(A/N: Hey everyone! I hope you're all staying inside during these troubling times. Remember to wash your hands and keep up with healthy practices! Enjoy this new chapter!)
I walked around Harlem Meer, making mental notes of the surrounding area as Morpheus strolled in front of me.
It was early-June when Alabaster assigned me the task of going to New York with Morpheus to scout out the battlefield. It was somewhat risky but Silena confirmed no demigods were on missions around that area so it should've been relatively safe.
Walking near Morpheus was difficult, which is expected considering he was the god of dreams and made any passing mortal fall down and sleep. I was already pretty tired from shadow travelling to Manhattan, just being near him made it hard for me to keep my eyes open.
"Can you lay off the magic, a bit? I'm gonna pass out if you don't, Lord Morpheus."
He stopped and turned to me, staring at me right in the eye. I fought the urge to curl up on the ground and sleep, knowing all too well that I might not even wakeup.
"I could, and I am, maybe you're weaker than your boyfriend claimed." He continued walking, making a couple of joggers fall along the way.
I finally found out when Ethan's birthday was, which was about two weeks ago. Thankfully, I found out a couple of weeks before so I could have time to get him a gift.
I didn't know what to get him, but then it dawned on me. I saw him always fighting with a plain, Celestial Bronze sword, so I thought, why not get him a new weapon? He got me one for Christmas. Then, I got him this special dagger's coated in poison. Once the poison hits your bloodstream, you have barely enough time to heal yourself before you... well, die.
Pretty wicked gift, am I right?
As well, he got promoted from soldier to lieutenant due to the fact he redeemed himself after the failed Christmas mission. Now, he has a room all to himself instead of sharing with the boys. Naturally, I moved in with him. I talked to some of the higher-ups and they permitted it, long as there wasn't any 'funny business' in the room, we would be fine.
Morpheus looked at the buildings in the surrounding area, making mental notes on how high the spell should be.
"What about planes? Would the planes crash? And if people were driving-" I began.
"Stop worrying, it'll be fine. The engines would be shut off as well and Hecate will deal with the matter of planes and people entering the city." He stopped, putting his hand on the forehead of a fallen jogger.
I looked around, checking if we were being watched when I saw a flash of brown in the woods. At first, I thought it was some sort of animal, but the way it moved and sounded, I knew better.
"Walk to the grove, we're being followed," I whispered to him before we continued walking.
I made mental notes as well on where everything should be laid out once we invaded Manhattan. Every building, every source of water, all of it. If we're gonna be facing Percy, we need to remove any source of water in the near vicinity to prevent him from using it.
We soon arrived at the base of a large elm tree when someone spoke behind us, their voice all too familiar.
"What are you doing?" Grover questioned.
I froze, trying to conceal my face so he wouldn't recognize me.
Dammit, why is he here? Shouldn't he be at camp making wreath laurels or whatever? I tried melting my body into the shadows as much as possible, but fortunately enough, he focussed on Morpheus.
"Having a look around. You always scout a battlefield before a battle," Morpheus answered cryptically.
"Well, this um forest is under my protection! There won't be any battles here!" Grover declared in an attempt to sound brave.
Morpheus laughed, which unsettled me. "You're lucky I'm saving my powers for the big show. I'll grant you a short nap." He waved his hand, Grover's eyes shutting before he fell face-first into the roots of the tree.
I stared at my old friend, my stomach knotting as I had conflicting feelings over this.
Grover allegiance lies with the gods, he deserves this, one part of me argued.
But he was our friend, another part of me stated.
It's not like he's dead, just sleeping, that part reassured me, making me calm down a bit.
"C'mon, you should return to the fortress. We can't risk any demigods or satyrs recognizing you despite the fact..." he trailed off, staring at me.
"Fine..." I replied before shadow travelling back to my room.
I stumbled towards my bed, leaping out of a shadow and nearly running into Ethan, who was changing his shirt.
"Rina!" he exclaimed, catching me before I fell, "Aren't you supposed to be in New York?"
"Y-yeah... I was..." I answered as my eyes drooped.
He helped me onto the bed, handing me a piece of ambrosia before sitting down beside me. He wrapped his arm around me as I bit into the ambrosia.
Instantly, I felt better. As well, I realized Ethan was shirtless and basically hugging me, making my face heat up.
"Um... you want a shirt?"
He smirked, kissing me on the neck. "Hm... I'm not going anywhere so..."
"W-what time is it?" I yawned, resting my head on his shoulder before he could kiss me anymore.
