A/N: If you recognize it, it's not mine. Simple as that.
Chapter 18
Perci POV
Training continued like that for the next three days, though the Cullens remained on edge around me now that they knew the truth about what I really was. I had even given myself a small cut to show that I had no worries about dying since I was immortal, and bled gold ichor to prove it. On the second day, Edward had informed us that he would not be fighting at the request of Bella, and would be taking her up into the mountains to camp out, which Jacob would carry her to, while Seth would be playing 'guard dog'. The rest of us would be camping out in the clearing that Bella had laid a scent trail for the newborn army to follow into. Day three had been a bonfire at the beach, which had basically been a pack meeting where Billy told my favorite tribal story about the Third Wife, which had left Bella intrigued.
"Are you sure you're gonna be warm enough? It's gonna be cold tonight." Paul asked as I set up a small tent with a sleeping bag and quilt. I smiled at his concern as I exited the tent.
"I'll be fine. If I need more warmth, I'll call my cuddly wolf heater. Bella's gonna be the one freezing her ass off since it's supposed to snow up there." I said, accepting his hug with no problem.
"Jacob's gonna be up there for the night before Seth takes over, so Bella may have her own heater. I just wish it wasn't Jake, she's got him messed up enough as it is." Embry said, plopping down on the ground next to us. I could see the looks of mild annoyance on the Cullen's faces, but ignored them easily enough.
"Yeah, well he'll find his imprint eventually." I said, shrugging as I plopped down myself, glad that my armor was inside the tent.
"Hey, Perci, you said that you'd take care of dinner, what are we having?" Jared asked, coming over to the rapidly forming circle to sit down, making me smile.
"You'll see, just give me a minute." I said, reaching into my pocket for the lighter from aunt Hestia, who had come to me in a dream the other night to let me know she would provide us a meal once she found out we were camping. Clicking the lighter, a jet of hearth fire lit the small pile of twigs that had been gathered for the bonfire tomorrow to burn the newborns. Once the fire was lit, the familiar form of the hearth goddess in her 8 year old form emerged from the flames, wearing her usual brown dress.
"Greetings all, I am Hestia, goddess of the hearth." She introduced, smiling kindly at everyone before she clapped her hands and a picnic dinner appeared in front of us all.
"Thank you, aunt Hestia." I said, taking my portion, and walking over to the fire, throwing in a buttery roll, and a bushel of plump grapes.
"Hestia, and Nike, please bless us in our battle tomorrow that we may come out victorious." I murmured, smiling at Hestia's accepting nod in acknowledgement of the offering I had given her. To my surprise, the members of the pack came up one by one to give their own offerings to the goddess of victory, and a few even giving another to Hestia, who smiled with each offering made to her. I smiled as I watched her walk over to Blackjack while we ate, conjuring up a box of doughnuts.
"'Doughnuts! Boss, can you thank her for me?'" Blackjack's happy voice echoed in my head, making me laugh, and earning confused looks from the Cullens, before realization dawned on Carlisle, while the pack just looked between my faithful companion and I wondering about the conversation.
"Blackjack says thanks for the doughnuts, aunt Hestia." I told her, and received a smile in return.
"It's my pleasure, Blackjack, I'm glad I could be of assistance to you." She said, gently petting his neck, much to his delight, the ham.
"'This one's an awesome goddess, Boss.'" Blackjack said, leaning into her hand.
"Blackjack says you're an awesome goddess." I translated, smiling at the childlike giggle she let loose.
"Thank you, Blackjack, you're an awesome Pegasus." She told him, making him preen with pleasure, before she looked back to us.
"Good luck in your battle tomorrow, all of you. And Perci, I've left some ambrosia and nectar in your tent. I should go, the hearth at camp needs tending." She said, coming over to give me a hug, before disappearing back into the flames.
