"We should kill you right now. It'll do the world a huge favor" says a voice that was coming from no where
"But you don't want to, and you won't, right?" A hooded boy cloaked in silver replied. He was standing in darkness
"No, we don't and we won't. All three of us know that neither of us are the 'I'm gonna kill you for the sake of the future' type" A new voice answered. Silence enveloped the nothingness surrounding the boy after that. The boy decided to break the silence.
"Isn't our background a little too droopy? Can't you change it to something more interesting?" The boy complained gesturing to the plane of darkness around them. The two voices chuckled and the darkness was slowly being engulf by some sort of golden aura.
"Ha-ha, guys, funny" The boy says with sarcasm
"What? It suits you" The first voice says. The golden aura seemed to be some kind of inside joke.
"Okay, guys, spit it out. You wouldn't have summoned me or something just to mock me and my predicament" the boy replied.
"Straight to the point, are we? Tss. Why can't you appreciate us being your allies from time to time. Seriously, no Thank-you-oh-mighty-lord, or I-wouldn't-be-alive-if-it-weren't-for-you" The second voice said. The boy groaned. "Thank you oh mighty lord, I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you," The boy says exasperated.
If voices could frown, then the second voice surely did. "Now that just sounded wrong."
"Oh c'mon, guys! Stop stalling!"
"Oh fine, boy," The first voice says. It continues, "After 'sightseeing'" - -which clearly meant 'eavesdropping'- -"we saw some bits of the future. And if you must know, you're not gonna like any of it"
"What? Why? Will my Pack be okay?" the boy says wildly concerned
"Your Pack? Erm….that depends on your definition of 'okay.' I really can't judge, but if I were you, it'd be easier and better to avoid, ehem, a certain crescent," The second voice coughed. 'Crescent' was a code word for a certain goddess of the hunt
"Avoid them? How can I? I can't! Thanks to that oh-so-powerful king of the gods!" The boy shot back
"Not~our~prob~lem" The first voice singsanged to the annoyance of the boy.
"Oh, and one more advice" The second voice said
"As if the first was helpful" The boy grumbled but the two voices ignored him.
"In the…'near' future, it'll be best to make her chose between- -" the voice was cut
"NO!" the boy shouted, the boy would have none of it.
"Oh don't be stupid, boy. You knew this was going to happen sooner or later" The first voice chided
"I'm not gonna let it happen"
"That's where you're wrong"
"I don't care"
"Don't be foolish!"
"I'd rather be if it meant not making her chose!"
"Idiot! I know that you care for her, so you do not wish for her to choose. But let's face the facts. By the time you ask her to choose, she's gonna care about you all as much as you her, to her misfortune. So she's gonna have to choose"
"Forget it!"
"Oh don't be in denial"
"Get out of my head"
"Okay" the two voices said in unison and their voice was slowly fading. In a faint whisper they said, before their voices were gone as if carried away by the wind, "But you're only making it harder for that hunter girl"
Artemis sat straight up as if being jolted awake. What time was it? It was early in the morning. She was in her palace. Quickly, she went and checked on her hunters from the shadows (not literally). They were all still asleep.
For a moment, Artemis was consumed by rage. That boy promised him last night that they will not lay a hand on one of his hunters. But then again, what did she really expect from the words of a boy.
But then...a hunter has betrayed her? All the anger washed out and was replaced by hurt. The dream had said that the hunter cares for the Ac- - for that boy. So does that mean that a hunter will forsake her vow and be 'involve' with a…a boy?!
But then….they said in the near future. So maybe….the said hunter didn't care for the boy yet. That means, Artemis still had the chance to separate her hunters from those…boys before one of them 'corrupts' her precious girls.
But another detail seems to be nagging on her: who owned the voices and who was the 'crescent' person the boy needed to avoid?
Percy was clearly annoyed when he woke up. You could feel the black aura around him. The Pack members murmured:
"Shit, he's in a bad mood"
"Urgh, he woke up in the wrong side of his head"
"It's 'the wrong side of the bed' idiot!"
"Is it his bloody time of the month already?"
"Not again"
Percy scowled at them but they merely snickered. He was really feeling angry that he stomped towards the door and was almost going to go out when
"You're not wearing your cloak and goggles oh-powerful-Ace!" Someone shouts back.
"Vlackas" Percy muttered. He grabbed his silver cloaked, and put his hood over and slammed the door of Cabin 13 shut.
He had to make Thalia chose? Seriously, no, just no. And you know what's more annoying, he forgot to ask Morpheus and Hypnos for the details about what they saw in their little 'sightseeing!' Percy groaned
He wondered were Nico is. If Nico's here, then at least someone's gonna stop him from killing everyone in camp if he snaps….not to mention that he had to talk to Nico about Hypnos and Morpheus's little visit in his dream land.
Oh, and to make matters even more eventful, he felt a presence in the dream! Meaning, someone was eavesdropping on them.
Aku found him in the woods. Percy sighs and climbs on Aku and lies down on top of him. Maybe he should just march to the throne room, spill every secret that was eating him alive, and sit on Zeus's pathetic throne. But no, of course he wouldn't do that.
When Percy was calm enough, he went back to his cabin and the guys were still there. He mumbled a 'sorry' about his rude behaviour and they just said 'whatever'
When everyone was awake, they decided to have a meeting about capture the flag. Almost every time they meet to decide strategies, it always come to the same decision: let's just wing it!
As expected, the meeting was coming into a 'let's just wing it' decision when Percy said, "And guys, you are not allowed to use your powers"
"What?!"
"Yup, just swords, spears, and whatever weapon and magic items"
"Why?!"
