The rays of the morning did not wake them up, but the sounds of hungry infants did. Katie awoke first, seeing her two precious babies crying for their milk. Letting up her shirt a little but and unclasping her bra off, she took an infant in each arm and placed their mouths at her nipples to feed. Danny slowly woke up and saw her nursing. He couldn't help but smile.
"It took me two months to get to third base when we were dating, but it took them till birth to get there?" he said, his smile warming her. She stuck out her tongue at him playfully and went back to nursing the twins. Once they had their fill of milk they either relaxed onto the bed or played around with their limbs. Danny lay next to Katie, his eyes ever on them. He knew he wouldn't be albe to protect them much longer.
"We can't stay here," he said. She knew he was bound to say this at some point.
"Where we will go?" she asked.
"Maybe camp. There we can protect the kids better. It's only a matter of time before they come back, in greater numbers," said Danny. Katie considered this. At camps there were more than a hundred demigods fully trained, and many nature spirits. With the gods on their side they could easily win. Yet, something felt unsure, almost sinister.
"Are you sure that's the right place?" she asked.
"I'm positive. As far as we know this was the second attack. There'll be more afterwards Kate," he said. He sounded so sincere it was hard to even think that it wouldn't work.
"Okay, I trust you with this Danny," she said, kissing him lightly. She turned back to the kids, making sure they were alright.
It was about one o'clock by the time they appeared at Camp Half-Blood. They arrived right next to Peleus, who was sleeping. Had the dragon not looked before belching fire he would have charbroiled them. Once he saw who they were, he nodded back off into his sleep.
They walked up the hill past the pine tree to the Big House, Danny holding Gerald and Katie holding June. Any belongings they needed was in Danny's special container that could hold almost anything. Their weapons, clothing, and some food was stored in there. They got to the door and knocked on it. Hearing the clip-clop of of feet they saw Chiron open the door and see them and the babies.
"Danny, Katie, it's been awhile. And I believe these are the children," he said, looking down at the infants in their arms.
"What brings you here on short notice?" he asked.
"We got attacked," said Katie.
"By?" said Chiron.
"My mom didn't tell you?" said Danny. Chiron shook his head. He bade them to come in and explain. Mr. D was playing pinochle with Grover, ho was actually winning.
"Hey, Danny and Katie, how's it going?" said Grover.
"Nothin much, except being attacked by another one of my brothers," said Danny. Grover looked shocked.
"Which one?"
"Theoceles," said Danny. Mr. D even tensed up when he heard the name, including Chiron.
"What happened?" said Chiron. Sitting down, Danny and Katie explained what happened yesterday. Mr. D, Grover, and Chiron listened with deep concern.
"This is bad. That means that the attack from the army is coming soon if they sent out two of their champions to kill you," said Chiron.
"Especially if one of them was Theoceles," said Mr. D.
"You know him?" said Danny.
"He attacked Olympus at one time, but he failed like the others, but he came close. He would have destroyed me were it not for my father," said Mr. D.
"But you're immortal," said Katie.
"That doesn't mean it wouldn't have hurt Katherine," said Mr. D.
"Chiron, where do you think the attack might come?" said Danny.
"I don't know, but my insight says here. They wouldn't risk a direct assault on Olympus seeing how the War went nearly a decade ago," said Chiron.
"It's always here," said Katie, quite dismally.
"We might need to round up our forces," said Grover.
"Yes, please rally the nature spirits Grover," said Chiron. Grover bowed and trotted away, reed pipes in hand.
"What do you need us to do?" said Danny.
"You need to hide for now," said Chiron.
"Chiron, we can't just hide while our friends fight and might die," said Katie.
"Your children need you," said Chiron.
"Percy and Annabeth have a kid, but they would fight in a heartbeat Chiron. We need to help," said Danny. Seeing as how he couldn't pursuade them to change their mind, Chiron sighed and nodded.
"Okay, you may help. Danny, I need you to go and see if there are any people of Gaia who are still loyal to Olympus," said Chiron. Danny nodded, though Katie didn't like the idea too much.
"Katie, find Thalia and the Hunters and get them here. Also contact Percy and Annabeth, and your father," said Chiron. Katie nodded.
