Hello, hello, hello! I'm back! Forgive my tardiness; I have to fix my schedule for stories, and the fact we moved houses and we had no WiFi for more than three weeks… but enough of my private life. Review replies at the end of the chapter! Enjoy!
Oh yeah, and Happy Birthday to Guest! *hands you virtual cake and presents* Sorry I couldn't get this done in time for your birthday, but I'll do my best next time! Happy Birthday!
Chapter 9 - The Capture
LEO
"Look, Mom, look!"
Young, seven-year-old Leo Valdez ran up to his mother, Esperanza, holding a little wooden horse that fit on his tiny first. Esperanza, his mother, wearing grease-covered overalls, oil splattered on her jeans. She smiled. "Wow, Leo, well done! Did you make that by yourself, mijo?"
"Yes, Mom! And it's a present! For you!" Leo handed her the horse. Esperanza held it up and smiled.
"Oh, mijo, well done! Thank you!" She kissed her son on the forehead. "You really are special. You're just like your father!"
"Oh, Mom! Do you want me to make more?" Little Leo smirked at his mother, pumping his fist into the air.
"No," replied Esperanza, and with her tough, calloused hands, crushed the wooden horse with her fist. Leo gasped - his mother would never do this! She said, "Why would accept a gift from my murderer?" She laughed, but her laugh wasn't like her. It was high and cold, though barely feminine.
She changed, and when young Leo saw her, she wasn't Esperanza anymore. She was Gaia - the evil Mother Earth, wrapped in earthen robes made out of dirt, straight from the ground. "Try to defeat me, Leo Valdez, and you'll find yourself in Asphodel, with your mother! I'm merciful - you go to Asphodel, and I'll send your friends to Punishment! How good is that, son of Hephaestus? Try to save the ones you love - your father will rot in Tartarus forever, along with the other Olympians!" She opened her mouth, as if she was ready to devour him -
Leo woke up with a jolt. He tapped himself, he checked if he wasn't devoured or anything. Good. Great! I'm not eaten! Yeah!
But then, it was Mom. She called me her murderer.
No! Keep on moving on. It was just a dream… and you're not eaten! Yeah!
He pumped his fist in the air, then he realised he had hurt someone, who had previously said "Ow!"
It was Astrid, and Leo was surprised that she was here, with him. Then he remembered; back on Berk, he, Astrid and Annabeth were helping Valka and her wild dragons, then they saw a dragon get hit by a tranquilizer dart - shot not by a gun, by a strange brown, didgeridoo-like tube (except smaller). It was dragged behind the stables, and Leo, Annabeth and Astrid went to investigate, but then they were all shot as well, and the last thing Leo remembered was a large sack, before the world turned to black.
"Oh gods, what happened?" Leo heard Annabeth, and they locked eyes. "Valdez, where are we?"
"I remember being shot in the back," replied Leo. He felt his lower back - he felt a little pain, but no dart whatsoever; however, he felt a scar where he thought the dart had got in.
"I remember being shot too," recalled Astrid. They all looked around, and noticed they were in a cell. A really, tiny, mini cell. A cell that barely fit the three of them in.
"Sheesh, what the Hades did we do?" muttered Leo. He called aloud, "WHATEVER I DID, I DID NOT CHANGE TIMES SQUARE BILLBOARD SLOGANS TO 'ALL DA LADIES LUV LEO!'"
His only response were large elbow nudges from Annabeth and Astrid. Gee, why do women have such sharp elbows?
"Why in Helheim are we here?" Astrid asked herself out loud.
"Hey, you three, shut up!" The three looked up, and saw four jailors guarding their cell. "Shut your mouths -" the guard pointed a large, pointy sword through the bars of the prison cell - "or I'll shut 'em meself."
"Errete es korakas!" yelled Annabeth. Leo, being a Greek demigod, understood it as 'Go to the crows,' a very heavily offensive insult in Ancient Greek.
"Don't understand it, but I think it sounds really bad," whispered Astrid.
"You've got no idea," Leo whispered back.
