A/N: I actually forgot to shut down the poll until today (for me), so the Proctor of Judgment got three more votes, putting it in first. Then the Mergana, then the Conspiracy.
Disclaimer: Should I really keep putting these in?
Chapter 50- The Final Battle, Part Two
Percy's POV
The Pack had at least twenty more members then last time, making them number at around eighty. In other words: Very, very, bad.
We were slowly making progress, whittling down the seemingly endless hordes of monsters and Titans, but this would be more than enough to turn the tide. Right now, the battlefield was chaotic and fragmented: An army of monsters were attacking one side of the Twelve Legion's base, and a line of Greek demigods were, in turn, attacking them. About fifty meters away, another battle raged. Poseidon's Cyclops and Hades' skeletons were holding back another horde of monsters that had, apparently, chased the Greeks here.
The Pack was racing down on a path that would take them between the lines of Cyclops/skeletons and the Greeks. Most of the demigods didn't have silver, and the Hunters were way on the other side of the battlefield. They couldn't help.
I ran towards the lines of Cyclops, struck by an idea. Tyson, luckily, was only a few meters away from me, "Tyson! I need some of your men! Werewolves."
It looked like the four years of being General of the Cyclops Army made him think a bit quicker, since he punched another Cyclops on the arm and pointed.
"YAARRR!" That Cyclops, and maybe fifty others, broke away from the lines made a wall between the lines of demigods and Poseidon's army.
Then, two people flashed in right next to me: Arin and Artemis.
"Lycaon." Artemis growled, pointing to a larger-than-normal black wolf in the center of the Pack.
Arin's eyes narrowed, studying the onrushing wolves. She was looking for an advantage, but if I couldn't- "There! Light those five cars once the Pack gets there!"
Taking Arin's word that it'd help, I waited for a few seconds, took a deep breath, and fire filled those five cars. Pain tore at my gut, then I saw tremendous explosions of Greek Fire. The werewolves, scattered, yelping, but I only got about twenty with that. "Anymore tricks up your sleeve, Arin?"
Then the werewolves were upon us, transforming into humans just before we engaged them. The Cyclopes roared and bashed with wooden clubs, while Artemis, Arin, and I all fought with our respective weapons. Cyclopes and werewolves both turned to dust as they slaughtered each other, but Artemis was fighting her way to the center of the Pack, where Lycaon waited.
Arin was knocked out of the fight when a werewolf got in a lucky hit, cutting the tendons in her right arm, then a Cyclops dragged her away and sealed up the line again.
The Pack was winning, pushing our line of Cyclopes back, so I decided to join Artemis in trying to kill Lycaon. A woman turned into a wolf and leapt at me, but a flash of fire sent her scurrying. Light blocked a sword while Riptide levered a shield aside. I kicked that werewolf away and continued on, trying to get to the dueling pair in the center. I could see flashes of the fighting between the werewolves, then I broke through the lines.
Lycaon was standing, poised to stab Artemis, who was lying, dazed, on the ground.
"No!" I leapt forward, tackling Lycaon and tumbling into the ground.
"You! Will! Not! Touch! Her!" I yelled, punching him for each of the word. Lycaon just growled and threw me off. I scrambled to my feet, then ran forward again, driving my shoulder into Lycaon's chest and knocking him to the ground.
Lycaon's sword came up at me, but I caught it with my bare hands and kicked him in the jaw, most likely breaking it. The sword fell away, leaving me with huge cuts on both hands. Grimacing, I healed them before turning away, assuming Lycaon was dead.
Around me, the werewolves turned and fled, a few of them dragging Lycaon behind them. I picked up Riptide and put it away, then draped Artemis' still form over my shoulder. I had to get her to safety. Of the around fifty Cyclopes I started with, maybe five were still standing
Light was in my right hand as I went down the line, turning to ash any monster foolish enough to get in my way. Once I was in the middle, between the lines of the undead and the Greeks, I set down Artemis and healed her as best I could, which meant all physical injuries. She was still unconscious, though, so I kept by her side.
Then the monsters broke through the lines of Cyclopes, streaming towards me. All the Cyclopes loyal to Poseidon ran back to the Greeks and reformed the line, but that left Artemis and I in the thick of it.
I was backing up to the Greeks, dragging Artemis, but I wasn't going to make it. So I drew Riptide in my left hand and faced the monster horde. A ring of fire protected Artemis so I didn't have to guard her as well. My first opponent was a telkhine, who turned to dust after Riptide took of it's head. Soon, the monsters surrounded me and I was fighting for my life. Dracaenae fell before me, but more took their place. For ever Laestrygonian I skewered, two Cyclopes seemed to appear, swinging clubs. A burst of fire granted me a reprieve for a few seconds, but that was all. Suddenly, some of the Greeks broke away from their line, curved around the Cyclopes, and started cutting a path through the monsters.
At the lead was Gwen, setting monsters ablaze or killing with with her short, thick, sword. But there was one figure striding towards them, through the crowds of monsters. A figure with red hair, wearing a long, white, coat.
