Chapter 39:
"Explain to me why I'm being convinced to go to the arena?" Markus asked, annoyed at Percy. His brother had asked him to come to the arena for something. Markus, who was tired, ignored it and went back to sleep. Percy didn't like that, and tried dragging him out of bed. He was unsuccessful in that. Markus was heavy. Like, really heavy. And when Percy told him this, Markus got out of bed and almost killed Percy due to the comment. He was not fat, he just had a lot of muscle.
"Because we wanted to prove to you that we've gotten stronger," Percy said firmly. The two brothers continued walked to the arena.
Markus sighed. "Look, Percy. I saw how you guys dealt with the manticore. I've seen your skills. You don't have to prove anything to me. And why are you so insistent on trying to impress me, anyways? You have nothing to prove to me."
"Because it's because of you that we're striving to be better," Percy answered, looking serious. "Markus, you've saved most, if not all, of our close friends. You've protected us, and we're grateful for that. But we want to stand on our own two feet. We - me especially - are sick and tired of having to be saved by you. We know you're powerful, we know that you're better than us, but that's not going to stop us. We want to be the ones to save you."
"Yes, because the image of you holding me bridal-style in your arms and protecting me from a big bad monster is something that I'd like to see," Markus snorted sarcastically. Percy almost fell over in laughter, admitting that it'd be very funny.
"I'm serious," Percy said after recovering, trying to be serious. Though the twitching of his lips ruined the image. "The rest of us want to prove ourselves to you."
"He's right," Thalia responded, just now entering their view. The two must've been distracted so much that they didn't notice her presence. In fact, there were others as well. Katie, Silena, Annabeth and Lou, although he didn't know why the last one was there.
"Okay, I get the others, but why is Lou here?" Markus asked curiously. "Not that it's a problem, just asking."
"Well..." Lou started off in a sing-song tone. "I volunteered to be here to test your magical prowess. Obviously, if you don't live up to my standards, then you disappoint the children of Hecate as a whole."
"Really?" Markus asked with a raised eyebrow. "You sure that you've improved in your magic?"
"We'll find out, won't we?" Lou offered a wide smile.
Markus then looked to the remaining girls. "And I assume that your reasons for being here are the same as Percy's?"
"That's right," Katie confirmed. "We're going to prove to you that we are powerful in our own right."
"And how is this going to be like?" Markus questioned.
"An all-out spar," Thalia suggested, grinning with anticipation. "We all attack you, and you defend."
"Six against one?" Markus asked curiously. "How the hell is that fair?" He was in no way at a disadvantage, but he was just asking.
"You defeated a goddess," Annabeth pointed out with a raised eyebrow. "You've fought monsters and other demigods? Is the great Markus Henderson suddenly getting cold feet?" she asked mockingly, getting giggles from all the girls there.
Markus' eyebrow twitched violently. "You know: I was going to go easy on you, since it's a spar. Now, the kid gloves are off."
"Good," Silena smirked. "It'd be insulting otherwise."
"The rules are as follows," Percy stated. "Weapons, powers and magic are allowed. If all of us are unconscious, you win. If one of us knocks you out, we win." Their side brought out their weapons, Percy brought out Riptide and Lowtide, Annabeth her dual knives, Thalia her spear, Silena a whip (something that seemed both odd and a little hot to Markus), Katie a sword and Lou a spell book.
Markus grinned at seeing them stand. Before, they were inexperienced, unsure of themselves and dealing with their own personal problems and inner demons. Now, they looked powerful, battle-hardened free. This made Markus smile. He didn't know that this was the effect he had on them. He felt proud of them, of all of them. They wanted to prove themselves to him, to stand on their own two feet and be their own person. They hadn't just gotten stronger physically, but mentally as well.
Happiness and pride filled his chest as he cracked his neck, bringing out Yamato from his pocket dimension. "You know, seeing all of you guys stand there, looking all badass and stuff has made me realise something." At their expectant faces, he continued. "I really need more guy friends." They all face-faulted at his answer, some looking at him incredulously, like they couldn't believe that he would say that. "I'm serious. You guys are pretty much the only ones I hang out with. Along with Beck Will from Apollo's cabin. I need more testosterone, people! Seriously!"
Some chuckled, others had mirth shining in their eyes, but they all got serious.
He smirked. "Well, you want me to see that you're strong." Markus' thumb hit the hilt, pushing Yamato out of its sheath slightly. "Prove it."
At the sound of an invisible bell, he vanished. Only to reappear in front of Percy, already striking Riptide with Yamato. Percy immediately started attacking, not bothered by the speed at which Markus had moved at. The group dispersed, giving themselves some room as the two brothers clashed.
Markus was easily keeping up with Percy's dual-wielding. Whenever Percy swung one sword, he followed it with another strike. He tried to disorientate Markus, moving his swords so fast that they looked like a blur to a normal observer. Markus, however, was able to track his swords' movements and match them easily. Markus made to strike, but was interrupted by Thalia intercepting him from behind, attacking with her spear.
The two children of the Big Three kept attacking, following each other's movements perfectly and fighting in sync with one another. Thalia's thrusts, slashes and sweeps mixed with Percy's swordplay. And yet Markus was able to keep up with both of them, something that infuriated the both of them. Markus' katana was a blur as, despite his ease, he attacked, deflected and blocked all of their attacks.