The guards glared at her, and in a pompous, mocking, high-pitched girly teasing voice, attempted to copy what Annabeth had previously said. They roared with laughter. "Quit it, girly," laughed the guard. "Start speaking that again! It's funny…"
The guards turned, and spoke in whispered voices. Astrid glared at the guard, then gasped at the crest at the guard's belt buckle. Leo didn't know what it meant, but Astrid muttered curses that even the gods (both Olympians and Norse) themselves would flinch at, then Leo heard something like, "Oh, great."
"What?" asked Leo, and Annabeth bit her lip and turned to Astrid. "What is it, Astrid? Something wrong?"
She nodded. "This is Drago's crest. This is Drago's ship."
"Drago?" Leo and Annabeth asked in confusion and in unison, and Leo racked his brains, and remembered that Hiccup had told the son of Hephaestus and his demigod friends some background information about Drago:
"Just a month back, rewind, Drago was trying to control dragons and people in order to conquer the world. He had dragon trappers and hunters capturing dragons north, south, east and west of the Archipelago and beyond. He used those dragons to become his servants, his slaves, under some kind of spell by their King - their Alpha."
"So… he was the Alpha before Toothless, right?" Percy had asked.
"Yup. It was scary. These dragon trappers had traps everywhere. He used bribes and threats to bring people to his side. Then there was this huge war, and Drago almost took over Berk. But we fought back, and Drago was gone, along with the Alpha, and the dragons returned to their normal state."
"Gone? Then he's dead! That's good!" Piper smiled, but Hiccup shook his head.
"Nah. He's not dead. Gone, yes. Dead, no. We had an incident on Nepenthe Island before, but it wasn't related to Drago. He's probably going to take some time to recover, and since his dragons are gone and the majority of his soldiers and trappers have retreated or hidden away, it'll take a while for him to get some reinforcements. That'll be the final battle, maybe."
"You'll have to win, right?" asked Leo.
Hiccup nodded. "Otherwise, it's the end for both men and dragons."
Leo frowned as he recalled the memory. Final battle? End for both and dragons? It gave him the freaky-deakies. So, in the very slim chance that we defeat Gaia in our final battle in Greece, Hiccup and his great mateys back here have to fight their final battle… or the world we know is gone…
Annabeth looked at Leo, then looked away and cursed in Ancient Greek. "Why didn't I bring it? Oh shoot…"
"Bring what?" Leo asked.
"A jar of coconut scent-"
"What the heck, Chase!" Leo hissed. "D'you think this is the time to make yourself look pretty for your deathday?"
"No, you idiot," Annabeth hissed back. "It's a special demigod potion, it melts prison bars. Unfortunately, it's still in the Athena cabin back at Camp Half-Blood…"
"Leo… that's your name, right?" came Astrid's voice.
"Yup," said Leo. "And the scary blondie's Annabeth."
"Don't call me scary!"
"Well, Leo, I think I know how to get out of here," replied Astrid, and lowering her voice, she said: "We try to grab the key from the guards, then we get ourselves out of here by punching the guards with our weapons-"
"Problem," Annabeth said, "We don't have our weapons… oh, great… my drakon bone sword is gone."
"Dragon bone?" Astrid said, with a hint of panic, anger and surprise in her voice.
"Nope," Leo replied. "Drakon bone. They're not dragons, but they're like distant cousins. I should know. I've fought heaps of them-"
"I haven't got my axe!" said Astrid angrily.
Leo checked his waist - thank the gods, his toolbelt was still there. Either it only worked for demigods, or that they couldn't find anything that could classify as weapons in there (Leo hoped they hadn't taken his breath mints - his toothbrush had gone missing a while back and he was too busy delaying death by being chopped, beaten, sliced, diced, or eaten, or any other kind of death by monster - especially by Gaia's cronies, to buy a new toothbrush.)
Annabeth looked at Leo, and then moved her eyes to the toolbelt. "Hey, Leo, got anything in there that can get us out?"
Astrid glanced inside. "There's nothing in there, unless…" she whispered, "is that… demigod stuff?"
Leo nodded. He clenched his fist. A little flame sparked on the tip of his finger, but he was sure nobody had noticed. He turned around to the two women, and grinned his 'Leo' grin.
