Short End of the Stick
By PrincipessaBel
Chapter 12 : The Waiting Game
=============================Julia===============================
Chrysaor threw both of Sammi's dual swords in the ground, having Julia to pick it up. She noticed that it both have a trident logo just above the hilt, the starting point of the blade. Chrysaor had his minions to tie up Sammi in the hands and feet, a gag in her mouth – though she kept up a fight, they managed to tie her up. Julia stared intently at Sammi, eyes burning in determination to stop the evil trick Chrysaor had laid upon them.
The king smirked at Julia, underestimating her. "Why, doing two swords when ye claim yer not good? Or are ye bluffing, as ye were earlier?"
Julia smirked at the same intensity and mocked him, "Can't duel someone with two swords?"
"Oh, ye'd be surprised."
She snorted and circled around the given space. "Try me. . ."
It took her a few minutes to memorize the terrain and when she's sure, she taunted Chrysaor to know his tactic and strategy. The king narrowed his eyes and tried to disarm Julia. The girl predicted his steps and evaded him just in time. Chrysaor tried once again, this time, Julia was a second too late, having Chrysaor hold both of her arms behind her, swords on the floor.
"Argh!" Julia struggled to keep a believable act, seeing that Chrysaor's just really starting to get entertained.
The king laughed in victory. "See? Yer done already. Tch, so pathetic. Like me imbecile of a half-brother."
Julia raised an eyebrow. "Percy, huh?" She kept Chrysaor distracted as the rest silently assassinated the stupid dolphin warriors of the said king.
"Yes, t' bastard didn't even stand a chance on me!" He said proudly, eyes beaming.
This time, Julia laughed evilly, "Oh, without a sword? I stand a chance against you. Clearly, you're depending on your sword to slash and kill your opponents." The daughter of Ares struggled with much force that made Chrysaor stagger backwards.
With wide eyes, he said, "The deal is sword fighting, lass!"
"Yeah, sword and fighting." Julia posed a martial art figure, ready to defend. She stood away from the king a few yards to keep her distance, "You didn't say any rules when you made me swore to this River whatever. So, I fight without Sammi's awesome trident ones."
"Trident?"
"Yeah, didn't you hear? She's a legitimate daughter of Poseidon. Unlike you – who's not. And by the way? She's beautiful. I heard Percy's handsome, too. Let's see about you- Oh shit. You're as ugly as your mother, Medusa!" She mocked, liking the freedom to insult the king finally after hours of self-discipline.
"Don't ya dare disrespect me mother!"
"Then don't hurt my friends!"
With a red raging face, Chrysaor raised his golden sword, "T'is war, Julianna!" He charged at Julia who dodged quickly and punched him in the stomach. Chrysaor fell down and struggled to stand up, not used to the sudden pain.
"Fuck you! I'm not that shitty weakling! I'm Julia Valdez, daughter of Ares!" The others whipped their heads to the fight, seeing Julia was circling the fallen Chrysaor.
The king laughed, "Ohoho? Ye got moves."
"I will kill you Chrysaor! I will- KYAA!" Julia tripped in a small crack in the ground, sending her face-flat in the ground.
"D-Did she just say, 'Kya'?" Nico asked.
"So cute." Will said, admiring the fail of his fake-little-sister.
She stood up and dusted herself, glaring at her opponent once again, "I swear to the gods whom I never know, I will kill you for threatening my friends!"
"I-It's as if she's pretending that nothing happened!" Will and Nico both exclaimed.
"Stop talking then! Fight me fair and square!" Using his sword for support, Chrysaor stood up.
"Says the one who challenged a girl! You're the coward between the two of us! You could've done better if you had asked Sparky!"
Julia charged this time, dodging and evading the swings and slashed from the king. Chrysaor slashed his sword diagonally to her right and Julia twirled away from it, closing in the gap from both of them and she landed an upper-cut on his shin, sending him staggering back. Julia used this as an advantage to send him continuous jabs and punches, which she successfully did.
