Percy's first battle in the colosseum, different than before!

Disclaimer: I do not own PJO

Percy's POV

I was thrown into a cold, damp cell, deep below the colosseum, and the thick, iron barred door was slammed behind me.

"Take it easy with the sword there pal," I heard Nico say to the guard, "I'm going."

Nico was kicked roughly into the cell next to me and the door was slammed shut.

"I could've just walked in!" yelled Nico angrily, but the guard ignored him and left.

He huffed and slumped to the floor, leaning against the clammy stone wall.

"Do they have to be so mean? Is it part of their job to push us around?"

"Just ignore them." I said, and lay back, closing my eyes.

"Well sorry if I'm not as emotionless and cold as you Percy. I have feelings." he said indignantly.

"Don't say that too loud. This isn't the kind of place you want people to know you have 'feelings'." I said, the looked over at him with an indignant look of my own. "And since when am I emotionless and cold?"

"Hey, forget I said anything," he said holding up his hands in surrender, "I just meant that not everyone has the same will power as you, and they think they'll survive longer if they just bow down and shut up."

That reminded me of earlier today in the square, when the carriage came by and I stayed standing. I wanted them to know that they couldn't control me, that just because they had me in chains didn't mean I'd give them a thing.

But refusing to kneel had come with some perks too. There had been that girl in the carriage. She was beautiful, probably royalty too. A princess. Yeah, a princess for sure, I thought. I remembered my mom telling me to find a wife. If I married someone with a lot of money, we'd be set.

I shook my head and pushed the thought from my mind. My mother was dead, the farm was gone, and there's no way I'd ever marry a princess. Especially not now, I'm a slave for god's sake, I'll probably be dead within the week.

I heard noise coming from down the hall. It got closer, and then three people rounded corner. Two guards were struggling to hold onto their prisoner, who was bucking like a horse and flopping around like a fish out of water. He looked like he was about my age, but definitely not a slave. He had mousy brown hair that hung down over his mischievous blue eyes. His clothes weren't ripped and tattered, and he looked to clean to be a slave.

Another guard came over and hit the boy in the stomach with the butt of his spear. The boy bent over for a moment, but then came up laughing.

He gave the guard a wink and said, "I've been hit harder by my little sister, and she hasn't even been born yet!"

That got him the spear shaft across the face.

"Yeah, that was a bit harder than my sister." he said, rubbing his jaw.

They through him into the cell across from me and Nico.

"You're pretty tough with that spear aren't you? How about you put that down and fight me like a real man?" he taunted the guard.

The big guard with the spear dropped it and stepped into the cell after the boy.

"Aw, come to give me a hug?" he said in a babyish voice, holding his arms out.

The guard grunted angrily and ran at the boy, who sidestepped and stuck his foot out. He tripped and fell, and the boy looked surprised that he'd done anything at all, but he recovered quickly.

"Not so tough now are you? No no, don't get up, I'll run get your blanky." he said, darting for the door.

The guard grabbed his leg and pulled him back in, then punched him in the face. He slumped to the ground and blinked a few times, dazed. They locked the door to his cell and left.

"That's right cupcakes, you keep on walking." he said, waving a fist after them.

When the guards were gone he made himself comfortable against the wall and looked over at me.

"Hey stranger, how's it going?" he said cheerfully.

"Uh, fine, I guess." I said, confused as to why he was so happy.

"I'm Travis, Travis Stoll. You've probably heard of me, but most people call me 'The Master of Thieves'." he said proudly.

"No one calls you 'The Master of Thieves' Stoll. Now shut up before I come over there and shut you up myself." said a guard keeping watch on us.

"They will soon enough Bill!" Travis called back, then winked at me. "Bill acts tough, but he's really a sweetheart."

"Stoll, I swear to god, one more word!" yelled the guard.

"Alright alright, shutting up."

Everyone was quiet for a few minutes, and then the guard left.

"You know him?" I asked.

"Oh sure, I mean, when you're in here four nights a week, you get to know people." he said, crossing his legs and putting his hands behind his head.

"Four nights a week?" I said, still confused.

"Yeah, I get into trouble, a lot. But it's no big deal; I'll be out in the morning."

"Then why are you down here? This is for slaves."

Travis laughed. "The locks in the cities jailhouse are too easy to pick; I kept breaking out. So they started sending me down here, where it's near impossible to escape."

"You can't pick the locks down here?" asked Nico.

"Of course I can! Master of Thieves, remember?" he said, pulling a long thin knife from his sleeve, and sticking it into the lock.

After a few seconds of jiggling there was a dull thunk, and the door swung open. Me and Nico's eyes widened, but Travis just closed the door again, and I heard it lock.

"Well if you can pick the lock, can't you break out of here too?" asked Nico.

Travis shook his head. "Too many guards. I won't get fifty feet down that hall before they catch me, and if they catch you out of your cell down here, they'll kill you."

"Oh." said Nico and I simultaneously.

Travis twirled the knife around his fingers and tapped his feet together quickly, eyes darting around the cell.

"So, what're you guys in for?" he asked.

"We're slaves." I said dejectedly.

"Oh." said Travis, "Well sorry, I guess."

We all fell into a slightly awkward silence, Travis obviously a little embarrassed that he hadn't realized we were slaves.

"So if you guys are slaves, does that mean you have to fight in the colosseum?" he asked.

We nodded.

"Well here," he said, sliding the knife over to us, "I guess any edge you can get in there'll help, so you can keep that. I've got a few more at home anyway."

"Thanks Travis." I said, picking up the knife, and after examining it for a minute, slipped it into my sleeve.

"I'm gonna get some sleep now," said Travis, "I've got a real awesome job planned for tomorrow. Night."

