And Farther Still Than That
[Chapter Five]
"Where are you going?"
Nico froze in his tracks, his back going unnaturally rigid when the feminine voice, carried by the winds, to his ears. He winced, knowing that there would be no easy way out of this. With some dread and hesitance, he turned, and much to his relief, it wasn't the girl he'd been dreading to see; he relaxed considerably when he saw Hazel's face instead of Percy's, even though the former had a frown on her face.
He schooled his expression into a blank mask, and responded after a moment of silence, "Somewhere."
Hazel frowned even harder when she received such a vague response. "Did you tell Percy?" she asked, arching a brow thoughtfully when she saw her brother's flinch. "Thought so," she mumbled, sighing and plopping herself down on the jewel-infested stairs leading up to Pluto's temple. "She'll get mad at you for sure and besides, she needs your help, she said so herself. And..." she hesitated. "...you're hiding something from us."
"I'm sorry I can't help you more but the both of you have to find your own way in camp, it's crucial to our survival." Nico replied, taking a few steps back and settling himself down by his sister's side. He tilted his head to the side, enjoying the feel of the breeze toying with his dark strands.
Hazel pursed her lips in displeasure but she did not voice her thought to her brother. "Is... Pandora - Percy - is she dangerous?"
Nico inclined his head to her question. "Yes," he said. "All you need to know is that she won't harm Camp Jupiter. No worries. You can trust her."
"Like I trust you," Hazel mumbled bitterly.
Nico finally raised his head to look at her, long and hard, then pressing his lips into a thin line, said, "I'm going to the Doors of Death." He twisted the skull ring on his pinky finger, eyes dark as he stood and retreated into the shadows. "Don't tell Pandora."
Hazel opened her mouth to protest but her brother was already gone. She sighed, getting to her feet and starting towards the Fields of Mars. This would be her second game, unlike Percy - her name was Pandora but Hazel liked calling her Percy - who'd skipped it the first time because she was too busy with the flu. - who would be participating for the first time. Nico'd said earlier that afternoon that it'd be very interesting and Hazel was now itching to take part and watch how interesting the war games will be tonight.
Never mind the fact that she was from the worst cohort in camp and that said cohort always ended up as the loser.
Well, at least she got to spend time with her new friend (that might be more but did not want to admit it), Frank Zhang. Her heart did a superquick flip-flop, Hazel herself wondered what was wrong but she quickened her pace, misinterpreting her heart's gesture as impatience to join the game.
Hazel, as it turned out, appeared to be just on time; the person in charge had just called her name and even though she tripped getting into line, she wasn't listed as late - fortunately, she didn't want to be punished, Roman punishments were harsh.
"Hey," Percy - to her anyway - grinned cheekily, swiping a dark and wet lock out of her eyes. "What's up?" Her sea green eyes sparkled in anticipation, mischievously - apparently, the daughter of Poseidon was ready to have fun despite the fact that she was out of place here and was far from home. The daughter of Pluto envied the other demigoddess' easy-going attitude, not at all concern about their current position and looming threat of world's end.
But of course, Percy wasn't like her, didn't do what she did. The green-eyed demigoddess was a hero, unlike her. They were worlds apart even though they were both children of the Big Three.
"Hazel?" Said girl blinked distractedly, finally realizing that the crowd were dispersing and settling into a formation more militaristic. "Are you okay?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah, right."
Percy cocked an eyebrow. "Really," she drawled with sarcasm but before she can insist upon prying into her friend's business, Dakota interfered, couching loudly to get their attention the same time Frank sidled up to the girls' side.
"Er, nice evening, girls," the unclaimed demigod greeted them, smiling hesitantly. Hazel couldn't help herself thinking that he had a cute smile; but she tried hard not to, after all the teasing of how these two klutz fitted one another, she was even more determined to not like him but he always seemed to be there. "Excited and ready to lose?"
"How pessimistic, not a very good trait, Frank," Percy laughed, clapping him on the back and how easy the other two got along made Hazel slightly jealous, feeling like a third-wheel even though she knew Nico would kill any guy getting too lose to his girl. "This, it'll be different."