As they rested in the Big House for awhile before they went to do their tasks, Katie needed to talk to him.
"Danny, I don't want you to go," she said.
"Kate, it's not that...,"
"I don't to see you leave, knowing you might never come back," she said, her eyes on the verge of tears. Danny walked over and hugged her closely to him, looking down at her with his brown caring eyes.
"Kate, I'll be fine. Everything will be okay and I'll be back, no matter what," he said to her. He kissed the top of her head, looking down at her. She gave a half-smile, but that was all. He walked down the stairs to the outside of the Big House and disappeared into the ground. She watched him leaving, silently praying he would be back. Making sure the babies were asleep, she mounted a pegasus and took off towards Mt. Olympus.
(Depths of the Earth)
The corridor was as dark as a moonless night at midnight, but he could through it like it was sunny outside on a cloudless day. In the deep confines of the Earth he could tell that something was up ahead, and it might be unpleasant.
Pedos, his bow, in his hand, an arrow notched to the string, he pressed forward, not knowing what would be up ahead. He kept moving until he saw a light up ahead. Moving as cautiously as possible he came to a cliff that overlooked everything. The cavern was huge, about eight football fields long and four wide. There he saw what looked like men in Greek battle armor, battalions of them, training. But something was unusual about these men. They were brown and moved at times like they were made of stone. Looking closer he saw that they were made of stone, but as flexible as a human.
Their eyes glowed fluorescent green, on each shiled was a symbol, the Greek letter Gamma for G. Danny knew this meant his mother, and it made his blood boil how they would do such despicable things in her name.
Observing everything he heard footsteps behind him. No other choices he launched himself into the wall, using it to hide him as he burrowed in there, his eyes the only thing visible if one were to look at the wall.
Two of the stone soldiers passed by him, speaking in the ancient tongue before written languages, older than Mycenean and Minoan. Their voices sounded like two rocks grinding on each other. Danny got out of the wall when they had passed and silently earth traveled down the cliff. Moving through the cavern, making sure he wasn't seen, he tried to figure out their exact troop strength. Although the estimate was more or less then there really was, he picked up about twenty thousand, four legions worth. This was bad. The camp would outnumbered ten-to-one, but they had overcome impossible odds before, and they had the gods. But something told him that there might not be enough still.
Where to find the plans at?" he said to himself.
"You could try looking for the largest tent," said a voice right beside him. Danny jumped up in surprise and whirled around, bow at the ready, pointing directly at the spot where the voice had come from.
"Woh Danny, it's me Nico," said the voice, though no one was visible. He shimmered into existence when he took off his battle helmet.
"Nico, what the hell are you doing here?!" said Danny, but not too loudly.
"Chiron sent me. He wanted me to help you with this mission," said Nico.
"Where did you get the invisibility helmet?" said Danny.
"It was a gift from my dad," said Nico.
"Nice gift. Anyway what were you saying?" said Danny.
"Think about it. Which tent do you most likely think the commander with a huge ego would be in?" said Nico. Looking up at a cliff that jutted out into the cave he saw a massive tent with a brown banner with a picture of the Earth on it.
"That one," said Danny.
They snuck up the cliff using their natural climbing abilities. Perching themselves on the ledge side they saw an opening in he tent, and gruff talking was coming from them. Crawling on the ground they came to the opening and quickly crawled in. They took cover under a table in the shadows so as not to be seen and obsevred what was going on. Some kind of meeting was going on and the men were huge, about eight feet tall.
"The Gigantes," said Nico.
"Unfortunately," said Danny. He knew the story. They were giant sons of Gaia who had tried to conquer Olympus in the old days. Only the strength of Hercules had saved Olympus from being overthrown, and that was saying something. They were yelling and shouting in gruff voices in the language he heard the stone soldiers talking. It took him a moment to realize that he understood their every word.
"What are they saying?" said Nico.
"So far they're thinking of what strategy to use in order to topple the gods," said Danny. Listening more intently he saw the biggest giant of them all, standing at an impressive nine feet, hush them all.
"Who is that?" said Nico.