"Eight," he kissed me on my forehead.
"C'mon, I'm tired, let me sleep," I complained, pushing him away with a smile.
"Yeah, but I was stuck with Nathan complaining about his unit being stuck here guarding the base," he argued as I fell back.
I stared up at the ceiling, yawning again.
He yawned, lying down beside me and sliding his arm underneath my head. "How was New York?"
"Boring... I ran into one of my old friends though."
He raised his eyebrow, glancing at me. "Did they recognize you?"
"I don't think so, or maybe they didn't see me."
"Makes sense."
Now I raised my eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well, you do look a lot different than you did a year ago," he pointed out, twirling a strand of my hair.
"Yeah, I have a scar on my leg, but that's all."
"Your hair, duh."
I sat upright, confused. "What about my hair?" It came out harsher than I intended, but it got the point across.
He sat up too, looking equally confused. "Well, it's not red anymore."
"It's auburn, and what do you mean about that?"
"Well, I guess you haven't seen a mirror in a while right?"
I crossed my arms, offended by the statement. Is he seriously insulting how I look? I can't seriously be that ugly, right?
Quickly, he added, "You look hot, okay? But you're hair is a different colour now, you might not have noticed because there aren't any mirrors here."
Wait, haven't I've seen a mirror? Yeah, I'm pretty sure I see my reflection in the water or windows all the time. I never really looked that long before though...
"Okay, I have a picture of you when we first started dating." He stood up and walked towards his bag on the table, rifling through it.
I had to turn away as a blush crossed my face from staring at his exposed back.
Gods, why does he have to be so hot?
"Right here." He handed me the photo strip with us on one of our first dates.
It was four different photos, the first one of him kissing my neck, the second was just us smiling, the third was us kissing each other, and the last one was of us making out.
"Notice anything special?"
"Um, I got a hair cut?" It was true, that was the day I got my hair cut so it just touched my shoulders. It hadn't grown out though, it might be a while until my hair reaches my back.
"Okay, this is a picture of us on my birthday." He handed me another photo, and that's when I noticed the difference immediately.
In the new photo we were just were standing in front of a birch tree, his arm around my shoulder. However, that wasn't what I noticed. The thing was, my hair was darker, almost brown basically. The older photo my hair was still a bright auburn, but in this one, it was extremely dark.
"What the Hades..." I was left speechless. How did my hair change colour? I didn't dye it, that's for sure.
"I don't know, Hecate mentioned it might be a possible side effect when we um... restored your memories." He seemed oddly nervous when he said this before laying back down on the bed.
"She did?" I didn't recall so.
"Let's get some sleep." He gently tugged my arm, pulling me back.
I laid down on his arm, contemplating what he said.
Why was he dodging the subject? Maybe she told him in private, but still. Why wasn't it brought up to me? Why is he always nervous whenever I mentioned my memories being changed? Actually, I don't think he even says the words 'altered' or 'changed' whenever we mentioned my memories.
Eh, probably nothing, I'm just overanalyzing.
"Only a couple weeks until the big fight, huh?" I asked, turning so we were face-to-face.
"Yep, I'll be on Princess Andromeda, and you'll be summoning skeletons here," he replied, bopping my nose.
I giggled, kissing him. "I'll be in New York after you, don't worry."
"I don't like the idea of you shadow travelling there after summoning tons of skeletons."
"I'll rest a bit before going, don't worry. I'll be in New Jersey with you in no time."
An expression crossed his face, one I recognized as fear.
"Hey, Medusa's dead, don't worry about her," I reassured him. I knew he got scared when we decided we were camp at Medusa's old lair, but I didn't know why.
"Yeah... it's stupid I'm scared though..."
"I think it's kinda cute, also kinda ironic considering you only have one eye." I pecked him on the cheek as my eyelids started to droop.
"You should get some sleep," he whispered into my ear, pulling me closer to his body.
I wanted to protest, but it was getting harder for me to keep my eyes open every passing second.
"I love you," he said, his words muffled as he spoke into my hair.
"I love you too..."
"I need a hundred of them," Alabaster told me through an Iris Message.
The ships holding the monsters, demigods, and anyone else fighting for our cause had already left several days ago. However, several of them remained at Mount Othrys to protect it just in case there was a siege there, but I doubt it.
Who would go there? The demigods were already stretched thin enough, having less than a hundred campers in all.
"Okay, I'll summon them here, then divide them up. Half of them will remain here while the other half will be sent there." I nodded my head.
Alabaster wanted me to summon a hundred skeletons for the fortress, and then another hundred for the battle against the campers.
