Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Nor do I own the Heroes of Olympus series. Technically, I don't even own the Chaos Army idea, but let's keep that one in the dark. It's not like you could ever figure it out otherwise. ...
Arlamdom: After the Battle 28 years ago
Chris gasped as she saw Alex strung over the shoulder of another soldier.
"What happened!?" She demanded, completely forgetting about the wounded she was supposed to be tending to.
The soldier laughed hurmorlessly. "He got struck down pretty bad. I did the best I could to patch him up in the field.
She loked at him, confused. Soldiers weren't supposed to tend to the wounded when battles were being fought. "Why would you...?
The sodier sighed. "Do I really look that different. It's me, Chris. Bunny-boy?"
That sent Chris into another round of shock.
I'm going to need a long, hot bath when I get back.
"Percy?" She asked.
Perseus grimaced. "Full name please. I can't stand that nickname for another second."
Chris sighed as she realized both of her friends were going to be okay.
"Let's get Alex to a medic."
Perseus nodded, glancking back.
"But after I know he's fine, you have some explaining to do."
Perseus smiled. "I guess I do. I should also contact Noah so he knows who to look for when we get back."
"That recruit you're dating, you mean." Chris taunted jokingly, knowing Percy hated it when she brought up what Alex first thought of Percy's friendship with the emotion reader.
"Will you shut up?"
Although, Percy would normally would laugh along and hit her lightly.
Chris didn't realize how much Percy truly had changed.
Perseus sighed, turning back to look behind him.
Man, do I have a interesting report for Chaos.
Orders Base, Russia. Present Time.
"Annabeth. Lilianna. This way." Perseus whispered.
Cautiosly, he opened another door, this one at the end of a long hallway.
Perseus had assumed it was the entrance to another portion of the building.
He wasn't expecting a large, empty throne.
He heaved a sigh of relief. Order wasn't in the throne room. Why was there always a throne room? Were these beings really that egotistical?
"P- Ryan?" Annabeth asked, caustiously observing the area. "What are we doing here?"
Perseus sent an almost evil smirk at the blonde girl. "You don't really think we were as unprepared in planning as to just full-out attack, did ya'? Lilianna, the bag."
Lilianna walked up to him, slinging a bag off of her shoulder.
"It's all there. Including the detonators."
Annabeth blanched. "Wait, are those explosives?!"
Perseus-again-had that evil smirk on his face, eyes glinting in anticipation.
"Don't worry. They only go off when the detonators leave the range, allowing us a safe escape. We're not medieval, Chase. Technology exists, and it'd helpful."
He grabbed a silver spere from the bag and cucked it straight across the throne room.
Annabeth backed up slightly, as if waiting for an explosion.
Perseus sent her a knowing look.
"It only goes off when the detonator leves the range." He repeated. "Now give me a hand with these. Other members of the Army in the scout group have been tossing them around this entire time."
Annabeth nodded slowly, steeping foward and grabbing two handfulls of the quater-sized spheres, proceeding to systematically throw them around the room.
"There'll be more of the explosives in here than anywhere else, as throne rooms often have a lot of energy stored in them." Lilianna explained, flicking the spheres straight up at the cieling.
Annabeth nodded, pretending that she understood. Really, her mind was only on one thing.
Percy's okay. He's alive. He has his memory. He's a little different, sure, but he's Percy. Percy. Percy. Percy.
"Chase! Stop slacking!" Perseus ordered.
Okay, Annabeth compromised. More than a little different. But he's still Percy. People are allowed to change. You just have to accept those changes. Percy. Percy...
Meanwhile, Perseus was having his own issues.
The throne room he was in now was far too familiar for his liking. Sure, he'd been in a multitude of throne rooms owned by corrupt rulers, but this was was long, it had tiled floor, and there was a row of collums stretching down the isle. It was almost an exact replica of the one Queen Malverta had cursed him in.
He shook his head, deciding it to be a good time to snap at Annabeth for not spreading the explosives fast enough.
Stay in the present. He told himslef. Slip into the past now, and you'll be in big trouble.
