Hey guys, I'm back! I AM SO SORRY! I was unable to access the computer for a looooong time. I will update ASAP all the time now! But now im in High School, and My water polo season has started so…no time. BUT I WILL TRY FOR MY BABIES.
Sam: So, Jayna's sick. NOT MAKING THIS UP, GUYS, SHE'S REALLY SICK. Therefore, she asked me to do this chapter! I FEEL SO HONORED!
Jayna: *incoherent yelling from other room* *coughs* *sneezes*
Sam: Yeah, yeah. Jayna says to not forget to respond to the reviews. Here's the first one, by Guest. Okay, Guest, I will! ;) Let's hope I don't…hurt…them ;) ;) ;)
Jayna: *incoherent yelling* *rapid coughs* *inhaler puffs* *more yelling*
Sam: Jayna says not to hurt them because they are her OTP. :( Maybe next time…
Sam: Anyways, here's your chapter!
"Octavian." Percy growled. "Can't you ever give us a break?"
"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA no." Octavian deadpanned the last word, making everybody uncomfortable.
"Um, so, are you gonna call your guards again or are you just gonna watch us leave?" Nico sassed.
"I'll do what I want." Octavian flipped his hair (which was too short to flip).
Jason watched him, his eyes confused and slightly concerned. "I've never been worried for an enemy before…"
"I'm contemplating whether to run or to stay and- oh crap, this is her plan! Go!" Thalia yelled, pushing the nearest body (which of course happened to be Percy) forward, running.
"What's her plan?" Luke asked, running along with them towards their safehouse in the woods.
"Stalling!"
"What do we do?" Nico asked, panting slightly. "And where are we going?"
Percy skidded to a stop, grinning maniacally. "I know what to do."
"Percy! What are you doing?!" Jason hissed, stopping as well. Within three seconds, all of the Avengers (plus Luke) had stopped, staring at Percy in bewilderment.
Percy slowly unsheathed his trusty sword, Riptide. Still smiling insanely, he tapped his foot to the beat of a certain Panic! at the Disco song. "Let's kill tonight."
Thalia slipped off her bow, knocking an arrow. "Kill tonight."
"Show them all you're not the ordinary type." Nico sang along, drawing his three-foot-long pitch black sword. His face was grim, a cold glare in his eyes when he spoke.
Jason took out his gold sword, twisting it and readjusting his grip with the same icy look in his eyes as Nico, but wearing the maniacal grin Percy had on. "Let's kill tonight."
"May your feet serve you well," Luke joined in, taking out his own new sword, Scorpion, which consisted of an odd, steel-diamond material, ready to fight alongside the cousins.
"And the rest be sent to Hades," The quintet sang together, awaiting the enemy's arrival. "Where they always have belonged. Cold hearts brew colder songs, Fate will play us out, with a song of pure romance, so stomp your feet and clap your hands…"
Octavian and an army of highly-trained, elite guards in blue-on-black uniforms roared into view, their swords and spears all aimed towards the small group. Octavian screamed death threats and praises to Athena as his soldiers roared in agreement.
"Let's kill tonight!" The Avengers shouted, and as Thalia let loose her arrow, the four boys charged, ready to destroy until they themselves were destroyed.
{Line Break}
Clarisse crossed her arms, glaring at everyone and anyone in the room. "An army? Yeah, right. You all fight yourselves more than you fight others. Plus, you all suck at fighting."
"Do not!" Leo sniveled. "I'm pretty good with fire. Ask me to burn down a building and boo-yah, I gotcha back."
"We don't need buildings burned." Will rolled his eyes.
Reyna stopped short, cutting off her own personal argument with Drew. "Or maybe we do…" She murmured.
"Um, hello!" Drew rolled her eyes. "I was talking to you here!"
Mitchell ignored her, as did the rest of the company in the room. Everyone had heard what Reyna had said, and everyone wanted the question Mitchell asked answered. "What do you mean?"
