Camp Half Blood: Sword Arena
All you could hear coming from the direction of the sword arena was metal clashing upon another metal. Almost as if there were some campers using the sword arena as a base for a forge. However, there wasn't any smoke coming from out of the arena. No. Instead, there were two young men who have come to be known as the strongest demigods that history had ever known. The brothers that were the spawn of Chaos: Percy and Cyrus. Cyrus was the one who suggested that they head to the sword arena.
So far, the two were evenly matched. One of the many benefits of having a primordial parent that doesn't have to follow the 'no contact with your children' rule. They had both spent a year and a half training with their father after their whole trip to the Sea of Monsters. Not only were they taught about how to use most of their powers in depth, but they were also taught various sword techniques. Most of these techniques were lost in the early ages of recorded history, but to a being that never grows old or dies, they stuck in Chaos' memory for a long time.
"Can we end this already Cyrus? I already know that you can take me on in a fight. Is this really necessary?" Percy asked his younger brother.
"Of course it is. We have to keep our skills up. We are due for about another 6 or 7 months of peace until Luke and Kronos make their next move. Even though we have the powers that we have, we must stay in peak condition just in case." Cyrus told his brother. After speaking, Percy had to parry one of Cyrus' strikes to his midsection.
"Just in case? You suspect that the remaining Fate would try altering something after watching both of her sisters die in front of her?" Percy asked Cyrus.
"I don't know. If anything, she may back off but there's no way of being certain of that. Even fear fails when it comes to doing the right thing." Cyrus responded.
"Point taken. We've been at this for ten minutes though, we do deserve to rest. After all, we both bare the Curse of Achilles. Since I was training in Tartarus, it doesn't sap as much of my stamina. However, that is not the case with you. Don't push yourself too far." Percy told his younger brother. Clicking the button on the bottom of his sword hilt, Percy watched as it reverted back to its pen form. With a reluctant sigh, Cyrus did the same with his own weapon.
"Keeping busy does keep one occupied enough to not think about his future training in Tartarus." Cyrus answered. Percy patted Cyrus' shoulder and went to go sit down on a nearby seat. Cyrus closely followed suit and took a seat on his brother's left hand side.
"How's this for a change of pace? Did you give any further thought about moving in with my mom and I?" Percy asked him. Cyrus slowly nodded his head as his gaze was directed at the sky.
"Well don't keep me in suspense. How about it?" Percy asked him.
"I'd love to move in with you guys. I really would, but I still would feel like I'm intruding even though I was invited to stay by your mother." Cyrus answered him.
"I'm not going to force you to change your mind Cyrus. Just now that the offer will remain open until you decide that you will accept it. You may not know my mother but she already considers you family." Percy told Cyrus happily. He even patted Cyrus' shoulder for extra effect.
"I'll remember that Percy. Now let's get back to sword training." Cyrus answered in response. Percy chuckled and got out of his seat, getting his sword ready while Cyrus did the same. The two rushed at each other and all you heard coming from the sword arena was the continuous clashing of metal.
Camp Half-Blood: Chaos Cabin
"It has been awhile. Maybe we should go and check up on them." Bianca said worriedly.
"Take a deep breath sis. This is Percy and Cyrus we're talking about. They'll be fine. They're most likely having a long conversation in the forest." Nico answered. Hope was ringing in his tone of voice.
"I've got to agree with Nico. I've got an empathy link with Percy and right now he's feeling….happy-ish." Grover stated.
"Happy-ish?" Thalia, Annabeth and Nico asked at the same time.
"There's definitely some happiness, but he's also feeling pressured. Why would he feel like that with Cyrus in the forest?" Grover asked them.
"Unless they're not in the forest anymore?" Annabeth guessed.
"Looks like we're searching for my boyfriend and his brother." Bianca surmised. Everyone else nodded and got up from the couch that they were on. Bianca was the first one out of the door, followed quickly by her brother. Grover decided to be the one to close the door and waited for Annabeth and Thalia to leave before him. It was the gentlemanly thing to do after all.
"If I were 2 all-powerful demigods, where would I be?" Nico muttered to himself out loud. Grover looked around and closed his eyes in concentration. If there was one thing he depended on the most, after Percy and his friends of course, it was his sense of smell. He took a deep whiff of the air to try to surmise their location.
"There's a strong smell of sweat coming from the sword arena. Shall we check there first?" Grover asked the others.
"It's the best lead we've got. Why not?" Thalia answered in response. Nico, Annabeth and Bianca nodded in agreement before they all took the short walk from the cabin area to the sword arena. The closer they got to the arena, the louder the sound of metal clashing with metal got. Whoever was down there sounded as if they were trying to kill each other.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the two demigods who seem to never stop training: the Chaos brothers." Annabeth answered in a low chuckle. In the time since they had last seen both Percy and Cyrus, both of the brothers had discarded their sweat-drenched shirts and were practicing with only their pants and shoes on. Annabeth, Nico and Thalia were secretly admiring Percy's lean form, while Bianca was admiring her boyfriend's own abs.