Once he regained his composure, Julia fell back to bring in the distance, avoiding his blade.
She did her best to kick and punch him with such force that she nearly forgotten that she doesn't have gloves. Even without them, Julia felt that she's starting to weaken the king.
Sammi screamed from the other side of the room, her gag loosely hanging on her neck. "Julia, no! Stop that, you'll get hurt!" Apparently, the others were still fighting the dolphin warriors but they kept coming and coming.
Suddenly losing focus, Chrysaor attacked her with a swing of his sword to the left. Julia moved left but Chrysaor predicted her move and punched Julia in her stomach. This sent her crashing to the floor as she lost her balance from the extreme force. She crawled to stand up. "It's just physical pain, Sammi. I can take this." Trying her best to stand up, she felt the pain stab her, "Argh! Damn you."
Julia took a glance at Sammi and notice that her eyes were red. She realized that in the whole match, the daughter of Poseidon probably was being tortured in seeing her fight. "No! No! I can not let my friends be hurt again because of me!"
She chuckled at this, "A movie once taught me that you can pick the people who can hurt you – and I give you guys the privilege to do that!" Chrysaor was just glaring hard at Julia, who was having a hard time to stand up. Will tried to help her but Nico stopped him. Julia was thankful for that.
By the time Julia stood up, Chrysaor was near her and she once again dodge and evade the slashes, but this time, she was way slower. Grunting in the sudden disadvantage because of the pain, Julia forced her body to follow her will. The king smirked at Julia's predicament. Despite this, Julia did her best to land punches and kicks to the king, but she felt her force becoming loose.
"Julia, minna, gomen. Chrysaor, your time ends here, go back to Tartarus, aho!" By this, the land shook hard, making Julia loose her balance but quickly regained it. However, Chrysaor was brought down by this. [T: Julia, everyone, sorry. Chrysaor, your time ends here, go back to Tartarus, idiot!]
"Everyone, go away from the cave!" She heard Piper say, for a second, Julia thought it was for the good but she stayed. She realized that this was a mistake as the fallen Chrysaor was close enough to her and slashed his golden sword through her leg.
"Argh, you fucking piece of shit!" She said and kicked him in the gut on impulse by her good leg.
Will came to her aid and supported her weight, taking her into his arms. "Julia! Your thigh! I-It's bleeding!"
Feeling suddenly woozy, she leaned onto him. She saw silhouettes running towards Sammi. She was sure it was Nico. "I'm fine, Will. Ugh."
Leo shouted from the exit of the throne room – the way they came in. "I got your weapons guys, come on! Sammi can wreck this cave easily! She's holding back because we're still here!"
Even with blurred eyes, Julia can see a frightening aura coming off from the gentle daughter of Poseidon. "Yes. My father isn't called god of the seas and earthquakes for nothing." Julia smirked at that, a calm sea is always good to see but never go out on a stormy sea or you'll meet you doom.
With the strength left to her, she shouted for her friend, "Sammi, come on!"
Will ushered her, grabbing her shoulders firmly. "Julia, let's go."
Nico ran to them, "Sammi can fend for herself, she had done this before!"
Jason came to Will's aid in helping him bring Julia, "She's is trained to do these kinds of stuff, come on, before Chrysaor stands up again!" Anger boiled into her blood, they're going to leave her here?
Julia stubbornly remained rooted in her ground despite the war she's feeling in her injured leg. "Piper said no one will have to get left behind, Sammi's not an exception! Come on, Sammi!" A shout from the outside of the cave made Jason's attention shift to there. He looked at Will and the son of Apollo nodded, having the son of Jupiter run towards the voice.
Worry and concern is evident in Will's tone as he stared down in her leg, hands still on her shoulders, "Your thigh is bleeding hard; you can't stay here much longer!"
She shook her head, "No Will, I'll wait for Sammi!"
