In light of Memorial Day, I am proud to present this multi-shot in the coming weeks.

I hope y'all enjoy this project-in-works. I had some fun with it, then beat myself for writing five pages in a day then guilt-trapping myself for not writing for months afterward.

To all those who died for our freedoms, thank you for your service. May you rest and be truly free.

—Duckie

Part I

Demigods are fictional beings stemming from a god and a human. They say such myths don't exist.

If that's the case, then the end.

Unfortunately, it's not.

Most demigods are heroes of history—the epitome of the past for their time. Names like Heracles, Achilles, and Odysseus live forever in textbooks and children's stories alike. I'll admit, I've admired their qualities at one time or another.

You may have heard of other, very much alive demigods who influence the mythical world that doesn't exist.

And then you have me.

I've never liked flying, ok? Except for Blackjack, but that requires donuts, and I don't always have donuts. It's kind of hard to pick some up when you're fighting another evil deity or strapped to a spanking hot war machine.

Ah, the Argo II. A classic Greek trireme built entirely of celestial bronze. A mass of magic metal that currently could withstand Mach five and beyond.

Not that Leo considered human factors. Unless he thought the simple mortal body could withstand hypersonic winds, associated drag coefficient, air compression around the terminal zone...

Annabeth's presence makes me smarter. I love my Wise girl. Maybe I can pass high school with a C+.

Where was I? Break-neck speeds? Donuts? Flying? Zeus playing volleyball.

Yes, as weird as that one was, I think that's what happened.

A sloppy serve sent us hurtling past the Italian landscape, my blurred vision barely picking up the snow-capped Alps over the horizon, though it was moving too fast for me to see anything else.

Thankfully, I scored an economy-plus seat next to my favorite quest partner who was enjoying the same seating arrangement as the rest of us on Leo International, bar Leo since he was the captain of this once-in-a-lifetime flight.

I don't envy his position. Too many toys to keep me focused on not peeling away from another of the god's crazy ideas.

Annabeth tried to tell me something, but I wouldn't be surprised if her words were five hundred miles behind. Frustrated, she settled on holding my hand instead, tapping away in a code I wouldn't understand.

To think we survived Tartarus by the skin of our teeth, to find our teeth holding on to its skin all because I had a nose bleed and made the primordial of earth pissed from a few witty comebacks.

Dam those Fates and ancient laws, always messing with my life. First, it's Kronos, and now Gaia. The next thing you know is Tartarus rising for revenge and Chaos comes in to bless the most perfect demigod out there.

They say time flies when you're having fun. If holding on for dear life while losing blood circulation to parts strapped down by cargo ropes is fun, I'd hate to know what not-fun is.

Oh wait, been there on a scenic detour.

After an eternity of standing stiff, Leo did something that jerked us forward a few extra hundred miles per hour and rubber-banded us with magic whiplash. His voice came over hidden speakers, "Camp's dead ahead, but we're still moving too fast!" Sure enough, the familiar Long Island sound rose from the water.

"You'll have to abandon ship before we make it overland. Superman's with Beauty Queen, Haze is with Baby Man, Miss brainiac, I hope you've got swim gear under that!"

"Leo, I swear if you're going to kick us off our ship—"

"Sorry Pipes, but Captain McShizzle has got this in the bag!"

Catapults launched us into the air before anyone could create a reasonable response for Leo's rash actions. Free-falling from Rome was scary. Free-falling a few hundred feet with Annabeth is nothing though the end result is less splat and more shatter. Piper and Hazel had it lucky, their boyfriends could fly and whisk them off to safety. For us on the other hand, we were forced to aim for the best body of water while falling from small aircraft heights.

Due to Annabeth's superior calculations, our trajectory—whatever that means—would land us directly on target with the canoe lake with minimal deviation—whatever that means. With the tug in my gut, the water rose to our bodies, slowing us down so the cleaning harpies wouldn't have to clean the lake because of splattered demigods.

