*nervous laughter*

So...it's, um, been a while, hasn't it? If we're being really honest here, I spent most of March in a frenzy over everything being due at, like, the same time. And writer's block made it so that I wasn't about to procrastinate on those important things to focus on this. So I blame college, as I so often do.

But hopefully you don't hate me too much for making you wait this long...or for the shit that goes down in this chapter...let me know what you think about the ending, yeah?

If our first 24 hours in New Rome were any indication of what the next two weeks had in store, you'd assume it was going to be terrible.

A fight with Hazel, a panic attack over the prospect of being at all intimate with Percy, a really bad body image day, intrusive thoughts about how he was probably going to leave me, and a string of equally as awful thoughts about how I was holding Percy back with my stupid feelings.

It was a pretty big disaster, all together totaling to be the worst day I've had since early February, when everything went to shit with Hazel in the first place.

But the next few days actually played out in a surprisingly calm fashion.

A day in the apartment relaxing with Percy was more than successful in getting me to unwind. We spent the day sharing languid (and some not so languid) kisses and watching movies and eating takeout that Percy kindly ventured out into the city to get. It had the same kind of easy, lazy feel that I'd gotten used to back home, but with the added benefit of no Sally and Paul to interrupt.

After that much needed day of rest, I managed to go out and actually enjoy my time in New Rome. We went all over the place, exploring the cluttered little city. There was so much to see. Even though I'd known about the city longer than the other Greeks, I'd never properly explored it. I'd visited to occasional cafe with Hazel in the very beginning, but beyond that I'd never really had anyone to enjoy the city with. Now I was getting to wander the markets and drink espresso with Percy, which was infinitely better than doing it alone.

Percy and I spent most of our time there with Jason, since I was already decently close with him (at least as close as I let most people). Hanging out with him meant hanging out with Piper too, which actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

I'd only had very limited interactions with her in the past, mostly because she was annoyingly perceptive of other people's emotions. I don't know if it was an Aphrodite thing or just a Piper thing, but when I was still trying hard to hide my feelings, it meant that I avoided her at all costs. I didn't need her getting a look a what was really going on beneath beneath my carefully constructed loner persona.

But she was actually pretty fun to be around. Her general demeanor was more laid back than I'd given her credit for, even though her joking nature balanced out Jason's more serious personality. It made them a pretty perfect pair, actually, so it worked out that they came as a package deal in a lot of situations.

Leo and I had an interesting banter going on too. He annoyed the hell out of me with his stupid jokes and teasing, and I made that pretty well known. But we had this unspoken agreement that we did respect each other on a deeper level, so nothing was ever malicious.

Most surprisingly though was the fact that I actually managed to hang out with Annabeth. I'd never had problems with her; she'd always been nice to me. Percy never seemed to have an issue with her either, even after everything they'd gone through over the past year; they'd rekindled their friendship after New Year's Eve and gotten pretty much back to normal. But I always felt weird being around her. After all, I was dating her ex, a guy that she'd certainly imagined being her endgame. Sure, she'd called it off in the first place, but it hadn't been entirely willingly on her part. She'd felt the need to let Percy go so he could be happy with me. She'd sacrificed her own happiness for the sake of Percy and I. It just didn't feel right flaunting my relationship or getting anywhere close to PDA when she was around.

But she seems to be in a really good place. Getting away from the demigod stuff after two years of constant war and stress was probably good for her. Now she could throw herself into her passions instead of having to stopping the end of the world. And apparently she was living with her dad again, and they were actually getting along pretty well. She even said that her stepmother was being less of a witch lately.

I felt less guilty about being close to Percy around her now that I knew she was doing okay for herself.

And, naturally I avoided Hazel whenever we all did something together (and Frank too, by association). Talking to her just wasn't worth the heartache or the headache that ensued. It only ever made me upset, and after that awful first day, I was convinced that I wasn't going to let that happen again. I wasn't going to let her get under my skin, so I chose to ignore her.

For days I was able to avoid the people I didn't want to see. No Hazel, and no Frank. But apparently things weren't about to stay that way.

We were just finishing up the preparations for the war games. The fortress, sprawling across the Fields of Mars, seemed more impressive than usual. The Romans had pulled out all the stops for our visit, throwing all their attention at making these games something to remember. It looks like they'd upped the amount of water cannons and monsters surrounding the fortress, while complicating the interior passageways as well.

Just like the last war games I recall watching, the 1st and 2nd cohorts were defending while the 3rd, 4th, and 5th were on the offense. Percy had temporarily taken back a position with the 5th cohort, more than excited to play offense. But since Leo, Annabeth, Piper and I didn't have cohorts of our own, we'd been given the honor of joining a team in the games.