Nico's hand slipped into her skirt pocket, reaching for something, "Did you bring a handkerchief?! Yessa, stop being stubborn!" They hoisted Julia down, knowing that their part is going to be safe, knowing that Sammi has control of her power one hundred percent.
The son of Apollo let go of her and started removing the buttons on his shirt quickly. With blurred eyes, Julia can see his movements and said, blood reaching her checks even though she's well aware that she's going to die if her blood won't stop flowing. "Hey! Don't strip infront of me Will, today's not a good day to do that!" It was a good thing that Will decided wore a sando shirt underneath his black polo.
Sighing, he replied in a panicky tone, "You need a tourniquet, Julia! You're bleeding too much!" Will kneeled infront of her and held her injured leg gently. Julia grunted in the sudden touch, not liking the fact that Will's invading too much of her privacy.
Sammi walked close to them, seeing the problem with Julia's stubbornness.. Nico asked, "What else do you need Will?"
Will tied his shirt tightly and securely to Julia's leg. "We'll sort this out once we got away."
"No one's going away!" Chrysaor grunted, a big boulder stopping him from standing up. Julia can hardly see a thing except for browness of the rocks.
"Who says?" Sammi replied to Chrysaor in the same intense icy tone she had used before, "You may have been a better swordsman than Percy, but he's a better brother to me than you could ever be!"
"No one's going to get killed except all of you!" Chrysaor shouted amidst the falling rocks.
Julia's anger started to boil once again, can't he admit defeat? That fucking cheating bastard. "Die, you piece of trash!" She shouted back, throwing a piece of rock towards the direction of the voice.
Will scolded the girl, once again holding her firmly, "Julia, stay still!"
"Let me go, Will, I'll kill this coward right now, let me go!" She thrashed with the left energy in her body.
"You have to stop, Sammi knows what she's doing!" Nico shouted at her, despite her protests.
"I'm sorry, Julia." It was the last words she heard from her mates when a sudden blackness ate her consciousness. I swear I will fucking kill you for this, Will.
=============================Nico===============================
Nico collapsed in the couch in the Argo II after he had brought Sammi into her room. Apparently, all of the earth quaking action took a big toll on the daughter of Poseidon. Will told him that she just needs sleep in order to regain the energy she lost.
Julia was a different story, though. Her leg was deeply cut and Will said he'll take care of it, having a vast knowledge in healing because of his father. At first, Nico was hesitant but agreed to anyway. What could possibly happen? Will's a good guy, he'll just do what he have to do, nothing less, nothing more.
Leo came in the room, perfectly dressed and showered already. "Worried for Julia?" He was holding two cups of hot chocolate and gave one for Nico.
He sat up, politely accepted the cup and said thanks then continued, "Yeah, and for Sammi. And for Atha. Is Piper alright?"
The son of Hephaestus stared sadly at the glass panes, "Pipes is alright, I hope these girls won't get to be in too much trouble in the next few days." Nico stared at him, remembering how he and Julia seemingly to be real alike, aside from the auras they both have. Leo then looked intensely at the son of Hades. "You really like Julia, do you?"
With this, Nico took a liking to stare at the cup of hot chocolate. "I-I guess."
Leo nodded, "Why is that? I don't see too many good traits from her if she kept the bad girl act."
Nico gulped, hoping that he isn't blushing from the topic. He know very well that he likes Julia as a friend, there's no more to that, is there? "She-She's the only person I could be real honest to. Aside from Hazel."
"Yeah, I've noticed big change in your behavior, too. You've became a bit of a socialite here, you know?"
"I guess."
"Well, let's just hope for the best. Right now, we just have to be patient in this waiting game." The son of Hephaestus said, taking a sip from his hot chocolate.
"May the gods be ever in our favor." Nico said sadly, remembering Atha. Where could she be now?
"Yeah."
Chapter 13: Angel's Kiss
Gulping, she looked away, hoping to not faint or blush infront of him. "I-It's fine. Psh. I-I got over my fear." She said cockily but uncertainly.