With some time to spare, I willed the water to send us out of the water, preferably where there is no water. If it helped, I dried Annabeth so she wouldn't shake mid-fight. Annabeth wouldn't like it if she couldn't execute her moves to the quarter-inch; it would throw her off!

"Thanks, Seaweed Brain. I hope you can start running," she said, readjusting the belt holding her non-preferred drakon bone sword, making good on her promise of running somewhere in between speed walking and a full sprint.

"Why would I run away from you? Is there some sort of race I'm not aware of?" I replied, simply uncapping Riptide, matching pace with my endearing charms.

"I would usually slap you upside, but we don't have time for that." To prove her point, she glared into my soul with that shade of gray that makes you uncomfortable like cracked concrete.

"Ok, sorry. I suppose I have to play the hero again."

"Don't worry, we'll make sure to keep losses down."

That hit me hard. Maybe she didn't know how double-edged that statement would've meant. What am I thinking about? I can't be focusing on things like this, thinking never got anything done!

"Race you to the front lines?" I challenged.

"Eat my dust!"

(LINEBREAK)

We made the run from the lake to Half-blood Hill in record time, just in time to find smoke rising into the sky.

What from? The biggest battle I will have ever taken part in. As one from the sea, it only makes sense I use a water-related analogy.

Imagine a churning sea, the kind that's always stormy, perhaps even a hurricane out in deep waters. In these waters are several small islands and a corporate tower getting battered by the storm on all sides. On top of that, a volcano is erupting all over the place, generally making a mess in the storm so locals living on the island would be having a bad time. Also, everything is on fire, including the storm.

Now apply that over-the-top description to what was happening at the foot of the hill.

I felt proud of the small pockets of demigods holding out for so long against monsters as far as the eye can see. They had even managed to start linking up to form proper units around the slightly intimidating statue of Annabeth's mom. Aside from the occasional fireball raining down on them, I'd say we'd have a decent chance of winning this.

While this might be very optimistic despite the entire population of New York City bearing down on us, we still had quite a ways to go. As the councilor of Cabin 3, I had a minor responsibility to inspire my fellow campmates into their Greek frenzy—not sure how that happened. I'd rather Chiron do the leading, but he has his hands quite full with medic duty.

Reuniting with a large section of Greeks with Annabeth, I shouted what will be my most famous battle cry for generations to come, "GREEKS! LET'S, um...FIGHT STUFF!"

Apart from Annabeth's facepalm, I was pleasantly surprised that I managed to rally the Greeks into a monster-feeding frenzy, more so than what Reyna managed to do with her strict, militant force of kids. Yes, she had more Romans, but we had more lack of sense—except for the Athena cabin. What part of, 'Don't think, just do,' don't they get?

I suppose that's why they are the brains of most operations, Annabeth solely commanding the growing joint forces of Greeks and Romans with Reyna.

"We'll survive this," Annabeth stated. She had a fire similar to the fires around us; determined to destroy anything that got in its way.

"Love you Wisegirl," I reassured, pecking her on the cheek before letting the tides of battle swamp and separate us. Annabeth stole a map from a camper to hide the growing blush I may or may not have caused.

"Seaweed Brain!" she roared over the clamor. Ah…I'm gonna feel that after this.

With all this PR stuff, I have yet to kill a single monster. Let's fix that.

Ignoring Annabeth's annoyed orders to stay with the main group, I had decided to head out into the sea of monsters, the physical one, not the place, mind you. Wait, they're both physical…

Fortunately, the first monster I met was the one I had killed two times already—not counting monsters like hellhounds, emporia, and dracaena. Yep, our (my) good friend Beefhead had decided to come back to the surface to enjoy the welcoming party, angrily snorting when he spotted my hopefully familiar figure.

Instead of carefully navigating his way through surging monster traffic, the Minotaur steamrolled his way through monsters and trees alike, creating a lengthening gap between the newly separated monster army from at least a mile away. If anything, his recklessness has caused quite a bit of damage to his team.