Their stalemate was interrupted by a vine shooting to wrap itself around Markus' sword arm, halting his movement. This allowed Thalia and Percy to strike at his chest. Not allowing them to attack him, Markus yanked his constricted arm with suck strength that it pulled the root from the ground. Then, he was able to react quickly to hilt-slam Percy in the gut, slightly winding him but not putting him down. Then Markus' blade clashed with the tip of Thalia's spear, frustrating her.
Suddenly, rapid-fire rose thorns shot forward towards him. Kicking Thalia away from him, Markus turned to look at the incoming projectiles. While he could dodge them, he decided to go for another approach. Activating his War God Speed Impulse, he was able to see the thorns coming at him in slow motion. He swung Yamato clockwise, his hand expertly rotating the hilt without any problem, causing the blade to swing like a helicopter blade. Watching in rapt attention, he was able to skilfully deflect the thorns using his spinning blade and make them land on the ground in a tidy fashion. (A.N. - Like Vergil did with Dante's bullets in DMC3).
Smirking at a shocked Katie, Markus then used Yamato to quickly and expertly pick up the thorns using his blade and launched them towards her. Instead of dodging, Katie commanded a vine-wall to erupt from the ground, blocking the thorns.
"Okay, how the hell did you do that?" Katie asked, shocked stupid at the crazy action he pulled off.
Markus smirked. "Skill." He then reached up to catch the arrow sailing towards him from Silena. Before he could say anything, he saw the arrow - which was conical-shaped with a point - beeping red, surprising him. He used his War God Speed Impulse again to examine the arrow and have enough time to make a quick decision. Recognising it, he vibrated his body, allowing the arrow to drop and detonate. It created an explosion and caused a small cloud of black smoke to produce.
Markus waved away the smoke as he looked at a grinning Silena, who had her bow out. "Where the hell did you get exploding arrows?" he asked, not mad but curious.
"The Hephaestus kids make some interesting toys," Silena answered her boyfriend with a smile.
Just as the spar was about to continue, the demigods heard shouting. They then looked to see many campers and Hunters (who stood at the side) watching the fight. Many of the campers were cheering the team of demigods.
"Yeah! Kick his ass guys!"
"Break him!"
"Kick him in his-"
The cheering was interrupted by a storm laser, courtesy of Markus, that shot above them, narrowly and purposefully missing their heads. The cheering stopped, and wide and fearful eyes slowly turned to an irritated Markus, who held one hand out.
"I won't miss the next time," Markus whispered, making the campers shake in fear. They slowly nodded, retreating back slightly.
Markus got back into the fight, having to erect a Speculum Alice to deflect several spells casted by Lou back at her. Markus recognised the familiar Sagitta Spiram Verberare, along with even Stella Inspiratione from the barrage.
Lou waved her hand, dismissing the spells mid-flight. Then she sent several charms and curses at him, from exploding curses to piercing charms. Markus transfigured the earth in front of him mud and commanded it to raise up, intercepting the spells and falling apart due to the barrage. He instructed it to form again, however, in the form of a mudslide. He then casted a high-powered fireball - the high power of magic due to his weakness in fire magic - that hit the mudslide. The result was a more solid mudslide with molten rock and tar-like sludge that looked like lava flow from a volcano.
Lou countered this by casting a strong wind spell that cooled the molten rock and flow, causing it to slow down slightly, though not completely. She battled to remove herself from the sludge.
Before Markus could continue attacking, he raised his hand to catch the bolt that Thalia sent his way. The others watched in shock as Markus held the bolt. They grew even more shocked when they saw the bolt growing bigger in size and - when Markus threw the bolt - it split and morphed into two lightning hounds with yellow eyes. The hounds snarled, and - following its master - dashed forward to intercept and distract Thalia, Percy, Silena and Katie.
Markus caught the throwing knife aimed for him from Annabeth and threw it back at her. The daughter of Athena ducked, moving in quickly. She struck out with a kick that Markus dodged, followed by a cross that he deflected. Annabeth kept striking at him, going for pressure points and moving sharply, her grey eyes trying to calculate his movements.
Markus intercepted her strikes, moving out of her attacks. She was very good, he noted. He was able to counter her strikes because he had much more experience in hand-to-hand combat than she did.
Seeing that physical attacks weren't working, Annabeth resorted to knife-fighting. She brought out her two knives and started attacking, Markus having to use Yamato to defend himself. Her movements were much faster than his were, and she went for several maneuvers to disarm him.
As the two were fighting, Markus sensed a binding spell sent behind him from Lou. Just as it was about to hit him, he made an after-image in his place. This action shocked Annabeth and allowed her to be hit with the binding spell instead. Her body froze and locked up as binding ropes trapped her limbs.
Markus sent a blasting curse to the floor, destroying it and producing varying pieces of rubble. He then used a levitation charm to raise the pieces of rubble into the air and sent them forward towards Lou, transfiguring them into sharp metal shuriken.
Lou erected a magical barrier that managed to block the shuriken. She dismissed it as she saw Markus disappear. Before she could figure out where he was, a large body-shaped piece of ice appeared behind her. She just had enough time to see this before Markus - who appeared in a fashion similar to a mummy rising from a sarcophagus - hit her with a wind spell that sent her flying (A.N. - Sub-Zero's Tombstone Teleport move from Mortal Kombat).
Before she could recover from where she was, Markus froze the ground that he was standing on. The ice quickly reached Lou's downed form and partially-froze her. The daughter of Hecate shivered as she was immobilized. She was so cold that she couldn't come up with a fire spell quick enough to escape.
Markus then inspected the others. Thalia had dealt with his lightning hounds, though he wasn't sure how. They didn't escape unscathed. Katie, Percy and Silena had some nasty burns from the hounds while Thalia was fine. All of them were panting with exhaustion.
