but he'd lost his first family. He wasn't going to lose this one too.

MMXVIII

There we go, chapter eleven. Someone said something about Percy always succeeding and never failing—to be fair, he lost the fight to Zoe, but I understand what you mean. In this case, we have a pyrrhic victory. Percy killed the Trojan Sea Monster, yeah, but at what cost? Obviously he isn't going to die, that would make this story hella weird, but he isn't going to bounce right back up. If you look up photos of the Trojan Sea Monster, it kinda looks like a really big snake, which is how I depicted it. I said it was about the length of two greyhound buses, which is about 90 feet (about 27 metres for my metric readers), so it's a big boy. Killing it from the inside was inspired by Gears of War 2. If you know what I'm talking about then kudos to you. As always, feel free to leave a review, or send me a PM. Again, if you want a response, PM'ing me is the best way to get one. Otherwise, I probably won't get back to you.

Cheers, CombatTombat