Hey Guys! Wow, those were some incredible reviews! Your support means more than you know, and I am so happy to be posting this next chapter early in eager anticipation of your reactions. I will answer guest reviews at the bottom of the page, but I really encourage them to get accounts. For the longest time, I was a lurker without an account, and I just read and enjoyed; But when I got an account, and after a bit... I began to write. So you never know what could happen! Also, I'd like to be able to PM you with answers since some of you have multiple questions *cough Zae cough*, and I'd love to answer.
Anyways, enjoy my dears, enjoy!
Chapter 21
Reyna stood shakily to her feet, ignoring the way the scales beneath her trembled with the massive muscles of the serpent; If she slipped into his coils, she was dead. She quickly prayed to Minerva for cunning, and hoped that this once, she could be like Annabeth.
"Thor." she repeated slightly louder, and the snake reacted the same way: It writhed the other parts of it's body and let out deafening roar, gnashing it's jaws together, which was a pretty terrifying sight (those teeth looked more and more deadly every second).
"Any particular reason you're using my brother's name, dear Reyna?" Loki said, the annoyance evident in his tone.
"Oh, none at all." she replied casually, walking to the other side of the gigantic coil, distracting the pair from where Leo was hunched over, pretending to catch his breath. "Just wondering why your son is so afraid of his uncle, that's all." Loki looked at her in mild irritation and shrugged his shoulders uncaringly.
"That's none of your business." he replied in a cool tone, twirling his long scepter between his fingers. The serpent waited, not moving, but with his attention completely on Reyna and his father.
"Well, your brother is so good looking and all, you, well…" she trailed off. Loki's right eye twitched. Reyna dared to glance over at Leo, who was still doubled over, taking gasping breaths. The storm clouds darkened overhead, and a rumble of thunder was heard in the distance.
"Do you have a death wish, child?" Loki replied quietly, the snake looked at it's father almost timidly; If this deadly beast was afraid of Loki, then what Reyna was going to do next was the equivalent of jumping into the mouth of the snake. This was looking like a better plan more and more.
"Well, if we're going to die, I'd like my last request." she stated in a matter-of-fact fashion, purposely tripping and almost falling into the sea to draw attention away from the missing Son of Hephaestus. She got up with as much dignity as she possibly could and looked Loki straight in the eye. "Can I have his autograph?"
Loki growled and his eyes darkened malevolently; Both Reyna and his son visibly recoiled. "And why on earth would you want that?" he replied evenly, but with loathing and jealousy burning in his eyes.
Reyna rolled her own. "Because he's hot!" she said, trying to picture a child of Venus as she giggled in what she hoped was a girlish manner. "Like, I've had the biggest crush on him, and you know with all those new movies coming out, and just to meet the actual Thor.." Reyna put a hand on her chest and fanned her face, taking several deep breaths to cover up Leo's snort that came from somewhere near the serpent's head.
"And what of me, child? Did you decided I was not 'hot' enough?" Loki questioned impatiently. Reyna wrinkled her nose and looked down at her shoe, mostly to avoid making eye contact with Loki's as his face contorted with rage. She let a couple minutes pass in silence before reminding herself that she needed to keep distracting him.
"Does it bother, you, Loki? That everyone loves him so much? That no matter how good your tricks are-"
"STOP TALKING YOU FOUL LITTLE CREATURE," roared Loki, turning a deep shade of purple.
"You'll always be second best." she finished, staring him square in the eye, using her Praetor glare to hold him back from strangling her. Lightning flashed overhead and a dark shadow fell across the face of the god. To her surprise, Loki grinned insanely.
"Second best? Oh my dear Reyna, I'm never second best. I'm always one step ahead of the idiots in Asgard, and now my dear, I am one step ahead of you."