"Ready to give up?" Markus taunted, still as fresh as a daisy. All of them, including Lou and Annabeth, glared at him. "You guys wanted to fight, so I'm giving you one."
"I'm going to knock that smug smile off your face," Percy growled, gripping his two swords. He stomped on the ground, using his earthshaker abilities. Markus countered by doing the same thing. The two earthquakes battled against each other, the vibrations cancelling each other out. The others stumbled as they tried to regain their balance.
Seeing that his earthquake didn't do anything, Percy charged. However, before he could do anything, Markus used his ice abilities to freeze him solid instantly. Markus lowered the surrounding temperatures to roughly -6,500,000° F. Everyone, including the audience, shivered at the stupid amount of cold that was produced.
"Markus, what the hell?!" Thalia exclaimed angrily. "This is a damn spar! You didn't have to freeze him solid! You could kill him!" The others nodded, equally angry. Everyone looked nervously at the frozen Percy, who's body was stuck in the position it was before becoming an ice sculpture.
"You think I would do such a thing?" Markus asked with a raised eyebrow. "I specifically froze him because I wanted to see something. I would never endanger him like that, Thalia. You know that."
And at that moment, Percy's frozen figure shook slightly. Parts of the ice were turning to liquid that ran down his frozen form. Markus gave him enough time to free himself. Eight minutes later, Percy was free.
The son of Poseidon panted, parts of his skin blue and frozen. He glared at his smirking brother, still trying to turn the remaining remnants of ice to water. "You fucking asshole! Are you insane?! You could've killed me!"
"But I didn't," Markus pointed out. "That was a personal test. You know that ice is frozen water, so any ice attack that I do to you wouldn't work."
Everyone let out a breath of relief. They still looked uneasy at Markus, though.
"That still wasn't cool! Seriously, who freezes someone solid to prove a point?!"
"It's tough love, baby brother. At least you're now your favourite colour." Percy growled at him.
He then turned his body into a cloud of vapour that tried to surround Markus, trying to choke him.
Knowing what he was doing, Markus sheathed Yamato and rotated his arms rapidly, making vortexes. The vortexes spun and blew away the cloud of vapour, making Percy panic and reassemble himself into his physical body. Good thing, too. If he hadn't transformed back, his free molecules would've been scattered and almost impossible to put back together.
"Good try, really. But I already knew that trick and developed a counter to this," Markus told him, humour gone. He was impressed at Percy's tactic and it would've worked on anybody else. Not him, though.
Markus brought out Yamato again and engaged Percy in combat again. Percy movements were slightly slower, due to freeing himself from the ice and turning into vapour. Whereas Markus' movements hadn't changed. He disarmed one of Percy's swords and sent it flying. So Percy continued to fight one-handed, trying desperately to find an opening.
Their movements were blurs to crowd and others watching. They were all impressed at the swordplay of both brothers.
Percy used both hands to hold his sword while Markus continued to use one hand. He freed one of his hands and lunged desperately.
Markus moved inhumanely. He dodged the attack and reached out with one hand to clasp his brother's wrist, confusing Percy and the crowd watching. Markus channelled a small amount of lightning to his fingertips and jabbed at Percy's wrist, hitting the ulnar nerve.
Percy cried out in pain and alarm as his arm tingled and became numb at his ring and pinky finger. His arm went slack, no feeling or nerves going into it. Markus used that to his advantage to disarm Percy, sending his sword flying. Before it could move farther, Markus grabbed the sword - which he identified to be Riptide - and slashed at Percy's undefended chest with both swords, creating an X-shape injury, tearing through his shirt and cutting into his flesh. Blood spurted from the wound as Percy screamed.
The others watching this became alarmed and started running towards Markus and Percy, who fell on the ground, semi-conscious.
Markus stabbed Riptide in the ground beside his fallen brother. He then sent Yamato away as he got out Tsunami. Markus then engaged the others in combat, Lou joining the confrontation and being freed from the ice.
Markus kept on blocking and deflecting each attack sent at him, from Thalia's spear, to Annabeth's knives, to Silena's arrows. Katie commanded several Venus flytraps to erupt from the ground and try to trap him, but he made quick work of them.
As Markus kept fighting, he suddenly felt depressed. He wasn't even sure why he was depressed. The shift in emotion was so sudden that he got distracted and ended up getting a lengthy cut from one of Annabeth's knives and got whacked in the face by the end of Thalia's spear. They kept on the attack, happy at the chance given to them.
Markus' mind went override to identify the cause. His sudden depression wasn't normal. He felt so sad, like he should just throw in the fight and give up. He kept on moving, giving himself some distance. Before he could think on it more, he became angry. No, not angry. Livid. Again, he didn't know the cause of this sudden shift. He was usually in control of his emotions, especially anger. Was it Lou's doing?
Then Markus remembered something as he kept attacking. He looked to Silena, who seemed to be concentrating heavily. And suddenly he knew what was going on.
He decided to use his anger to his advantage. Giving into his rage, he roared as he kept on attacking Thalia, who was surprised at the ferocity. Markus swung his spear and, with astounding strength, made Thalia almost fly in the air with her spear leave her hand. Markus then twirled Tsunami like a baton, smacking Annabeth across the face, making her fall.
He then charged at the source of the problem. Seeing this, Silena panicked. Markus then felt different shifts of his emotions, from fear to sadness, but at this point, he was able to get a grasp on his emotions. He stabbed his spear several times, forcing Silena to use her bow to block the powerful attack.