"Come on, ladies," he smirked, as he stretched out his palm. "Uncle Leo has a plan."
0-0-0-0-0-0
HICCUP
"Oh great, oh great, oh great."
Hiccup grumbled as he walked to and forth in his hut, being watched by Percy, Piper, Jason, Frank, Hazel, and his own mother, all looking worried.
"Great! Astrid's gone, and so are Leo and Annabeth." He looked at Percy. "Did you check if Stormfly was there?"
There was no answer from the son of the sea god.
"Percy? Percy. Percy. Percy. Percy!" Hiccup clapped his hands loudly.
Percy turned to Hiccup with a jolt, and looked at him with an expressionless face and spoke with an expressionless tone. "Her dragon's still here, and they couldn't have got off the island without a dragon or a ship."
Hiccup noticed Percy's current state. He's probably wound up about Annabeth being missing… I'm wound up with Astrid, too…
"And besides," Valka chimed in, as she threw a fish to Cloudjumper, "they wouldn't have left without anyone seeing them. I've asked the villagers. They've said no, they haven't seen a ship leaving or any of the three."
"And we've searched the island three - no, four times," groaned Hiccup. He bit his lip. Where was Astrid? He clenched his fist. "Gods, this is so annoying!" He threw his arms down in utter frustration.
To Hiccup's surprise, Percy immediately stood up. Hiccup locked eyes with Percy for a second, and noticed his normal sea-green eyes burned like fire (well, you know what he meant). His eyes reminded Hiccup of stormy seas, the kind of sea that was relentless and merciless and ruthless, the one that tore down ships and brought Vikings to their doom.
"Excuse me. I'm going to go somewhere."
"Maybe you should take one of us-" began Frank, but Percy lifted up a hand.
"No thanks, I'd rather go by myself," said Percy. He left, muttering darkly some inaudible words.
"Don't worry, he'll get over it," said Hazel, but Hiccup noticed, judging by her tone, her words lacked conviction.
Jason said, "Back to the topic. Judging on searching the island, they aren't here. If they were hiding, it wouldn't have been for this long, and someone would've known something."
"Wait, if Leo, Astrid or Annabeth are on Berk, where are they?" asked Hiccup.
Jason shook his head. "I don't know."
"Try again?" suggested Frank, then he frowned. "All of our attempts have been made in vain."
Hiccup grit his teeth angrily. "Oh gods of Asgard, this is so-" he erupted loudly in curses that would make the gods themselves flinch, Greek, Roman, and Norse deities altogether, which made Valka give her son a look and made her said, "Language, son," which Hiccup ignored.
"We should search some nearby islands," suggested Piper. "They can't've gone far."
"Would it work?" asked Hiccup curiously, rubbing his hair in order to slowly get rid of the bubbling anger inside of him. "Will we find them?"
"It's worth a try."
"Alright. I'm getting the whole gang to saddle up. We're going to go out to nearby islands. Come on."
0-0-0-0-0-0
AN HOUR LATER
Hiccup had found Percy in the old arena. Gods, that brought back memories. Five years ago, when he had attempted to persuade everyone who was watching him that dragons weren't the murderous creatures as they had previously thought. That was also where he'd started the Berk Dragon Training Academy, as he looked at the crest of Toothless still hanging, which had been kind-of-abandoned ever since Hiccup and the gang had found the Dragon Eye a little over a year back and made a base outside the Archipelago called Dragon's Edge.
Percy looked downright murderous. He was slashing his leaf-shaped sword Riptide everywhere, yelling like a banshee, and leaving slashes and furious swipes on the stone parts of the arena. He slashed and stabbed at a stone Viking statue holding a sword, and finally, the Viking had lost its head.
As he panted, Hiccup raised a hand and said, "Hello there, Percy."
Percy panted, and glanced at the statue head. "Sorry 'bout that."
But Hiccup noticed the tone that Percy had used to apologise to him; it did not sound like he was sorry, and he did not look apologetic at all. But Hiccup drew this to the side.