"Was that really a goddess?" Emmett asked as the pack and I continued to eat, making me roll my eyes in exasperation. He watched her appear and disappear in the flames, and heard her introduce herself as a goddess, and he still wanted to know if she was one. How this clueless vampire had survived for so long was beyond me.
"You just heard her introduce herself as one, you idiot." The blonde female, Rosalie, snapped, smacking him upside the head. I ignored him and continued eating, smiling at the looks of delight on the pack's faces as they scarfed down the food in front of them. I watched in curiosity as Paul snatched up an apple before Leah could grab it, and set it aside, earning a glare from her in response.
"What? I might need it tomorrow." He said, shrugging off the glare. Leah rolled her eyes, but grabbed an orange instead, scowling when the peel vanished mid-air when she threw it at him, while the rest of us just laughed. By sundown, even the Cullens had light enough moods to join us around the fire as I told a few stories of battles I'd been in, by the request of Seth, who wanted to have at least a story about some action since he'd be missing some tomorrow, his words. After finishing the story of my first quest -Paul wanted me to tell the story of how exactly I bested Ares at age 12-, I decided it was late enough to head to bed, to the disappointment of a few members of the pack.
"Seriously, guys, we need rest. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that you should always be as rested as possible for a battle. Fighting tired makes you sloppy, and sloppiness is enough to get you killed. I'm not gonna burn anymore shrouds, or bury anymore bodies if I can help it. Rest." I said, before heading into my tent, feeling only somewhat bad for snapping at them like that. A few minutes after I settled into my sleeping bag, the sound of the tent zipper opening sounded, and I looked up to see Paul slipping in.
"They're not mad about you snapping, if that's what you're worried about. In fact, if anything, they feel bad." He said simply, moving me to where my head was now pillowed on his chest.
"Why would they feel bad?" I asked, looking up at him, and startling slightly at the indulgent smile on his face.
"Because they know how stressful it is for you to be going into battle again, and they weren't taking it seriously. They feel bad because they know you've lost friends in battle and don't want to lose anybody else." He whispered, rubbing my back comfortingly with one large hand.
"I nearly lost Leo during the last war. He was the one to close the doors of death, but he managed to come back. That's still very fresh to me, I don't want to lose anyone else, Paul, I don't. I've lost too many people, been by their side as they took their last breath, I can't do it with any of you." I said, looking at him with tears in my eyes as memories of Zoe, and so many others flooded my mind.
"Hey, Perci, it's okay. We will all come out of this, okay, I promise. Every member of the pack made an offering to Lady Nike to come out victorious, you won't lose any of us, Princess." He soothed, pressing gentle kisses into my hair.
"I promise you, Perci, you won't lose anyone tomorrow." He whispered again, and I nodded slowly, trusting him as I drifted off to sleep, praying I didn't have nightmares.
The next morning, I was up when Apollo's chariot started bringing the sun, waking Paul as I went. I strapped my armor on in quick, precise movements, while he took down the tent and I woke the rest of the pack, smiling at the array of breakfast foods that appeared once they were all up.
"Thank you, aunt Hestia." I muttered, assembling a quick breakfast for myself before giving another offering to her and Nike, the pack following suit. We ate quickly, the air thick with the tension I had come to expect pre-battle.
"I'm gonna fly with Blackjack to make sure Seth gets up to the campsite with no problems." I said, adjusting Riptide around my waist as I approached said Pegasus.
"'You got it, Boss. We'll make an entrance into battle just like always.'" He said, stamping one hoof in eagerness, making me smile as I climbed on.
"Wait, Perci! I want to give you something first." Paul called, while Seth shifted, making us both pause before taking off.
"We don't have long to get him up there before the newborns arrive, Paul. Make it fast." I told him, wondering what he was smiling about all of the sudden.
"Catch." He said simply, tossing something at me, that I caught easily enough. Once it was in my hand, I looked at it, jaw dropping when I realized that it was an apple.
"Paul, I don't think you realize the significance of what you just did." I told him in a shaky voice, eyes widening when I saw him smirk.