"That was surprising," Markus whispered when the two got close to each other.
Silena smiled slightly. "Something I've been working on. Although it only worked for a split second."
"As a boyfriend, I'm proud of you. Immensely. As a fighter? I'm pissed off."
Silena disengaged from the struggle and gained a good amount of distance. She then swung her whip that, when Markus looked at it properly, looked mechanical. He reached up to catch the extended part, only to feel a slight buzz.
Markus raised an eyebrow at Silena's shocked face. "Sorry, love. Lightning doesn't work on me." He then yanked sharply, causing her to be pulled forward. Markus then jumped, twisted his body and - with great reluctance - gave a spin kick to her face that made the crowd wince. The daughter of Aphrodite was then knocked out promptly.
Markus slammed the butt of his spear on the ground, channelling his godly energy into it. The result was a resounding boom that knocked all the remaining fighters onto the ground from the force. He followed it up with a spell that he had come up with only recently.
"Dark Gravity!" he called out, raising both his hands out. His Yin tattoo glowed as darkness pulsed at his hands and the space around him. Suddenly, Thalia, Annabeth, Katie and Lou were pulled by an unknown force towards Markus. Their bodies looked like rag dolls as they moved. They tried to move against the unknown force, but couldn't.
Once they were close enough, Markus called out another attack. "Rakurai Keimusho! (Lightning Prison!)"
A burst of lightning was the only warning the girls received before they were electrocuted. The finishing result was a multitude of spikes made of electricity produced around Markus' form. They didn't impale the girls, but did shock them and give them a series of burns (A.N. - The technique is similar to Sasuke Uchiha's Inferno Style: Honoikazuchi from Naruto).
The technique ended quickly due to Markus not wanting to hurt the girls too badly. They passed out, all having several burns and smoke curling off their forms. The only one conscious and unharmed was Thalia.
The daughter of Zeus glared at him, moving away from him. Without warning, she launched a compressed ball of wind at him, which Markus responded to with a bolt of lightning. The two attacks collided and created a mini-explosion. Using the distraction, Thalia used the wind to bring her spear back to her while Markus brought his forward.
At the same time, the two of them charged at each other, both of their weapons creating sparks as they collided. The two spear-wielders fought in a sort of dance, moving to steps that seemed natural to them. They kept attacking each other, looking for an opening. Their movements were even, both looking like they could continue fighting. Thalia, however, was slightly exhausted from all the energy spent. Markus took note of this exhaustion and used his trident's prongs to snag the top of Thalia's spear. And then he turned, the prongs catching her spear along with Thalia's body.
Markus then followed it up with disarming her, making her lie on the ground. Her spear flew out of her hands as Markus pinned her to the ground. He held Tsunami to her throat.
"I win," Markus whispered, making Thalia furious but ultimately concede.
"Fine. You win. Now get off of me!"
"I don't know," Markus said cheekily, making Thalia growl. "Should I really?"
"Barnacle Brain, you may be immune to lightning, but that won't save you from me castrating you. Get. Off. Me. Now."
"Well, when you put it like that..." Markus chuckled sheepishly as he got off of Thalia. He offered her his hand which she took.
The audience of campers applauded, though some of them grumbled angrily to themselves. The Hunters moved away to their own space, not happy with the outcome of the fight.
"Good job," Markus complimented. "Seriously, you guys impressed me."
"You don't have to lie to us, Markus," Thalia said sullenly. "You kicked our asses. Simple as that. And after all that effort-"
"Don't talk like that," Markus argued. "Yeah, I did kick your asses. Quite badly. Almost hilariously." At Thalia's depressed face, Markus changed the tone. "But that doesn't mean that I'm not impressed. You guys are way stronger than you were last time. And I can tell that you guys worked your asses off. I'm proud of all of you."
"You mean that?" Thalia asked quietly. "You're not just saying that?"
Markus walked towards her and placed his hands on her shoulders. He looked into her electric-blue eyes that showed doubt. "I'm serious. I understand completely why you guys went to such lengths to prove yourselves to me. You want to prove that you're not weak, and that you all can stand on your own two feet. I can relate. That's the reason that I myself want to be powerful. So that I can never be weak and be able to stand on my two feet. I want to be powerful to protect all of you. And that's the same thing that you're trying to prove to me. I can see that. I understand that. You've proven that to me."
Thalia nodded, looking relieved. "Good. You don't know how long I've wanted to here you say that." She suddenly looked unsure about something. "Hey. You still haven't forgotten about... the prophecy, right?"
"About how I'd be there for you and got your back?" Markus answered, smiling. "Never. I promised you, Thalia. And I will keep my promise. Kronos, Luke, any monsters or Titans. I won't let anyone take you away from me. I swear to you."
Thalia nodded, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. She furiously wiped at her eyes. "W-We need to get the others to the infirmary."
"Right." Markus created five speed clones to pick up the five that were unconscious demigods and to carry them to the infirmary. Markus followed after them along with Thalia.
The two reached the infirmary, the children of Apollo tending to them. Markus immediately asked one of them to get him a basin of water. They looked confused, but Will told them to get him it. A couple of minutes later, they brought the basin with them.
Markus placed it on a table next to him and dipped his hand in the water. He then placed his hand on Annabeth's arm. He then used the water that he had contact with to heal the daughter of Athena. The trick was something that he'd learned before his training trip but never got the chance to try it out.
After a while, Annabeth's form relaxed, the lightning burns fading away significantly. The children of Apollo and Thalia watched, shocked at the spectacle happening.
