Welcome back my friends. I don't have a whole lot to say at the moment, if there's any Avatar fans in here I'm going to be starting an Avatar fic soon for anybody that might be interested (Not the blue people one) also currently working on a site called Booksie, have an original story in the works over there, under my same pen name just without the 1.
Chapter 6: A changing tide
Eli:
"Just breath," I told Kayla as she gripped my hand "Push."
"Oh really, push?" She snapped "No I thought I'd clench and hold, figured that might be a fun thing to do."
I fought the urge to roll my eyes, knowing that would only get me hit. Kayla had been in labor for close to fourteen hours now, and I was starting to wonder if the baby was ever going to come out, or if he had sensed what was going on in the outside world and thought to himself 'Nah, I'm cool in here.'
I had sent Percy to find Reyna and tell her everything that had happened, Leo had joined Annabeth in organizing a detail, the rest of the camp, no doubt aware by now of what had happened at Camp Jupiter, were scrambling defenses, doubling the guard on Circe, and patrolling the edges of the camp. We'd done our best to ensure there was no more shape shifters inside the camp, and had so far come up with nothing.
"Alright, Kayla," Will said gently, placing his hand on her shoulder "You're starting to crown."
"Okay," She grimaced, breathing heavy "Let's do this."
I smiled a bit, she really was tough as nails. She gripped my hand harder as Will told her to try and push. She did, but suddenly she stopped, crying out and turning white as snow. My hand felt like it was about to fall off, but I held her hand and kept quiet, letting Will do his job.
"Push." Will said again
She did, crying out even louder but this time she didn't stop. All around us children of Apollo rushed back and forth, doing whatever it is they do. I didn't know much about giving birth, but a few of them seemed to have some experience in the matter. Kayla continued to push, crying out and gripping my hand tighter and tighter, making it go numb.
"You're doing great," Rebecca, one of her sisters, told her "You've got this, keep going."
She continued to push, crying out, but now, I began to hear another cry mixed in, a baby. Suddenly, all my panic came back, I was about to be a dad, that's my kid screaming. This is a terrible idea, why'd the universe make me a dad? I'm not fatherly, I give really bad advice, like all the time.
Regardless, there was definitely a baby crying now and it was most definitely not a joke.
"I've got a head!" Will said, excited "Come on, Kayla, just a bit more."
She pushed again, and I glanced over, now seeing Will actually coming up with baby, still only half out, but it was there. I looked back at Kayla, who had stopped pushing and was breathing like she'd just sprinted a marathon. Again, she pushed, crying out as loud as she had all day, and I heard the baby screaming again, this time though, when I looked over, Will had almost everything but the feet.
"One more push," Rebecca told her "Just one more, we've almost got it."
She pushed, for the last time, crying out again, and Will stood, a baby wrapped up in his arms. Another daughter of Apollo rushed over, taking the baby from him and wrapping it up in a blanket, cooing him as he cried.
"It's a boy!" She laughed, bringing the baby over to Kayla
Still steadying her breathing, she reached up and took him, smiling as he settled down in her arms. He had stopped crying, and was looking around at us in wonder, taking in the room around him. I couldn't believe I was actually staring at my son, my own flesh and blood, right in front of me. Kayla smile widened as she looked up at me, grinning from ear to ear.
"We did it," She whispered to me "Look at him."
"You did it." I told her, kissing her forehead
"My gods," I heard a voice from the door way "Sorry I'm late."
I looked up to see Annabeth, Calypso, and Piper rushing in, coming immediately over to Kayla, each of them staring in amazement at the baby in her arms. As they all gathered around, I looked up to see Chiron entering as well, smiling warmly as he looked down at the baby.
"Have you two decided on a name?" He asked me
"Yeah," I nodded "After her brother, Brandon Elijah Alistair."
Antonio:
It was some time before I saw Eli again. I hadn't gotten a chance to see Kayla and the baby, and by time I was finished helping out with camp defenses I figured Kayla would probably be asleep, and decided to wait until morning.
It was, incidentally, Eli who came and found me. He looked worn down, but he had a slight grin on his face as he entered. I was behind the counter doing dishes, and heard him knock on the door frame before stepping inside, clearing his throat to announce himself.
