"Calais, we have to go," Danny said to him softly.
"I can't just leave him here," said Calais, his tear-streaked face showing all his sadness.
"I'll put him somewhere where no one but me can find him," said Danny. Calais, hesitant at first, nodded. Danny held Zetes's body to him and carried it away from the battlefield, holding him as if he were holding a newborn infant. Zetes's death had come as a nasty shock to him. He'd known him for four years, and to see him dead, like this, made his look on reality take an ugly turn. It had been too long since he'd seen a dead half-blood, but for one this young to lose his life that was suppose to last a lot longer than this brought sadness of the worst kind back to him.
Moving away from the battle and away from the hill he took his body down to the lake, the long way. He had discovered a way to get there a few years back. It was the safest way for him to get Zetes's body somewhere where the Gigante army wouldn't get to it.
He came by the lake after walking for about five minutes. Though it was October, there were still some flowers not into hibernating yet. He set Zetes's body down in a bed of orchids, placing his hands across his chest. He wiped some blood out of the corner of his mouth and put his legs together. He could have sworn that Zetes was sleeping by the how peaceful he looked. He choked back a sob, wiping a tear from his eyes, and went to pick his weapons back up.
"How touching. I take it the son of Zeus was a dear friend of yours," said a voice from the woods. Danny turned to see one of the Gigantes, this one in armor that looked a lot like sand, standing ten feet away. He was as tall as his other brethren, and his eyes shined so brown they almost looked black. His sword was held in his hand by his side, and what looked like a battle mace was slung in his other hand.
Danny got up, never taking his eyes off the giant. The giant laughed and flexed his arms to get ready.
"It must be humiliating having to die a traitor's death," he said.
"Actually it's more humiliating to get killed by said traitor," said Danny. He attacked faster than the giant could block, he did a slide under his legs and cut just above the giant's hamstring. The giant roared with pain and tried to turn, but Danny, with the help of the earth, leaped into the air, slashing the giant in the eye as he did a front-flip over him, landing on his feet. The giant, able only to see with one eye, flung his mace. It smashed onto Lithos with such force that Danny had to take a step back to handle the shock of it. The giant gloated and swung his sword.
Danny hopped out of the way so that the edge of the sword grazed his shield. He hit the ground with his shield and a multitude of small rocks from the ground hurled themselves like bullets at the giant. The giant raised his sword to block them, but it only provided him with some protection. As the stones were hitting him, Danny caused the ground under him to give way and make a trap hole. The giant fell into the ground and was stuck, his head the only thing exposed. Danny walked over and put the sword to his neck.
"Wait brother," the giant said, "maybe I was too cocky."
"Yes, you were, and now you'll pay for it," said Danny. In one swift stroke he cut right through the neck, but the giant's head was still on. In two seconds, it fell off, a look of utter shock on the giant's face. The head then crumbled into the sand. Danny let out a deep exhale. Making sure Zetes's body was okay, he went back towards the camp. He knew the fight of all fights was being held there.
All around Camp Half-Blood, the battle was raging. If there was a helicopter in the air over it, that is if one could get there, then it would have seen a raging inferno of violence, death, and destruction. Every part of the camp, except near the lake, was now a battle. The Gigantes still had the upper hand, and the rest of the Olympian army was fighting for dear life.
Peleus the dragon was holding back a century of stone infantry with his fire breath (a century is 100), the gods were still pitted against their giant foes, but the giants had dwindled to just seventeen left, including the one Danny had taken out, but that still left a lot of them. The gods had also taken some losses as well. Ares had been locked in a jar by the very same giants who had locked him in there (you need to read the myth about this to get it), and Dionysus had been buried in a rockslide and a sand trap. The other gods were fighting at their peak efficiency, but even they could see that they were in trouble.
Danny got back and saw a squad of stone men chasing wood nymph archers. He opened the ground in front of the men so that they fell into the pit. The wood nymphs turned back around and fired into them, destroying them with well-placed arrows.