"Huh? That's fine. We have too many Viking statues anyway. I wouldn't mind about a single broken one." He laughed without humour. "And, I know, I know you're angry-"
"I'm sorry about not going on the search with you, I was just-"
"That's okay."
"Any luck?"
"Nope. Not at all. We even searched some nearby islands, but no-one knows where they are - there's no signs that they even left Berk onto those islands, so no. But don't worry. I swear we'll get Annabeth, Leo and Astrid back."
Suddenly, Percy gasped.
"Hey, Percy, what's wrong? We'll get them back-"
"Look." The demigod pointed up to the chains above the arena, and Hiccup saw a black winged horse. Percy's black horse… what was his name? Oh, Blackjack.
Toothless growled, and Hiccup frowned, placing a gentle hand on his scaly face, saying, "No, bud," and saw Percy wincing at Blackjack. "What the heck, Blackjack?! No!"
"What's he saying?" asked Hiccup.
"Nothing of great importance," replied Percy, then he said, "All right, Blackjack. No cussing for you. You're just as bad as Arion."
"Arion?" asked Hiccup.
"Hazel's horse, and the fastest creature on the planet," Percy explained, and Toothless warbled in annoyance. "Hey, hey, bud," Hiccup said, "Don't worry, you're still the fastest and the best dragon for me." Toothless calmed down, licking Hiccup on the cheek happily, as if to say, Thanks.
As for Percy, Hiccup watched him stare at Blackjack, who neighed continuously, and he noticed that the demigod's eyes got bigger and wider. He dropped his sword in surprise.
"WHAT?!" Percy said in surprise. "Wait there, Blackjack!" Ignoring the winged horse's indignant noises, he turned to Hiccup and said, "let's fly back to your home. It's urgent. Blackjack knows what happened to Annabeth, Leo and Astrid."
As Hiccup got on Toothless, he thought, What must've happened? Judging on Percy's tone and looks, it looked serious… oh gods, I hope nothing bad has happened to them, oh gods… especially Astrid…
"Toothless! Let's go home, we have something to tell the group."
When they flew in front of the Chief's hut, Hiccup noticed that his mother, Jason, Piper, Frank and Hazel were assembled there already. Hiccup's gang was also there - Tuffnut and Ruffnut punching each other for no specific reason, Fishlegs pacing to and fro nervously, holding a pack of dragon cards, Snotlout shouting at Hookfang to come back. And Astrid… oh gods, he almost forgot Astrid was missing.
"Hey, Percy, Hiccup!" Jason called. "Any luck?"
"WeknowwhatexactlyhappenedtoLeoAstridandAnnabethBlackjacktoldmeandit'sreallybad," panted Percy.
"Whoa, there, Jackson," Jason made a sign that Percy called a 'time-out' sign (in which Ruffnut thought was a 'supercool sign to shove Tuffnut in the face with'). "We don't know at all what you said."
"We know what exactly happened to Leo, Astrid and Annabeth," said Percy. "Blackjack told me - you know, my winged horse-"
"YOU HAVE A WINGED HORSE?!" exclaimed Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut and Tuffnut altogether.
"Yep - long story, includes demon cruise ships, swords, lots of fighting, and a bunch of scary monsters."
"Wow! Cool!" said Tuffnut.
Hiccup wanted to know what had happened to Astrid and the demigods. "Yes, demons and monsters are fantastic." He turned to Percy. "What happened?"
"Blackjack told me that he saw four men in cloaks shoot some darts at them from the corner of the stables, and they stuffed them in three separate sacks and headed towards the really far north of the island. He saw a strange ship leaving with a freaky crest."
Hiccup gulped nervously. "Go on. What did the crest look like?"
Percy described it, and the gang, Hiccup and Valka went white.
"Uh, that's bad, right?" asked Frank.
"Very," replied Hiccup. "Leo, Astrid, Annabeth… they were all captured by Drago Bludvist's men."
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
ANNABETH
Annabeth was extremely willing to follow 'Uncle Leo's' plan. However, she did not expect his plan to involve him bursting entirely into flames.