In an effort to avoid Hazel, I'd followed Annabeth, Piper, and Leo to the defense side, more specifically the 2nd cohort. Percy pouted and pulled his baby seal eyes when he found out I'd be playing on the opposing sides. But the girls both pointed out it would be a fun to play against them, and I had to agree, actually. A little friendly competition never hurt anyone.

The four of us were lounging at the edge of the fort on the top floor, surveying the various cohorts running around in the fields below us.

In the distance, we could see the offense busying themselves with adjusting their armor, wrangling their mounts, and sharpening their weapons. Normally they would look intimidating, but after everything we'd seen, a horde of Roman soldiers was nothing.

My eyes scanned the front lines, searching for Percy. I knew he was down there somewhere, probably jittery with excitement over the prospect of getting to fight again. He always loved showing off, especially to the Romans. They were always so impressed by his unorthodox fighting style.

But before I even realized it, the little group that'd been surrounding me dissolved in the frenzy to make sure everything was perfect. Leo left to check on the traps he'd been constructing, while Piper and Annabeth ran off to finalize some strategies they'd been planning. I was left alone in a bustling crowd of people I didn't know. Immediately my eyes scanned the area, looking for any familiar face.

I accidentally locked eyes with Frank, who was chatting with some Roman guy I didn't know a few feet away. Immediately I trained my gaze downward, focusing on polishing my stygian sword with an old cloth. Hoping he hadn't noticed me, I flicked my eyes upward for a moment, only to see Frank clapping the solider on the back and walking towards me.

He stood in front of me, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. Sighing, I raised my head and glared at him, thinking maybe I could get him to forget about trying to talk to me.

"What do you want?" I asked, voice tinged with venom. Deep down I knew Frank had never said or done anything bad to me personally, but I just associated him with Hazel and all her bullshit. For all I knew, Frank could be a totally reasonable guy, but that didn't matter right now.

"Um, well…I just thought you'd want to talk about Hazel," he said, stumbling over his words. For a praetor, his confidence was pretty lacking in the face of someone who was a good several shorter and sixty pounds lighter than him.

"There's nothing to talk about," I said tersely, standing up and tossing the rag to my side. "I've given her a choice. Either she accepts me for who I am or we're through. I'm not going to let her fuck with my emotions anymore."

I saw Frank's eyes sadden a little. I'm sure he expected me to get all emotional and say that I would let Hazel back in my life because I was desperate.

I think maybe a month or two ago I would have forgiven her if she made even the slightest steps towards accepting my sexuality.

But at this point, it wasn't going to be that easy. I'm sure Frank would try to convince me that Hazel was unhappy too, that this whole thing was as hard for her as it was for me. I didn't care about that though; I was sick to death of tearing myself up over someone that, after all these months, wasn't even willing to try.

It would suck if Hazel couldn't accept me; it really, really would. But I was going to deal with it in a healthy way now. I wasn't going to let her keep hurting me.

And if she decided to work towards accepting me, it was going to take a lot more work than she might expect to get us back to some semblance of our old relationship.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some more preparations to make," I replied to his sad stare, bristling past him. I wasn't going to let him guilt me into forgiving her, and I wasn't going to let this distract me any more than it already had.

I took a deep breath and joined Annabeth and Piper, whose plans and diagrams were spread out over the plywood floor. They smiled over at me, and I gave them a weak smile back, still trying to shake the conversation I'd just had.

I really needed to calm down before the attack began. Romans took their war games very seriously, especially the ones involving fortresses. These games were more high stakes than our games of capture the flag; with this there was genuine honor to gain from winning rather than bragging rights. People didn't necessarily try to seriously injure one another, but they didn't go easy on anybody. You couldn't afford to be distracted in the heat of battle.

I took a series of deep breaths, closing my eyes for a split second before snapping them open. I lowered my body slightly, bracing for impact. My grip tightened around my sword, raising my heavy shield in front of me.

There were a few moments of silence after Reyna sounded the horn that signified the beginning of the games. The defense squads tensed up in their respective positions, ready to strike. Annabeth had elected to place me right on the front lines of our banner guard, on the second floor of the fortress. She knew that if our other defenses failed, I would be the best choice for leading a last minute defense. She didn't want to waste my talents on the ground floor, since the offense teams almost always made it to the second floor regardless of how good the forces on the first floor were.