Danny attacked stone warriors with ease, though now he was physically exhausted. The armor was weighing him down, but the earth was giving him the strength he needed to keep moving forward.
The arrival of the giants was weighing in on them now though. They couldn't afford to lose so many of their numbers by the threats. The sad thing was, there was only so few of them that could defeat them now.
Danny spotted Katie and Calais fighting a stone giant near his cabin. Picking up another sword from the ground he took to the side of the cabin, climbing up it's frame. On the roof he ran until he gained enough momentum to jump onto the back of the the things head. He reversed the swords so that the points pointed down and stabbed the thing in both sides of it's neck, but putting them on opposite sides. For instance, his right sword went into the left side of the neck, and his left sword went into the right side of the neck. Using all his strength he moved them towards the other. In less than a few seconds, the head of the giant was SCHLACKED off.
Danny landed on the ground next to Katie and Calais. Calais was still red eyed, but otherwise he was still battle ready.
"He's in a nice place. I put him in a flowerbed near the lake aimed towards the sun," said Danny. Calais nodded, his eyes filled with gratitude. So were Katie's. She mouthed thank you to him and they went back into the conflict.
They held stone soldiers at bay, stopped stone giants in their tracks with Cyclops's by their sides, and even took on the Gigantes. They helped Artemis take out one by distracting him enough for her to take it out with unyielding volleys of arrows by her bow, and helped Athena with another one by attacking at his critical points and having her smash her spear straight through his head.
Even when taking them out, there was still more left, and the enemy was winning. Nearly everyone was surrounded, the worst fighting taking place near the pavilion. Here was where the largest portion of the Olympian army was fighting, and it was here where Danny, Katie, Annabeth, Percy, Clarisse, Grover, Chris, Jamal, Calais, Nico, and everyone else were fighting. All the Gigantes were fighting in this one location, and they were delighting in the fact that they were so close to victory.
Alkyoneus was still fighting Zeus and Poseidon, but the two gods were covered in cuts, ichor seeping from the wounds. They looked like they were out of breath, and losing strength. Danny could see the Gem of Destiny in Zeus's hands, and it had worked, but so far the vast numbers of the stone army had negated it's full effect, and though they had taken out many warriors and giants, their numbers seemed just as high.
Danny was taking on another one of the Gigantes, Katie by his side. This giant was fighting with a ball and chain, iron spikes studding the ball. His armor was covered with diamonds, making it hard to see if he was in the sunlight. Danny was defending whilst Katie was attacking, them switching between the two to make the giant really angry and keep him off edge. Katie went near the legs and feinted an attack, which the giant tried to defend, not knowing that his shield exposed a very bad area for him. Danny came in and thrust his sword directly into his gut where the stomach was. Katie unleashed a full charge of lightning into the wound that sent electricity surging throughout the giant. The giant twitched and screamed as his skeleton was revealed from the light and he fell to the ground, dead.
Elsewhere the survivors of the Olympian force now turned their attention on the Gigantes, knowing that as long as they were around, their army would dominate. But no matter how badly the majority of them tried to kill a giant, the other stone soldiers got in the way of that.
Danny had no idea that when he was fighting two stone warriors at the same time, that he would come back-to-back with his worst enemy. Alkyoneus saw who it was that was next to him, and swung his sword. Danny jumped out of the way as the sword slash meant for him decapitated the stone warriors he was fighting.
Alkyoneus looked dead at him.
"Finally, I've been hoping for this day to come," he said triumphantly. All of his army stopped what they were doing and turned to look at him and the fight to come. The Olympian army didn't know what they were doing until they saw where the entire stone army was looking at. They realized with horror what was about to go down. Danny was about to fight Alkyoneus in a one-on-one sparring match.
Her grandchildren were in the living room happily moving their limbs on a blanket on the floor, their heads tucked gently onto a pillow. She was heating up their milk that Katie had given her when she heard a knock on the door.
