Fortunate Son of the Sea God chapter 12
A/N: Not much to say besides the fact that I am back from the dead and ready to give my followers a new chapter! I recently got a new laptop and while it's not up to the quality of Deadalus's laptop it gets the job done. Anyways, back to the action.
Chapter 12: War...What is it Good for?
Percy P.O.V.
Percy could hardly believe what had happened. He had gone across the country recruiting demigods left and right for the Half-Blood Army or the H.B.A. During this time, he and Annabeth had grown much closer. Ever since the incident in Manhattan they had bonded and had become good friends. The same could be said for most of the other demigods as they stood in their barracks at Fort Half-Blood. The only person Percy wasn't really on good terms with was the new guy, David Everson, a son of Demeter. It wasn't because of their personalities but rather it was just how new David was. They had flown straight to the base on Long Island from Alabama and hadn't had much time to talk. Percy decided to walk over to him and strike up a conversation.
"Hey there David, the name's Percy," he said as he walked over to David. David looked up from his bunk and Percy got a good look at his eyes. They had shades of green in them like Percy's but they were a more emerald shade rather than the sea-green that Percy had. David was also sporting a shaved head like everyone else in their platoon.
"Nice to meet ya Percy," David responded as he stood up and shook Percy's hand. He had a firm handshake that Percy took note of. He also noticed David's accent, he had a thick Southern drawl that Percy had never heard before in his life. Percy opened his mouth to speak again but was interrupted by a loud yell.
"Alright you sorry excuses for soldiers…line up!" a man yelled. Percy quickly assumed this would be the guy who trained them. He looked a few years older than all of them and had pale blue eyes to go with his short blonde hair that was hidden under his drill instructor's hat. Percy got into line standing side-by-side with the other demigods with Annabeth to his right and Piper to his left.
"I am Gunnery Sergeant Castellan," the man barked as he walked down the barracks eyeing up all the new recruits.
"My goal is to turn your sorry asses into killing machines and-" Castellan barked before he was interrupted by a brown haired dude with glasses who looked our age as he handed him a sealed envelope. The sergeant opened the envelope and pulled out its contents. He read it over before shooting the other guy a confused look. The other guy shrugged his shoulders as Luke continued yelling.
"Corporal McCann has brought it to my attention that there are some other things I must teach you as well," Castellan yelled.
We all gave each other confused looks, something was off here.
"One of these things is to always leave reviews on fanfictions and to read the author's notes," Castellan said in a condescending tone.
Before anyone could say anything in response, Castellan took off outside and told us to follow. We all shuffled out and he led us to a trail where we started running.
After a while, Percy started to lag behind and Castellan took notice and started yelling in his ear.
"You're pathetic Jackson!" he yelled in Percy's ear.
Percy tried to ignore the yelling and focus on running but his legs felt like jello, if he kept this up he would collapse from exhaustion.
Just as Percy's vision started to get dark, Annabeth and David took notice of Percy's struggles and fell back behind the group and linked their arms over Percy's shoulders helping him continue.
Castellan gave them a nod as he increased his speed and focused on the main group.
"You know…you guys didn't have to do this," Percy said in between gasps of air.
Annabeth managed a small laugh in between pants of air as David shook his head with a smile.
"No one gets left behind, Kelp Head," David said with a smirk.
"That includes you Seaweed Brain," Annabeth added as Percy managed a smile. He'd only been in the army for less than a few weeks and he'd already made plenty of friends.
After several weeks of training, the demigods had grown really close and Percy even considered them his family. He and Annabeth were always paired up for exercises and that was always interesting. Percy remembered the time they did hand-to-hand combat and Annabeth ended up judo-flipping him over her shoulder and pinning him to the ground with her knee. Normally, he would get upset that a girl beat him up so easily but with Annabeth, he was perfectly content to let her whip his ass.
Today, they were assigning roles to everyone in their platoon. The biggest surprise was that not only Percy was named platoon leader, Annabeth was named as second-in-command.
"Well well Jackson, looks like Chiron found it fit to put you and Miss Chase in charge," Castellan said with a grin. After he and Annabeth got their roles, everyone else was given theirs.
David was named platoon medic due to his knowledge of plants and herbs and which ones could be used for medicine. Leo was their mechanic and was also assigned the flamethrower, this made everyone shift a little knowing how dangerous Leo's fire abilities already were. Giving him a flamethrower was like giving more sugar to a small child.
Thalia was assigned sniper duties which was to no one's surprise, the girl could hit a bullseye from miles away. Jason, her brother, gave her a playful nudge which she returned with a smile.
Piper would be our negotiator because of her charmspeaking abilities. Percy was extremely glad she was on their side for this war, she had already proven her usefulness the times she shortened a few of their exercises. She still couldn't convince Luke however which confused all of us.
The rest of the assigned roles were pretty basic and Percy could sense that they would be departing for Vietnam soon. He had grown tired of his training and while he didn't care much about what the government wanted, he wanted to make sure that everyone in his platoon made it out of Vietnam alive.
It was almost as if Percy blinked and he was now sitting on a boat heading for Vietnam. He was leaning on the railing with his gaze out to the sea when he sensed that someone was standing next to him. Percy looked over and saw that it was none other than his Wise Girl. She still looked as beautiful as that fateful day in New York when Percy summoned water to protect them from that molotov. Her blonde hair had grown back some since it had been shaved off and it stuck out from underneath her olive drab soldier hat. It didnt have it's length back yet and it made Annabeth look like a tomboy.
"What's on your mind Seaweed Brain?" she asked with a grin.
Percy smiled and reached an arm around her and pulled her closer. He was lost in her stormy grey orbs and he couldn't help but smile. He leaned in to give her a peck on the lips when a whistle interrupted them. Percy looked over and saw Nico and Thalia standing there looking at them with huge grins plastered on their faces. He quickly pulled himself away from Annabeth and felt his face flush from embarrassment.
"How about some damn privacy?" Percy asked with a growl.
Thalia rolled her eyes, "You didn't exactly pick a private place Kelp Head," she said.
Percy's face got even redder as realization dawned, they were on the deck of the ship in full sight of everyone.
"Whatever," Percy muttered as Annabeth reached over and gave his hand a squeeze.
"Another time," she said as she leaned in and gave Percy a quick kiss on the lips before running off. Percy's face might have been as red as a tomato but he didn't care. He looked over to Thalia and Nico who were still standing there but now their mouths hung wide open in shock. This made Percy smile as he walked towards the lower decks.
"Maybe this won't be so bad after all," he thought to himself as he hoisted himself onto his bunk and quickly fell asleep.