"Oh, I know exactly what I just did. I've read enough about Ancient Greece to know how important what I just did is. I know that throwing an apple to a girl is a marriage proposal in Ancient Greek culture. Lift the stem." He said, calmly as I did so with shaking hands, gasping at the celestial bronze ring within the apple, with an aquamarine as the center stone with two diamonds on either side. I looked up at him with wide eyes, gaping.
"I prayed to Lord Hephaestus after you took me to Atlantis. Your father gave his blessing while we were there, and your mom did while she was here. I knew I wanted to do it around graduation, so I prayed to Lord Hephaestus to see if he would make the ring. Luckily, he did so, coming into my dreams to get specifics on what I wanted, and Lord Hades donated the gems. There's a few protection marks on the band, which will keep you safe. So, what do you say, Perci? Marry this crazy wolf who just proposed before a battle?" He asked, making my free hand fly to my mouth in shock as I nodded.
"You're insane, but yes!" I said tearfully as I pulled the ring from the apple and handed it to him as he approached Blackjack to slip it on my finger, and gave him a quick peck.
"When I take Blackjack back to camp, you are coming with to meet everyone." I murmured as I drew back, giving him a dazzling smile.
"Deal, now why don't I give this apple to your amazing steed, and you get Seth up to the campsite." He said, gently taking the apple from me and giving it to Blackjack, who ate it gratefully.
"I'll be back." I said, earning a nod, before looking at Seth.
"Ready to go?" I asked, and he nodded his wolfy head.
"Alright, let's go!" I said, before Blackjack took off, with Seth trailing us.
"'Did that really just happen, Boss?'" He asked from under me.
"Yeah, it did. Holy shit, Blackjack, I'm engaged now." I said, giving a gleeful laugh.
"'I'll be part of the wedding, right?'" He asked, sounding excited himself.
"Let's plan the wedding later, right now, we have a battle to worry about." I told him, getting a horse-like groan in response, but thankfully, he remained quiet. A few minutes later, Blackjack descended at the campsite as Seth ran in, arriving just as Bella emerged from her own tent.
"Hey, Seth, Perci." She greeted, still looking a bit tired.
"Morning, Bella." I greeted with a nod, as Edward came into the clearing from somewhere.
"Seth, Perci." He greeted shortly, making me roll my eyes before his eyes caught sight of the new addition to my left hand.
"Congratulations on your engagement, Perci." He said, making Bella's eyes snap to my hand as well.
"You're engaged? When did that happen?" She asked, sounding surprisingly bitter about it, to my confusion.
"Like 20 minutes ago. Paul proposed just before Seth and I came up here, why does it matter?" I asked, making her flush for some odd reason.
"No reason, congratulations." She replied, not looking me in the eye, indicating that she was lying. I shrugged it off, however, not really caring to get into it with her when there was a battle to be fought.
"Whatever, I'm gonna take a bird's eye view to watch for the army. I'll join the battle once they get to the clearing, but I want to try to get a final count since the numbers could change before they even get there. Be sure to tell Jacob for me." I said, earning a nod from Edward and Seth, before Blackjack took off into the sky again. After a few minutes of circling the beginning of Bella's scent trail, they were finally spotted.
"'Creepy bloodsuckers down below, Boss.'" Blackjack informed, making my eyes snap downward, catching sight of the army.
"Looks like there's about 18, but I don't see Riley, or Victoria. It's possible they circled around to enter the clearing from another side, so let's head to the clearing." I told him, holding tighter as he took off. It was time to go back into battle.
A/N: *Checks notes. Looks at screen. Looks at notes again. Scratches head.* Well, the proposal wasn't supposed to happen until Breaking Dawn Pt. 2, but, okay. Dam plot bunnies possessed my fingers to make it happen sooner. Hope you like the chapter anyway. *Walks off grumbling about plot bunnies ruining timing for awesome things that were supposed to happen later.*