"Who could that be?" she said to herself. She walked slowly to the door and looked through the peephole. To her surprise it was Gaia. She looked like she was in a big hurry. Ms. Sky opened the door for her to come in.
"Gaia, what is it?" she said.
"Hello Sarah, I need to speak to you urgently. It's about Danny and Katie," she said.
"Something hasn't happened to them has it?" said Ms. Sky, already worried sick about them.
"No, well yes, but they're still alive, for now at least," said Gaia.
"What do you need?" said Ms. Sky.
"I came because right now the camp is under attack. Now it's one of my sons against some of my most powerful sons. I believe you know about the Gigantes?" said Gaia. Ms. Sky nodded.
"I conceived them when I was angry at my grandson Zeus for imprisoning my first children, the Titans. Not all of them were bad, and many of the good ones were put away. Now I don't know what to do. Because it's a domestic matter on my turf and the gods are fighting I can join the fight, but I don't know who to fight for. I'm not allowed to show favorites, even though I love Danny dearly. I also love my giant children, even though they are fighting with an evil intent. I'm stuck," said Gaia. Ms. Sky understood immediately.
"See it like this, as the mother of the earth you're all about keeping balance," said Ms. Sky.
"Right," said Gaia.
"Any imbalance and you seek to correct it. Right now your sons are fighting to overthrow Olympus. The first time they did they lost, but the gods understood your pain and let some of the peaceful Titans go. This time they're fighting to turn the world back into the old days, which is setting off an imbalance," said Ms. Sky. Gaia's eyes lit up.
"Thank you Sarah. I know now what I must do, but I cannot harm my sons," said Gaia. She disappeared under the earth, leaving Ms. Sky alone.
"Danny and Katie, please be safe," she said to herself in silent prayer.
Danny and Alkyoneus were sizing each other up, ready to fight. Everyone around them stood at least ten feet back to give them room to fight. All eyes were on them. Alkyoneus was smling evilly as if savorig the kill to come.
"So Daniel, how will you be able to cope with me. I could withstand the full might of Zeus and Poseidon. What makes you think that you, a mere half-blood, can contend with me?" he said.
"Because when it comes to mom, we're evenly matched," said Danny. Alkyoneus sprang at him and the ifhgt was on.
Danny knew he was going to rely on his agility and smaller size than against Alkyoneus's brute strength. He also had to worry about his powers. He had the same problem with Theoceles a few days back, but this time he was facing near unlimited power, and this guy couldn't die unless he was completely off the ground for some time, while he was like the other giants who could die if he got a serious enough wound.
Alkyoneus's first strike came from his sword towards Danny's torso. Danny's shield blocked that and Danny reflexively went on the offensive. His first swing hit the giants's greaves since he was aiming low. Alkyoneus kicked out with his foot, but Danny sidestepped and cut up the leg from the ankle to the knee. A long gash formed in the side of the giant's leg. The giant shrugged it off like nothing happened and watched as it healed immediately back.
Alkyoneus struck back and he and Danny sparred it out for a long time, trading blow for blow and block for block, never ceasing to keep attacking the other. Katie watched with horror. Though the fighting was pretty even at the moment, she knew the odds were aginst Danny now. She was silently praying that she wouldn't have to carry him off, in a funeral pyre. The thought of raising Gerald and June was scaring her. She couldn't live without Danny being there by her side, but she knew that there might come a day when that was a reality.
Alkyoneus and Danny locked swords, trying to press their sword with all their might into the other. They summoned all the power they could harvest from the ground, and though Alkyoneus had a bit more edge, Danny was still holding his sword at bay. He wasn't going to die, not like this.
The gods watched the match with curiosity to the highest degree. They wanted to see if Danny would rise victorious and save the day, or he should fall and the stone army rest their power from them. Everything was riding on this last fight, for both armies.
Then, just as Danny and Alkyoneus hit another blow, the ground under everyone quaked at the magnitude of an earthquake. A small crack in the ground formed, then it got wider and wider. Everyone from both armies stepped back as the ground under them started cracking and shaking until it covered up a huge portion of the area they were fighting in.
