Preparations
*Third Person Point of View*
The next few weeks were quiet. Luckily, thanks to the guardians' and Percy's help, both camps were being trained more efficiently. The classes were dwindling from their overwhelming size now that the new campers were becoming quite skilled at wielding their chosen weapons. Surely, they would stand a fair fight against most monsters they would come acoss.
The defenses on both camps, as well as Olympus, were coming along swimmingly as well. Large walls had been built around the perimeters of both camps. There were even walls that sectioned off different areas of each camp. That way, if they lost one part of their home, the enemy would still have to fight hard in order to overtake the rest. Therefore, they could always fall back if it was entirely necessary.
Percy believed that the changes were a good improvement, but he still couldn't help but feel even more distant from the camp that kept changing more and more from the place he'd once called home. He could hardly even recognize is once it got to the point of no return. He could no longer look over the rolling hills and admire the natural beauty of it from afar.
He still had his friends, though, and they were being very supportive of his choices. He even smiled every time he remembered meeting Annabeth's new family.
"Percy! Come on! I have someone I want you to meet!"
Annabeth had been nagging him all day. Finally, around noon, she'd given up trying to talk him into it, and resorted to grabbing his arm and dragging him to wherever she wanted him to go.
"Annabeth! Wait up! I'm coming, I'm coming!"
Once Annabeth ceased her incessant pulling, Percy was able to focus on where he was. The Athena cabin. It looked just as he'd remembered it. There were maps and scrolls everywhere: on the walls, on the tables, on the shelves. Though it had been extended to accommodate more campers, it still looked like the cozy brain-cabin he'd been in before. Wandering around the cabin were the blonds he was expecting. In the back, though, he could see a brunette man with a young boy sitting on what he remembered to be Annabeth's bed.
Percy vaguely recognized the two from the council meeting, and assumed them to be Annabeth's spouse and son.
Annabeth dragged him over to the two. "Percy, I want you to meet my husband, Ryan, and my son, Anthony."
Ryan stood up, finally noticing them. "Hello. It's an honour to meet you in the flesh. The first few years I knew Annabeth, you were all she talked about." Percy shook his hand; Ryan had a firm grip.
"I'm not really in the flesh. More like a ghost from the past," Percy joked.
A light, childish chuckle came from below, and Percy looked down to see the young blond boy, Anthony. He crouched down. "Hey, buddy! I'm Percy. I was friends with your mom back when we were both only a little older than you."
The boy frowned. His expression then became one that Percy recognized with nostalgia. Anthony's thinking face was nearly identical to his mother's!
"That can't be! You're way younger than mom!" he protested.
Percy chuckled as Annabeth flushed red. Her son had mentioned her age.
"No, I assure you it makes sense. You see, I went away fifteen years ago. When I went away, I stopped aging. Your mom wasn't so lucky. Well… I can't say that. If she'd gone through the same as me, she'd never have you!" Percy ruffled the young boy's hair.
"Hey!" he cried, throwing his arms in the air to block Percy's much larger hand.
Percy returned to his full height, laughing at the young boy as he tried to fix his hair.
"You have a great family, Annabeth. You're lucky," Percy said.
Annabeth smiled as Ryan scooped up Anthony in his arms and walked out of the cabin with him. At the door, Ryan turned, and waved before exiting. "I know. I only wish you could've gotten the same. You'll never be able to have a family, will you?" she asked.
Percy shook his head. "No. As a guardian, maybe I could have, but as Lady Artemis' guardian, it's a long shot. We're always moving around, and I'm around a group of eternal maiden girls who I don't think would appreciate the company of a girl who's broken the oath they swore themselves to."
A look of pain flickered across his face for a brief moment, but it was so quick that it could have just been a trick of the light. Annabeth placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it comfortingly. "You'll find happiness Percy. I just know it."
Every time he looked back on that moment, he thought to himself that he would find happiness as Annabeth predicted. She was no prophet, but when she got a feeling, Percy knew that she was right more than ninety percent of the time. It was also nice to hear it, even if he himself didn't believe it was true.
Sighing, Percy made his way to yet another class. This time, he was teaching the more elite practitioners some new maneuvers. He was going to teach the entire class a single new move, but the move was quite complicated. It was one that he himself had a hard time mastering during his training with the Great One. It was a move that could be used with a variety of weapons, so he could see many different weapons gleaming in the crowd as he arrived.
"Alright class! Today, I will be teaching you the double-handed reverse strike. It is used to throw off your opponent. Most of the time, it should also make them unbalanced enough for you to land a killing or incapacitating blow."
He then demonstrated on a less-than-eager volunteer. The reaction was instant the moment he finished the maneuver. The crowd "ooh"ed and "awe"ed as Percy's opponent fell back onto his rear end, allowing Percy to swing his sword in the motion to cut off his opponent's head, but stopping short, just as the blade touched the other man's throat.
The man gulped as he felt the cold metal pressing on his Adam's apple, the movement only pressing his esophagus closer to the deadly-sharp edge.
"As you can see, had I not stopped short, this man would surely be dead. Thank you for the help, Paul." Percy let the man up and Paul was quick to scurry back into the crowd.
"Today, I will show how to apply this maneuver into your battle strategy. We shall be working on this move for the next few classes, and eventually, I will teach you how to recognize and block this technique before it is used on you－though that is quite a bit harder. I expect you all to be practising these moves outside of class time as well."
And so, the lesson began. Percy had them split into groups of two, three or four, matching them up according to their skill level and weapon. Pretty soon, they were all sloppily attempting to mimic the movements that they'd seen in the demonstration.
