The army arrived.
The seven joined the ranks and fought alongside the other heroes with so much skill and experience, so in sync, that the wizards were to stunned to help at first. Only a few of the Hecate campers used wands at all against the mix of greek monsters, which were bound to haunt the wizards nightmares, and evil witches and wizards.
"Annabeth!" Percy screamed twisting so his shield faced her. She nodded and ran at him while he knelt and angled the shield. She used it as a springboard and launched over a trio of emposi, slashing their throats before her feet touched the ground.
Hazel and frank fought side by side, Hazel on Arion and Frank as an elephant, smashing through the ranks. Piper charmspeak as many of the troops as she could, convincing them to jump off the bridge or into an awaiting demigods sword. Jason fought from the air, taking out as many wizards on brooms as he could while he used his own broom, mostly just for show.
The fighting thinned out and soon the demigods were spreading to the other sides of the castle, by now the children of Hermes had started using the array of weapons on the Argo 3 to protect the areas where the ranks were too thin.
Percy and Annabeth made their way to help the hunters while elephant Frank and Hazel continued to fight off the last of the monsters and witches.
Thalia was fine. The hunters were taking heavy fire from an array of spells and different monsters, and completely owning them. Thalia herself was fighting a pair of Drake with six of her hunters when the campers arrived. Percy let out a low whistle, "Damn, she got good didn't she." Annabeth nodded in agreement as she stabbed a monster into dust.
They eventually drove the dwindling army into a retreat and regrouped at the bridge.
"So what would you rank that, I'd say about a six, I mean I had a better fight in Rome," Jason said when they met up, "You remember the one Percy, in the colosseum?" Percy nodded, "Compared to that this was like a five, maybe a four." They laughed as they helped the wounded campers.
Will and Nico eventually joined them at the school entrance, with McDonald's. They handed out happy meals while recounting their battles. As it turns out Nico had joined the battle about halfway through and unleashed a wave of death that sent half of the remaining ranks screaming for their mommies.
The seven laughed as Nico shrugged, "They wounded Hazel, I was not okay with that." That got them laughing harder until they were finally stopped by the wizards, who wanted answers.
Chiron, who had joined the battle earlier where there were no wizard fighters in centaur form and was not back in wheelchair mode, took charge almost immediately, shooting the demigods a look that said keep your mouths shut and they wisely obeyed.
"Calm down, calm down, you will get answers presently," Chiron said, raising his hands for silence, "I understand that you do not get attacked by those kinds of monsters here very often here, but they are the reason I run a combat academy!" the last of the whispering died out, "We get attacked by those monster on a regular basis in America, so my students know how to deal with these combat situations better than anyone here would."
A voice, Draco, spoke out from the crowd, "How did you lot know to come here so soon?" The question was as much an accusation as a question, but Chiron's face betrayed nothing in the way of annoyance, if anything he looked like he was a teacher again, taking a question from a curious student, "We have a highly advanced divination course at my academy, and we find that our students predictions are never wrong. The particular student who foresaw this was Rachel, a prodigy of sorts in the divination field and among the bravest of my students," That earned chuckles from Percy, who remembered her hitting a certain titan lord in the face with a blue plastic hairbrush.
Chiron was stifling a chuckle as well, but his face only betrayed a slight smile, earning curious looks from the wizards. Percy leaned over to Thalia and whispered, "She showed us some dam bravery didn't she," Thalia didn't even try to stifle the laugh that burst from her, which set the rest of the seven off as well, all remembering the funny story of Rachel Elizabeth Dare hitting Kronos in the eye with her blue plastic hairbrush. That, of course, set off some of the demigods and soon most of the army had tear brimming their eyes as they remembered all the funniest moments of the second titan war.
Chiron held up his hands again and the laughter quieted to just a sort of undertone, "I know you all remember that incident quite clearly. And I understand that it was quite the hilarity in the midst of a war, but if you please keep your laughter to a minimum it would be appreciated," He turned back the the wizards, who looked more confused than ever, and continued, "A representative from our camp called with a warning and sent reinforcements, as it turns out a few separate branches were contacted as well, seeing as we have the hunters here. Respect them, they are highly trained and deadly, more so than many of my campers," He looked pointedly at a group of boys who were obviously checking out a few of the hunters, "And boys, they are not interested, so don't try unless you want a broken bone." That, unfortunately, only got them to check the girls out slightly more discreetly.