Not wanting to prolong his charge, I stepped into the fray as I should've two minutes ago instead of watching him plow through like a bulldozer with a jet engine strapped to his back.

The first thing that blocked my path was a squad of snake women, each armed with a different set of gladiator gear. The first one tried to toss a weighted net for...purposes, but ropes are one of the easiest things to cut with a celestial bronze sword, as I neatly swing Anaklusmos. Seeing that wouldn't work, she threw her trident hoping to skewer me or make me dodge.

While I did dodge the spear, she forgot about the sneaky spear-armed one that slithered behind me in a vain attempt to pincer some demigod meat. Said spear sailed past me and right into the sneaky one as said sneaky threw her spear and into the one that threw the trident.

Confusing?

Yeah, I'm doing my best, but you can't remember the little things when little things are trying to kill you.

Two down and I didn't have to do anything but cut some rope. If only all my flights were that easy. The small commotion—and Beefhead's charging to my location—had resulted in a localized fight between monsters and Greeks, me representing the Greeks.

Or is it Greek?

They might've pitied me by forming a small circle before my death, but they forgot one critical thing they shouldn't have missed: I, Perseus 'Percy' Jackson, have a sword.

And some words.

"Let's see. One, two, three…forty-seven against me?"

"You should ssssurender now, ssssea ssssspawn," one of the snake thingies told me.

"Now why would—Look! Zeus is flying an airplane!"

My perfectly logical distraction distracted the monsters from something they've probably never seen in their immortal yet short lives. Wasting precious time, the talking one never saw the blade coming towards her neck.

When the other monster from the original four confronters caught sight of golden dust settling down around them, it was about time they realized surrender was not at the negotiation table. Or battlefield. You know, now that I think about it, the only tables aboard the Argo II were—

"Die!" one of the monsters roared, not exactly sure which one though...either way, that was very rude of them to start charging all at once from all sides. Or was it me that was rude?

"Er, sorry, it seems you've lost your head," I directed to the one that shouted right into my ear.

With four monsters down and more to go, I naturally did the one smart thing Annabeth probably would've given me a medal for. I shut my mouth and started fighting.

Honestly, I was bored. Yes, there were plenty of monsters. But each one was on one of three different levels of hostility. You've got attacking, attacking but not in my sword's path, and too far to attack. I would love to say it was my final stand, taking down nearly the entire army single-handedly with my dying breaths.

Ha Ha, Lol.

I had a small army that kept replenishing in a small circle around me. While this was great for my stamina, it was meager to attack much larger forces. Perhaps they didn't consider me a large enough threat as say, flashy golden Romans or deafening Greeks. I had no idea whether to feel insulted for thinking I'm a simple demigod, or thankful I didn't have to bear the brunt of the army.

Each killed monster was the result of a repeated formula of stab, roll, block, reverse stab, dodge, slice, slice again, or jump over a poor monster's soul. After years of honing and training with two styles of fighting, this was mind-numbing for my ADHD.

By the time I created enough gold dust to finally break my mom's stubbornly impressive antique hoover, the monsters surprisingly lost interest in fighting a useless cause.

Remember old Beefhead? He was still bulldozing through his allies, now with a clear path as all the previous monsters had vacated the area.

As I readied myself to meet his charge once again—hopefully for the last time—I was saved the extra trouble by two silver arrows sprouting from both his eyes. When he fell to my feet, I wanted to humiliate him with one of my endless one-liners, but a small girl clad in silver made quick work of the legendary beast in one quick cleave of her silver knife.

Very impressive compared to my original two attempts at handling the bull-man.

"Are you the male our Lieutenant and Mistress speak so highly of?" the hunter addressed me.

"Wait, they speak of males in the hunt?" Oh, that was not the right thing to say. Great, now she's staring at me with cold sea-green eyes that promised pain.

"..."

"Uh, yes?"

"...You're lucky you're my half-brother."

"What?"

"Daughter of Poseidon, at your service." That explains her eye color! Now that she mentions it, I could see myself as a female version of myself in her.

