Chapter 8 : Taking Initiative
"Since when did they become close?" Percy could hear Thalia asking Reyna.
"I honestly don't know." Reyna shrugged. Percy understood their confusion. He was in a sparring match with Piper in swordsmanship.
That morning, Percy decided to go and train. When he got to the training room, Piper was already there on a treadmill. They talked for a while before deciding to improve on their swordsmanship.
"You know," Percy grunted as he parried one of Piper's swings. "If you have time to talk then you have time to get better."
Percy pushed Piper's sword away and lunged. She twirled out of the way and used the momentum to propel Percy forward, but Percy stopped himself and spun around with his sword. Piper caught it with her own sword mid-swing.
"And we're just training." Piper huffed. "There's nothing wrong with training."
"Training." Thalia said. "Suuuuuure." Thalia and Reyna said simultaneously.
Seeing the chance, Percy used his leg to trip Piper causing her to tumble to the mat with a yelp. He then aimed the wooden sword at her throat. "I win." Percy said with a smile while panting.
Piper grumbled but smiled. Percy helped her up while the sideline duo watched them intently. "This looks weird." Thalia said.
"It feels weird." Reyna said.
"Don't you two have anything better to do?" Percy asked with exasperation.
"We're waiting for you to get breakfast." Thalia grinned. "If you're done sweating on each other."
"You're making it weird." Percy glared at her. Thalia just stuck her tongue out at her.
"Both of you, go to the dining hall." Piper said sternly.
Their expression went slightly blank. "Y-yeah. We're just about to go." Reyna said. "Come on Thalia." The both of them scuttled away.
"I see you're getting better at charmspeak." Percy noted.
Piper shrugged. "Gotta improve somehow, right? Besides, I've charmspeaked a primordial before. How hard is charmspeaking two demigods?"
Percy chuckled. "See you at breakfast."
Line Break
"I thought we promised that you wouldn't charmspeak us." Reyna grumbled. "You said you'd stop after the last time you asked me to dump my yogurt on Carter."
"Took hours to get that cream out of my hair." Carter muttered.
"That's what you get for not leaving us alone." Piper grinned smugly.
"Ooh, so it's us now?" Thalia teased.
"Thalia-"
"Not hearing it." Thalia said as she covered her ears to avoid her charmspeak. "La la la la la la."
Piper just rolled her eyes as they enjoyed their breakfast. Percy looked at Reyna. "You said the Crusaders are getting closer, right?"
Reyna nodded. "Our scouts have detected some of their activities a few hundred miles from here. They're getting closer as we speak."
"How many?" Percy asked.
"Not sure. But they usually tend to move in small groups and never too far from their base. So if you see them, there's a base nearby." Reyna said.
"I see." Percy could sense the plan formulating in his head. "By any chance, are there any weapons that I can use besides this butter knife?"
Reyna eyed him warily. "What are you planning?"
"Hm?" Percy played dumb.
"Are you planning on going to face those Crusaders?"
"Right now I'm asking if we have any usable weapons." Percy said. He noticed that Carter, Thalia, and Piper were too busy talking about something else so it was just him and Reyna who were speaking in hushed tones.
Reyna raised an eyebrow. "Meet me after breakfast."
Line Break
Percy met up with Reyna in the training room. Surprisingly, no one else was there, other than them.
"Spill it." Reyna said as she crossed her arms.
Percy sighed. "Yes, I was going to go to their base to fight them."
"After all that speech you give about we're not ready?" Reyna asked again.
"You're not ready." Percy emphasized.
A sudden realization hit Reyna and she scowled. "You plan on going in alone?" Reyna asked incredulously.
"I have a plan."
"What is it?" Reyna challenged. "I'd like to hear it. Please tell me how you're going to go there and fight more than two dozen Crusaders who are all armed - with guns, mind you - and then walk out alive."
Percy couldn't say anything since Reyna made a strong point. "What makes you think - even if you had somehow succeeded and survived - that I will just be okay with this?"
"I don't expect you to be okay with this." Percy argued. "But it doesn't mean I'm not gonna do it."
"So you're just going to sacrifice your life like that? When everyone here is counting on you?"
"It won't be a sacrifice, because I'm gonna come back alive."
"You're not thinking this thoroughly." Reyna glared at him. "It's dangerous to go alone."
"Well I can't risk anyone else's lives just for the sake of this." Percy said.
"Which is why I'm going with you."
"What?"