"They'll be able to cross the country?"
"Yes, I'll order them to get to New Jersey by nightfall on the fifteenth," I replied.
Why couldn't I just summon them there? Wouldn't that be insanely easier?
"Alright, we-" He was caught off by yelling.
"What was that?"
He grumbled something under his breath which sounded kinda like 'Jackson'. Then, he waved his through the message, leaving me confused and worried.
What did that Barnacle Boy do now?
"Arina."
I turned, going into a bow immediately at the sight of Koios, one of the Titans remaining at the fortress. "Yes?"
"It's time."
I nodded my head, following him outside to a large empty patch of land.
"Go ahead, we don't have all day."
I pulled my sword out of its sheath, taking a deep breath before digging it into the ground, chanting Ancient Greek while doing so. A second later, the ground cracked opened, skeletal arms emerging out of it.
"That's enough."
I nodded, pulling my blade out of the ground, closing the fissure and creating a long streak in the ground.
"Order them to arrive at 'Aunty Em's Gnome Emporium', those exact words," he ordered.
I complied. "Warriors of bones, I order you to go to Aunty Em's Gnome Emporium in New Jersey before nightfall on the fifteenth of August of this year!" I bellowed, "And you hundred!" I pointed to the warriors clad in twentieth-century armour. "Remain here and defend Mount Othrys against any who seek to destroy it! Protect Lord Kronos' throne until you've been shattered into a million pieces!"
The soldiers split off, half of them going up the mountain towards the fortress, the other half going downhill.
"That's enough, you may go rest before going to New Jersey as well, we won't you need here anymore."
I nodded, again, and rushed up the hill.
I felt exhausted from summoning that many skeleton warriors, I could practically collapse. As well, I heard some very faint buzzing in my ears, but that was probably due to exhaustion as well.
Once in my room, I did collapse.
I woke up to yelling and sword clashing. I sat upright in my bed, stuffing some ambrosia into my mouth before grabbing my bag and suiting up in armour.
I did a quick survey of the room, seeing it practically bare except for a table and the bed. Guess I'm not coming back to this, I thought before dashing out the door.
I saw this guy with blond hair and blue eyes, similar to Luke, but way less attractive. He was dressed in armour, but it didn't look Greek.
He caught sight of me, his eyes narrowing. "A servant to Saturn!" he spat.
"Who the Hades is Saturn?" I questioned before shadow travelling behind him and knocking him to the ground, "I only serve Kronos so I could cripple the Olympians," I spat.
"Octavian!"
I turned, seeing more soldiers arrive. I chose then to shadow travel away.
I wasn't alone in the shadows, I know that for sure. I felt my body brush against fur, and for a split second, I thought I saw Mrs. O'Leary, Percy's pet hellhound.
A second later, I stumbled into Medusa's lair, which was being inhabited by several giants and Lord Kronos himself.
"Morales," he greeted coldly.
"Lord Kronos." I dropped to one knee, bowing.
"Rise, we don't need you now. However, you should help tend to the injured friends of yours," he advised.
"What, my lord?"
Once outside, I saw Ethan and several demigods around a makeshift infirmary, all getting bandaged or something along those lines. Same went for some human mercenaries, but I didn't really pay attention to those guys. They're just creepy.
"Ethan, what the Hades happened?" I exclaimed, marching up to him while sheathing my sword, which I brought out when fighting the blond dude.
"Rina?" He was eating some ambrosia as I sat down beside him. "You're old friends blew up Andromeda."
I clenched my fist, taking a deep breath. "Jackson, huh?"
"And a kid of Hephaestus, Charleson?"
"Charles Beckendorf," I corrected.
"Well, he's dead now."
I froze, unable to process what he just said. Beckendorf was... dead? Ohmygods... why did he have to be a hero? The Andromeda was just a ploy- oh gods, Silena, how is she gonna handle this news?
"At-at least you're okay," I managed to say, leaning against him as a wave of regret and fatigue hit me.
"Here, drink this." He offered me a cup of nectar.
"It's fine, you can have it."
He rolled his eyes. "I'll be fine."
I begrudgingly accept the small cup, downing it in a second.
"C'mon, I've already have a tent for us, let's go rest in there." He walked me along the rows of tents as I was lost in thought.
I heard buzzing in my ears, but I thought it was from being tired, why didn't I realize Beckendorf died? And the worst part was his death was unnecessary. Why did he try to be a hero? Gods... it was probably Percy's fault, why couldn't he help him escape? I'll kill that boy- I stopped my train of thought immediately.
