Apollo POV

Groaning, I awoke from my slumber, my head throbbing heavily on the left side.

"What's going-" I began, trying to get up before I opened my eyes to a pair of sea-green eyes staring back and exclaimed," Ah! What the..."

I crawled away, scampering and breathing heavily from the surprise, before falling backwards off of the pedestal I was apparently sitting on and rolled backwards until I was upside-down, my back against the wall, groaning.

Next time, I thought irritated, I'm going to cover Percy in plants and dirt unless he gets me something soft to sleep on.

My head hurt. It hurt badly.

Sighing to myself, I repositioned myself so I was sitting up properly.

Scowling slightly, I looked around. I was in a room filled with injured patients and a bunch of equipment.

"Hey, Apollo." I heard someone call out," How are you doing?"

I turned, stood and replied," I could be doing better. Thanks, Artemis. You?"

"Fine." She replied," Now come on! They're organising a final attack against Sparta."

I wilted slightly. I didn't really want to have to deal with a full-fledged war at that exact moment of my life. To be honest, I wanted to be able to take a day off.

However, shortly afterwards I ran after Artemis and joined her in what seemed to be the break room. As I trodded in, I plucked a piece of roast beef from a spit and sat nearby and listened in, chewing on my daily portion of meat.

Otrera was saying something. It seemed that I had missed most of the briefing,"-And Artemis and Apollo will lead the charge on the outer area, drawing off the defences. Then, depending on where he appears, we'll adjust accordingly. As the most experienced out of the two-"

"Hey!" I protested indignantly, to no avail.

She dismissed my comment. I scoffed to myself, Jeez! Women are so hard-headed.

She continued," As I was saying, Artemis will battle him while Apollo leads the charge against Sparta. Then, hopefully, the timing will be right and Apollo can do his thing, thus buying Perseus enough time to get to the king."

As they all nodded and walked off together, I asked the closest entity to me," Okay... So, is someone going to brief me on what's going on?"

"Nope." Percy shook his head," I'd love to and all, but we're scheduled to begin our raid at sunrise. I'll tell you your role and you can do it. Sound cool?"

I shrugged, indifferent at this point," Sure."

"So here's the deal." He began," You and Artemis get to stay with the archers and when I fire the flare, the archers will cause a distraction, meaning that they'll move in and rain hell on them. Meanwhile, you and Artemis will enter the heart of the city and cause mass chaos by destroying all of the temples of Ares - Sparta's patron god. Also, use the blunt-tipped arrows. The people deserve a chance to surrender or yield."

He looked at me, waiting to see if I had questions. I nodded, confirming that I understood, and he continued," If and only if the flare doesn't go off by sundown, then you and Artemis along with a small group will go and investigate in a find and rescue type mission. You got all that?"

"Got it," I replied. A soft feeling of terror creeping up my neck and keeping me from saying anything else.

"Ok, then." He said," Bye"

He then proceeded to run off and talk to Otrera.

My throat was dry. I didn't really want to go to battle. I'll admit it now but not anywhere else: I was scared of big fights like these.

I was better supporting others and occasionally whacking some of my adversaries in the head with my bow... Which may I inform you exploded into ash a couple of hours ago when I temporarily assumed the form of a great ball of fire and light.

Mourning over the loss of my heroic bow, I quickened my pace and ran towards Artemis, starting a conversation with a conventional," Hey."

"Hey, Apollo." She said before turning away.

"Wait!" I called after her, grabbing her arm, a gesture she did not appreciate.

"What?" She scowled, relatively irritated," I'm getting ready!"

"Umm..." I fumbled for words, searching for a way to present my case without looking undignified," Are you nervous about the upcoming battle?"

"Uh, yeah..." Artemis answered," I guess. Who wouldn't be?"

I nodded, relieved I wasn't the only one," Ok. Thanks! See you in a bit. I'm going to go organise my stuff and perhaps ask for a new bow."

She smiled and walked off.

Now, I just have to find a guy with a bow, I thought.

Breathing heavily, I stepped onto the hill overlooking Sparta.

"Ready to go?" I asked Artemis, my shoulders shaking.

She nodded," Ready as I'll ever be."

And for a while, we stood there. Two siblings overlooking a massive city with the goal to liberate it from its rancid ruler.

"Hey! You ready?" Percy hollered energetically from behind them," Well you better be because the raid starts NOW!"

And with that, he yelled and charged straight at the city. Following his charge were a small group of soldiers. Artemis raised her bow. Catching on, I did too, nocking an arrow, drawing the string back. Then, as if by an unseen signal, we all simultaneously released our strings and arrows rained into the city.

In retrospect, it probably wasn't the smartest thing to do. I mean all it did was alert the residence of Sparta that we were attacking them. What it did do - which was probably the purpose of our distraction, was Ares appearing in a flash of light.

He was massive and burly. I almost felt intimidated, but I could probably take him... Probably.

"Hey punks," He growled menacingly, swinging a massive axe," You guys seem to think you have the right to attack MY city, so one of you is going to have to die now."

So... Hi? Please don't get mad. It was summer, so I was taking a break and relaxing. I'm back though, with a new writing style which I'm going to be using from now on (less humour more action and stuff).

Peace,

~MasterOvGravity