Chiron shrugged it off, he had warned them, and continued, "I will not take responsibility for any boy who respects a hunter in any way, I am warning you now that you may not get out of that alive," He ignored the horrified looks from teachers and the snarky looks for boys as he said, "I will explain further to teachers only, if they wish to share with the students after they may." He waved the teacher inside and they followed him down the halls, presumably to the professor's office.
Hermione approached the seven, Will, Nico, and Thalia. "Um, I was wondering if I could talk to one of you privately." She asked, getting dark and suspicious looks from the demigods, who whispered in Greek and latin amongst themselves. Hermione cursed herself for not refreshing the translation spells before approaching them.
"Fine," Thalia said, "I'll go, but just know I won't hesitate to break your arms." Hermione nodded muttering, "Duly noted," under her breath while leading the scary girl away from the others, this would be harder than she thought. With any of the seven she had seen their memories, she knew at least moderately what their fighting style was and what hid behind their eyes, though she suspected they kept the worst of it to themselves.
"Thalia, right?" Hermione asked when they reached a secluded corner inside the school.
"Yes," Thalia responded, playing with her knife. Hermione had to stop herself from gulping, though that didn't seem to matter. Thalia knew just how nervous she was.
"What do you want," Thalia asked, examining the blade, then looking the witch in the eye. Hermione had to force herself to calm down, if she showed weakness now, in front of Thalia, she would lose her only chance to do this.
"What are you?" She asked as smoothly as she could manage, which was about as smooth as a train wreck. Thalia played dumb, "I don't know what you mean," She was a lioness, playing with her pray. Hermione steeled herself, determined to find out the truth.
"I mean," She said, taking the knife from the hunter's hands, "Are you a demigod." Thalia looked genuinely surprised, then angry. Hermione was suddenly regretting every decision she made that led her to this moment.
"Now whatever gave you that idea." She said, her voice deathly calm as she took back her dagger in a single smooth movement and stepped toward the witch. Hermione held her ground, determined not to screw this up, despite the fact that every nerve in her body seemed to charge with electricity, and not in a good way.
"I have seen and heard things that lead me to believe that you and your friends are the half human children of the Greek gods." Thalia smirked, only the slightest hint of humor in her eyes, "Clever girl, who have you shared this theory with, may I ask." Thalia wasn't backing down, and neither was Hermione. "Just Draco, but he only knows I thought you were Greek heroes, not demigods." Thalia looked up, as if thinking something over, then stared directly into Hermione's eyes. Damn those eyes were unnerving.
"Swear upon the river Styx that you will not share this with anyone unless I or Chiron personally give you permission." Hermione hesitated, "I swear." Thunder rumbled overhead and a shiver ran down Hermione's spine.
They rejoined the others and Thalia explained in Greek what had happened. The rage in most of their eyes was enough to make Hermione run and hide.
"So that was an oath, I thought it was either that or Zeus was angry at something again." Leo said to break the tension, "I wouldn't be surprised." Percy commented, earning a few laughs and a rumble of thunder, "Told ya." He said and ate his cheeseburger.
Nico stood with Will and they muttered excuses as they left. Hermione seemed to be missing some sort of inside joke, because there will little smiles on all of the demigods faces as they left the group.
"So," Hermione said and all of the demigods turned back to her, "Who are all of your parents on the, you know, immortal side." She whispered the last part, hoping no one would hear.
Percy shrugged and went first, "I will not go into my full title or we would be here all day, but I'm the son of Poseidon." Annabeth went next, "Athena," Then Leo, "Hephaestus," Piper went next, "Aphrodite," Hermione looked at her quizzically, "Wouldn't that make you, like, one of those dumb pretty girls?" All of the demigods got super defensive and started talking at once but Piper silenced them with a hand, "Sit." She commanded and Hermione found herself obeying, it was as if her life depended on it, "Give me your wand." She handed it over.
The spell wore off and Hermione got back to her feet as quickly as possible, "What…" Piper gave her a sweet smile and gave her wand back, "Power from my mom, it's call charmspeak, I tell you what to do and you can't resist doing it." Hermione was speechless, but the demigods all got over their amusement and continued, Thalia went next, "Zeus, if you hear any of these idiots call me 'pine cone face' or anything involving pine trees let me know so I can throw a lightning bolt at them." Percy flinched, "That hurt Thals." She punched him, "You threw the creek at me, we're even." He shrugged and they continued.