"You heard me." Reyna said sternly. "You're not going alone, Percy. And if things get rough, it'll be up to me to drag your ass out of there."
Percy met Reyna's gaze before sighing. "Fine. We'll leave tonight."
"Good." Reyna seemed satisfied. "Now let's get you a weapon."
Line Break
"I feel like I'm fencing with a chainsaw." Percy frowned as he tried swinging one of the swords they had.
"Aren't you being picky?" Reyna asked.
"Trust me, I'm better with a balanced sword." Percy said. "Compare these two." Percy gave her the sword he was swinging and Riptide.
Reyna judged both swords. "Your sword does feel more balanced." Reyna admitted. "But we don't have any more steel swords other than the ones you've tried. Most of the weapons we have are Celestial Bronze and Imperial Gold, and mortals don't exactly use swords so the weapons we salvage from them are often guns and rifles."
"Not my taste." Percy said. "And I don't know how to fire a gun properly. Can't we just make a sword?"
"Do you know any blacksmiths lying around?" Reyna asked. "The Vulcan demigods might know something, but I doubt they've worked with steel before. Plus, we don't have a forge."
Percy sighed exasperatedly. "Fine, I'll just use-" Something caught his eye at the corner of the armory. "What's that?"
"What's what?" Reyna asked.
At the corner of the room, a long object was propped up against the wall. It was probably about three feet long. The hilt was decorated with a round golden handguard and it was wrapped in blue cloth. The blade was in its scabbard, which was black in color. Percy grabbed the sword and it was light.
"That's a Japanese sword. I believe it's called a katana." Reyna explained. "But that sword was used for decoration and is purely ornamental." Reyna said.
Percy pulled the sword out of its scabbard. The blade made a high-pitched SHIING noise as it was drawn. The blade was a straight, single-edged steel blade. The sword was light in Percy's hand. It was still off balance, but it's more tolerable than the other ones.
"This will be fine." Percy said.
"That blade looks flimsy." Reyna said. "And like I said, it's a decoration. Which means, it's not suited for battle."
"Wanna test it out?" Percy asked. Reyna nodded as she drew her weapon. Percy had seen her use it many times. The thing changes into a spear or a sword according to her will. This time, it transformed into a sword.
They got out of the armory and prepared. "First to yield?" Reyna asked.
"Sounds good to me." Percy grinned. He noticed that Reyna had a smirk on herself.
Percy gripped his hand on the hilt of his new sword. Percy was not used to using a sword where he had to hold onto the scabbard, since Riptide was not like that. Riptide could always shrink down to a pen and return to his pocket whenever he loses it.
On top of that, Percy had no experience wielding a sword this thin. Greek swords tend to have more thickness and weight in them, causing extra damage the harder you swing.
This sword on the other hand was made more for slicing. It requires swift and quick attacks to do any form of damage.
The only experience Percy had when it comes to wielding a katana was from watching anime. Not that it would help.
Reyna moved forward with rushing speed, sword on the ready. She swung downwards to which Percy blocked it with his new sword. But because of the flimsiness of the sword, the katana glanced upon the impact of Reyna's sword and went diagonally, missing Percy by an inch.
Percy regained his posture and tried a sideways slash against Reyna, but its lightness threw Percy off as he stumbled off balance at the end of the slash. Reyna took this opportunity to thrust her sword forward, trying to stab Percy.
Percy twirled the sword in his hand and deflected Reyna's sword, again making it narrowly miss him.
Reyna turned around and delivered a back kick onto Percy's head, which caused him to crumble onto the floor. Before Reyna could pin him down, he rolled out of the way and stood up.
"You don't hold back, do you?" Percy huffed.
Reyna grinned. "A katana is made specifically for parrying and deflecting." Reyna said. "You can't block using a katana."
"Duly noted." Percy said. Reyna then lunged forward with a flurry of strikes. Percy tried blocking and parrying everything, but some managed to get through and cut Percy here and there. Percy kicked Reyna away to give himself some space to breathe.
"Second lesson. Katana is an offensive weapon." Reyna explained as she stood up straight.
"You mean it's gonna start shouting racist slurs at me?"
"Shut up." Reyna said. "Katanas are not made for defense. Your style of blocking with a sword will have to be thrown away if you're gonna use the katana. Focus on your footwork, parrying, and deflection."
"How do you know so much about - Oh god!" Reyna made a cleaving slash, to which Percy pushed her blade away with his own. She stumbled backwards and grinned at Percy.