"Okay," He spoke, breaking his own thoughts and-unbeknownst to him-Annabeth's. "That should be good. We need to get to the actual battle sooner or later. Let's meet up with the rest."
Lilianna and Annabeth nodded, beginning to move out, only to find themselves unable to move.
"Lilianna? Chase?" Perseus inquired, slinging the bag of explosives over his shoulder. "Are you two okay?"
"Believe me, Perseus Jackson, they are not going to answer that." A cold, evil voice echoed though the room, bouncing off walls.
The two girls crumpled to the ground.
Perseus swung his body around, trying to get a glimpse of his enemy.
There was nobody in sight.
Slowly, he started kneeling down next to Annabeth to check on her.
He breathed a sigh of relief when he realized she was fine, just asleep. Lilianna was the same, as well.
"Aw... Are you happy that your comrades are okay. That's so cute." The voice rang out again.
Perseus stood up straight, allowing none of his composure to break. "Where are you?"
A laugh rang out, causing Perseus to shift in fear.
"What? No begging to awaken your friends? You're cold, Percy. Just plain cold."
"I can tell that it's you, Order. You're not as crafty as you thought yourself to be."
A shape finally started emerging, a blurry smudge of shadow on the throne. "Oh, is that so?"
Perseus sighed. "Perhaps, it'd be harder for someone who hasn't met you, but that rule doesn't apply to me."
The smudge began to solidify, taking a humanoid form. "Ah, of course. You were the boy who accompanied my brother when he came to check up on me all those years ago. How long has it been, Percy?"
"For me, ten years. You, I have no way of knowing." He replied, eyes locking on the shifting blur.
Slowly, color began to appear. "You don't seem scared, yet I can tell that you're nervous. Why, I must ask, are you attacking my base?"
Perseus laughed. "Why are you attacking this planet?"
A smile formed on the still developing lips. "Touche."
Finally, a clear figure emerged. A beutiful woman, short black hair cut mid-way down her back, eyes sparkling like the universe resided in them.
"Percy, it's a pleasure to once again see you." Order greeted, smiling sweetly.
Perseus chuckled dyly. "I can't quite say the same. Well, if you would unfreeze my friends, I think I'll be going now."
He started to back towards the door.
Order laughed. "Ah, my brother was right. You are stupidly brave. But mostly stupid."
"I'll, uh, have to talk to Chaos about what he says behind my back. Youknow what, I should do that now. And I'm sure Annabeth and Lilianna would like to come with me..."
Perseus knew that his attempts at humor wouldn't work, but it bought him some time to think.
Choas wasn't even sure if Order would be here, as it's the smallest base. But, she was. There must be a reason for that. Why was Order here? She could've been notified that this base was under attack, but Perseus doubted she would care for this one all too much.
So, she had been here before hand.
Well, no time like the present...
"If I may ask, what are you doing here? In this base?" He asked the powerful being.
"Hm." Order contemplated. "I guess it would have to be you."
Perseus's blood stopped flowing. That couldn't be good.
"What... What do you mean?" He asked, hand twitching towards the knives at his side.
Order smiled. "My brother seems to think highly of you. Imagine if you were to fall, or, even worse, be broken. His side of this war would certainly be weaker and less coordinated."
Perseus swallowed, trying to remain brave. "So, that means you think we're a threat?"
She stopped smiliing. "What?"
Perseus laughed, coming into his war state-of-mind. "If you would go as far as to kill off one of many soldiers in order(no pun) to weaken one person, who truly does not give the army strength, you must think of us as a threat, or at least, you think of Chaos as a threat."
Order shook her head. "Well, if my brother does not give you your strength, who does?"
"You."
The entire room seemed to freeze.
"Excuse me?" She asked.
"That's right. It's people like you, the people who threaten the innocent just becasue they can, who give us soldiers strength. Becasue you disgust us. We want to make sure the universe is better, so we won't rest until everyone like you is destroyed." He shrugged. "Truly, to weaken us, you should just surrender."
Order stared, then, slowly, started to clap. "Bravo, Percy. You actually managed to fool me for a moment. Perhaps I give you incentive, but Chaos, if weakened, will begin to let his silly little dimension, the Void, crumble. You are probably the only person who can affect him so."