When did I start wanting Percy to die? Yeah, he's helping the gods, but he doesn't know any better. Maybe I'm just being overly harsh? Yeah, I'm just overthinking it. Percy was my friend before I switched sides, he probably doesn't even-
"Hey, earth to Rina? You okay?" Ethan inquired.
I realized we arrived at our tent, which just had two cots and a table in it. It was reasonably sized, all things considered, that is.
"Yeah... I guess..."
"Hey," he said, cupping my face in his hands, "it's not your fault he's dead, you couldn't have predicted this."
"Yeah... but I could've warned Silena that it was a ploy, maybe then her-"
"You wouldn't have been able to predict that he stayed on the ship, so stop blaming yourself." He pulled me into a kiss, making my worries melt away in an instant.
We started making out, falling onto one of the cots, making it creak under our combined weight.
"Are you okay?" I asked him, breaking away from the kiss.
"Yeah, kissing you is always great," he replied, grinning before pulling me back down to kiss him.
"I meant by the exploding ship." I pulled away, brushing a couple of strands of away from his forehead. "Some of the others look pretty beat up."
"Thanks to Alabaster, he managed to save a lot of our soldiers."
"What about the rest of them?" I gulped, fearing and knowing the answer.
His eyes softened, pulling me closer to his chest so I was lying against it. "It's not your fault they're dead."
"But it was pointless, so many dead just for a diversion..."
"Hey, it's fine." He brought my chin up to look at him. "We all knew the risk of joining this army."
I sighed, knowing he was right. Gods, I hate it when he's right because he's so godsdamn hot when he is.
"And I'm fine, just a small headache but I was close to Alabaster when it blew," he reassured me.
I yawned, feeling my tiredness finally sinking in.
"You should get some rest, the battles gonna start soon."
Morpheus and Hecate launched the first 'assault' on New York after Silena informed us the Ares cabin wouldn't be fighting. The first attack was naturally making all the mortals in New York fall asleep, and Kronos was receiving help from Hecate to slow down time in the surrounding area.
"What's the plan? Who's going where?" I asked Silena after she was debriefed on the strategy.
She had a pained look on her face. She kept on blaming herself for Beckendorf's death, despite the fact it wasn't. I've been trying to convince her otherwise, but I decided to go back to the battle plan to distract her, or mostly myself.
"Apollo cabin is at Williamsburg, Demeter's gonna be at the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, Hermes is heading for Manhattan Bridge and Brooklyn Bridge, my cabin's going to Queens-Midtown Tunnel, H-Hephaestus at the Holland Tunnel, 59th Street is being covered by Athena, and Lincoln's being watched by the Hunters."
I swore under my breath. Somehow, they managed to figure out where the Sherman tanks were going. "Fine, I'll inform Alabaster."
"Wait, Arina," she said, stopping me from waving the Iris Message away.
"What?" The moment I said it, it sounded harsher than I intended.
She looked upset still but she continued. "Can you please minimize the damage? Make sure not that many demigods are killed?"
I sighed, shaking my head. "I can't guarantee anything, you know that. The monsters and mercenaries have the mind of their own, I can't control all of them-"
"But can you try? I don't want to l-lose anyone else," she pleaded, looking close to tears again.
"Fine... I'll try, but I'm not swearing it on anything. If they get in the way, I-I have to accept they're g-gonna die." It was hard for me to say those words, especially since so many of the campers were once my friends.
"Wait! I just remembered something."
"What?"
"Hestia said... she said Percy has the curse of Achilles."
I deadpanned. This was going to a problem. "Okay, fine, I'll inform them. Knowing him, he probably chose something stupid like his armpit or tongue."
"Okay, well, be safe, I got to go."
"Same goes for you." I waved my hand through the Mist before entering the strategy tent with the others.
"What did you find out?" Clement questioned, examining a map.
"Move the Shermans, the Hunters are covering that area. Aim for the weaker spots." I hastily wrote down what Silena told me on the map, at each entrance I wrote the cabin guarding it.
"What about the boats?" Kaila asked.
"Percy's gonna deal with that, I presume. A land strike is the best option, but send a couple of monsters and mercenaries to test it, we never know."
The others nodded, making adjustments to the plan.
"Also, Silena informed me of some... unfortunate news," I added.
"What? We're gonna smoke them, they only have forty campers," Zeke stated.
"Well, apparent Percy has the curse of Achilles now."
The tent went silent. Everyone glanced at each other before looking at Alabaster for further information. However, even he looked shocked.