Leo had stretched out his palm to Astrid, enough so the guards wouldn't notice at all. As soon as he had done that, it sparked a small, dancing flame, and Astrid backed away slowly. "You can do that?"
"Uh huh," he nodded. "It's a Hephaestus power." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "You see, I'm going to burst my entire body into flames and melt the prison bars. The guards will be scared, but I'm going to give you guys a few hammers and mallets from my tool belt so we can fight our way out until we find your weapons."
"One problem," pointed out Astrid, "Are you sure we won't be roasted alive?"
"Stay back to the farthest areas of the cell. Stay back…" But since the cell was so small, they were still within arm's reach of Leo.
Gods, Leo looked like he was made of fire himself.
Annabeth prayed to Athena: If you're listening, please don't let us get roasted by Leo's flames, and please let us get out of here alive…
She was worried about her friends, and especially Percy. That Seaweed Brain should've been worrying by now; and so would Hiccup and the other Vikings - especially Hiccup about Astrid.
Slowly, but surely, as Leo clenched the bars, the iron prison bars melted into hot, sticky metal gloop. Annabeth wiped sweat off her forehead; the temperature was becoming increasingly hot. Soon enough, Leo had created a hole large enough for them to get through.
"Hey," said a guard slowly, "I feel somethin' hot behind my back."
"I know," replied the other, and they both turned to see a grinning Leo, accompanied by Annabeth and Astrid.
"WASSUP?" he grinned, and the flames on his skin became brighter and hotter. "Yup, I know, you've just seen a flaming man. It's pretty scary, huh?"
Leo spoke casually, as if flaming men were everyday things that happened daily.
The guard pointed his sword at him. Leo frowned, and Annabeth noticed his eyes burning like fire. The flames grew even brighter. "I can burn that, you know." Then smirking, he placed his palm completely down on the guard holding the sword, who shrieked as a third-degree burn appeared on the back of his hand, and the other guard stepped back, lowering his weapon, and swearing.
"Hot! Hot! HOT!" he yelled.
The other guard clicked his tongue, opened the cell door and raised his axe, and Leo yelled, "En garde!" and took out a large hammer from his tool belt, and parried the lunge.
"Oh shoot," said Leo, "there was no point making that hole…"
"We didn't even find any weapons in that belt…" Annabeth heard the guard mutter. Astrid tapped her on the shoulder, and said, "Come on. We shouldn't let the men have all the fun." The Viking called, "Leo! Some weapons here!"
"On it!" Flaming Leo tossed Annabeth and Astrid an iron-headed mallet each, and they dodged the guard and went bolted out of the cell.
"ESCAPEE!" A voice yelled. "SOUND THE ALARM! PEOPLE ARE OUT OF THEIR CELLS!"
Annabeth felt her arm being grabbed by Astrid, who said, "Leo's managed to knock the guard out cold." She glanced behind her shoulder. "Our weapons are at the exit of the prison. Let's go." They ran, and Annabeth grabbed her drakon bone sword, Astrid her battleaxe.
She cursed in Ancient Greek. "The guards," she said.
"That's okay," said a voice behind them. It was Leo, still in flames, holding a sword that he had swiped from the guards. "Let's go fight and bust 'em up."
And so they did. A handful of men ran away and dropped their weapons at the sight of Leo (seriously, men were so cowardly sometimes, thought Annabeth), and the rest of them fought it out.
"Get 'em ruffians back in their cell!" a bulky man yelled. "Separate ones now! And there's lots of us, and three of them. Charge!"
The guards charged. "For Bludvist!" they yelled, and they fought. Annabeth swiped her drakon bone sword at the guard, and he slumped to unconsciousness on the ground. Leo was melting his opponent's weapons, then taking them to unconsciousness with his own. Astrid was fighting bravely, Viking-style with her own axe, and using her fists as well.
As soon as the last guard slumped to the ground, Annabeth glanced at her hand, and slowly, she stretched her palm out. Blood trickled down like thick, crimson-red tears. It stung horribly. Before Annabeth had finished a guard off, that said guard had swiped with a sword, and it made a deep, bleeding cut with her hand.