"So does that mean I can call you a Kelp-head?" The other daughter of Poseidon smirked the same way I do when Thals is about to get a verbal ass-whoopin.

"No, but I get to call you little bro." That smug little ancient one soaked in my horror-stricken face.

"You like—"

"Blue cookies?" We both did a fist bump in the common ground of the world's best dessert. Who would've thought? With the extra silver glow around her similarly tanned skin, it wouldn't hurt to call her cute. Eh, runs in the family.

"So, whaddya need me for?" I asked, somewhat worried that we were having a family reunion while our friends had clear death with a greater chance of death.

"Oh ya, we need your help." What?

"Wa-ait, y-you nee—but tha—huh?" After what my elder sis simply did to the Minotaur, it did not make sense to recruit a male to the merry band of excessively aggressive fem—oh wait, I'm describing my girlfriend.

"I know, we proud hunters would never stoop so low, and yet here we are. Come on, you'll see why."

After that enlightening conversation, my awesome sis proceeded to clear a path through the monsters with her twin blades while I stood behind her and did away with anything that came too close from every other direction.

Now that the battle had gone on for some time, I could see gaps in between individual monsters, and not a hoard trying to cram as many things per square foot. In theory, this meant that we were winning!

That is until I saw the five drakons bearing down from one of the nearby hills. It's safe to say they weren't on our side, especially since they had their sights set on a little group in silver surrounded by all sides, creating a silver island that persisted through the relentless storm.

Funny enough, there were dark storm clouds right above the island, washing away the unappreciated dust and grime of the monsters while lightning bolts flashed down from the heavens and rebounded to fry some poor monster. Each hunter held silver bows that put up a dike of flowing silver that worked...sort of.

"Should I be concerned about the drakons or the hunters?" I spoke, watching Thunder Thighs charge an arrow with electricity before releasing it. Surprisingly, the results were similar to that of a sonic arrow and a flashbang, minus the call-out like you hear in video games.

"Flash out!" One of the cautious hunters said at Thalia's recklessness. I stand corrected.

"Naw. I'm, like, 3rd in command. We can handle the monsters, but can you handle the challenge? Don't answer that, just talk to our lieutenant."

"Hey! I never got your name." She threw one of her knives at a monster that would've skewered me.

"Remi. Remi Delmare," I stabbed a monster that would've decapitated her.

"You got a rowboat?"

"Haha, very funny. Either way, I hope you survive, Percy."

With that, she leaped over rows of monsters towards her few remaining sisters, creating a localized earthquake where she landed that only affected the closest monsters. Seeing the late arrival of their sister, Thalia leaped equally to take Remi's position just seconds before, somersaulting to one-up Remi all while killing monsters as she does best.

"Sup Kelp-Head," she greeted on landing, exchanging her far-ranged weapons for close-range.

"Sup Pinecone-Face," I returned. Soon, we found ourselves back to back as we waded through the thinning ranks of monsters.

"Ya meet Rems?"

"Yeah, I always wanted a younger sibling."

"Hey! What about me?"

"You're Thalia."

"Shut up and fight, you tasty—" We both stabbed whatever said that.

"Rude."

"I know, right?"

We eventually made it to the bottom of the hill the drakons were using as a perch. One of them is scary enough, but when you have five submarine-thick lizards staring down at you from the high ground, it's only a tad bit more than intimidating.

"Is this what you wanted me for?" I asked, definitely not shaking under the combined gaze. Gazing back, Thalia had this sort of happiness she only ever had in her eyes when she finally can go all out against her opponent, say, a few drakons or me.

"You see those drakons over there? First to three wins!"

"Wait, you can't just—" Thalia sprinted towards the five up the hill, shocking them equally with a small bolt to get their attention.

"Styx," I cursed. Leave it to Air-Head to charge headfirst to her death while I have to clean up the collateral damage. At least that girl can handle herself. Usually.