From out of the cracks came a giant stalagmite from the ground. A figure was perched on top with a spear and shield, looking down on them all with harsh green eyes. she was about twenty feet tall, and she gave off an aura power stronger than even Zeus's. It was Gaia. At the moment the Gigantes let out a cheer, for they thought that their mother had come to fight alongside them and see victory given to them.
Gaia raised her spear and from out of the ground sprung more stone warriors, except these ones looked exactly like Spartan soldiers (not from 300 or Halo, the REAL Spartans), and their eyes glowed red and brown. On their chests were strapped bronze armor, bronze greaves, and a bronze expression of anger. They were just as numerous as the stone army now, but they were all at an impressive six feet, their spears as tall as them. However, instead of looking straight at the Olympian army, like the stone army thought, they were looking dead at them instead.
"My children, enough blood has been spilt today. You must leave the Olympians at peace and let them rule until the time has come for them to step aside and let the new rulers rule with peace. This is not the way to do it," said Gaia.
"Mother, what are you doing?" yelled Alkyoneus.
"My son, do not pursue this violence any longer. Live at peace with the Olympians," said Gaia. Alkyoneus's face turned from shock, to confusion, then finally to rage.
"NO! I shall never have peace with them. Mother, if you betray me then you betray all of us as well. Stand down!" he yelled, his face trembling with fury. Gaia could only look in pity and contempt.
"Then I have no choice' Imust keep the balance," she said. At that she raised her spear and yelled to her army to charge. They raised a mighty roar cry and attacked the stone army with super-human fervor. The Olympians cheered as well and they attacked alongside the Army of Gaia. Alkyoneus let out a roar of his own and his army attacked as well. Now the battle was joined, and everyone fought in it like a pack of wild beasts set loose for the kill.
(One hour later)
The battle against the rebel army was drawing to a close. With the help of Gaia's army, the Olympian army was able to push them back and inflict enormous casualties on them. Nearly all the stone warriors and giants were dead, and only a handful of the Gigantes were now alive. Alkyoneus fought like a cornered animal, which fights harder than a man who knew that defeat was near.
He was fighting against all the major gods and was being wounded in part by them, but as long as he remained on the ground he could not die.
Danny was single-handedly fighting the last of the surviving Gigantes and was able to knock him down to the ground, his foot on his throat. The giant pleaded for mercy, but Danny listened with unhearing ears and his sword cut through the giant's throat, killing him.
Danny looked and saw Katie battling two stone warriors.
"Two men against a woman is plain cowardly. Let's even up the fight," he thought. He came up behind one stone warrior and slashed it in half, stabbing the other one as well. The one that was stabbed fell down to it's knees and Katie cut it's head off. She and him shared a rare smile before they looked at the remainder of the battle. Only about one hundred stone warriors were left, and only five giant ones. All the Gigantes were dead, save Alkyoneus, who fought on like a madman. They went to where the gods were fighting, but stayed back ten feet to see if they needed help in one area or another.
Many cuts were on Alkyoneus now, and he was growing wearied. He had one secret weapon left, a blast so powerful it could defeat a god and knock him out if the fight for. But the peoblem was there were too many gods to take out, and there was only enough left of him for one blast. However, he decided that one who should be targeted was not a god, but someone who was much loved by them. His eyes darted to Danny, but then he thought of a better idea.
He made the earth around the gods shake, making them all fall to the ground. His sword took on an acid-green glow and the smell of raw power resonated from it. His sword pointed straight towards the last person on earth Danny would ever want it at. The sword discharged that power, it barreling straight for Katie.
"No!" Danny yelled. Acting fast he put himself in front of her, his shield raised to block the blow.
The blast hit his shield with tremendous force and the shield shattered from the sheer magnitude. The rest of the blast hit Danny and sent him into the ground near Katie's feet.
"Danny!" she yelled. She got down on her knees and tried to help, but she could tell the way he clutched his chest that he was mortally wounded.