Frank went next, "I am the legacy of Poseidon and the son of Mars." Hermione gave him a quizzical look, "But Mars is the roman version," He explained, "Both the Greeks and Romans exist, their different though, like, Jason and Thalia are siblings, but Jason is the son of Jupiter while Thalia is the daughter of Zeus. It's more complicated than I can explain right now, but just know that they both exist," Hermione nodded as if she understood, even though she was clueless, and they went on.
Hazel went next, "I figure I should explain why your truth potion had that strong of an effect on me. I'm the daughter of Pluto. When I was a kid my mom got in with some bad people, they took over her and they made me do some bad things. When I died I was offered elysium, but I took asphodel to save my mom from the fields of punishment. Nico found me there later on, when the doors of death were open, and took me back to the mortal realm. I ended up a part of the prophecy of seven and saved the world with these people." Hermione was stunned. She knew Harry had resurrected himself, but this was different, she had a coherent memory of being dead for a period of time, then being resurrected by...Nico. "Who is Nico's parent?" She asked before anyone else could talk, "Hades, and Will is the son of Apollo, though I suppose he's Lester now isn't he?" Percy said with a tinge of humor, Annabeth responded, "He's Apollo again seaweed brain, he's a god again now." Hermione just accepted that she wouldn't understand half of anything these kids said.
"Hazel's not the only one who was dead." Leo said, earning some punches and eyerolls, "What?!" Hermione exclaimed and Leo smirked, "I died when I blew up Gaia. I used the physician's cure to resurrect myself and get back to Calypso." Hermione didn't ask and he didn't tell. They finished introducing themselves and a few of the other campers, and telling her a few conversation points to avoid, such as the name Luke in general, or asking the Hephaestus kids if they were fireproof. Leo had to then explain that he was the only one who was, then demonstrate his pyrokinesis.
~oOo~
Draco watched Hermione talk to the 'campers'. He couldn't hear what they were saying but he assumed that Hermione had finally gotten the answers she wanted. He wondered what they were, then blushed as his mind wandered into off limits areas. No Draco, he scolded himself, She has a boyfriend, and why would she want you anyway, you've been nothing but a jerk to her. He forced his thoughts back on their usual track, how to get what he wanted. He considered questioning her, but decided against it, he didn't want to do any more damage to her than he needed to. He decided to get the answers directly from the kids.
He decided on one of the two that left. They were isolated at the moment and looked less frightening than the others. The dark one though, Nico, he was scary. Draco would have to get them separated, then he would corner Will and get him to drink a truth potion. That would leave him at his mercy for the next few minutes.
Draco walked into the castle and searched for the boys. He looked in every place he could think of where any pair of boys would go to hang out but found nothing. He heard some sounds from a closet as he passed it in the hall and stopped. He listened for a second. Was that...Italian...Greek? He opened the door to find the two boys, tangled in each others arms. He thought he saw tear stains on Nico's cheeks but he melted into a shadow before Draco could be sure.
Will looked at him darkly, "What do you want." he spat. Draco shot a spell out of his wand and Will went rigid, then collapsed. Draco made quick work of dragging him into an empty classroom and sealing them in, blocking all sounds. He used a spell to allow Will to move from the neck up. What followed was a string of very creative curses in a mixture of languages that Draco dared not repeat to anyone ever.
"You done?" Draco asked when Will stopped. The camper looked like he wanted to say more but stopped himself, seeming the realize how pointless it was, "Good, I need you to drink this," Draco said, holding up a vial of truth potion.
"No." Will said, finalizing it.
Apparently Draco didn't get the message, "You don't understand, I need you to drink it willingly or I'll have to make you." He said with a barely detectable gulp, he hadn't been planning on threatening him with an unforgivable curse.
"No." Will repeated. Draco made good on his threat.
Once Draco had gotten Will to drink the potion he released the spell and stepped back. The look of pure hatred in the boy's eye was too much, Draco looked away.
"First question, this is stupid, are you a Greek hero?" He asked, expecting a no. Instead he got the truth.
"Yes."
Hey, let me know what you think. I was considering killing off one of our beloved characters, tell me what you think of that, and who you think should go. So far I have an idea of who, how, and why. I'll let you get to guessing.