Reyna's mind was spinning out of control. "You all heard what The Avengers said. To bring down Athena, we need to act as a team. These little disruptions don't matter." She looked up, her brown eyes daring anyone to challenge her. "What matters is the big prize. Athena. The castle. It's her only strong spot, right? It's also where she has all her guards and prisoners held. Everyone in power right now lives in that castle." She pointed to the big white castle, where Athena was currently residing carelessly. "We need to blow it up."
"Whoa, whoa." Clarisse held out her hands. "Maybe blow it up isn't the right tactic. But I see what you're getting at." She mused, biting her thumbnail. "Maybe we can lead a raid or something."
"You're both right." Piper added. "But before we can lead a raid or anything, we need to get the innocents out. Like Annabeth and any other prisoners."
"Right." Zoe pondered their options. "We can lead two teams, one for the rescue team, and one for the attack."
"See guys?" Silena grinned. "Everything's better when we work together!"
"Alright, so who's going where?" When Beckendorf clapped his hands together, proposing the question, Lacy began sobbing.
Nobody made a move at first. Each person was stunned at the outburst, but it was Zoe and Mitchell who made the first moves to comfort her. It was hard to believe that a ten-year-old could go through all of this strain and horror without cracking before Lacy had.
"It's okay, Lacy." Mitchell soothed.
Zoe rubbed her shoulder, crouching down to get eye-level with her. "Lacy. Listen to me." The ten-year-old quieted her sobbing, reducing her cries to simple snivels. The fourteen-year-old didn't break her gaze with Lacy. "I know this is hard. Trust me, I know. I think we all do. Do you have a mother or father?"
"They're dead!" Lacy sobbed. "Athena killed them! How could she take them from me? How could she take my mommy and daddy? All I wanted was to be with mommy again."
Zoe hugged Lacy tightly, tears of her own wet in her eyes. "My mommy made the best cookies, you know." Lacy rambled quietly. "Sugar cookies, snicker doodle, chocolate chip, you name it, she made it. She would always tell me, 'Lacy, don't eat the cookies yet. They're not ready'." She began to cry again. "I won't eat any more cookies, mommy, I won't, I promise. I won't eat anymore, I just want to be with you again. Mommy, come back to me. Please! Mommy, come back!" Lacy cried, her face drenched with tears. Zoe was still hugging her, her own face damp. Zoe had lost her mother as well, when she was only eight.
Clarisse leaned over to Reyna during the breakdown. "Look, I know your group and mine are different, but look at us." Reyna observed the room. Half of them were nearly hysterical, and the other half were wiping at their eyes, trying to be strong. "We can barely keep ourselves together, and it's all her fault. We need to work together, keep each other alive. No more resentment, no more hate, except against the enemy."
Reyna nodded in return. She looked over the scene in the center of the room once more. Zoe was comforting Lacy, but it was obvious that neither were completely healed. "Athena is going down."
{Line Break}
Annabeth walked through the castle, her bag slung over her shoulder casually. Food was packed, and water, along with a dagger that had been given to her by an anonymous 'friend'. Annabeth was presented with the gift on her ninth birthday. Athena inspected it fifty times over for poison and whatnot before throwing it away. Annabeth was clever, though, and had retrieved it without Athena knowing. It was a good blade, and she had always wondered where it had come from.
She managed to actually exit through the front gate with no questions. Annabeth noted the unusual lack of guards. Sure, there were a few, as always, but way less than usual.
Where to now, Annie? She thought to herself. Truthfully, she had no idea where she was going, nor what her goal was. She was originally going to break Percy and the others out, but then she heard of their escape. Now…maybe she would find Piper. She didn't know how, or why, but she was going to do it.
It wasn't long before she ran into an obstacle. A very big one. It was a mini-war, between Octavian and the guards and the Avengers plus one. Annabeth squinted at the extra blond head.