Zeus yelled in rage, angered that someone would dare try to harm his daughter. He came up with his sword toward Alkyoneus so fast that the giant didn't have time to even block. Zeus's sword buried itself to the hilt in his body. All the giant did was laugh, but then Zeus used all his might to lift him off the ground. His feet dangling in the air, the giant slowly began to die.
"Next time you come back, don't EVER touch my family again," Zeus said. His sword cut upwards out of Alkyoneus's head, nearly tearing the giant in half down the middle. As the body fell to the ground, a bolt of lightning from Zeus turned it to ashes, letting it fall to the ground in a heap.
Zeus looked over to see Katie holding Danny's head on her lap, her eyes traveling over his wound. It reminded him of the one he gave Danny before, except this one no one could recover from.
Katie's eyes were watering, but Danny looked up reassuringly to her, though he knew his condition meant he wasn't going to see her for awhile, if ever.
"Kate, don't cry," he said softly to her. His hand reached up to her cheek, and she held it there with her free hand. She couldn't bare to see this sight, not again, except this one was ten times worse.
"Danny, please don't die," she said quietly to him, almost pleading. Dannys' eyes told her he didn't want to either, but he knew deep down that he was.
"Tell Calais to get Zetes's body in case he forgets, and also make sure you raise Gerald and June up to be very responsible and sensible adults," he said. She couldn't bear to thear him say this.
"And also, make sure they know about me as well. Let them know who their dad is, always," said Danny, his voice getting fainter. Katie's was now letting her tears fall out. Her dream from last night was coming true. It was almost unbearable.
"Danny, I love you. Please, don't leave me alone, not like this," she said to him. She clutched his hands, but they were slowly losing their ability to even move.
"Katie, I love you too. Don't forget that, ever," he said to her. His neck was also starting to stop moving. He felt his heart rate slow down till it was barely moving. His eyes fluttered as he struggled to gain breath, but less of it was coming. His eyes were starting to close and Katie could do nothing about it.
At that moment, Zeus walked over and knelt down next to him. He got out the gem, took one last long look at it, and put it near Danny's wound. The gem began to glow bright-white, it's energy flowing into Danny. Katie watched in astonishment as Danny's wound started to heal at an accelerated rate. His eyes opened back up, and his breath was restored as well. The blinding white died out just as the last of the wound healed up. Danny couldn't believe it, he'd been healed.
As they watched the gem crumbled into fragments and fell apart all over the ground, a sudden gust of air burying the fragments in the ground. Danny was not only astounded to see that the gem was used, but was more shocked that Zeus had done that for him.
"Zeus, why..."
"If there's one thing I hate to see, it's any of my children overcome with grief and sadness for he rest of their lives," he said to Danny. He stood up and went around to help anyone who needed medical attention. Most of all, he went to gather up the body of his dead son.
That night, the fallen warriors of the Olympian were buried, well at least the Olympian one. Among the fallen were a splish-splash of people from all the cabins, except Poseidon, Hades, and Gaia. The cabin ith the worst casualties was the Apollo cabin. The cabin originally had twenty kids, now there were only seven left. Aurora was thankfully one of the survivors since she had fought beside Nico the whole battle.
The bodies of the dead demigods were given the burial shrouds of their cabins. Zetes's body was covered with a golden shroud with two crossed lightning bolts on it and the symbol of the eagle draped across both of them. Danny, Calais, and Katie helped put it on, and Danny allowed Calais to burn it. Calais took a deep breath and let the torch touch the shroud, instantly igniting the shroud and the pyre.
"Is he in a better place?" he asked Danny.
"The best. He died a hero, so he'll be in Elysium until he wants to try for rebirth, but something tells me he won't leave until you get there so you can be by his side, always," said Danny. Calais choked up and put his head on Danny's chest. Danny hugged him back as Katie stroked his hair as the pyre burned. He watched as the rest of the funeral pyres went up in flames, burning the bodies underneath the shrouds to ashes.