"I-I'll inform Lord Kronos immediately." He rushed out of the room.
I looked at the new plan with a grin. "Those demigods are gonna wish they chose our side."
In a matter of minutes, everyone was clad in armour before being divided up by Ethan and Alabaster. Then, we were sent on different routes to get to Manhattan, by boat, by teleporting, and by car ride.
I was sent to Williamsburg Bridge with Ethan, enjoying the car ride and a quick make-out session in the back of the van.
"When's the next time we can kiss like this?" I inquired.
"Hopefully soon, this battle will be over in two days, tops," he replied, running his hands up my shirt.
Soon, we arrived at the bridge, just as the Apollo kids did.
"You wanna lead them?" Ethan asked me, his obscuring his face except for his eye.
"Well, you wanted the Minotaur, but you got me." I slipped on my helmet, which was made of Stygian Iron as well.
All of my armour was Stygian Iron, actually. Breastplates, greaves, all of it.
"Try avoiding using your blades, they might recognize them," he advised as we stared off at the campers.
"I'll try."
Then the fight began. Monsters raged forward as demigods shot arrows at them from the suspension cables, but some managed to get through the onslaught of attack.
"I'll deal with the archers," I told Ethan before I shadow travelled onto the suspension cables.
I found one quickly, shoving him off and stealing his bow. I heard a splash when he fell off the bridge, easing my guilt of nearly killing someone. I then used his bow, firing at a couple of demigods who were using explosive arrows.
"Up there!"
They caught sight of me, trying to shoot at me. I easily jumped onto one of the cables and swung down, ordering several skeletons forwards and hellhounds.
Everything was a blur after that, just a flurry of swords and claws. I might've gone temporarily deaf from the constant screaming and clashing of blades, but it turns out, it didn't last long.
I looked up, my eyes narrowing when I saw the two pegasi, one of them being black. I knew who were the two lovebirds up there immediately.
"The prophesied idiot decided to show up," I spat, firing a couple of more arrows. Naturally, because I couldn't shoot, I missed them all. The good thing was that they were exploding arrows, so it knocked a lot of campers back.
Ethan ordered everyone to push forward, and we did.
"Duck!" I screamed as an arrow flew towards us, one I remembered emitted a loud noise,
Unfortunately, some monsters weren't lucky enough and exploded the moment it went by them.
"Get the soldier in black! I think he's their leader," a person said gesturing to me from behind the wall of cars.
How did I hear that? I have no clue, but I was ready for a fight.
Percy ordered everyone to push forward before appearing behind a school bus and staring me down. If he recognized me, he didn't show it, he just headed towards me.
"Who are you?" he yelled.
I didn't reply, glaring at him as I felt anger bubble up inside me. Why is he still defending the gods after all they did to us? Oh, I can't believe he's dense enough to trust them and their lies! He's gonna get himself killed!
Once he was close enough, I made the first strike, but he blocked it with Riptide. We kept on swinging at each other as I tried to figure out where his Achilles' heel was.
"Why are you serving Kronos? Are you a demigod, or some minor god in disguise?" he questioned as I feinted a strike to his neck.
If I talked, he'll know it's me, that's for sure. He may be stupid, but he knows people.
"Not talking, huh? Did you trade your tongue or something like Ethan?"
I swung at his side, but the blade easily bounced off, making me angrier. I was frustrated I couldn't find his weak spot, making me more reckless by the second.
I overextended at one point, he ended up tripping me and knocking away my sword.
"Guess you-" Before he could complete his sentence, I summoned some shadows around us and fired it at him, closing it around his neck.
I saw Annabeth's eyes go wide from the sidelines when this happened before she tackled me, making me lose my control over the shadow.
She pinned me to the ground, looking at me. Then, she ripped my helmet off just as I kicked her off, knocking her into Percy.
"Let. Me. Fucking. Go." I hissed, glaring at her.
Percy seemed bewildered and shocked. "But-but, you're dead, how are you-"
"Well, you didn't think it was that easy to kill me, did you?" I raised my eyebrow, swinging my siccae blades around my fingers.
"But why are you-"
"Enough chit-chat, just fight me already." I shadow travelled to them, trying to land a hit on Percy.
He kept on trying to talk to me as we fought. I, of course, ignored him. Reason one: I didn't need to explain myself to him. Reason two: I didn't hear half of what he was asking. The fighting was really loud.
"I'm not gonna answer any of your questions, Jackson," I spat, summoning more shadows around us.