A few more minutes passed and I could hear the resounding battle cries and clash of metal on metal mixed with the thunder of footsteps below me. From the sound of it, the offense was close to clearing the first floor as Annabeth had predicted.

The shouts got closer and closer. By now they've breached the staircase and are flooding into the second floor. Several booms resounded as at the reinforced door shakes.

One, two, three…

All hell broke loose.

The door exploded in a shower of splintered wood and dust, allowing an onslaught of Roman soldiers to pour into the main room, weapons raised.

Taking one more deep breath, I jumped into the fray.

Time ceases all meaning in battle. When you're in the thick of it you don't know how long it''s been since the attack began, or how long you've been battling that one huge guy who just won't go down.

But he's just one foe in a sea of a hundred, a crowd that presents itself as an endless cycle of gold clad warriors, most of whom wielded long pilums and heavy wood shields.

That fact alone was making these Romans even more difficult to deal with. They forced me into a totally different fighting style than I was used to. I almost never used a shield, instead relying on my speed to dodge blows (rather than blocking them). But now I was forced to weigh myself because there was really no other way to avoid such a huge mass of long weapons. If the battle was truly one on one, I could manage without it. But I could be ganged up on at any time, so I needed a better way to avoid getting poked.

Still, I kept up my dance even with the added weight, taking every chance I could get to briefly survey the skirmishes going on around me. From the looks of it, this battle was going to be a lot harder than we expected. The fifth cohort was making a lot of progress, probably thanks to Percy and Jason. Whether that was due to their strategic prowess or physical strength, I wasn't sure. But frankly, I was leaning towards the latter. Those two together were practically unstoppable.

After snapping the shaft of some girl's pilum between my sword and shield, I decided it would be best to retreat back to the banner and regroup before the fifth cohort progressed too far.

I run towards the back of the room, jumping over discarded shields and trying my best not to trip over broken pilums. I skid to a stop as I catch sight of Annabeth struggling with a girl from the 4th cohort. Just as she takes down the tall brunette, she points desperately to the banners, shouting something unintelligible over the din of the battle.

I understand her meaning though, and sprint to the banners, leading a small gaggle of soldiers behind me. All I need to do is buy us some time to force the other cohorts to retreat. We can still take this.

Taking our place at the foot of the banner, we make our final stand. The fifth cohort advances, though Percy is nowhere to be seen. The few of us that remain pair off, taking a solider each.

I find myself locked in battle with two imposing Roman soldiers, barely able to move. They set a brutal pace, and it's all I can do to stand my ground. They work together like a well oiled machine, never leaving me an opening to strike myself.

But I'm doing what I've been told to. I'm holding up. I'm buying time. Hopefully it'll be good enough.

I look to my left, holding my shield up with trembling arms, flinching with each strike of their weapons, desperately hoping someone would be there to take the pressure off of me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Percy a few feet away, bashing away against a nervous looking member of the first cohort. He appears to be a formidably foe himself, tall and well muscled, but it can't be easy to fight in the face of one of the most skilled fighters in decades.

Upon seeing me, Percy pauses for a split second, turning to face me, brows furrowed with worry.

And that's when everything goes into slow motion. The entire series of events probably played out in the span of a few seconds, but for me it felt like an eternity.

I watch, horrified, as his face blanches, all color draining from his flushed cheeks. He looks like he's about to be sick.

The solider, unknown and unnamed to me, stumbles back, his hand's flying away from the pilum that is now buried just beneath Percy's ribcage.

Riptide clatters to the ground as Percy crumples to his knees, hands flying to the weapon's shaft. His face is obscured by the ever encroaching bodies, any noises he makes swallowed up by the battle that still rages around him.

A sob tears past my lips as I drop my shield and sword, not caring that abandoning my position means certain loss. As soon as they're given the chance, the Roman duo shove me to the ground and bound up the small staircase, grabbing our banner for their own, celebrating the end of the game with a triumphant shout. Cheers resound from the rest of the fifth cohort.

They don't know. They don't know what's happened.

I scramble to me feet and scream desperately for a medic.

I run as fast as I can, pushing through the crowd of bodies, stumbling over my own feet.

I'm screaming for help the entire time it takes me to close the short gap between us.

But in my mind, I'm sending prayers to my father. Desperate pleas that surely make their way out of my mouth in a broken stream of different languages.

Please, please, please no.

I swear you won't have to wait as long for the next chapter. Not long until I'm through with the semester and I have all the time in the world to finish this story.

Also, if you like all this sad, angsty stuff, take a look at my story Everything's an Illusion. It's all sad stuff! No fluff, absolutely none!