When Jason and I reached the Field of Mars Madeline was standing at ease off to the side, her silver and gold armor shining. Everyone else was seated in the bleachers, chatting aimlessly. Jason turned to me and said "I'll be the ref this time. You can go sit down." As I took my seat in the front row Jason announced,

"The rules for these fights are, to win the other person must be unconscious, unable to proceed, or one of you must yield to the other. No intentional deaths. Godly abilities and magic items are allowed. First up will be Frank Zhang, Fifth Cohort, against Madeline..." He looked to me for help and I just looked at him like, don't ask me! and shrugged. He turned back to the crowd. "Madeline will continue to fight the oldest legionnaire after she has either won or lost to Frank. After that she will battle Reyna, then myself. Cohorts will select her afterwards."

Madeline nodded in understanding as Frank approached the center of the field with his armor on.

"Ready?" Jason called.

Both contenders nodded.

"Begin!"

Madeline and Frank squared off, both looking for weaknesses in the others stance. Suddenly Frank lunged, hoping to catch Madeline off guard. She just sidestepped and raised her eyebrows. Frank caught himself before he could fall and began pressing her harder. He rained down blows one after another but couldn't get inside her guard. Finally Madeline seemed to have enough when he tried to slice her arm and she knocked it away with her blade, not even really paying attention. She went on the offensive, swinging at him like no tomorrow, her sword moving so fast I could hardly see it. High overcuts, low swings. Frank could hardly keep up. Madeline quickly sliced a gash in his breastplate and swept his feet out from under him. She locked blades with Frank, him on his knees and her standing, giving her the maximum leverage she needed. She twisted his sword, sliding all her weight from her weapon onto his, causing it to clatter out of his hand onto the ground below. Within a second she had her blade aimed at his chest. He was sweating and breathing heavily while she hadn't even broken a sweat.

"Do you yield?" Madeline growled.

"Yes." Frank was practically whispering by now.

Madeline nodded and helped him up.

The whole ordeal had taken hardly a minute. Jason was flabbergasted. Frankly, I couldn't blame him. Frank was one of our better warriors and the girl had just reduced him to a panting, bleeding mess on the ground in less than two minutes without breaking a sweat.

Jason finally got control of himself and declared,

"Madeline is the winner!"

There were some cheers and applause but mostly the audience was just shocked. Jason drew in a deep breath, eyes still wide, then regained his composure.

"Okay. Since our eldest legionnaire is currently not able to participate due to a minor injury from the war games in her place will be Octavian, First Cohort." Octavian walks onto the field, looking slightly disappointed but prepared none the less. He smiles at Madeline sadly, as if to say : I know you're my sister but I'm going to kill you now, sorry! Madeline just tells him, out loud,

"Oh, don't worry. I'm a big girl, I can handle myself in battle. Please don't go easy on me. It would be disappointing." Octavian stares at her, mouth agape. He then realizes how stupid he must look and hastens to shut his mouth, now wary of Madeline.

Madeline turns to Jason, her calm and collected demeanor returning

"Powers are allowed correct?"

She seems to already know the answer and is just looking for confirmation of the fact. Jason looks at her curiously for a moment then replies,

"Yes, all godly abilities and magic items are allowed."

Madeline nods her head then resumes her relaxed and somewhat bored position facing Octavian. Jason seems to decide that it's time to begin and calls out,

"Prepare yourselves fighters!"

He swivels his head to ensure the two warriors are ready.

"Go!"

The stands cheer, everyone in attendance leaning forward in anticipation of the fight. Personally, I couldn't wait to see this one.I couldn't wait to see Octavian get his butt whooped, especially by a girl because he always says how guys are better than girls. Thinking of that reminded me of my time with the pirates…. I suppress a shiver and attempt to focus. I could just tell that Madeline hadn't used half of the power she could have on Frank and still completely disassembled one of the greatest fighters we have. Although, I couldn't tell Frank that of course. His ego would just grow, making him cocky, which has been the death of many legendary heroes, and I didn't want that.

I turn my attention back to the fight which is just starting. Madeline slips her bow into her hand, dropping her sword on the ground. Octavian is watching her warily, knowing that bows can be extremely deadly in the right hands and I was pretty sure that every person in the audience could tell she definitely had the right hands. She has three arrows in the air in the amount of time it takes me to blink. One lands in a chink in the right shoulder of Octavians armor. Another imbeds itself perhaps two inches away from his 'family jewels'. The last arrow ends up so close to his achilles tendon that it's a wonder she didn't hit it, though I figure that was her intention, and she hit all the places she intended to. Octavian drops to his knees, letting out a girly shriek and beginning to whimper. Madeline rolls her eyes and stalks over to him. She holds her bow at arms length, without an arrow nocked, just the empty bow and he flinches.

"Do you yield?" She asks him in a bored tone as if saying, are you done being a baby yet? Suck it up! He whimpers again and nods furiously. She huffs and kneels down next to him and mutters something I can't hear. He looks down looking slightly abashed but mostly furious. He nods. Madeline sits next to him and looks at him with a somewhat apologetic look. Not really though, she just looks at him more amused than anything else. She reaches over and rips out the arrow in his shoulder, none too gently. Octavian screams for a bit then shouts in a voice higher than usual,

"Gods damnit!"

Madeline throws her hands up in the air, an innocent look on her face, eyebrows raised.

"Hey! You're the one who told me I could do it! Don't blame me!"

"Well yeah! But I didn't know you were just going to tear it out! That frickin' hurt!"

She just rolls her eyes again.

"Just be thankful that wasn't one of my poisonous arrows- those hurt way, way worse."

Jason and Octavian both looked at her with incredulous and shocked looks, Jason's with curiosity mixed in.