"This place open?" He joked, sitting down
"Always is," I laughed "You want a drink."
"A drink?" He asked "Or a drink?"
"Which would you prefer?" I asked, raising an eyebrow
"The one that comes with whiskey." He told me
I pulled out two glasses, pouring the two of us a drink before sliding a glass over to him, taking a seat across from him. We both stared at eachother for a moment, neither of us really sure what to say or do. Finally, he cracked a half-hearted grin, picking up the glass.
"This is one fine mess we've gotten ourselves into, eh?" He asked me
"Right off the bat with something to drink to," I laughed, raising my glass "I like it."
He laughed too as we touched our glasses and took a drink, sitting back and going quiet once again. There was an unspoken question in the air, and neither one of us were sure which one of us should ask it. Eventually, I decided I'd break the ice.
"What do we do from here?" I asked
"We're gonna have to figure out a way to get that heart," Eli said, stroking his chin "I'm not sure how though."
"What if we played the monsters at their own game?" I said
"What do you mean?" He replied, taking a drink
"Well, Circe probably told us about it so we'd go get it and do the heavy lifting, just like the potion," I told him "So what if we let the monsters do the heavy lifting, wait until they have it and then go take it from them."
"I'm not sure how well that will work," He told me "First of all, we'd have to have a way to know they've gotten it."
"Maybe it'd be safer if we just left it then," I shrugged "They haven't gotten it yet."
"They will eventually," He sighed "It's just a question of how."
"Hey, a bit off topic," I said "But whatever happened to that one girl from the White House, the agent who almost captured us?"
"She showed up at Camp Jupiter a few weeks after that," He told me, taking another drink "Her contract was up, they'd interrogated the hell out of her after we escaped, but she kept them off our backs."
"She ever get Reyna back for knocking her out?" I asked
"Damn straight she did," He laughed "After Reyna had explained everything, she told her she wanted to meet her in the arena."
"Who won?" I asked him
"That is a good question," He chuckled "They beat the hell out of eachother for like an hour, and then they just stopped."
I heard footsteps outside the door and Percy emerged in the doorway, nodding to the two of us as he stepped inside. He looked like he'd been out in the cold for a bit, his cheeks and nose were a bit red and he squinted slightly as his eyes adjusted to the sudden change of texture.
"Everything is secure," He told us, sitting down "No intruders, no spies, everything is good."
"Finally, a little good news," I laughed "Care for a drink?"
"No I'm alright," He said, shaking his head "Just wanted to let you guys know."
"What now?" Eli asked him
"We'll convene in the morning," He told us "Figure out what we're going to do about the heart."
We spent the next hour discussing strategies for now that we had Circe, who might replace her now that she had been captured, what we'd do about them when the time came, but we continuously came back to one simple question. What were we going to do about the heart? It seemed like no matter what, we kept coming back to it, each of us just as clueless as the other. Percy told us he'd never heard on any magic to this degree, and wondered what other secrets the gods had buried, and what secrets they didn't even know about.
The night ended when Eli rose from his seat, saying he was going to head to bed. Percy followed him, bidding me goodnight and heading out after the son of Diana. I finished my drink and tossed the glass into the sink, heading over to my bunk and laying down. I tossed and turned for some time before I was able to drift off to sleep.
I was awoken an hour later by the sound of yelling and swords.
Eli:
As I started towards the Artemis cabin, I paused, looking over at the Big House. I had one more question for Circe, one that I wasn't so sure I had wanted to ask in front of the others. I headed up the porch, finding two of the Hecate campers on guard duty outside, playing cards. They nodded at me as I passed, opening the door and heading inside.
The basement, as I had expected, was guarded by two more Hermes campers.
"Where are you going?" One of them asked me
"Down there." I told them, nodding to the door
"We were told not to let anyone in here." The other replied
"Yeah, you were told that by me," I said, rolling my eyes "Move."
They stepped aside and I opened the door, heading down the stairs. Reyna would be pretty pissed if she found out I had went down here by myself, but the questions had been burning in my mind ever since we'd captured her. My nightmares were getting worse by the day, I'd spoken to my mother, who'd taken me to Apollo, but even he wasn't sure what was wrong. He said he felt something strange inside me, but he didn't know what it was, or how to remove it.