Markus did the same for the rest of them. For Percy, he just dumped a basin of water on his head, which made him wake up spluttering. At least his wound healed. When he woke up, he realised that the others had lost. He looked depressed, before Markus gave him the same speech he'd given Thalia. It made him feel slightly better.
Markus then casted several healing spells that would speed up the process. He then nodded to several of the medics there, before walking out with Thalia. He made to help Percy to cabin three, but his brother refused, saying that he would walk alone.
Markus and Thalia exited the infirmary. Markus wanted to stay with the others but he knew that they were in good hands. He just did most of the work. He looked to Thalia, who looked nervous about something.
"What's wrong, princess?" Markus asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion. Thalia definitely looked suspicious. She paced around nervously, her face red. She kept playing with her bracelet. What was wrong with her?
When she made to speak, she blushed even harder. Then she growled. What the hell was wrong with her?
Markus' sharp hearing caught her muttering "Screw it" before she pushed Markus back, shocking him. Before he could say anything, she grabbed the collar of his shirt and brought his lips to hers, kissing him.
Markus was so shocked by the action that he didn't move for a moment, with Thalia being the one to kiss him. His brain became dead when her admittedly soft lips connected with his. She was kissing him. Thalia was kissing him. What the hell was he supposed to do?!
Several thoughts ran through his head. One, Silena was going to be so mad that he was making out with a girl while she was unconscious. Two, he reminded himself that his girlfriend was basically allowing him to be with other girls, which she knew about. And three, he really wanted to respond to the kiss. Badly.
Just as Thalia was about to separate herself due to fear, embarrassment and sadness due to him not responding back, she was shocked when Markus wrapped his arms around her and gave a deep kiss. A couple of emotions whirled inside of her, the most prominent being happiness. She moaned as Markus kissed her back, his arms slipping to the small of her back.
It was a simple kiss that was supposed to be innocent. But since they were growing teenagers, their hormones kicked in. Thalia's hands trailed to his abs and went under his shirt, her thin and nimble fingers rubbing themselves across his stomach, making Markus shiver slightly in excitement. Markus' hands went to her hips, almost reaching her ass. Their simple kiss turned into an intense lip-lock. Markus' tongue leapt forward and moved and danced inside the daughter of Zeus' cavern.
Thalia gave a slight squeal as Markus picked her up and sped them towards cabin one. Markus shut the cabin door before pouncing on the girl, resuming their kissing. He pushed her against the wall slightly as they continued, his hands reaching for and squeezing her fat ass, making Thalia moan. She was wondering how he was so experienced in this, but ignored the question for now in favour of enjoying herself.
Markus slightly removed the mental block on his libido, and started to become more rough but slow. His hands kneaded Thalia's perfect ass in his hands, enjoying the roundness and firmness of it. He had to admit to himself that Thalia had a better ass than Silena. Thalia's was more bigger and rounder, while Silena's was slightly smaller but nevertheless still perfect. His tongue moved like a snake in Thalia's mouth, teasing and working her tongue like it was prey.
Both of them stopped the kissing for a moment but still groping each other. Markus stared down at Thalia's bruised lips, at her lustful expression, and he kissed her again. A part of their minds wanted to talk to each other, to question the situation that they were in, but they ignored it for now.
After a few moments, Thalia was the one to retreat back from the kiss. Markus made to kiss her again but she held her hands against his chest, stopping his movements. "Wait," she whispered, wanting to continue but rationality came to her mind. "Wh-What does this make us?"
That question stopped Markus cold. His lust went down for a moment, and then he remembered the situation that he was in. Markus suddenly felt guilty. He really liked Thalia, possibly loved her. But he also loved Silena and the other girls. The struggle was annoying him and made him curse Aphrodite sometimes for making his love life so complicated. "Thalia, I have to tell you something."
"What is it?" she panted, still breathing heavily from the kiss.
Markus felt like a complete asshole for doing this, but he had no choice. He had to tell her. It was the right thing to do. He refused to lead her or any other girl on like a scumbag. So he decided to be blunt and brief. "I'm currently dating Silena, but I like you. Like, really really like you. But I also have the same feelings for other girls." Wow, that wouldn't make him sound like an asshole. Not at all. It made him seem like the scum of the Earth. Like some creepy assholish pervert.
Thalia blinked, and Markus could see the shock and sudden heartbreak in her eyes. It made his heart crack at seeing that expression in her eyes. "Wh-What d-did you say?" she asked, removing herself from his grip and moving away from him.
With heavy reluctance, Markus slowly and sadly repeated what he'd said. "I said that I'm dating Silena, but I like you. Along with others."
Thalia looked at him with shock for a moment, and then her expression turned from sadness to rage. "Get out," she whispered angrily.
"Thalia-" Markus tried to say, but Thalia interrupted him.
"GET OUT! YOU BASTARD! GET OUT BEFORE I KILL YOU, YOU SICK FUCK! GET OUT, GET OUT, GET OUT!" Thalia shrieked with rage and sadness, tears of anger and pain streaming down her face.
"Thalia, please," Markus pleaded, already having expected this, even though he hated it so much. He didn't move as she blasted him with lightning that didn't affect him. Her rage was clouding her judgement. Seeing that lightning didn't work, she brought out her spear and tried to skewer him in rage.
"I SAID GET OUT! GET OUT BEFORE I KILL YOU!" Thalia roared, hot tears going down her face. Markus kept dodging her attacks before he grew frustrated. He caught her spear before yanking it out of her hands. He then pinned her to the wall by her wrists. She tried kicking him, but his pinned her legs down as well.