"Now you're getting the hang of it." Reyna said.
Line Break
After a very tough training session with Reyna, Percy collapsed to his knees. He was panting heavily, taking in heavy breaths each time. "Can we call it a draw?" Percy asked tiredly.
"I almost got you in that last one." Reyna was panting as well.
"Almost." Percy noted. "How are you this good?"
"I'm a daughter of Bellona." Reyna said. "I have natural talent in using weapons. And I'm also a Hunter of Artemis."
"Wait, you're . . . What?"
"You didn't know?" Reyna asked. "I joined the Hunters like two years ago."
"Then how were you separated?" Percy asked.
"I was in New Rome when they attacked. Lost contact with the Hunt after that." Reyna said disdainfully. "So you can imagine my elation when I met Thalia again."
"That actually explains a lot." Percy sat down as he took some deep breaths. "Why you're so agile and so goddamn strong."
"I still didn't manage to get you to yield once." Reyna said. "You really are a demon."
"I've had more practice." Percy said. "And I've faced stronger opponents."
They then sat there in silence as they gave a few minutes to themselves to catch their breath.
"So," Reyna said. "Tonight?"
"Tonight." Percy nodded.
"Well, I'm gonna have a bath. See ya." Reyna then poked Percy's ribs, which were sore. He then grunted in pain.
"You fucking-" Percy managed as Reyna exited the training room with a smile on her face.
Percy laid down there for a while as he took his breath. He closed his eyes for a moment as he thought about what he's going to do. Artemis's words rang in his ears.
Give them hope.
Percy has to protect this place. He needs to know that if anything goes wrong, he will be there to fix it. This place has given demigods everywhere a sliver of hope, that they could have a version of a normal life.
"Having fun?" A voice said. Percy opened his eyes to be greeted with Piper's face leaning over him
"Just had a sparring session with Reyna." Percy grunted. "So, light work."
"Let me guess." Piper said. "You lost."
"Actually, we drew." Percy sat up slowly.
"Congrats. Reyna's like the best fighter we have.".
"I can see why." Percy grinned. "What brings you here?"
Piper was silent for a while before she spoke. "I overheard you and Reyna." Piper said. "Are you going to fight the Crusaders tonight?"
Percy tensed. "Maybe."
"Don't make me use charmspeak on you."
Percy rolled his eyes. "Fine. Yes, we're gonna go fight them tonight."
"I want in."
"No."
Piper glared at Percy. "Why? Is it because I'm not good enough?"
"Partly. But there's a more important reason." Percy said. "I want you to guard this place in case Reyna and I fail."
"All the more reason I should come." Piper said. "More people means less likely you are to fail."
"No. You're staying here." Percy was firm with his word. "I'm not discussing this any further."
"Well, too bad I wasn't discussing." Piper glared at Percy. "And I wasn't asking."
"Stay here."
"I can help."
"You'll help more if you stay here."
"Percy, I can handle my own."
"I know you can. But I need you to stay here."
"Why? Why do you need me to-"
"BECAUSE," Percy's voice came out louder than he meant to. "I don't want you to go through the experience of having to kill someone."
Piper stares onto the floor. "What makes you think I can't kill someone?"
"I'm not saying you can't kill someone." Percy said. Then, he sighed. "Look, I know Reyna. She can handle it. But not you."
"What do you mean?"
"You're strong, Piper." Percy said. "But killing someone takes more than just strength and courage."
"What else am I lacking?" Piper asked sadly.
Percy stared into her eyes with a sad smile. "The ability to close your heart." Percy grasped Piper's hand, which made Piper jump a bit. "You are kind, Piper. You see the good in people and you have a very good heart."
Piper blushed at Percy's words. She'd never heard anyone talk to her like this.
"But you can't close your heart to their suffering. You can't ignore their desperation." Percy said softly. He then engulfed his hands on fire, similar to last night. This time, Piper didn't jump. "Similar to my flames, you have strength. But that strength is to protect others. Not to harm."
He willed the flames to die down and stare into Piper's eyes. "So please, I need you to stay here."
Piper felt something in her stomach that she hadn't felt in a long time, but she was unsure what it was.
"Okay." She said softly. "On one condition." Percy waited for her to continue. Piper held his hands tightly. "I don't want to lose another friend."
"I understand."
"So you come back to me, alive." Piper said. "Deal?"
"Deal." Percy gave her a smile.