He'd been visiting me weekly, doing some weird god of medicine stuff to help me, but it only bought time, the nightmares got even worse after we'd captured Circe, and I wanted to know why.
"You two," I told the guards downstairs "Wait outside, will you?"
"Yeah," One of them nodded "Sure thing. Any idea where our replacements are?"
"Probably just didn't wake up," I shrugged "You guys can go find them if you want."
They headed up the stairs and shut the door behind them. I turned, looking at Circe, who appeared to be meditating again, inside of her cell. I grabbed the set of keys hanging by the stairs and opened her cell, stepping inside with her. Still, she didn't move or open her eyes, I wondered if she might be sleeping until she spoke to me.
"Up late, aren't we, dear?" She asked
"I have trouble sleeping these days," I said coldly "I'm willing to bet you know why."
"And why on Earth would I know a thing like that?" She asked, smiling slightly as she opened her eyes
"Because, you tend to know things," I told her "You'll tell me what I want to know, or I'll kill you, plain and simple."
"Ahh, but if you did that," She said "You'll never get him out of you."
I froze, unsure of what to say. Him? Sure, I'd expected her to know what was wrong, but not without me telling her anything. Instead, she didn't even seem surprised by my visit, and it appeared she already knew why I was even in here.
"Yes, dear boy, I know what ails you," She told me "I have felt him, for a long time. That little stunt you pulled at the White House only confirmed my suspicions."
"Which are?" I asked her
"When you destroyed the coffin, a bit of what was left of Kronos latched onto the nearest living thing that it could find," She told me "It grew, drawing off your life force for strength, planting visions and thoughts in your mind, even taking over briefly a few times."
"I can't fight him forever." I told her
"No, you can't," She agreed "And you've come down here for my help."
"I came down here because I know you know how to get him out." I replied
"I might," She said, raising her eyebrows "But what's in it for me."
"I'll convince Reyna to let you keep your head," I spat at her "You aren't in the position to bargain right now."
"Oh, on the contrary," She laughed coldly "It is you, my dear, who are in no position. I am exactly where I intended to be, with who I intended to be with."
"So you did let us capture you on purpose." I said
"Of course I did," She rolled her eyes "Did you really think I would set up camp so close to Camp Jupiter with barely enough troops to make it across the river?"
"Why?" I demanded
"To get to you of course," She smiled "I'll admit, I hadn't expected you to move me here, otherwise you and I would already be far away by now."
"The heart?" I guessed
"Partially," She admitted "But I had other intentions as well, depending on your cooperation with me, I may not need to use them."
I didn't say anything back. I thought for a moment, weighing my options. Circe was a master manipulator, there's no way I would be able to double cross her and get what I wanted at the same time, but I could leave. She might've been intentionally captured, but she was captured nonetheless, if I left, locked her cage, and told the others what she'd told me, we could end this right now. I struggled inside myself, unsure of what to do.
"I'm not going to do anything for you," I finally spat "You may have let us take you, but you're a prisoner now, and you have no power anymore."
"Oh that's rich," She laughed "My dear, I'm the most powerful sorceress to ever live. Do you really believe a few measly enchantments takes away all my power?"
"You're not going to trick me," I told her, turning away "I'll die before I help you."
"I know you will," She sighed as I exited her cell "Such a shame really, I was beginning to like you."
I heard her move behind me, and I turned, reaching for my daggers as I did so, but she wasn't attacking me, not how I'd expected anyways. Instead, with lightning fast reflexes, she jumped to her feet and reached out, touching a single finger to my forehead.
"Awaken, Lord Kronos." She whispered
"No," I said desperately, feeling him very suddenly "No, no, no."
It was useless, I couldn't fight him for long. As I fell to my knees, Circe kicked me away, forcing me to drop the keys as I lay on the ground struggling against Kronos. She began freeing herself, but everytime I tried to rise and stop her, he pushed even harder, if I focused on anything else besides keeping him at bay, he'd take over.
But I was losing, slowly but surely I felt myself slipping, and I felt him becoming stronger, I was losing this fight.
Right before I blacked out, I heard his metallic voice in my head, laughing maniacly.
"Free, at last."