Frank grinned, returning the girl's earlier gesture, but with not that much force. "Fine then, let's go chalk up my thirteenth defeat in a row!"
xXx
They, much to many's surprise, wasn't getting their ass handed back to them like they'd expected. Frank looked surprised, Hazel was too but only mildly because she did receive a warning from Nico about Percy's powers beforehand but even so, she couldn't but be awed at how the Greek girl fought.
"Fun," the daughter of Poseidon said, grinning, as she bashed the hilt of her sword into a Roman demigod's head. The warrior went down like an aluminium tin foil. Hazel winced sympathetically, she definitely wouldn't want to be in that guy's position. She marveled as the green-eyed girl rolled out of the way, delivering a roundhouse kick which sent a few demigods flying.
A shrill voice stood out amidst the chaos as the Fifth Cohort fought their way in to get the Mural Crown. Frank, Percy and Hazel waded through the enemy, ploughing down anyone who stood in their way. The First and Second Cohorts – pride of Camp Jupiter, a well-oiled, highly disciplined war machine – fell apart under the assault and the sheer novelty of being on the losing side.
Half of their problem was Percy. She whirled through the defenders' rank with no problem, Riptide an arc of glowing destruction in her wake but despite her attacks, she didn't deal permanent damage on the Romans; on the side note, she didn't even fight like one, possessing an unorthodox style of fighting, kicking, whacking and smacking and slashing instead of stabbing like a typical Roman would.
So this was how the Greeks fight. They took advantage of every opening instead of fighting head-on like a Roman would. Hazel sort of admired their carefree style; Percy's wild and unpredictable attacks were throwing the Romans into mass chaos, resulted in their inability to predict the girl's actions.
Speaking of the shrill voice, Hazel glanced up to where she saw Octavian, waving his sword around and screaming - whether it was orders or he was trying to sing in soprano, she wasn't sure but she grinned anyway, seeing his disorientation - but Percy put a stop to it. She somersaulted over a line of shields and slammed the butt of her sword into Octavian's helmet. The centurion collapsed like a sock puppet. Percy did this smiling widely, she glanced down briefly and flashed her friends a thumbs-up before she jumped down into the fray again.
Hannibal trumpeted loudly, triumphantly as if she knew that they were winning for once, and charged. Hazel jumped down, landing right on the elephant's back. She laughed, looking down, "Come on, slowpokes!" and rode off on Hannibal's back. Dimly, as she watched Hannibal shove opponents out of the way, she was aware of Percy and Frank sprinting to catch up to her.
They ran to the center of the base. The inner keep was virtually unguarded. Obviously the defenders never dreamed an assault would get this far. Hannibal busted down the huge doors. Inside, the First and Second Cohort standard-bearers were sitting around a table playing Mythomagic with cards and figurines. The cohort's emblems were propped carelessly against one wall, Hazel noted with distaste. If she were them, she would've hidden it better or at least send a guard to it, no matter how pathetic the enemy was.
Hazel and Hannibal rode straight into the room, and the standard-bearers fell backwards out of their chairs. Hannibal stepped on the table, and game pieces scattered. By the time the rest of the cohort caught up with them, Percy and Frank had disarmed the enemies, grabbed the banners and climbed onto Hannibal's back with Hazel.
They marched out of the keep triumphantly with the enemy colors. The Fifth Cohort formed ranks around them. Together they paraded out of the fort, past stunned enemies and lines of equally mystified allies.
"This game," Percy declared, laughing through the cheers of the crowd. "is almost better than Capture-The-Flag back at home."
"Capture-the-Flag?" Hazel asked, cocking an eyebrow in curiosity as Hannibal's pace slowed, lowering herself to let the riders down.
"Back home, at the Greek camp," Percy said wistfully, gazing at the east where Hazel assumed the Greek Camp was. Then she blinked and it was as if a spell had been broken because she was back to smiling. "Tell you later." she said as she demount the elephant.
The three were greeted by Reyna who looked mildly amused though she looked a tad spiteful when her gaze landed on Percy - eyes suspicious while the green-eyed girl look strangely guilty; Hazel wondered what sort of history these two have, she was curious but she knew better than to pry it in such a place.
Their joy was short-lived however, when a scream pierced the air and broke the cheery atmosphere.