A flah of light, Order swung her arm out, her sleeve swinging with it.
"So..." She began. Another flash of light.
"Let's begin on the breaking." She smiled sickly, a cold feeling creeping into Perseus's bones.
"Shall we?"
Perseus wasn't quite sure when she had lunged at him, or how long thier two swords had been clashing, but he could vaugely hear banging on the door: his comrades, starting to worry.
He grit his teeth, blocking another powerful blow that sent a surge down his spine. Annabeth and Lilianna were both still on the floor. He knew that Order would have him leave alive so that Chaos could see him breathing but broken, but the two girls weren't necessary in that plan. He was worried for what would happen to the two of them.
Another strike that he just barely dodged. He was tiring.
I can't lose. I have to get everyone out of here. Plus, if Order is right, and Chaos is affected by me being injured, as not-likely as that is, I can't let the army weaken.
The door suddenly had a hole in it.
Perseus took the chance to look back, and was pleased by what he saw. The soldiers and campers had breatched the throne room.
"Get Chase and Lilianna out of here!" He called as an order, trying his best to deflect Order's blows. "And I might be needing some backup!"
Surprisingly, he was pulled back too once the majority of the soldiers had gotten in, several more taking his place as Order tried to follow.
"W-wait. I can fight..." He stuttered.
The soldier who had pulled him back, a young looking boy, adressed him. "Commander, you're injured. Pretty badly."
Perseus glanced down at himself, confused, only to see that the boy was right. There was a large rip in his armor, steadily dripping a crimson fluid.
"When did...?" He started, only to feel a large surge of nausea.
"Retreat." He muttered.
The boy jumped slightly. "What?"
Perseus rose his head to look the boy iin the eyes. "I'm the Commander of Section One, and I'm issuing the order to retreat. We have the explosives set. We just need to escape this place. Call it out."
The boy nodded sternly.
"We're called to retreat! Help along any wounded by Order! Section Five should check on the battle! Go!"
Perseus smiled at the boy, knowing he would one day make a good Commander.
"Per-Ryan!" A voice called out.
Alex was suddenly by his side, supporting him.
"Jeez. You see? This is why you should always keep a personal guard on you." Alex commenting, quickly draggin Perseus along.
"She's going after me as a way to weaken Chaos." Perseus revealed.
Alex took a break from his running for just a moment to process this information before he continued to drag Perseus along, moving along with the group of soldiers currently proceeding in the same direction.
"Makes sense. Chaos does seem to favor you." Alex huffed.
Perseus gasped as they sped up, now feeling the effects of the wound, as well as something he hadn't felt in a while.
Another wave of nausea hit him.
"Poison." He breathed out.
Alex spun his head towards him with an alarmed expression. "Order poisoned you?"
Perseus nodded weakly.
Another thought stuck him once they left the building. "Stop."
"What?"
"I have the bag." Perseus explained. "With the detonator. We have to wait until the others have all retreated."
Alex rolled his eyes. "You've got to be kidding me."
But, nonetheless, he walked sideways, out of the path of the soldiers and campers.
They watched until a loud whistle rang out, signaling the retreat of the battling soldiers and campers.
The pair started moving again, but not in enough time.
"Oh, Perseus." A cold voice called out.
He glanced over his shoulder to see Order waiteing by the foot of the door.
She smiled. "We will most likely meet again."
Then, just as she'd arrived, she dissapeared into a mere smudge, and then into nothingness.
Drama Queen. Perseus thought angrily.
He and Alex finally seemed to make it out of range, as deafeningly loud blasts erupted behind them.
Perseus was almost immediately handed off to medics as they were transported back to Camp Half-Blood, all the while thinking:
Don't let Order have been right.
AN: This is not NEARLY as long as I wanted to make it, as it's been THREE months since I last updated! Really makes me wonder where all the time goes...
Anyway, i'd like to thank you all for your continued support of this story, and to all readers: I'm going to at least TRY to update faster this time.
Yours in demigodsihness and all that, and as always, until next time! *cheesy salute*