True to her word, she immediately took on a red drakon, skillfully flipping on top of one and skewering its unarmored eye socket with an electrified spear, adding one to her count of this minor family-friendly completely safe competition. This happened all in less than 10 seconds, really putting my skills to shame.

Thanks to her, I now had three drakons zeroed in on me while she was dodging the fourth so fast that I only knew she was there from her maniacal laughter

Other than that, I didn't have the time to describe my surroundings because I had three drakons breaking down at me. Thalia had a very large advantage over me, but she does have her recklessness. Two drakons were more than enough for just us to handle, five ensured our deaths, and possibly, the entire hunt. That's given we concentrated on the same drakon.

It might sound rude and all, but I think she's crazy.

Only seconds away from their jaws, I stomped on the ground to give them the one-two-plus-three math lesson. Each of the flightless monsters took to the skies via underground geyser explosions, sending them very sky-high. Due to their massive weights, they only stayed in the sky long enough to give me time for a new approach.

Three massive lizards falling from the height of a three-story building can't be good for my health—I don't have three lives. My sword was only three-foot-long, and Thalia found a chink in her drakon's armor.

Welp, time to get creative.

Two of the water jets responded to two tugs in my gut. From that, two of the drakons got caught in an extra-large watery hand each. I clenched my fists, the water hands mimicking my motions that squeezed the reptiles to a poof of dust. Just like squeezing lemons, without the juice getting into your eyes, and without lemons, juice, and eyes.

Of course, that was majorly tiring for me, but that did leave me with two fewer drakons and two on my board, I found Thalia electrocuting hers with a lightning bolt bigger than any she's ever summoned and redirected. The blast knocked her unconscious, but it did grant her the pile of worthless gold dust. She'd probably get sober from losing the challenge though.

If I survive. Speaking of which, where is the other—

Oomph!

Found it! Ok, it found me.

Rather than gulping down a Percy snack, it decided the less moving demigod would make an easier catch, so I'm taught in monster-101. Then I saw it turn from me to an almost-conscious Thalia. She probably would not appreciate waking up DOA studious (though I'm sure she'd take the lobby as comfortable), so I did the nice thing: I painfully got up, and pushed her right before the jaws of the drakon could get her. Better she lives to lead the battered hunters.

I was expecting pain from the jaws of my defeat but got a shocking surprise in the form of electricity coiling through the drakon's mouth, lighting the dark tunnel, as bright as the moon. Said electricity also numbed any pain the adrenaline might've been saving for the last possible moment. That couldn't be said for the quickly approaching ground, though.

Funny enough, I found myself caught in a pair of slender yet not so surprisingly strong arms. In a very Thalia-esque way of diffusing every socially awkward situation, she dropped the subject: me.

"T-that, um, that makes three for me?" she nervously said.

"Thals, what was the point of throwing us against FIVE DRAKONS?" I smoothly said from the dirt.

"I-I wanted to spend some time with you."

"Look, if you want to cuddle, we can do it if, and only if, we have time."

"But—"

"No buts." That ended our conversation then and there. Cuddling was a weird habit Thalia had with me back on the Sun West Line.

"You're bleeding," Thalia stated, stuffing my face with a healthy square of ambrosia. I couldn't feel anything happen, but Thalia visibly lost a bit of held tension.

"Maybe turn down the voltage next time you attack?"

She gave me a light zap in hopes of dampening my polite mood, not realizing I still couldn't feel anything, "No promises!"

"Oi lovebirds! You think you could conjure up a storm or something?" Remi shouted, leading a decreasing circle of pre-teen girls. During our fun, we had forgotten about others, not that they needed babying.

I struggled to get up, feeling like a pin-cushion for extra-large needles. Thankfully, I found something soft to break my fall after a failed attempt at one small step for Percy-kind. The same could not be said for Thalia, who was my soft cushion. I must say, her toned stomach from years of demigod life is still quite soft despite that one time I bleed my knuckles trying to knock the wind out of her. The dam thing's like her shield.