Luke? She thought, bewildered. Okay… this is getting more than weird. What was her supposed fiancé doing fighting her mother's army with the people who had locked her up? Annabeth rubbed her temples. Life was weird.
Quickly, she noticed that it was an unwinnable fight. Five versus an army was an impossible fight, no matter how skilled the five were. Octavian was 'leading' the opposing army from Luke plus the Avengers, but he wasn't doing anything but stand there.
That's when the ultimate strategy hit her. Annabeth knew that, to aid the five, she only had to do one simple thing. The problem? That 'simple' thing was something she was nearly psychologically unable to do.
Annabeth hesitated, biting her lip as she observed the scene a little more. The Avengers were exhausted, and the army just kept coming. They were reduced to a small circle, each protecting the others' back. If one fell, the rest would die.
Annabeth sucked in a breath, and with shaking hands drew her dagger from her bag. She pulled her arm back, using expert aim, she released the dagger.
It spun through the air like a pinwheel, end over end, glinting in the bright sunlight. Before even a second had passed, the knife buried itself like a hatchet into the back of Octavian.
His cackling laughter cut short, Octavian dropped to his knees. Hacking, blood spurted out of his mouth and onto the newly grown green grass. The ground around him was soon sparkling with the dark red seeping blood from his back and his throat. He turned slowly in horror, trying to both grasp the knife handle and see who his assassin was. His eyes widened in shock as he noticed a frozen Annabeth as she watched her enemy struggle to take in breath after shallow breath. His fingers stopped searching for the knife and he coughed once more, collapsing and convulsing on the ground before finally stilling one last time.
Annabeth covered her mouth with a tremulous hand, unable to tear her eyes away from the terrifying deed she had done.
Slowly, the soldiers began to notice their fallen leader, and each one by one retreated to carry him off. Before leaving, one managed to knock Nico out with the back of his sword. As the soldier retreated rather quickly, the remaining four rushed to help up the fallen boy. Angered, Thalia dropped her knives and picked up her bow again, shooting arrow after arrow until she ran out, killing a man for each shaft she released. She brought down at least twenty before her quiver was empty. Finally accepting the surrender, she turned to check on Nico again. Jason was kneeling near him, blocking Annabeth's view, but she assumed it wasn't a very minor injury. Percy was talking with Thalia and Luke, pointing first to where Octavian had lain, then to where Annabeth was standing. All three looked, and Annabeth could do nothing but stare back, completely unable to move.
Thalia said something to Percy and Luke, and jogged over to the hill Annabeth was atop.
"Hey." She started, but Annabeth couldn't speak. Thalia shifted awkwardly, shoving her hands in her pockets. "Listen, I know what you just did. And it…you saved our lives just now. I know it took guts, trust me, I acted pretty much the same as you with my first kill, but-"
"I…I killed him." Annabeth said, horrified. "How could I do that? I've known him forever…. I killed him…. how could I kill him?"
"Annabeth. I was wrong about you. I'm sorry. And I'm sorry you had to do that. I really am." Thalia, much to Annabeth's surprise, leaned in and hugged her. Annabeth responded immediately, clutching her tightly and sobbing into her.
Annabeth pulled away, sniffing loudly and wiping her eyes. "D-do you know where Piper is?" She managed after she had re-composed herself.
"I have a pretty good idea." Thalia said grimly. "But I'm not sure if you're ready for this yet."
"Ready for what?" Annabeth was confused and slightly angry. She had just killed a man for her, and Thalia was saying she wasn't ready? Yeah, right.
"The overthrow of your mother."
Whoa! I can't believe it! I'm actually alive and finished! AGAIN, SORRY FOR TAKING FOREVER. BUT NEXT TIME MAY BE AWHILE TOO.
For those of you reading my other stories, the same rules apply. Sorry for not updating, I haven't given up, it's just that I have no time anymore, so…yeah.
THANK YOU MY LOYAL READERS!