I won't bother with a pre-chapter note. You all just want the chapter anyway…
Disclaimer: Don't own the characters… (maybe a few?)
Chiron came forward, instructing the Apollo cabin to tend to the wounds of Micah, the First Cohort to restrain Michael and for Reyna and Annabeth to tie up Butch. The latter of the two would be kept in the cellar of the big house, until they came to and would be answer questions.
Nico stood in the shade of the verandah, grimacing at the scene before him. Then shadows wrapped around his figure, taking him into the unknown.
He dreamt of a vast wasteland, empty of life; but full of movement. Across the red land, spires rose around him as he travelled further towards his destination, who and where he did not know; but it pulled on his soul. He saw the shadow of the mountain first; oppressing the landscape and chilling his spirit. In the space between a heartbeat he was on top of it, behind a hooded figure. The figure turned, "Ah, I was wondering when you would join me" it croaked, then the pain came; like surges of daggers in his skull – tearing apart his mind.
Annabeth watched in silence, both Michael and Butch had been detained separately for several days after their attacks. And for all of those several days. Minute after minute, hours on end - they had screamed. A deep inhumane scream. The screams could be heard throughout the big house and eventually drove all the campers out, the only exceptions being Reyna, Annabeth, Chiron and Rachel, the latter of whom cloistered themselves in the oracles attic. Annabeth slumped further into her chair, tired eyes attempting to hold back tears as her auditory nerves heard nothing but the hellish howls coming from the cells. Then, as her eyelids finally covered those empty grey irides her brain slept. (AN: Yes, irides is the proper term. It's commonly used in medical practise.)
Her dreams in the rare moments of sleep these days were always the same disturbing sequence – a trident buried deep in the gut of Chiron as a dark figure stood above him, throwing the body of a boy into a seeming endless hole. The scene changed to one less familiar with Annabeth: a campsite awash with blue flames. As bodies were thrown against the flames on the outside, a group of silver clothed girls sat in a circle chanting. Then they turned to her, pulling her into the centre as they shed human forms to become dracaenae, devouring her.
Annabeth's eyes jerked open and she lurched out of the chair, shocked by her sleep and the noise that greeted her ears, or the lack of noise. The basement was silent. Annabeth crept to the cell that kept Butch, pressed her ear against the door to try and hear anything. Nothing. She frowned and quickly checked through the window of the door, expecting a grisly result and instead received, an empty room. Butch was gone.
"I just don't understand how they could escape? It's not physically possible!" Chiron exclaimed, the other head counsellors glanced nervously around the room. Annabeth thought about the subject before remembering a quest, years ago. Sacred pearls of a god that would return the user to their domain, the sea. Annabeth frowned, surely Poseidon wouldn't go around giving away his pearls for free… and to Butch and Michael of all demigods. After she told Reyna her theory she was greeted with a very different response, "In Roman history, Mars won the pearls of Neptune in a battle… perhaps the giant war left behind more than we realised?". Annabeth thought about it for a time, before shrugging, it couldn't hurt to ask the senior children of Mars and Ares… could it?
**********LINE BREAK*********
Annabeth stood outside the cabin to the Ares cabin, swallowed, and knocked. The door was opened by Clarisse who stood there and stared at her for several seconds before lazily yawning, "Get fucked, go away" she said and slammed the door. Annabeth recoiled a bit at the negative reaction before remembering; Clarisse, along with Chris, were the ones who hadn't abandoned Percy. Annabeth turned on her heel to find another Ares child that lived through the giant war at Camp Half-Blood… a surprisingly hard feat as it turned out.
After several hours of searching Annabeth decided instead to lie down in her cabin, tired of this mess. Just as her head hit the pillows and her eyes began to focus on the ceiling above her, she heard arguing. Annabeth groaned. Why did it have to happen now? After it didn't stop, she got up and flung the door open. There stood Sherman Yang in a fist fight with Travis and Connor Stoll. Annabeth opened her mouth to shout at them before closing it again. She grabbed Sherman by his arm and pulled him over to The Big House.
"Sherman. What do you know of your father's pearls?" she asked.
"Why the hell should I know any of that nerd stuff? And why would you want to know?" Sherman barked back, "Get off" he snarled, before striding away. Well that was useful, Annabeth thought to herself as the front door slammed shut. Then a hand touched her shoulder, she looked over to see the new augur, Micah.