"I don't know, but he must be the leader," said Danny. The giant was arrayed in armor that was shaped to look like the globe, his armor made of what looked like a combination of stone and a black metal. His skin was so dark he was almost not seen in the dimness of the tent. His muscles rippled, and he bore numerous scars down his face and arms. He yelled in the ancient language to the other giants.
"Now he's saying that they will march on Camp with their full strength and attack hard," said Danny.
"When?" said Nico.
"He said in two days," said Danny. "We need to get out of here now." As they were crawling out, Nico hit a spear with the edge of his shoe and the spear clattered onto the ground, resounding with a metallic CLANG! on the floor. The giants turned to see Nico and Danny on the floor near the entrance to the tent.
"I am never scouting with you again," said Danny. One of the giants gave a roar and they all picked up their arms and ran for them. Danny and Nico got up and tried to make a run for it, exiting out of the tent. At the edge of the ledge two giants appeared from out of the ground and stood ready with their weapons, blocking their way out. The other giants made a circle around the demigods. Pulling out their swords and shield, Nico and Danny stood back-to-back.
Two of the giants made a path for the tallest giant of them all to come through. He stood towering over Nico and Danny. He let out a resounding laugh that echoed throughout the cave.
"Isn't this a sight?" he said in English with a voice that sounded like it came from out the bottom of a well, a very deep well. "A son of Hades here, and my traitorous, weakling brother along with him." When he made Danny's introduction all the giants made a sound of disgust in their mouths, growling at him.
"Who are you?" said Danny. Even though he had read the myth, he still couldn't remember which giant was which.
"I am Alkyoneus, the king of the giants. And I believe you are spying, and we all know the penalty spies pay," said the giant.
"Look Alkyoneus, do you want history to repeat itself again?" said Danny.
"Yes, except this time there will be a change. Please tell me why in the name of Tartarus and our mother would you lay with a daughter of the sky god and have your halfling brats with here?!" Alkyoneus said with disgust as if it would make him throw up.
"You have no right to talk about mom. She was actually quite alright with it, better than the way she was okay with your decisions in the past, said Danny, tired of all his brothers picking at him for the choices he made. Alkyoneus growled and a sword appeared in his hands, one side looking like the side of saw that lumberjacks used to cut wood.
"Look brother, we don't have to fight," said Danny.
"You made that decision when you turned your back on your heritage," said Alkyoneus.
"I can understand about me, but doKatie and my kids?" said Danny.
"She will die of course, but I have a bright future planned for those two offspring. You could say they would make fine soldiers later on," said Alkyoneus.
"How so?" said Danny. As Alkyoneus discussed his plans, Nico and Danny were edging closer together.
"We'll use shadow travel. Their earth travel maybe too fast," he said quietly enough for only Danny to hear. Danny nodded. Once Alkyoneus was finished with his monologue, Danny spoke up.
"Can I just say one thing about my kids?" said Danny.
"And what would that be?" said Alkyoneus.
"They don't serve under dicks. Nico!" he said. Nico grabbed him by the hand and before the giants so much as even thought about stopping them, they were gone into the shadows of the cave. The last thing they heard was Alkyoneus bellow in rage.
(The Big House)
Katie was pacing back and forth on the porch of the Big House. She had been waiting for one hour for him to show up, but still no sign of him. She was worried sick now, and she wondered if something may have happened to him. She prayed that he would come back. It was dark now and she was starting to lose hope that he might never come back.
Out of nowhere he popped up, him and Nico appearing at the same time. They looked out of breath, but they were perfectly unharmed. Katie ran to him and threw her arms around him, wanting to hold him desperately close to her. He hugged her back to show that he was still here, he was still alive.
"Did you find anything out?" she asked.
"Yes, and you're not going to like it," said Nico. The three of them walked into the Big House to tell Chiron and Mr. D.
"This is very grave news," said Chiron. Mr. D. looked like he was about ready to get into a fetal position.
"That tallies up to about twenty thousand stone soldiers and twenty-four giants. There might be more of them still being made. In short, this is a little bit worse than when Kronos came," said Nico.
"And we only have two hundred campers, about a hundred or so nature spirits, and thirteen gods. They're most definitely going to fight on land so no help from Poseidon's forces. That would have tipped the scales better in our favor. By the looks of things numerically, we're screwed," said Danny.