For the next ten minutes, they took seats at the very top of the sword arena and watched the two demigods below continue their training. Nico was paying close attention for two reasons. The first was because of his crush on Percy and the second was because he also used a sword. During the short 24 hours that his father trained him, he was given a Stygian Iron sword. Without Chaos' essence, it could still absorb the essence of immortals and monsters. A gift truly fitting for a child of Hades.
Cyrus and Percy finally stopped after another twenty minutes of going at it. Up to this point, neither of them noticed that they drew a crowd. Clicking the button on the bottom of his hilt, Percy placed his sword-turned-pen into his pocket. Cyrus followed the same action with his own weapon.
"How's that for a workout Perce?" Cyrus asked his older brother. A chuckle escaped his lips as he bended down so he could reach his sweaty shirt.
"We wouldn't happen to have a laundry room hidden in the cabin would we?" Cyrus asked Percy.
"No we don't. We have something even better." Percy answered in response. Cyrus skeptically raised an eyebrow at Percy's statement.
"Okay, I'll bite. How is it better?" Cyrus asked out of curiosity.
"You see, it is a bottle of liquid. However, all you have to do is run some water in the tub, pour the contents of the bottle into the tub, put your dirty clothes in the water, wait ten or twenty minutes and you will have clean and odor-free clothes. It washes, rinses and dries all by itself. I'm sure Dad stocked some under the kitchen sink." Percy explained to Cyrus.
"There's no way in Hades something like that exists. It's too perfect." Cyrus commented. Percy chuckled and held Cyrus' right shoulder with his left hand.
"Little brother, Greeks Gods, monsters and demigods aren't supposed to exist. Yet, here we are." Percy answered simply. Cyrus opened his mouth to rebuttal, but found that he couldn't.
"I believe the word you're looking for is 'touché'." Percy teased. Seeing how there was no other word he could use, Cyrus relented to his older brother's teasing.
"Touché, Percy. Touché." Cyrus said all dramatically.
"Bravo boys. You've managed to impress every single one of us yet again." Thalia loudly called out from the top of the arena.
"How many sword forms do you guys know?" Nico asked out of curiosity. Much to Nico's disappointment, both Percy and Cyrus shrugged their shoulders.
"Our father taught us a lot of sword forms from over the millennia. I'm absolutely sure that we haven't even begun to scratch the surface when it comes to swordsmanship." Cyrus answered honestly.
"Let's just leave it at 'a lot' for now. Shall we?" Percy asked his friends. Reluctantly, Annabeth and the others nodded at Percy.
"Quick question though. Why were you and Cyrus swordfighting in the first place?" Grover asked his best friend.
"I made a joke in the forest about how Cyrus here would temporarily be stronger than me and he suggested this bit of practice. Even though I already knew that he could easily keep up with me." Percy answered quickly.
"Temporarily? Why temporarily?" Bianca asked.
"When this whole war with Kronos ends, Percy intends to take over as the one who leads the Olympians. To do that, he'd have to become…." Cyrus began to explain.
"A God. He's going to become a God." Annabeth stated as she finished Cyrus' train of thought. All eyes directed themselves towards Percy, who had both of his hands in his pockets and a look of total relaxation on his face. Almost as if he had made peace with the fact that Godhood was waiting for him.
"Is this true Percy?" Thalia asked him incredulously.
"Yeah it's true. I can't just force the Olympians to take me seriously with help from my father all of the time. To lead them, I will have to be one of them. I'll still be there whenever any of you need me. That's the promise of a lifetime. My lifetime." Percy told them all.
"I already said that I'd support you even if I didn't like the decision you made. You're my best friend Perce." Grover told Percy. Grover went for a high five, and lucky enough for him, Percy was perceptive enough to anticipate it coming. The two clapped hands with smiles on their faces.
"I was prepared for the possibility of this happening since the first time I actually talked to our father. Besides, someone needs to knock some humanity into those deities. Who better to do so than you brother?" Cyrus asked Percy.
"Remember Cyrus, I'm trying to do this peacefully from now on. There's more than likely going to be zero slapping." Percy joked in response. Cyrus instead responded with a playful, yet lively punch to Percy's left shoulder.
"No need to hit me Cyrus." Percy chided while rubbing his now sore arm.
"Someone has got to do it to keep your ego from inflating." Cyrus joked.
"Yeah. Definitely wouldn't want that to happen." Percy jokingly agreed.
"If you two are done…." Annabeth began to say.
"We can all go back to the cabin." Thalia finished happily. She was starting to get rather bored and her legs were beginning to feel like pins and needles. She stood (or tried to stand) up but she had lost the feeling of her legs and tumbled towards Annabeth. Both Grover and Nico were trying their hardest not to laugh at what had just happened, but the looks on both their faces gave it straight away.