"LET ME GO! LET ME GO RIG-"
"LISTEN TO ME!" Markus roared, interrupting her. Thalia pinned her sparking and glowing eyes at him. Before she could scream again, Markus continued.
"You think I want this?" he growled, angry at himself. He could completely understand her reaction and it was completely justified. Honestly, Markus wanted to leave her alone and run away to the deepest part of Earth to hide. But he refused to do that. He was man enough to go with his decision, so he would take the full brunt of all of this. "You think that I want to be stuck in this fucking mess of emotions and shit? I don't! I never, ever, ever wanted to hurt you. Right now, seeing you like this is breaking me. Because it's all my fault. And I'm so, so, so sorry."
Thalia looked like she was about to shout again, but she was interrupted by a knock at the cabin door. Both of them were wondering who it was and that it was a bad time to see someone right now. But Markus knew that whoever it was at the door, wouldn't go away. So, with great reluctance, Markus released Thalia and went to the door.
He opened it to reveal Silena, who looked mostly recovered.
She gave Markus a meaningful look, before pushing him slightly to walk towards Thalia, and scooped her in a hug. Silena just rubbed her back as she whispered into the daughter of Zeus' ears. "It's okay" "I know" "I know".
Thalia ended up crying into Silena's shoulder, making Markus' heart ache. As Silena comforted Thalia, she gave Markus the signal to wait, to which he did. Markus could tell that Silena's words were laced with a small amount of charmspeak, which did its job of calming Thalia down.
When Thalia stopped crying, she looked into Silena's eyes. "Why?" she croaked, making Markus angry at himself for possibly the hundredth time. "Why are you defending him?"
"Because I love him," Silena told her simply. "And he loves you too, even if he doesn't know it himself." Markus made to say something, but was interrupted by Silena glaring at him. Wow, she was surprisingly ferocious when it came to matters of the heart.
She then looked back to Thalia. "I'm not going to lie, I was angry when I found out that he still liked you and the other girls, even when we started dating. Maybe it's the Aphrodite in me, but I simply loved him too much. And I can sense the love that he has for you. He cares for you, for me, for all of us. Even though he acts nonchalant, he has a lot of love that makes me think that he's a son of Aphrodite." Thalia chuckled, even if it was only small. "I understand completely why you feel angry, betrayed, hurt, and all of those things. I can sense all of it. But you should know that he would never, even unintentionally, hurt you. I promise you that."
Thalia's eyes showed less of the anger and sadness from before. "But why does he want other girls?" she asked. "Aren't you good enough?"
"It's because of my fatal flaw." Markus chose that time now to speak up. "My greed won't allow me to be satisfied with one girl that I love. It's something I'm not happy about, but I simply want more. In this case, I want the girls that I li- love," he corrected himself when he saw Silena's glare.
Understanding dawned on Thalia. She wiped away her tears as she looked at the two. "I-I get why, now. I understand it. But I-I'm not sure if I could go through with it."
Markus' face fell. The rejection was simple, and yet it felt like his world was crashing down on him. Before he could say anything, Silena intervened. "I understand that you're still skeptical," she said knowingly. "Markus, come here."
Confused, he walked forward.
"Think of your love for the girls that you love, including Thalia," Silena instructed. "Bring out all the emotion, all the experiences that you had with them."
Markus nodded, doing exactly that. He thought of his first meetings with each girl in his life that he lik- no, loved. He knew that now. He thought of meeting Annabeth for the first time. Of how when he awoke from being unconscious, she interrogated him quite poorly. Then when they had their first proper introduction. You drool when you sleep. Yeah, she was sentimental like that.
Back then, Markus hated Annabeth. She was annoying, judgemental, bossy, a know-it-all and a bitch. But then there was the quest. All of the quest members had bonded with each other during the quest. All of their pasts and encounters were revealed, and they all bonded through that. To him, Annabeth became a good friend.
And then he started hanging out with her, and he realised that she had certain quirks that he liked; her smarts, her toughness, her blonde hair and grey eyes, her rambling that started off as annoying but ended up as cute. The quests and encounters with each other made Markus fall for her even more, even if he wouldn't admit it.
When he found out about the prophecy, he was hurt. Sure, he understood why she hid it from him, but the fact that she didn't tell him something that concerned his future made him furious. It took Hestia advising him to forgive her that he even bothered to apologise, something that he was thankful for.
Then his mind drifted to Katie, the cute girl that he'd met at the camp store. She seemed shy, awkward and kind. She was one of Markus' friends that stood by him in the worst of times, and for that he was grateful. Her lack in confidence was something Markus was determined to help her in.
As she grew - from shy and quiet but surprisingly stern to a beautiful girl brimming with confidence - Markus instantly fell in love with her without knowing.
Then Silena, the girl who had his back even now. His first encounter with her was nothing short of embarrassing. He was head over heels for the pretty daughter of Aphrodite. She was so pretty, down to earth and helpful. She was so unlike her siblings that sometimes Markus questioned whether she was a daughter of Aphrodite or not. Plus, she truly believed in love, something her siblings failed to do. She had so much love in her that it was astounding and admirable at times. That was the main reason that Markus loved her so much. She was even willing to share him with other girls because she didn't want to destroy the love that he and the others had.
Her turning traitor flashed into his mind. That was something that wounded him deeply, almost as much as losing his mum. It wasn't only the fact that she turned traitor, but the fact that it was her. He didn't want to possibly fight her, to turn her in to Olympus only to die. Or worse. That was something that Markus never wanted to happen. Even thinking on it now, he only felt sadness for her having to put up with the whole thing. Along with anger at Luke.