"Chimera poison." Madeline explains with a shrug of her shoulders, as if defeating the Chimera, extracting the poison and surviving is a completely natural and everyday occurrence. Jason and Octavian both have an amazed look on their faces and I realize mine must look the same. Madeline turns back to Octavian and quicker than a snake, snatches the last two arrows out of his skin. Octavian screams and Madeline shakes her head, disgusted. She sits crosslegged next to her half-brother on the ground. She reaches over and begins to place her hand on Octavian's shoulder when he cries out,

"What do you think you're doing? Going to stab me with your arrows now?!"

Madeline looks at her brother, obviously shocked at his outburst. She yells at him then, like a mother scolding her child.

"How could you think that? Do you think I want to hurt you? I'm trying to heal you, you blundering idiot! I know you're prideful but seriously? Can't you just shut up for one freaking second?! Gods! I might think you were a child of the god of theatre and hysterics if I didn't know better! What you really need is a huge bowl of suck it up soup! Now shut up, swallow your pride and let me help you!" With an exasperated sigh she reaches over and grabs Octavian's shoulder before he can resist. Her hand starts to grow a warm, soft orange and all the tension that was previously in Octavian's face vanishes. His wounds start to heal and she brings her hand back, looking at him with a pointed glare.

"Now you happy?" Octavian, who looks scared out of his wits, nods his head softly. He says in a quiet and timid voice, unlike one I've ever heard from him,

"Thank you sister."

Madeline stands up and nods, just now noticing that the audience was dead silent. She glares at Jason in a way that makes me involuntarily shiver, and she wasn't even looking at me. Jason looks like he's seen a ghost that was screaming bloody murder, and he hastens to fill the unwanted silence.

"The winner of this duel is Madeline!" He goes to raise her hand in the sky, but seems to think better of it when he sees the look she's throwing him. The crowd erupts into screaming and cheering. After the applause has died down, Jason announces the next battle, and I rise to my place, quickly and quietly.

"The next duel will be praetor Reyna against Madeline."

I look at Madeline and make the mistake of looking into her eyes. They are golden, but unlike Octavians', whose represent cold intelligence, Madeline's are confident, but not arrogant or cocky. I can see her fear of rejection, and the raw power she possesses that will keep her fears from coming true. I can finally understand how our prized centurions fell so easily to her blade, or in some matters, arrows. She has faced so many issues that she is prepared to do anything to succeed, and no matter if you're friend or foe, if you stand in her way she will destroy you without a second thought. In all, she is determined. And for that, I respect her.

I reconnect myself with the present, breaking my gaze with those captivating eyes. Jason is telling us to prepare ourselves. His voice is ringing around the field, despite how quiet he is.

"Go!"

I lunge forward towards the daughter of Apollo, stabbing and hacking in a whirlwind. I decided to skip all formalities because I knew that she was more than prepared and I had already sized her up anyway in the first fight. Madeline meets each and every one of my strikes with her own blade. I'm sweating profusely and I can hardly breathe. When I glance back to Madeline I see that she's now become so concentrated on my attack that she's not paying attention to her feet. I decide to take my chances and drop to a crouch, smacking her shins with the flat of my blade. That's what I meant to do anyway. It didn't exactly go as planned. When I extended my right arm to hit her she anticipated the trick, and jumped up, landing on my still outstretched arm and grinding it to the ground. I fall to the floor and Madeline jumps on the opportunity, pinning me to the ground with her left elbow on my right shoulder, her arm across my throat with a hidden hunting knife aimed at my chest. She brings her other hidden knife (where are these things coming from?) to my throat and asks me calmly,

"Do you yield?"

As she speaks to me she gets a twinkle in her eyes and I can tell then that she was pretending to be so concentrated on my attacks, and it had hardly been anything. Still, I can't believe she finds this situation amusing! The audacity! I glare at her in a way that has most people shaking in their boots, although Madeline just smirks and shakes her head very slightly, as if to say, I've seen worse. You can try though. Realizing this will get me nowhere I grit my teeth and huff,

"Yes. I yield."

As Madeline relinquishes her grip I notice the audience is in shocked silence. Then, all at once, a thunderous roar of approval rings around the battle field and I smile slightly, knowing that it must of been a spectacular sight to see- an esteemed praetor of New Rome being beaten by a probiato. I sneak a sideways glance at Jason and notice that although he's smiling slightly at my defeat, he has turned pale as a ghost, probably anticipating the fight to come.

I tilt my head up and bring my palms downward in a 'settle down' gesture while looking at my legionnaires. The kids quiet down and wait for me to speak. I reach over and take Madeline's wrist, surprised by the muscle that even that small area possesses. I raise her arm over her head and announce, somewhat begrudgingly, "Madeline is the winner of this battle!"

The audience cheers once again and they settle down after a few moments. A ghost of a smile graces my lips, this should be amusing. I announce to the legionnaires, "And now it is time for the final battle!" I pause briefly, and notice Jason in the corner, rubbing his hands together in anticipation and putting on armor. "Madeline vs. Jason! Powers are allowed! Let the battle begin!"

A/N – Okay, hey guys. Sorry I haven't been on for a while (No, I'm not lying. I really am sorry!) I had gotten minor writer's block and lost my motivation to write. Plus I have basketball 5 days a week ( not on Mondays but on Saturdays ) and that's certainly not helping. Hey- I said posting would be weird. Anyway… Thanks to my semi-beta, HayHaySpen101 ,(idk if I should call her my beta since it's not official or anything) my reviewer, also HayHaySpen101, and my solo favoriter. (your user won't show up on my computer) See you guys soon! Hopefully! Merry Almost-Christmas! ;) Go R&R ! I need motivation to write!

Peace out *2 fingers in the air*

Adios and Feliz Navidad!

Okay, no, seriously. Bye