It wasn't going very well. Already, Percy had needed to step in to avoid loss of limbs in his class.
After quite a few more failed attempts from each of his students, he was able to move their arms and bodies in the correct positions, demonstrating slowly to each small group that gathered around him, and by the end of the class, a fair few of them were performing the move fairly well. The most skilled of his students were successfully following through on the move at least sixty to seventy-five percent of the time.
The whole class had lasted four hours, so Percy was glad to head over to dinner after a hard day's work.
He plunked down onto the end of the table, next to Thalia. He was exhausted.
"Rough day?" Thalia asked.
He nodded, digging into his food lazily. He'd already sacrificed to the gods before sitting down, so he was glad to just sit and eat. Chewing slowly, he met Thalia's eyes. As he did that, she could clearly see the deep, dark circles on his face.
"Wow. Perce, you have problems! You need sleep! How long have you been working with the campers?" Thalia exclaimed.
Percy shrugged. "All day, every day. I wake up early, teach my first class, teach two classes after breakfast, two classes after lunch, and four after dinner. Though I usually spend my extra time before lunch hanging out with my old friends. We've been catching up. After my final class, I then get to sleep and repeat the whole cycle the next day."
Thalia gave him a sympathetic look. "I wish I could help, but I need to keep the hunters sharp. I don't allow any slacking on their part! That usually means I'm busy all day with them all. A few of them are a bit egotistical about their archery. A few of the newer ones don't want to practise because they're pretty bad and get disheartened quickly."
"It's alright. I'll be fine. I just need to talk to Chiron and get my hours shortened. Now that most of the campers are getting better, they can teach the newer kids and have advanced classes with the veterans.
"I hope it happens soon. I don't want to bunk with a zombie. Why do you think I avoid Nico when it gets dark?"
Thalia's jokes usually lightened the mood, but Percy didn't feel like laughing. After picking at his food for a few more minutes, he stood and retreated to the cabin. On the way, he stopped by Chiron to tell him that he had to cancel his evening classes.
Upon seeing his former student's state, Chiron immediately agreed. "Get some rest boy. I'll see you in the morning, hopefully around lunch time. If you wish, I can send someone tomorrow to bring you breakfast in bed."
"That won't be necessary Chiron. As kind as the offer is, I can make it down here for breakfast tomorrow. As long as I can also sleep through my morning classes tomorrow, I'll be right as rain."
"Alright, m'boy. I hope you sleep well. Our preparations are well along the way to complete, so you should rest easy on that thought."
Chiron then waved him off as he returned to the Artemis cabin, retreating to his own personal room, which the hunters had built as an extension on their cabin, stating that "their guardian needed his own room that he could stink up with his guy smell and not disturb them".
Collapsing on his bed, he was out as soon as his head hit the pillow.
Meanwhile, far away from the peaceful preparations of the camps, Télionix was also preparing his troops. As more and more monsters flooded through the open gates of Tartarus, his ranks were only increasing. Gathering them was the easy part. Organising them on the other hand, that was what gave Télionix his headaches.
"Argh!" he screamed, throwing a large weapon stand across his tent. Everything was going wrong. The hellhounds were in the empousia's squadron, the cyclopes had taken over the Manticore's den, and there were drakens slithering around everywhere, crushing many of the unlucky telekhines and dracnea that got caught under their long scaly bellies.
Inhaling deeply, Télionix tried to calm himself. Getting frustrated would only make it worse. He didn't want it to get worse. They were monsters. He knew that problems would arise. All he had to do was gain their trust, respect, and fear. Those three things would make him their undisputed leader and they would follow his every command to the letter.
He decided it was time for another speech. This time, he'd begin like the others, appealing to them as his peers, and then, he'd incorporate fear into his words. He, of course, was even more powerful that Tartarus, their master. It should be in their very nature to fear him.
Straightening his uniform, he exited the tent, a large smile plastered on his face. He rose up onto his podium, and very soon, silence fell over the army. Good. They feared him a little, but it was time for a new dose of terror to run through their veins. He would not allow his revenge plot to fail.
"My brothers! My sisters! Have I not served well as your leader? Have I not lead you well enough for us to achieve victory?"
Many cries of protest rose from the crowd. Of course, they believed that he was the greatest general to ever live. His plans, even though they'd failed both times, were still more complex than they'd ever heard of.
Télionix smirked. "Then tell me my family, why aren't we standing victorious over our enemies yet? Why do we remain here, hiding from the gods and their demigod spawn? Why must you, the greater species, live in fear and starvation?"
He paused for dramatic effect, allowing the more comprehensive monsters ponder his words. The others, sadly, only stared at him blankly.
"It is because we are not united, my brothers and sisters! Our ranks do not stand even with our enemies because we fight as individuals! We fight separated from one another, while the enemy fights as one unit! They work together to defeat our most powerful, and pick off the rest of our ranks once our ranks have broken. In order to win this war, we must learn to combine our strengths and make up for our weaknesses! We cannot ever gain if we continue on like this: jumbled, confused, and mismatched. We must unit as our enemies have done! Only then, will we be able to stand even with them. Only then will be by able to stand above them!"
His speech finished in a way he did not expect, but he smiled as he received the reaction he was looking for. The monsters were all looking around, and the smarter ones must have realised what he meant, for they were organising their small groups into the proper order. They were taking charge of their squadrons just as Télionix had hoped. These monsters would be his commanders. They would lead his army to victory in his name.
He would have his revenge.
The end was drawing near.
In his bed, Percy woke up gasping, his eyes wide.
Word Count: 2426