More grabbing later and I was back on my feet, though I couldn't understand why Thalia was sparkling like a tesla coil or painted red past her snug choker. She might, just might, be mad at me.

Oh, yippee. A storm's brewing overhead, along with more ozone, "Can you please not use my entire-fucking-body next time you need a stepping stool?"

"I didn't hurt you, right?" Like all the other times when she became absolutely angry, she started twitching uncontrollably all over her body. If this is from nerve damage, I don't know, but now there's lightning lighting up the darkened sky.

"Sure, I'm perfectly fine after you ***** **** *** ***** me!" I'm in trouble, aren't I?

"Not now lovebirds, we still need to get back to—"

"Can it, Sea Worm!"

"Sorry…"

Thalia was about to strike me with glowing hands when a magnitude-Poseidon earthquake struck the ground, knocking both friend and foe alike to the ground except for us children of the sea. Naturally, we did our best to keep others from falling, but it's like the earth turned into one massive trampoline with mother earth performing a localized cherry bomb.

Where we thought the epicenter was, the ground gave way to a granite spire, growing up as high as those drakons went, no wait, it didn't stop there. It easily towered over Porphyrion, probably at least 60 feet, if not taller.

When the stony butte rose no more, cracks formed from top to bottom. Louder than any bolt any child of Zeus could crack, all the cracks broke off simultaneously, cascading off in a landslide all around it. Now, I'm no scientist, but if a rock from 10 feet can kill, then a boulder from much higher will do much more, not to mention there is more than just one.

Good thing only monsters were near it. Unless you're a monster.

In place of the rock form stood a rock statue of a tall stone woman covered in thick moss. Nothing was left to the imagination, especially the power rolling off of the woman in tsunamis bigger than dad's biggest petty spat.

Worse than not being able to feel my body, I short glace at the head was not a good idea by most means. I had picked the worst time to meet luscious green orbs boring into my existence. If a titan could erase my ever-loving presence by simply being in the same room, I probably shouldn't be living right now.

"Perseus Jackson," Gaia boomed, her deathly stoic face spelling my deathly dead body.

"'Sup D-dirt Face," I intelligently replied, wishing I hadn't said that.

"I see you haven't lost your...touch." The third primordial I've ever met, leaned down over me, casting a shadow as thick as the Empire State Building on a bad day. Her face morphed from one not betraying anything to one that showed genuine curiosity. "My sister has not exaggerated about you. Tell me, mortal, what—oww!"

An arrow had flown up towards the giant eye, nailing it hard but unfortunately didn't pierce it. Maybe it has to do with, I don't know, the stone body and all? At least Gaia recalled far enough to let the light shine once again.

"C-cut the crap with all the s-standard bad-guy monologue," Thalia stuttered, nearly releasing the next shot she had already prepped. Our natural tendency to act before we think will get us killed.

"D-do you have a death wish, great-granddaughter?" We both shivered at her calling us. "No matter, you will all die."

She began glowing bright silver, blinding everything around us. Thalia had told me stories of Artemis going nuclear, but this was beyond logic. I thought I would get incinerated from the piercing light, burning with the same intensity as my volcano incident.

Gargled screams came from those who were the closest and most affected by the glow, no doubt falling to the goddess' ire. They were like the ones in Tartarus, only real this time. Thankfully the light dimmed down from the spire, in its place stood...a much shorter woman?

It's like someone took the behemoth of that rock form and compressed it to a minuscule scale. That's not to take away from the body's power though, as Thals and I were the only ones not waist-deep in mud. Her eyes still held the same amount of ferocity regardless of their smaller size. If anything, whatever happened just put all that power into a much smaller space.

"Bring it, Dirt Face!" Thalia screamed, charging the primordial head-on. I saw her remaining stuck hunters doing their best to provide cover fire, but small rocks met them with opposite and equal force. Then Thalia fell face-first into a newly formed quagmire surrounding Gaia. The ground rose to cover my equivocal cousin, still in the mud, giving her no more breathing room for a quick recovery.