Hazel's smile dimmed, dropped completely to be replaced by a look of utter horror, as her brisk pace turned into a mad sprint. She skidded to a stop at where a ring of demigods had gathered around Gwen, the friendly co-leader of the Fifth Cohort that she liked, and gasped. A pilum with the sign of the First Cohort was there, and Hazel felt sick when she came to a thought, that maybe Gwen wasn't even hurt during the game, but after it and it was done in spite.
Before her tears could spill, a gasp of amazement soon echoed by the others and rippled through the crowd reached her ears and Hazel raised her eyes in disbelief when she saw Gwen moving and speaking through her cracked lips. Gwen looked disoriented but otherwise fine, she however was unable to comprehend why everyone looked so horrified.
Percy nudged her way in, her hands grasping the pilum sticking out from Gwen's chest and pulled. The daughter of Mercury herself gasped at what she saw, dizzy at what she saw and shocked beyond words when she felt no pain even as the daughter of Neptune forcefully pulled the weapon out of her.
Dazed, she croaked, "W - What's going on?"
The daughter of Neptune examined the pilum in her hands in wonder, gazing at the tip of the spear where Gwen's mortality glistened under the bright moon. Somehow, the moon which usually soothed her felt especially ominous, she wondered what Lady Artemis was thinking now, to cause such a sudden change to the usual serene moon.
"You died," said Pandora flatly, not caring for subtlety. "and came back to life." She raised her own dazed green eyes, leveling them on Gwen's grey ones. "What else?" she didn't wait for an answer, switching her gaze to the crowd for a familiar, handsome, pale face. "Where's Nico?" she asked softly, weakly.
Hazel choked, "But how - " She almost turned to look for Nico herself, to ask, demand of him - who'd always been closer and knew more about death than she did - for an answer before she dropped the idea, recalling that her half-brother had left on a quest of his own. She was stunned but apparently, that wasn't the last of it as a large shadow loomed over, her a loud voice booming across the Fields of Mars.
She turned to see the god himself, her mouth turned as dry as sandpaper, but when Reyna knelt, she followed the praetor's example and did so; she numbly registered that everyone did, all but one girl: Pandora Jackson.
The daughter of Neptune had her arms crossed, her chin tilted in perverse stubbornness and arrogance, obviously she had something against the god of war. "You," she said, her voice hard and cold. "You're Ares, what're you doing here?"
The god of war sneered, his face rippling gruesomely along with his scars, as he leaned forward threateningly, prompting many shudders and trembles from the Romans but the sole Greek - and the Romans didn't know this tidbit of an information - didn't even so much as bat an eyelash.
Hazel groaned, finally out of her stupor of terror, shaking her head, knowing that this wouldn't be a simple night.
xXx
As it turned out, the night wasn't even close to over without excitement. Whispers of awe, horror, jealousy followed the three demigods - one of Neptune, the other of Pluto, and one newly claimed by Mars - and their fate.
Frank shifted uncomfortably under their heavy gazes. "I'm not so used to this sort of attention," he said to the inquiring looks he got from the girls.
Pandora smiled softly and he felt his cheeks heat up for a moment, he turned away hurriedly so as to not allow her to spot it. Hazel glanced at him next, knowingly, as if she knew what he was thinking at the moment. "You'll get used to it soon," Pandora remarked after a moment.
"How come you're so cool about this?"
"I'm used to it," both girls answered coolly but their tones were different; Percy's was wry as if she was thinking about a particular fond-slash-annoying memory but Hazel's tone was as dark and heavy as the Romans' gaze; he wondered what made these two Children of the Big Three so different.
"But... a quest? Neither of you are scared? Worried that we might fail?"
The two girls exchanged silent glances, an understanding and a whole conversation passing between them in a way that Frank doubted he understood much but the girls' shoulders sag and they look terribly sad and wary.
When neither answered, the son of Mars - and how he wished he wasn't! - remained silent too, content on following both girls.
xXx
AN
Reason why I haven't updated much lately is - Writer's BLOCK - a pain in the ass really but I'm trying, just don't expect much updates.
And the switching between Pandora/Percy names is deliberate so don't complain now; I want the readers to keep in mind that Pandora is the female version of Percy and so, the name because I don't want her to be accused of as an OC.