"Especially with Alkyoneus. As long as he touches the ground he's immortal, as with the rest of the giants unless they take a lot of physical damage in one moment," said Nico.
"When are they attacking?" said Chiron.
"In two days," said Danny. Chiron paced around the floor, deep in thought.
"We need every demigod we can get, and we'll need a lot of your father's forces Nico," said Chiron.
"I'm on it," said Nico. He walked toward the shadow of a lamp and disappeared into it. They all knew he went straight to the Underworld.
"How many campers are here now?" said Danny.
"About one hundred. The rest are flying here now," said Chiron.
"Do we have a plan?" said Katie.
"For now we muster up our forces and prepare for the assault as best we can," said Chiron.
"Mr. D, I can't believe I'm asking you this, but will you fight?" said Danny. Mr. D looked at him for a long moment.
"Yes, I think it's about time I show those Giants what the god of wine can really do," said Mr. D. He snapped his finger and vanished in a mist of purple smoke that smelled strongly of wine.
"What do we do now Chiron?" said Katie.
"Rest Katie, that is all we can do," said Chiron. He trotted off towards the cabins and was lost from sight by the darkness around the camp.
"Where's the twins?" said Danny.
"Zetes and Calais are with them in their cabin. They'll be back soon," said Katie. Before he could so much as get up she got out of her and straddled his lap, hugging him close to her.
"Kate, what's this about?" said Danny.
"I thought I wasn't going to see you again when you didn't show up," she said, her voice sounding like she was on the verge of tears.
"Katie, I'm always going to coming back to you. How could I not?" he said. He looked her dead in her eyes, an understanding going between them.
"Promise me you'll never leave me alone," she said.
"I promise," he said. He lightly kissed her, the kiss turning heavy until they needed to stop before they lost themselves. She got off him to let him get up and he and her walked up the stairs hand in hand, determined to spend the night not doing anything physical that night, but going into more emotions.
The next morning, they awoke still in there clothes from yesterday, having accidentally fallen asleep. They saw Gerald and June in there crib next to them, Zetes and Calais having dropped them off at night. They were sleeping soundly, there light baby breaths not barely even making a sound.
Danny and her looked at them in happiness, watching them snooze off in there little dream world.
"They're so precious," said Danny. Katie held his hand from behind and kissed him on the cheek. She got up a little to see if they were alright and then settled back down on the bed. Danny lifted himself up a little, then surprised her when he got on top of her and planted her one of the best kisses in the world. She looked back up at him, her eyes glazed over with lust and passion.
"Don't get any ideas, the kids are still in the room," said Danny.
"Then why are you doing this?" she said.
"I like messing with you," he said. She smiled and kissed him anyway. He got off of her before they had anymore ideas. But first, she hugged him close to her while he was sitting on the bed and wrapped her legs around his waist, kissing up and down his neck. He wrapped his arms around her and massaged her back. Then, thinking evilly, he got her bra strap and snapped it on her beck.
She let out a yelp and looked at him like she was about to kill him. He did the puppy eye looked and turned his head down sideways. She couldn't help but laugh. This face always made her cheer up, and made him look super cute. She forgave him for the bra strap incident and let him run his hands up and down her sides, feeling her curves. His lips found her neck, lightly kissing her sensitive skin. His traveled into her shirt to rub her lower back.
This thing they were going through was like making love, but not really making love. It melted their souls together and gave them something that didn't involve sex, but touching was the remedy. They discovered this four weeks ago, and it made their love grow stronger.
Whilst kissing her neck, she felt his back and played with the scar etched on there. She lightly brushed her fingernails over it, sending pleasure shocks through his body. He responded bu having his fingers playing with her bra strap on her back, sending chills down her spine. He pulled back a bit to let his hand go for her front and lightly squeeze her breast in the bra, she sighed from the feeling and her hands wrapped around his neck, her blue eyes looking intently into his brown ones.
His hands went under her bra, not taking it off, and cupped her breasts, squeezing them even stronger than before, his hands playing with her nipples. She sighed into his neck and let him play around until he had enough. Locking eyes again they kissed one last time before getting off of each other and going about their business. They knew perfectly well that there was still a battle to fight.