"So goes the brave great-granddaughter. Do you realize—"

"How stupid Thalia is?" I finished.

"Hey!" came from her small troop, almost turning their arrowheads to me.

"—How hopeless you all are?"

"Not really, I was hoping to pop by later for a pizza, maybe some—"

"Death?" Gaia finished, annoying the crap out of me. "You have honor, don't you?"

"What do you want?" I asked, slowly inching closer with Anaklumos raised to where I think Thalia was swallowed.

"Let's play a game. When you die, she dies."

"She?"

The ground spat out a shield embossed to make enemies cower on sight and a spear with countless unmarked kills on it. Behind the exit point, four tendrils of mud held each of Thalia's limbs in a spread eagle. Dried dirt covered her caked face, almost looking like she had decided to take a mud bath whilst washing her hair for deep penetration commando purposes.

A very aggressive mud bath.

I was hoping she would struggle against the bonds, but lack of oxygen must've already gotten to her. I wanted her to at least show that she knows what kind of situation she was in, I had to know she had some semblance of fear—anything that indicated life.

"I assure you, she is still alive, but neither of you will be." Thalia was thrown towards her half-buried hunters, sinking fast in what I had mistakenly identified as deep mud, "Show me why I should consider you a threat."

A stone sword shot out of the dirt into her waiting hand, Sneering at me as she walked across shifting sands unhindered, closing the distance so we wouldn't have a power battle only. I was sweating (I could feel myself again!) enough bullets to pepper off some battle grime. Here I was taking on yet another powerful deity because one of my friends got hurt.

I almost missed her first strike aiming to give me 100% disability in one blow, jumping back at the last second. Gaia slung again, only this time, I was prepared to counter. Instead of shattering, her broad short sword must've been made of something harder, perhaps uncut diamonds? Either way, I wasn't prepared for the weight that came with the comparatively slow strike, knocking my sword out of my grasp into a record-breaking home run. The aerodynamics of a sword…

"Many millennia have passed since I have fought, consider this a warm-up for me."

Gaia moved for a repeated overhand swing, so I decided to do something a little crazy I had only tried once with Thalia. It would hurt, but it would buy me much-needed time.

Careful not to get any part of my hand sliced in the process, I caught the heavy blade in between both hands, tilting my head sideways slightly in case things go wrong. Barely stopping it from its unstoppable path, A bit of blade wedged the edge of my right eye, blocking all vision along a vertical line, but I was still alive!

Now, it might be nothing compared to holding the weight of the sky, but I wasn't doing my back any favors by forcing the entire leverage of a particular primordial in between sweaty palms, further inching its way into my eye. Funny thing, Even with my hands above me, Gaia was still shorter by a large margin, pint-sized if you please.

The cute little thing realized I left my gut open.

I could tell she was toying with me for all intents and purposes, pulling tricks from tricks to get reactions that would please her inner desires. Gaia made no secret that she wanted to see me suffer for not helping her, hell, she made it no secret that she didn't like anyone.

The little earth-loving sadist.

Eventually, my knees buckled under the crushing force, leveling the height difference to about equal eye level, not that I could tell what was happening out of the right side. She finally ended her torment with a kick to the gut that I was expecting for a very long time.

The force behind that move had the effect of Mrs. O'leary slamming to lick my face at full speed, you know, a tank moving at F1 speeds. A cough sent thick liquid up into the air, splattering all over my face. Blood filled my eyes, completely removing what little vision I had left. If a cut was bad, the runny red stuff was really bad, adding a burning sensation that had the staying power of smoke. I would use my hands, but I was sure my hands were broken just like the rest of my body.

"Come on Kelpy! KICK HER ASS!" Somewhere over there, Thalia had safely recovered in an unknown condition. Just a little longer…

"How the Savior of Olympus lays at my feet." Gaia jeered, kicking me again to who knows where. "Even if you win, you know what will happen—"

Gaia was snatched from her spot by metal claws large enough to ensnare and restrict the Primordial. Without contact with her domain, Gaia was powerless to resist, though judging from the lack of light, she might have regrown to her sizable form for every bit of edge she could get.