Reyna's eyes widened in horror as Loki whipped out his scepter and floated over to another one of the serpent's coils where Leo was perched, trying to rig up a bomb. She tried to warn him, but no sound came out, and she could only watch as Loki raised his scepter and brought it down on the back of Leo's head as hard as possible. Reyna screamed as he viciously knocked Leo into the sea, tumbling over and over until the waves engulfed him. Reyna collapsed, sobbing. Loki jauntily walked/flew over towards her, tipping her chin up with his hand and looking into her dark eyes with a glasgow grin, his own eyes reflecting a certain amount of madness behind his pompous facade.
"Oh dear, I didn't mess up your little plan, did I? You really thought you could get the best of me? Child, I am the god of trickery; You have nothing on me."
Reyna took a shaky breath. "Nothing… but brains."
Loki's eyes widened as Leo gave a battle cry from on top of the snake's head. He had wired his hammer up toward the sky, and taken advantage of the lightning to mimic Thor, and as he cried out, he brought it down as a hard as he could on top of the serpent's head. The snake reared and thrashed in pain as the combined electricity and hammer jolted the gargantuan beast; In an attempt to rid itself of the pain that was Leo Valdez, it flung it's head forward; Leo used the momentum to launch himself at Loki, who had screamed in rage when his son was brutally smashed. But the god was too quick, and Leo found his neck between that of the god's, who gave it a threatening squeeze.
"Nice try, you little brat." Loki hissed, clenching his jaw and tightening his hands on Leo's throat. "A holographic device, very clever for a son of the Forge. Normally they aren't known for their brains, but I'd say you already know they aren't known for their looks." Leo resisted rolling his eyes; This guy just had to insult everyone.
"Do you always insult people before you kill them?" he choked out; Air was becoming limited, and it was nice having air to breathe. Loki gave a twisted smile and his eyes glinted in madness.
"No, no, I will leave your death to my son. He will enjoy feasting on your flesh, it might even be a little spicy from all that disgusting grime you wallow in. But that Praetor girl you love-" Leo really wished he wouldn't blush now, especially since the rush of blood to his head made him dizzier than he was already becoming. "-I'll kill her myself. She will be a most amusing play thing, might even last longer than others, what with her fiery personality." Leo's eyes grew wide with anger, and he thrashed around within Loki's fists.
"You- won't- touch her!" Leo gasped, desperately trying to stay conscious. Loki only chuckled.
"And who will stop me, young demigod?"
"That'd be me."
Loki whirled around only to see Reyna wielding the godly scepter and gladly smashing the thing into his godly face. Loki released Leo, who jumped to a nearby coil and caught Reyna as she flung herself towards him. Leo pulled a small remote from his toolbelt and pressed a single button; A distant countdown could be heard. Picking Reyna up in his arms, Leo leaped from one nearby tendril to another until they landed on the beach; Just in time, because at that moment, the hammer that was currently embedded in the serpent's head released an electric wave with twice the power of lightning through the monster. The snake thrashed and jerked, contorting itself was the electricity arced through it. Loki could only watch as his son was electrocuted before his eyes; The snake fell into the ocean with a resounding splash, causing massive tidal waves to form and begin to swallow the creature whole. Loki turned with murder in his eyes towards the young demigods, only to see them safe on the beach, where Reyna promptly raise his scepter high above her head and bring it down with a resounding smash. The thing shattered, revealing a shard the size of a small slice of pizza-
"NO!" Loki screamed, lunging toward the pair in a desperate attempt to reclaim the shard, but with deliberate malice, Leo scooped up the piece. A loud clap of thunder shook the earth, and Loki whirled around to see the most monstrous wave ever created form in the ocean; The tsunami did not break the shore, but instead stayed in the middle, gathering water until the thing could have easily swallowed the continent of South America; Leo and Reyna braced themselves for death, clinging to one another tightly- They both knew there would be no fighting this death wave. But the wave only stayed in the ocean, creating a large, swirling vortex of a gap where water should be; The giant snake began to slide toward the middle of it, being sucked into what looked like an abyss-
Loki screamed again and lunged toward his son, but before he could even attempt to help him, the wave came crashing down, carrying both Loki and his gargantuan son into an endless abyss of chaos and darkness. Even though the pair on the beach were certain that the deadly tsunami would swallow them whole, the thing easily subsided, leaving not so much as a ripple in the now calm ocean. It was almost eerie at how there seemed to be almost no oceanic activity now; The weather also cleared, with the sun shining brightly once more upon the world.