Finally, Thalia. The girl that he had made cry with his actions. Honestly, Markus felt like a piece of shit right now just looking at her. When they first met, after she had recovered from her tree-metamorphosis, they were good friends. And then they started arguing. And fighting. And argued. And fought. Come to think of it, she was the most annoying person that he'd had the pleasure of meeting at the time. Now, he wanted nothing more but to kiss her and wipe her tears away.
When she found out the truth about the prophecy, he felt pity and sadness for her. She was just like him. If their situations were reversed, then he'd be the prophecy child instead of her. Her shock, horror and anger made Markus want to comfort her. And when he promised to protect her and be there for her, he saw the doubt, the fear, and sadness turn to hope, confidence and sadness. It was something that he always wanted to cherish.
When she saw Markus' eyes light up completely, Silena smiled. She held out her hand, which Markus grasped.
All three of them gasped. Markus didn't know how, but he was able to feel... love. All the love that he felt, that Silena had and that Thalia had. He didn't know how to describe it, but it felt... sweet, like lemon. He didn't know how love actually felt, but the sweet and bubbly emotion was there. Thalia's feelings were retreating sadness, anger and pain that was quickly being replaced by the emotion. Silena's was like a beacon. It was so bright and large that Markus almost shed a tear. Him, the badass demigod that he was, crying slightly.
When they let go of each other's hands, all of them had tears from their eyes. Markus quickly wiped his own tears away. "Wh-What was that?" he asked, still emotional.
Silena smiled beautifully. "That was all the love that you two had for each other. It's another demigod ability that I unlocked for myself."
Thalia furiously wiped at her eyes, getting rid of her own tears. "I... That was... nice," she finished lamely. This made the others laugh at her. She glared, but then ended up laughing as well.
When they finished, Markus looked hopefully at the daughter of Zeus. "So..." he said, suddenly nervous. He hated it but couldn't help it. "Are you... okay with all this?"
Thalia looked deep in concentration. Markus' heart hammered loudly against his chest in nervousness. He wanted to hear her answer but at the same time didn't want to, at the same time.
Just when Markus' hopes were falling, Thalia spoke. "I-I don't know if I'm going to get used to it. But..." Thalia stepped forward and gently kissed the son of Poseidon, giving him her answer.
Markus' hopes and spirits went from falling to soaring. A chibi-version of him was cheering joyfully and even had victory flags waved in his head. Before he could kiss back, Thalia stepped back and gave him a slap to the face.
Markus blinked, the surprise going to him more than the pain. He didn't really feel it that much. "What the fuck was that for?!" Markus exclaimed, shocked.
Thalia glared at him. "That was for making me cry and angry when you could've gone with a different method than just dumping it all on me. And also for making me cry!"
Markus just blinked stupidly, before he chuckled. Before the daughter of Zeus could say anything, Markus leaned forward and kissed her gently again, making Thalia's anger melt. After a moment, they separated. "I love you," he whispered happily, making Thalia almost tear up in joy.
"I love you, too," she whispered back. Both of them leaned forward, their foreheads connected in a sweet moment.
At a clap sound, they both jumped. They saw that it was Silena that had clapped. "You guys do know that I'm still here, right?" she pouted.
Markus chuckled, moving forward and wrapping his arms around her. "I know that. I love you too."
Silena smiled, happy. "Good." She then looked to Thalia. "Come on," she gestured.
Smiling, the daughter of Zeus walked forward and embraced the couple, joining in. The three of them were extremely happy, something that they planned to cherish.
XXX
All the counsellors were in the rec room, sometimes called the war room. Markus didn't know why, since there was a ping-pong table and Cheese Whiz.
Since Markus and Percy were the only two in cabin three, they both decided to be co-counsellors. It made things easier for both of them.
For the Hestia cabin, Alabaster had come forth as counsellor. He was voted by the majority of the residents because he was one of the oldest demigods, as well as one of the most powerful demigods.
Markus sat with Thalia and Silena on his sides, something that made Markus happy. Since their confession and dating (this whole situation was just becoming confusing) and became one of his girlfriends, Markus couldn't stop grinning. Hell, he was still grinning even now. He'd even taken a victory lap around the planet, not using Third Gear. His happy emotions carried him forward to run.
Before, Markus used to curse his complicated situation. Now, Markus planned to kiss Aphrodite in thanks for all of this. A nudge to his side made him look to Silena. She had a questioning look on her face, wondering as to why he was grinning. Markus gestured towards Thalia with his eyes. Silena and Thalia - seeing the gesture - rolled their eyes, but still smiled.
A throat was cleared as Chiron entered with his guise of being handicapped up so he could wheel in the room without knocking anything over.
"This meeting, which has been called in order to prepare for the upcoming Campers v Hunters Capture-The-Flag game is now in session," Chiron began formally. Before promptly dropping the formality and asking almost pleadingly, "Anyone got any ideas?"
Conversation from some of the demigods was brought forward, but no concrete ideas.
"What do you think, Markus?" Beckendorf asked. Every pair of eyes turned to the son of Poseidon, pushed down his grin - which he didn't want to do - and looked confused. "Why are you asking me?" he asked in confusion.
"We know that you plan to get back at the Hunters," the son of Hephaestus rolled his eyes. The others nodded, remembering what Markus had done to them when they came to camp. They all shuddered, still having nightmares about the whole thing.