"Kelp-Head, you were supposed to kick her ass! Do I need to repeat myself?" Thalia said, dragging my limp body somewhere away to safety. I coughed again, splattering Thalia. If it weren't for the smell of iron, I'd have thought Thalia redefined the term 'blush.' After many days of ridicule, I was shocked that she didn't retaliate the Thalia way.

Scratch that, she shocked me anyways.

"You stained my choker!" She spat back, returning fire with her bloodless saliva.

"Love you t-too, Thals."

Whilst blinking my eyes clear, Thalia once again fed me essential life-saving food of the gods, instantly repairing any severe injuries I sustained. Shame my eye's swollen. She took my wrist to check my pulse, something I found peculiar since Thals rarely did that after our sparring sessions.

If I didn't know any better, I'd say she's warming up to me.

"Your pulse is low," she stated, "You just went toe to toe with two drakons and tangled with Gaia, why is your pulse so low?"

Leave it to Air-Head to point out the useless things she had to point out, "The hunters could be dying and you're worried about my pulse?"

She immediately had something to say but for some reason held back.

As if Apollo and Artemis worked to create the brightest glow their light-emitting domains could produce, the sky exploded above me, nearly producing a mini sun though it was off a bit from the real one's position. While I did have some restored visibility, I still couldn't make out fine details, such as the ever-growing names that were written on the lip of Thalia's choker.

"Get up, we've gotta get out of here!" Remi shouted, stomping her foot again to clear a way for the hunters to escape. Thalia helped me up, this time to make sure appropriate body contact was allowed.

Something started falling from the sky, wait, multiple things. Was that what we were running away from?

"What's going on?" I asked, not sure what was so bad.

"Get down!" Thalia yelled, pushing me back to the ground for the umpteenth time, raising what I believed was her shield above us in a kneeled stance.

A deafening collision slammed into Aegis, turning the celestial bronze shield into a celestial bronze cymbal.

While she might be strong enough to toss a full-sized hellhound a stone throws away, whatever hit her shield was hard enough to throw herself and the shield onto the very thing she was protecting.

Not to complain, but all that muscle wasn't proportionate to her relative size, even if she was much taller than the average female—rivaling my height, if I may add. She was never light from her unhealthy love of cheeseburgers or American staples in general.

American chow. American staples are for Jason.

"We have to get out of here. Whatever they launched forgot about us below!" she vaguely explained into my ear, still lying atop my body quite comfortably, not that I was complaining, I just wasn't in any condition to waste my breath on meaningless conversations.

Instead, I chose a phrase that worked every time it didn't, "What?"

"Shrapnel!"

Thalia rolled off to the side, reuniting with her beloved shield just in time to cover us again from another chunk of falling fiery ferrous death from above. Aegis rang out again, not strong enough to knock down a newly fortified and wiser Thalia, yet not light enough to convince Thals otherwise.

"Run!"

From the urgency in her voice, that was one order I was reluctant to follow without her in tow. Fortunately, Thalia realized I wouldn't leave without her, offering to lead the way while I defended her from pursuing monsters. It would leave me defenseless, but at Thalia's speed, it shouldn't be a problem.

Seconds into the dash to safety, I realized the incoming projectiles were faster than us, more so me than Thals, but that didn't mean they were more against me. Given the monster's dull actions, they took more damage than us smarter mortals, which is saying something all right.

We managed to catch up to a hastily dug ditch where the hunt was taking shelter. It wasn't pretty, but it sure did a good job of protecting them from above. By this point, I was many strides away from Thalia who managed to slide to safety.

She held her hand out to help me get in at full speed without shooting past the target. I don't remember what happened after that, something must've hit my head hard enough since I don't remember getting into the ditch, or finding myself in a comfy bed free of battle grime.