Leo and Reyna stood on the beach, holding each other, until finally Leo let out a loud whoop and hugged Reyna tighter, picking her up and spinning her around and around; In a most un-Reyna like fashion, she responded, happily cheering and pulling herself towards him as he spun her. It was only when Leo noticed at how he was holding Reyna so closely, and that she seemed to like it, is when the blushing overcame him, and he set her down promptly, ignoring the way her face was tinged a giddy shade of pink. He awkwardly cleared his throat, and Reyna glanced around, feeling as though they were being watched, and also uncomfortable with the sudden closeness and release.
Sure enough, out of the bushes, in a pair of dashing khaki shorts and a white polo, was the sun god. Apollo smiled at both of them and applauded.
"That was epic!" he shouted, hoisting his arms into the air with a victory motion; Leo snorted as Reyna raised an eyebrow, this was obviously his Greek side. "I might even compose a victory poem later! And look!" He pointed to the shard that Leo was clutching. "You're halfway there!" And then he began to sing "Ooh, Livin' on Prayer!" The demigods only stared; Apollo cleared his throat. "Sorry, I get caught up in past songs. But that was awesome! I'm so glad I asked Zeus to help you guys out, because that was spectacular!" He continued on like this until his form shimmered, and suddenly a more stern, muscular man was standing before them.
"I am impressed by your brave service, young demigods. But I have one more thing to ask from you: Will you take care of my daughter? Until she can go to New Rome, that is."
Reyna narrowed her eyes, as did Leo. "And why can't you do it?" she asked, pretty fed up with the irresponsibility of gods.
Apollo smiled benignly at them; "Because you two are the bravest demigods I've ever met, and I know you can protect her. Besides, she plays an important role in a later prophecy, and she needs the best teachers possible when it comes to combat and morals."
The demigods were stunned in silence; They just had a god admit to them that they could be better teachers than gods, and he wanted them to take care of Evangeline. The god smiled warmly at them, until a small voice broke the silence.
"Reyna?" The beautiful little girl crawled out from the bushes, clutching her straw doll to her chest. She noticed Apollo, who was staring at her with a look of fatherly love. "Papa?" she questioned timidly. Apollo knelt down, and she ran to embrace him. He stroked her hair as she questioned him in Latin, "When is mama coming back? I thought you were dead…"
"Your mother has passed away," Apollo said gently, which sent tears running down her lovely face. "But these two will take care of you and explain everything. I love you, mija, and I love your mother. Never forget that, Evangeline. I will see you again someday, but for now, and I trust Leo and Reyna to watch over you, okay?" The little girl glanced toward the other demigods and nodded obediently. Apollo pressed a kiss to her small forehead, and stood up.
"Take care of her," he said in English, "And I will always help you when you call."
And with a bright flash, the god of the sun had left. In the distance, the sun began to set.
Whew, that was a fun chapter to write (Yes, I did put a Bon Jovi reference in there, teehee)! Please read and review, my dears, because it makes my day every day when I get a little message that says "New Review".
And now, answers for my guests!
Your Biggest Fan- Awww, thank you! *Blushes*. You are so sweet! Really and truly, I'm just trying to mimic RR's style of writing, because I just have a weird little idiosyncrasy about writing characters like the original author wrote it. I can't wait to hear more from you in the future!
Mr bubugig- Not quite Loki the Avenger, but he resemble him quite a bit.
arianna197- Thank you! Can't wait to hear more from you!
Zae Marks- Wow, that's a lot of reviews! I loved them all, but I really wish you had an account to I could respond to you then, rather than responding now, especially since your reviews made me smile! The name for the ship is Leyna, and I included Loki mostly because it just fit, nothing to do with RR. But that's not a bad idea...
Well, that's it! I hope to hear from you all, and I will see you sometime next week! Take care!