"Why would you assume that I would..." Markus' sentence fell when he saw the deadpanned looks everyone was giving him. Even Chiron. He huffed. "Fine. Since you all asked so nicely..."
"So you have an idea?" Connor Stoll asked eagerly.
Markus gave a grin filled with so much evil intent and mischievousness that even the Stoll brothers shivered. He chuckled creepily. "Oh, I have sooo many ideas..." His creepy chuckle was cut off by Thalia whacking him on the head.
"Ow! What was that for?!" Markus complained. Thalia just glared at him.
"Tone down the creepiness, Barnacle Brain!"
"Sadist...," Markus muttered. He had to phase through a fist from the girl. "Ha!" He phased again through a kick. "Aha!" He was suddenly whacked on the head again by Silena, who Markus didn't expect to do that.
"What she said," Silena frowned. "We don't want more nightmares."
"I'm surrounded by sadists," Markus grumbled, pouting. Everyone chuckled at the scene.
"Back on topic. We need someone that can stand against Zoë, seeing as she is usually the one to get the flag," Annabeth mused, getting frowns from several faces in the crowd.
"I want a crack at her!" Mark, son of Ares, proclaimed with a grin, "She's a good fighter!"
"No way, I've got first dibs!" Thalia growled as electricity danced around her eyes.
"We got this, girl. Patented sabotage for the win!" Travis cheered, getting a high-five from his brother.
A sharp whistle broke up the argument before it could really begin. Everyone was silent as Markus removed his fingers from his lips. "Thank you. Now, I think one factor as to why you've been losing has been clear."
"Which is?" Annabeth asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Teamwork." At everyone's confused looks, he elaborated. "You guys need to work together. I haven't seen that many Capture-the-Flag games, but I can tell that you guys only work together when the situation calls for it."
When the truth became clear on all of them, there were some grumbles. But none of them disagreed.
"So what else?" Will asked.
"Make use of the environment," Markus gave off another point. "The Hunters are used to hunting in forests, so they're likely to have the advantage. Which should be impossible, since this is your camp. You guys know this place better than they do. Use that knowledge. Get the Hermes and Hephaestus cabins to set up traps. Me and Alabaster could work on trap spells and other stuff. The Demeter cabin could use the nature advantage. Katie, you could use the trees and ground to your advantage. Grow thistles, thorns, poison ivy, all of that stuff. It not only limits their surroundings and ground-level, but also makes it easier to predict their movements. Will, trick arrows. Fart arrows, explosive arrows, flash bangs, I'm going to need all of that. Get Beck to stock up on all of that stuff."
"Okay, Sergeant. Anything else?" Mark asked sarcastically. Secretly, everyone was impressed by the ideas and planning that Markus came up with. Will and the Stolls brothers were especially impressed. Why hadn't they thought of fart arrows or traps?!
"Yeah. Alabaster, how good are you guys at illusions?" Markus asked his former mentor.
"Uhh, pretty good," Alabaser answered. "Why?"
"You watch any horror films?" Everyone was confused at his question.
"Some. Why does that mat- oh..." Alabaster understood what he was talking about. He grinned maliciously. "I get what you mean."
Markus sported an identical grin. "Good. Though I have a question. Why don't I just blitz past the Hunters and grab the flag? I can get it in an instant."
"No," everyone answered immediately. Markus frowned. "Why?"
"Because we want to win this together," Katie answered, frowning. "We've been losing against the Hunters for ages. This is the time where we win. It wouldn't be fair if you just win it for us in four seconds."
"Two, actually," Markus muttered, but he was still glared at.
"Plus, not everyone can be stupidly OP and bum-rush anyone they see," Mark commented.
Markus frowned. "I'm not stupidly OP."
"Yes you are!" everyone shouted at him.
"What the hell is this?! Pick on Markus Day?!"
"I thought that was Wednesday," Percy said, grinning. This got other people to chuckle at the remark.
Markus glared at all those who laughed. "All of you can suck the biggest of dick," he growled.
Finished!
Another chapter uploaded. ... Wow, that statement is kind of losing its appeal the more I update my stories.
Chapter overlook time: here, we see the gang going up against Markus and losing (which was more of a sort of sentimental moment for them rather than a normal ass-whooping, but meh), Thalia breaking down in sadness but then later kisses and makes up with Markus (and joins the harem. So... WOOOHOOO! Another girl added to the harem! AWESOME. *Clears throat* Anyways...) along with a sentimental moment - something I loved writing more than the other parts of the chapter, to be honest - and the campers planning to unleash a can of whoop-ass on the Hunters. Sooo much fun next chapter, can't wait.
Now... Guest review answer time.
1) I'm a bit iffy on Negima's Magia Erebea, but that's not a no. So I'll think about it.
2) The Zeus v Markus smackdown. While that would be amazing to write, I would put it like Markus tricking Zeus rather than fighting him. Since Markus isn't fully on Big Three class yet. Just borderline. So the fight would be more tactics and tricks. Plus Markus has the immediate advantage, since he's immune to lightning. And Ares and Athena joining would lead to them getting their asses wrecked easily.
3) Thanks for the compliment on me doing the Greek/Roman forms well. Markus running so fast that he'll go to another world/the past would be sort of a side adventure that could be done in the future. Something that I'd love to write about. Thx for that.
Yeah, that's pretty much it. I might make a short chapter in the future that'll detail Markus' stats as well as the others', just so you know what they're all capable of.
Again, thx to all those who f,f, r and r the story. I love all the support and praise. Thanks so much!
Read and Review!