Shalin struck suddenly, a gray metal cane with a red handle arcing down. It clanged off of Gwen's sword and she counterattacked, but the cane blocked every stroke with ease. Then it arced up, clobbering Gwen in the shoulder before clanging off her head.
"NO!" I turned, seeing enemy Cyclopes running at Artemis' still form. It was either her or Gwen. . . . .
Line Break
Percy's POV
I ran towards Artemis, hoping without hope that Gwen would find a way out. The first Cyclops died as a spear of water ran it through, then I fell on the rest, fighting like a demon. A hurricane started to form around me as I fought, killing every monster I saw, as if, somehow, it would help Gwen.
Then, the monsters started running away from me and from the skeleton army that Hades had summoned. Spinning, I saw why: The Legion was marching out of it's base while the rest of the Greek demigods curled around to hit the flanks of the remaining monster army. Monsters ran for the tunnel, and -other than a few volleys of arrows and insults- we let them.
Soon, the field of Mars was clear, except for the layers of dust and the bodies. I slung Artemis over my shoulder again -thank the gods she wasn't badly injured- and started looking, seeing too many faces I recognized. Will Solace from Apollo, Drew from Aphrodite, Katie Gardener from Demeter. The Stoll twins were next to each other on the ground, surrounded bu piles of dust.
The rest of the Titans either surrendered or flashed away, at least those that still could, leaving us with about fifteen captured or otherwise disabled Titans. Another body, Dex. He was being carried by Arin and Martin, who nodded to me. I nodded back without saying anything.
Then a still form caught my eye, and I motioned Arin over, along with Saracen. Gwen was lying on the ground, her neck broken. Instead of feeling sad or angry, I was just numb. I had lost too much today, it all stopped feeling real. Some of my oldest friends were dead from these wars. Beckondorf, Silena, Luke. Now I had to add to that list: The Stoll brothers, Will, Katie, and Gwen.
Saracen picked her up gently, while Arin went back to Martin. We weren't crying. That would come later, when we could look back at everything we've lost.
Apollo walked over to me, put a hand on Artemis' head, and muttered a few words. "She'll be awake in a few minutes."
Even Apollo, who always seemed, well, bright, was silent and dreary. The gods all vanished, going back to Olympus. All except for Artemis, who stirred after I set her down.
"What happened?" Artemis glanced around the field, "We lived?"
"Yeah." I replied, taking pride in that small victory. No one in war thinks they've won, only that they've lost less than their opponents, "Barely."
"Who?" Artemis asked, looking into my eyes.
"Gwen. Dexter. Will. Too many." I said.
Artemis pulled me tight, comforting me as the tears started to flow, "I could've done something. I don't know! I couldn't leave you!"
"What happened?" As I recounted it, Artemis grew a bit upset, and we sat silently, "You did your best, Percy. No one will blame you, least of all me."
I took a ragged breath, "I didn't- I don't- It was either her or you. I couldn't lose you."
"And I don't want to lose you, either." Artemis took my hand and squeezed it. "We're still alive. We can keep going. We have to."
Line Break
Percy's POV
The cost of this "victory" had been high. More than half the Greeks had died, along with ninty-eight Romans. Camp Half-Blood was empty of monsters, but the Titans had taken prisoners, locking them up inside the cabins. Chiron was among them, but no Clarisse. When I asked Martin, I learned why.
After an attack on the Titan's base in Chicago, the pursuing monsters had caught up while they were still loading everything into the cars. Clarisse and ten others held them off so Martin and the rest could get away. They were all dead now, fighting to the last.
The Hunt had twenty members of it's original thirty-five. Pheobe lived, along with Thalia, but about half of the people I brought in died at the battle, at Camp Half-Blood, or along the way here. We had captured or disabled all but four of the Titans: Pallas, Perses, Coeus, and Theia. About two hundred monsters escaped out of the original one-and-a-half thousand, but that didn't make me feel any better.
The Cyclops Army was wiped out to thirty-seven, while the skeleton army had, in fact, gained a few members. Tyson died in the counter-attack, fighting Shalin before he reached Gwen. That flanking maneuver probably carried the day, actually. Without it, the monsters would've smashed through the rest of the Cyclopes and attacked the Greek lines from the back. A massacre.
It was a lot easier to think of them as just numbers, meaningless and sanitized. Seventy-six Greeks dead. Ninety-eight Romans. Fifteen Hunters. Thirty-four Satyrs. Three hundred forty-seven Cyclopes.
I was back in my tent, sitting at my desk and staring at the plans I made, most of them still just theory. Taking a deep breath, I grabbed a glass bottle filled with amber liquid and poured some in a glass.
The scotch burned as it went down, but it dulled the pain I felt. That pain came back, so I drank again, welcoming the burn that was so much better then the dull ache it took away.
"Percy?" I heard from outside the tent.
"Yeah?" I called back, my voice hoarse. I tucked the bottle back into it's hiding place and started to stand, but the next words froze me.
"We're going to Camp."
A/N: Should I continue with this story or end it here and write a sequel? (It'll start immediately). Take the poll or review (or both) to cast a vote.