He looked hurt when I said this. "Arina, what happened? Why did you join the Titans? I thought you-"
"You want to know fucking why?" I exclaimed, "You're godsdamn father, all the Olympians for that matter, KILLED my mom and brother!"
Now, he looked more confused than ever. "But I thought-"
"They altered my memories!" I yelled, pushing him farther back.
Just then, I saw Ethan and I sent a nod towards him. A second later, he tried swinging at Percy's exposed back, but something happened. Annabeth jumped in the way, getting stabbed in the shoulder by his poisoned knife.
Percy turned, shocked. He glared at my boyfriend, knocking him down with the butt of his blade.
A smile flickered onto my face when I saw this but quickly disappeared, which made Percy pale slightly before standing in front of Annabeth defensively.
"No one touches her!" he shouted.
I grabbed my boyfriend's unconscious body, scowling at my old friend. "This isn't over, I will get my revenge. And you'll regret it, oh boy, you will." I shadow travelled further back, grabbing my sword, just as Kronos appeared, staring at Percy with a curious expression.
"Collapse the bridge," Alabaster ordered me once I handed Ethan off to some medics.
"What?"
"While Jackson's distract-" Before he could continue, Kronos and Percy started fighting.
Everyone stared, transfixed by them. Kronos swung his blade down, knocking even his men off the bridge while Percy flew a couple of hundred feet back.
Michael Yew yelled something to Percy, but before he could, I stepped in.
"Lord Kronos!" I warned.
He glanced back at me, hopefully realizing what I was implying before I swung my sword down. An earthquake erupted across the bridge just as Percy did something similar on his side of the bridge.
The bridge started collapsing as everyone fell back, running towards land. Some of our soldiers fell into the river as I felt of surge of death around me.
I tried shutting it out as I slipped into a car with a medic that was tending to Ethan in it. "How is he?"
"He's fine, but you better head back out there unless you want Lord Kronos to kill you," they replied.
"It's almost sunrise, we have to withdraw."
The car started up as a couple more demigods slipped into the car. Then, we rode off to our camp in New Jersey.
"We'll rest here until sunrise, then we'll continue forward!" Alabaster informed us demigods and mercenaries before heading off with me to the strategy tent.
Once inside, I realized Prometheus was there. "Master Prometheus." I bowed my head.
"Hm... we'll need you as well," he said cryptically.
"Um, for what, master?" I felt exposed and tired then, and my worry about Ethan was growing by the second.
The last I saw of him was that he was being carried towards our tent, but then I was rushed to hear the announcement by Alabaster.
"We're going under a flag of truce and I require Nakamura and your assistance."
"And what are we supposed to accomplish? Not like Jackson's gonna give up, he's too arrogant too."
"Well, we're gonna give him something, special." He placed a jar on the table.
It was a jar with intricate designs over it, looking well over a hundred years old.
"Pandora's pithos."
"What? Like Pandora's Box?"
He sighed. "Well, it was a pithos, I don't know where this box nonsense came from though."
"Okay, whatever, so you want me to go with you?"
"Yes," he answered.
I nodded my head before Alabaster dismissed me.
I ran back towards my tent, running into multiple demigods and mercenaries along the way. Once in my tent, I found Ethan starting to wake up.
"Ugh... my head," he groaned, trying to push himself up.
"Hey, you should get some rest." I gently pushed him back down before grabbing some nectar from my bag.
He blinked a couple of times, his eyes taking a second before focussing on me. "Rina? W-what happened?"
I sat on the edge of the bed, handing him the nectar. I watched him drink some of it before answering. "We were fighting on the bridge. You were trying to stab Jackson, but for some reason, Annabeth jumped in front of him. He got mad and knocked you unconscious." I gestured towards his dented helmet, which was discarded on the ground.
He nodded, gingerly touched his nose before wincing.
"At least you're awake now." I smiled, trying to stifle a laugh when I realized how squashed his nose was.
It looked like a tomato.
"What's so funny?" He handed me back the flask of the godly drink.
"Your nose." I giggled before lying next to him.
It was a small bed, but at night we pushed the two cots together. We separated them in the morning so we would have more room.
He cracked a smile, kissing my forehead. "You're adorable, as usual."
I rolled my eyes. "How's your head?"
"I had a headache until I drank the nectar. I feel a little sore, but otherwise, I'm good." He wrapped an arm around my body as I snuggled closer to him. "You should get some sleep too... You did amazing out there."
"I'm fine."
"Sure, I'm tired anyway." He yawned, making me yawn in return.