He closed his eyes and was snoring softly in a few minutes; I decided to do the same.

When I woke Travis was gone, and Nico, who had woken earlier, told me the guards let him out an hour ago. I rolled over and something pricked my arm. I looked beneath me but nothing was there, then I remembered the knife Travis had given me and took it out. It wasn't even a knife really, meaning it didn't have a blade. It was just over a foot long, and about as thick as one of my fingers. No, not a knife, more like a really big needle with a leather grip. None the less, it had a sharp point, and I was sure it would come in handy soon.

I expected a guard to come get us and take us to fight, but no one came all day, and soon I fell asleep again. In fact, nothing happened for a few days, but eventually, the uneventful days ended. I was woken by the heavy metal door creaking open, and a pair of guards dragging me out. Getting to my feet I saw that several other slaves were being taken, and Nico was one of them. We followed the guards down a maze of winding tunnels, where we finally emerged into a large room filled with weapons. There was a huge doorway on one wall, blocked by a sturdy metal gate. Sunlight shone through, illuminating the room, and the sounds of battle and cheering reached my ears.

The guards pushed me passed a table of helmets, and I snagged one quickly, sticking it on my head. Then they shoved a sword at me and pushed me towards the gate, where I waited with the other slaves. There were eight of us, including me and Nico, and some of them looked pretty tough. That would be good if they were on my team for this. Whatever this was, I still wasn't sure.

Guards turned large wooden wheels on either side of the gate, and the chains connected to them coiled around the wheels. As they turned, the gate rose, and we were directed through it. I walked out in front, and was greeted by boos from the crowd. Our little group walked to the center of the colosseum, and another gate started to open. Eight big, burly men in breastplates stepped out. They were all armed to the teeth, with swords and spears and knives and axes. Gladiators.

One of the gladiators stepped forward and raised his shield. The crowd applauded, but then after a moment fell silent. They were all looking in the same place. I followed there stares and found a balcony mounted high above the arena. There were several people on it, two in thrones, and the others standing. One of the people in the thrones shifted slightly, and I thought she looked familiar. I was sure I'd seen her curly blonde hair somewhere before, but I couldn't place it.

Before I could think on it further, a man to the left of the two thrones blew a loud horn, and the crowd exploded into cheers again as the gladiators sprinted toward us.

One threw his spear, and before any of us could react it impaled the man a few feet to my left. The others threw their spears too, but the other slaves ducked them and ran. I stooped and grabbed a fallen spear and then set off after them, not wanting to be left behind with the bloodthirsty gladiators.

The arena was big, and we could've run from them all day, but they were in better shape than us, and soon we had to turn and fight. As the gladiators closed the gap between us, I stabbed the spear into the closest ones thigh, and he toppled to the ground. Casting the spear aside I picked up the fallen gladiators shield and hit him over the head with it to make sure he wouldn't get up anytime soon. Checking back on my team mates I saw them not doing too well. They were all engaged in losing battles, clearly out matched by the opposing gladiators. The man Nico was fighting knocked him over, and as he raised his sword I remembered Travis' knife. Slipping it from my sleeve I threw it towards the man. It flashed through the air and stuck in the mans shoulder, causing him to drop his sword. Nico took advantage of this and attacked the man, and they whirled away as they resumed fighting, Nico now with the upper hand.

Surveying the battle again I saw that three of the other slaves had been killed, and one had a huge gash in his side that was pouring out blood quickly. The three gladiators that weren't fighting were toying with the wounded slave, and that pissed me off. With a roar I charged them, sword whirling around madly.

I tried not to kill any of them, but maim and or seriously injure? Sure, why not? As I engaged the three men, I aimed for arms and legs, and soon two of them were down, unable to stand. The third jumped on my back, but I turned as we fell and ended up on of him. He tried to get me with his hatchet, but I head butted as hard as I could, and with my metal helmet, that was pretty hard. His axe dropped and his eyes crossed, so I head butted him again and he was out.

Getting up off of the fallen man I saw that Nico had won against his gladiator, and there was only one left. The two other slaves had him at sword point, toying with him as he had toyed with them.

"Stop." I said firmly, and they looked at me like I was crazy.

"We won't kill an unarmed man. I'm not going to stoop to their level." I said angrily.

"Here," I said, picking up a sword and tossing it to the gladiator, "fight me like a man."

The two slaves backed away and the gladiator charged me. I parried his first strike easily, as well as the second and the third. He wasn't a very good swordsman, but I was. He put two hands on his sword and swung it like a bat. I ducked the attack and came up with a boot to his chest. He fell back and lost his sword, I held mine at his chest as he scrambled back. He stopped and closed his eyes. I stepped forwards and grabbed a fistful of his hair, then slammed the hilt of my sword between his eyes. His eyes opened for a moment, then closed as he fell back, motionless.

The crowd was silent, no doubt surprised that their gladiators had been defeated by slaves. Then they started to clap and cheer. I looked up at the stands of people and spun in a circle, watching as they all cheered. My eyes settled on the balcony, on the girl, and I realized where she was from. She was the princess I had seen in the square. The one in the carriage. She looked down at me intently, with interest and curiosity in her eyes. I did the only thing I could think to do, and waved. The princess looked surprised for a minute, then sort of half waved back. I took off my helmet and smiled. She was very far away, but it only seemed like a few feet, and I could easily see as she smiled back.

The gate we came in through started to open and I looked at it, running a hand through my messy black hair. Sweat stung my eyes as I walked towards it, and I pulled my shirt over my face to wipe it away. I took one last look at the balcony, at the princess, before I descended back into the darkness that was my prison.

What do you think, so far so good?

R&R.