"Damn it." Thalia muttered angrily under her breath, as Annabeth helped her friend up.
"Come on guys. We're due for movies back at the cabin." Percy said with a wide smile on his face. With that, everyone made their way back to Chaos Cabin.
Later That Night
Camp Half-Blood: Chaos Cabin
Thalia, Annabeth, Grover, Nico and Bianca were all passed out from a grueling day of having a movie marathon. Cyrus and Percy were in Percy's room with the door tightly shut and soundproofed. Percy was sitting on the edge of his bed, while Cyrus was sitting at the desk. His head was placed on his hand as he was staring out of the window in thought.
"Did Dad say when he was going to get here?" Cyrus asked after staring out of the window for nearly ten minutes.
"He's waiting for everyone else to be fully asleep before he comes and gets you Cyrus. He doesn't want to cause any problems by starting your training earlier than expected. Especially from Bianca." Percy explained to Cyrus.
"I don't want to wake up Bianca. No matter how much I want to say goodbye." Cyrus said.
"Dream Manipulation?" Percy suggested.
"We don't have that power Perce." Cyrus argued.
"I can grant you the power temporarily. I know how much Miss di Angelo means to you Cyrus." Chaos volunteered out of thin air. A few seconds later, his body appeared in the room. As per usual, Chaos was dressed in the finest suit that money could buy. A perk of being the oldest being in the history of history.
"You can do that Dad?" Cyrus asked.
"Cyrus, my son. I can make all of the Olympians human with a snap of my fingers. Granting powers is equally as simple to me." Chaos answered. Cyrus didn't need any time to think about it as he nodded his head in agreement. Chaos snapped his finger and Cyrus' form glowed light blue for a few seconds.
"I've rigged it to pull you out of her dreams after ten minutes, so I suggest that you make every moment count Cyrus. After that, we're heading to Tartarus to begin your training." Chaos told Cyrus.
"I get it Dad. Ten minutes and then it's off to half a year of intensive training." Cyrus replied. Closing his eyes in concentration, Cyrus focused on Bianca so it would be easier to access her dreams.
Dream World: Bianca's Dream
Bianca was sitting on a couch watching her favorite movie with a bowl of popcorn. The popcorn itself was extra buttery, lightly salted and sprinkled with a little bit of hot sauce here and there. She was entirely alone and just enjoying the silence.
"I'm surprised that this dream doesn't have me in it." Cyrus commented out loud. Of course, doing that scared the hell out of Bianca.
"Where did you come from? Aren't you supposed to be at work?" Bianca asked hysterically. Cyrus placed both of his hands up in surrender as he walked towards his girlfriend.
"Listen Bianca, I don't have too much time. Right now, this is your dream. So your dream version of myself is who is at work. I just came here to deliver you a message." Cyrus explained to her.
"You can manipulate dreams?" Bianca asked incredulously.
"Just this one time. Dad is allowing it so I wouldn't have to wake you up. You look absolutely adorable when you're sleeping, you know?" Cyrus jokingly asked his girlfriend. Bianca playfully punched her boyfriend in the arm before hugging him tightly.
"Where are you going?" she asked him sadly.
"To Tartarus. Dad is starting my training early. As much as it pains me to say it, you guys were right. He really is looking out for Percy and I. I had trouble believing so after he took Percy to Tartarus, but I believe it now." Cyrus admitted.
"Why the change of heart?" Bianca asked out of curiosity.
"Somehow my dad knew that I would've been miserable the longer I would've had to wait for my own training to begin. He wants to hurry up and get it out of the way, so that I wouldn't be plagued with stress about it though." Cyrus surmised with a smile.
"When will you be back?" Bianca asked reluctantly.
"In about six or seven months. When I return, I will have changed a lot. Just know that my love for you will never change Bianca." Cyrus told her passionately. Taking the chance of the moment that he had just started, Cyrus lifted up Bianca's chin with his thumb and forefinger and planted a sole, lingering kiss on her lips. That, obviously, wasn't enough as Bianca initiated it even further by going even further into the kiss. Cyrus didn't want to leave, but he could feel the power weakening quickly, so he separated himself from Bianca.
"Remember Bianca. I love you and I will always love you. I will also miss you more than words can describe. However, I've got to go now." Cyrus told her sadly. She nodded and kissed him deeply one last time before Cyrus' venture into her dream ended.
Chaos Cabin: Percy's Room
Cyrus opened his eyes and the first thing he felt was sadness. The second thing he felt was a single teardrop cascading down his cheek. Quickly using his right sleeve to wipe away the tear, Cyrus turned around towards his father and his brother.
"I'm ready. Let's do this." Cyrus called out with a fierce determination blazing in his eyes. He had finally remembered his reason for all of the fighting he had been through since he met Bianca.