As Katie was watching over the twins, Danny went outside to see of everything was okay. He saw plenty of campers, satyrs, and nature spirits making defenses and preparing traps. The Hephaestus cabin was making traps of Greek fire, dryads were sharpening stakes that pointed outward as if they were to be used in a siege. The other cabins were either making or sharpening weapons. Nico was helping to prepare fortifications near the camp using undead laborers.
As he looked around he saw Percy and Annabeth together by a table drawing a battle plan. He walked up to them and greeted them.
"Hey guys," he said.
"Hey Danny, where's Katie at?" said Percy.
"She's in the Big House with the twins," said Danny.
"Wait, the twins are here? What are they doing here?" said Annabeth. Danny explained how he and Katie were attacked two days ago.
"Where's Seth?" said Danny.
"He's with his grandmother," said Percy.
"Athena?" said Danny.
"The other grandma," said Percy.
"Oh. Do you think I should leave Gerald and June with their grandmother too?" said Danny.
"It'd be a good idea. Keep them somehwere safe like Katie's mom's place. They're safer there than at camp," said Annabeth. Danny thought about this for a moment.
"Okay, but I don't know how Katie will handle it?" said Danny.
"Once you tell her and evaluate the problem with her, then she'll understand," said Annabeth.
It took some time to convince Katie that the twins were safer at her mom's house. She agreed when he pointed out what would happen should the camp fall and all the heroes dead. Then no one would be able to protect the twins from harm. Danny speedily transported them to Ms. Sky's house, kissing the babies one last time on their foreheads before he left. He hoped that that wasn't the last time he would do that.
At camp Chiron prepared a map for the campers to look at.
"They will probably bring their forces here at the base of the hill. That way they can bring their full force there. Have the archers line on top of the hill to rain their arrows on them. Make sure Peleus is well rested; he's going to be in the fight of his life tomorrow. Make sure they do not get past the hill or we will be overrun. Have the Hephaestus cabin prepare traps there if they do, otherwise we will be in the fight of our lives," said Chiron. He went over this plan with the counselor's of each cabin and then to the whole camp. They knew that tomorrow, everything would change, for better or worse.
"Sleep well, heroes of the Fifth Age, and make it so that the power of Olympus is never overrun, never taken, and never thrown down so long as air fills our lungs. Heroes, to bed," he said.
Katie was sleeping soundly with Danny that night in his cabin. The thoughts of the battle tomorrow were the only thing that filled her head. But with thoughts in sleep come either dreams, nightmares, or prophecies of the future should they venture to far. One dream was like the last two.
She saw the camp burning all around her, campers fighting for their lives against armored men with expressionless faces that seemed to be made of rocks or stone. She saw Percy and Annabeth surrounded, fighting for their lives. Everyone was swarmed. The gods were fighting a losing battle with the giants, the biggest one of them beating her father, badly. She turned and looked to the ground to see a sight that would play in her mind for many days. Danny was on the ground, a large, burned, bleeding wound from his entire midsection. His eyes were closed, his body motionless. She reached her hand down to touch him. His eyes snapped open, looking dead at her.
She sat up bolt right in the bed, heavily panting. Sweat glistened from her brow and around her exposed chest area from her tanktop. She took several deep breaths to calm herself down and looked over at Danny. He was sleeping peacefully, a few dreads in front of his face. She sighed heavily and launched herself at him, hugging him tightly.
"Kate, what's wro.." said Danny, but a heated kiss from Katie stopped his words short. she ended it just as fast as she hugged him for all her worth.
"Kate, what's wrong?" Danny repeated.
"I had a dream, and you..," she said at first, but a shudder from her body stopped her words. He kissed her shoulder lightly as she cried softly into his shoulder. He held her close to him, wanting her to know he was right here; he wasn't going anywhere.
"Katie, I'll be fine. I'm going to come back through this and be with you till I die from old age, or a random disease," said Danny.
"Danny, the dream I had was so real, it was like I was there," she said.
"Katie, I promised you I'm never going to leave you, and I'm going to keep that promise," said Danny. He rubbed her back under her shirt to reassure her. She settled in his arms and tried to sleep, but it wouldn't come. She did finally fall asleep, knowing full well that their fight tomorrow might be there last.