Leo had gone back to normal, panting. There was a deep bleeding gash on his forehead, and a bruise on his cheek. "Oh gods, Annabeth, you're bleeding…"
"You too," replied Annabeth. "Hand me some bandages."
Leo obeyed, and as soon as she wrapped some around her bleeding hand, she wrapped bandages around Leo's forehead. "Thanks, amiga," he grinned.
"Valdez, your plan was stupid. Percy-grade stupid."
"Aw, thanks. Your compliment is greatly appreciated."
Astrid looked okay, and Leo went closer and examined her, as if she were a machine. "That's good - you're not injured. Annabeth and me were more busted up than you."
Astrid glanced at Annabeth's hand, then Leo's forehead. "Let's go. Stormfly-" she groaned. "I forgot, my dragon's not here. So… how do we get out?" She looked at Leo. "Uncle Leo, please tell me you have a plan."
Leo spread out his arms helplessly. "Sorry, but Uncle Leo's all out of plans." He turned to Annabeth. "Hey, Chase, got a plan? Your mom's the wisdom goddess; think of something!"
"Uh… uh… I… don't know." Annabeth felt helpless, and she gulped slowly. "I don't have plans."
"What the Hades, Chase?!" Leo yelped. "Your mom's, like, Athena-"
"Shut up, Valdez!"
"-and we've got no plan. This is bad, amigas, very bad…" He looked up to the sky. "D'you think Hiccup and the others even know that we're missing?"
Annabeth knew the answer already, in her heart, mind and soul. Yes, I do. I don't believe Percy would rack out on me on purpose. If he did, I'd kill him! They should know already… But out loud, she said, "Yes, they're coming out to find us!"
Suddenly, Annabeth felt the feeling that she was being watched. Shivers crept down her spine. She felt a tug from each of her arms - one from Astrid, one from Leo, who had sparked a tiny flame on his fingertip. They turned…
… only to find two grinning men - Percy and Hiccup, followed by Toothless and Blackjack.
Leo, Astrid and Annabeth grinned back. Annabeth refused the urge to cry out loud, "THANK GODS!" and weep openly, but instead lunged into Percy's arms, and Astrid did the same.
"Oh gods," breathed Percy. "Holy Poseidon, I was so worried about you…"
You. The word Annabeth wanted to hear.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Leo smirked. "How 'bout me? Can I get a hug?"
His response was laughter.
Annabeth finally broke from Percy's arms and asked, "Where are the others?"
"Out there," Hiccup replied. "We had to put up a good fight with the guys outside. We heard fighting inside here, so…"
"How did you find us?" asked Astrid.
Hiccup grinned. "It's all thanks to Blackjack."
"Blackjack?" Astrid glanced behind the two boys and saw him, neighing, as if to say, Yeah, skull person, it's me! "Black winged horse…" she said slowly, in shock.
"Uh huh," nodded Percy. "Anyways, Blackjack caught a scent and followed it here. And…" his voice wavered to silence.
"It's has Drago Bludvist's mark," finished Hiccup.
Silence.
"Come on," said Hiccup. "Let's get out of here."
The five of them turned, and a voice said, "Ha, ha! Well, well. Escapees. We should put them back in their cages where they belong, shall we?"
Hiccup brought out his flaming sword, Astrid clenched her axe. Percy uncapped Riptide, and Leo's hand caught on fire. As for Annabeth, she gripped her sword tiger, and turned to Hiccup, only to hear him whisper,
"Dragon trappers. Drago's dragon trappers."
*sighs* Huh, finally finished! 9:06 PM, 12/09/2017, Australian Eastern Standard Time. About 4,000+ words.
Review Replies:
Guest: Happy Birthday! I'm sorry that I didn't upload this chap by that time :(. Please forgive me! And don't worry, I will finish this, NO MATTER WHAT! *holds up Ultimate FanFiction Sword*
Only 1 review, but I'm not sad :D! Please keep reviewing, even 1 review keeps me motivated, as soon as I've finished uploading chaps to other stories, I WILL RETURN! (Well, unless you guys read my other stories, so...)
Bye Bye! Thanks again for reading, and I'll see you soon!