"You wanna learn 'bout Mars' pearls?" he asked,
"Yeah, do you know about them?" Annabeth inquired.
"Nah. I was just wonderin'" he responded. He stared at her for several seconds before smiling and laughing, "I'm just pulling your leg. Here's the basic run down, Mars and Neptune fought. Ordinarily Neptune would win, but Phobos and Deimos were also there, weak as they are, they somehow, they managed to overpower him and as a trophy, took a great many of his water pearls. That's all that is really confirmed at this point though." He said, before shrugging. "Strange history to be sure".
"But, did anything happen after that?" Annabeth asked. "Even rumours, the slightest hint, even 1 scroll?"
"Now I can't tell you that now but give me several days… and I'll be back here with what you want." Micah responded.
"Thanks" she said, smiling gratefully at him.
*** MAGICAL TIME SKIP FORWARD SEVERAL DAYS (JK, ONLY 1 DAY) ***
"Campers." Chiron's voice was strong, the one consistency despite his situation. "Tonight, is the fourth official Greek versus Roman capture the flag match!" this was greeted by many cheers and smiles. "The Greeks will be on the north side, and the Romans on the south side. You have 1 hour to get into position."
*** ANOTHER MAGICAL TIME SKIP (1 HOUR) ***
The conch horn sounded across the woods as Annabeth crouched by the river, alone except for Travis, Chris and Lucy. (Travis and Chris are both Hermes, Lucy is Aphrodite, was in The Lost Hero) They were defending the left flank, whilst the Athena and Ares cabin attacked. The Apollo cabin were defending the centre with all the minor cabins, such as Hypnos and Nike. The right flank was guarded by Hephaestus cabin and the rest of Aphrodite and Hermes cabins. Zane was the water boy.
As she stared at the water, Annabeth thought back all those years ago… had they really only been 12? She sighed and traced her fingers along the surface. The water seemed to promise that it would turn out fine in the end, a slight blue shine reassuring her troubled head. Then came the sounds of fighting, she dragged Lucy behind a large rock whilst Travis and Chris lay down, their camouflaged backs blending in with the forest floor. Reyna, two centurions and Micah appeared on the other side of the lake, Annabeth tried to come up with a plan… but failed. Lucy apparently noticed the dismay on her face, so grabbed Annabeth's invisibility cap and with a small salute, put it on.
Reyna had motioned for the two centurions to cross around the other side of the lake, whilst her and Micah passed through the side closest to Annabeth. As the centurions disappeared through a particularly thick patch of trees, Reyna stumbled on what seemed to be a root. Micah bent down to help her up and did so without complaint, then they checked across the lake. The two centurions were tied up, with their hair done in ponytails and stripped to the waist. Annabeth supressed the urge to laugh. As Reyna and Micah pulled their sword out of the sheaths, a 'floating' log was raised above their heads and dropped. Lucy reappeared behind the unconscious Romans, as Travis and Chris also got up off the ground near the two centurions. "Alright, that was easy." Travis boasted, hive fiving Chris.
"Dude, I was asking for some bandages, he cut my arm pretty deep" Chris responded.
"Oh, right… well done anyway?" Travis laughed, "Now we just need to tie up these suckas and then we can attack".
Lucy sauntered over to Annabeth, dropping her cap into Annabeth's hand. "Thanks Annabeth."
"Yeah, no problem Lucy, just a bit worries you were going to run off there!" Annabeth joked.
"Ahahahaha. I wish I could have a cap like this, top stuff" Lucy responded.
As the night drew on, the Half-Blood Campers continued to make ground on the Roman soldiers
Finally, Annabeth was standing there, the Romans had planted their flag on top of the pile of rocks that was once Zeus' Fist (remember the battle of the Labyrinth?). As she tore the metal pole out of the rock and jumped down, running back to the Half-Blood side she was hit with a sense of déjà vu, she thought of her and Percy doing it all those years ago. But that was before. Before the war. Before Zane. Before.
Camp Half-Blood won, a record first. And as Annabeth settled into her bed that night, a bittersweet taste tinged her dreams.
Hey guys.
Anyway, you all know the gig. Read, review, recommend.