"Well, if you want to use your powers and reveal to the world who your parents are, then bros, be my guest!" Percy said. The explanation seemed to be dawning on the Pack. Percy was right. If Percy were to use water powers, then it's like he was announcing to the others that he was a son of Poseidon or something.
"I thought so. No powers, alright? That's an order. If you win, then you win with swordsmanship and magic items alone! I'll be watching, don't disappoint me!" Percy says and instead of saying 'yessir' respectfully they laughed and said, "thanks for the pressure, oh-so-magnificent-ace!"
The breakfast horn was blown and they all grabbed their cloaks, put their hoods over their heads and headed for the pavilion.
The campers were staring at the hooded creepy men passing by. There were whispers but the Pack didn't mind. They sat at Hestia's table, and were now filing in to offer some food for the gods. Now, the Pack would always offer to Mars first, then to Hestia, and then to their godly parent. The reason for this was because Mars demanded more…formality and respect from them. The only reason they offered to the godly parent that had abandoned them was because Hestia insisted that they did. They offer first to Hestia and Hestia would then mask their offers to their godly parent so that the godly parent would not question or investigate about where the unknown burnt offering was from.
Meanwhile, Artemis and Chiron were having conversation.
"Nico informed me that he had an emergency task for Lord Hades and was to leave right away. He won't be there to watch the game today"
"That son of Hades?" Artemis asked and Chiron nodded. It was polite of that Nico boy to inform Chiron first instead of just shadowtravelling on the spot, Artemis thought.
Artemis wasn't really focusing much with her conversation with the centaur. She was debating whether or not to confront the Ace boy about her dreams or to just secretly and discreetly observe him so that she can just capture him red handed.
Soon enough, all of the campers, hunters, and brothers of the Pack, were busy with preparation.
"Alright guys, as motivation for this fight" Percy announced and the others all huddled up. "If we win, I'll send you guys one by one on solo missions away from the Hunt." Percy said and this got the guys riled up. Hestia informed him before they went to camp half blood that they may separate from the Hunt if ever a select few were given solo missions. They still have to keep Shay's reputation intact, after all.
"But if we lose, all of you will take on my chores for one week!" Percy announced and they all groaned. Right now, Percy didn't know what he wanted: for them to win and prove themselves to the hunt, or for them to lose and get one week free of chores!
"Erm, Percy. We were wandering…maybe B, C, the others, and step out of the game. I mean, it won't really be fair if we play" L said. Percy pondered about this. Considering the identities of L, B, and C, and some of the others, well….it really was pretty unfair.
"If the others drop out of the game, it'll be like we're insulting him. So I'll just do this" Percy said snapping his fingers and praying silently to Mars. Something glowed in some of the boys' armor
"What the hell? This are fucking heavy!" P complained. "A handicap, happy? Now go and wing the game…er I mean win the game…er whatever. You're probably just gonna do both" Percy said and they all nodded in agreement
Out of one of the shadows, Nico (with his hood) on top of Pisto came bolting out. "Hey, guys" Nico said. Nico was wearing his black cloak. Yes, it was black. The normal members of the hunt had white, but officially, Nico's was black because he was lieutenant, and Percy's was silver because he was the Ace.
Nico wasn't going to play. They went their way to Chiron, Thalia, and Artemis with Nico riding Pisto and Percy lying down on Aku. Artemis was itching to turn the cloaked boys into jackelopes. That'll solve everything right? If every boy was a jackelope, then the world will be more peaceful. But she doubts that her Aunt Hestia and half brother Ares would appreciate it if he turned their Pack into jackelopes. Anyway, one thing was for sure: whatever inkling of trust he had for the Ace of the Pack that was earned with their talk last night was gone because of her dream. Surely the dream was real?
She had been debating on whether or not to tell Apollo about this. He was the god of Prophecies after all. But she had a feeling that whatever she saw must be kept a secret or else something…unwanted will happen. That's when Artemis noticed the meaning of the presence of the black cloaked boy.
"Who is he?" Artemis asked/demanded
"He's my lieutenant, Lady Artemis. He will not be playing" Percy says respect evident in his voice but he did not bother to get up from his wolf and look the goddess in the eye. He just lied down on Aku.
"And why is he not playing? Are you really stupid enough to underestimate us, boy" Thalia spat. Percy almost snorted at Thalia's acting skills. It was perfect to a fault. You wouldn't believe she knew who they really were….she knew who they really were. You're such a bastard, Percy. You're making your own cousin, your own sister go against her family, Percy thought.
"Well, are you not the lieutenant of the Hunt? And aren't you not participating? If the Hunt's lieutenant shall not participate, it is only fitting for the Pack's to abstain participation too. If you were to play, then my lieutenant shall play. If Lady Artemis shall play, then I shall play too" Percy explained calmly. That's when he realized that he chose her words poorly
"If I play, you shall play too? Are you saying that you are on par with me boy?" Artemis spat. Her eyes were now a silver swirling pool of rage. Percy cringed and mentally gulped. He gave a laugh.
"Please, Lady Artemis. If you were to join, not even a miracle would give us a slight possibility of winning with you on the opponent's side. I only meant that if you, the Hunters' leader, were to join, it would be a disgrace of the title Ace if I were to cower and not join my Pack as its leader" Percy hastily explained.
Artemis gave Percy a mean glare that made Aku whimper. Satisfied, she just looked over the woods as if Percy never existed
Smooth, bro, smooth Nico said in his mind chuckling. Thalia seemed to be trying not to laugh.
Chiron on the other hand was relieved to know that he had not witnessed another birth of a jackelope. Before anything else happens, he signalled for the game to start.
It was quite interesting.
With Percy and Nico out of the picture, there were 28 brothers left. 10 of them went to attack the campers, 10 went to attack the Hunters, and 8 were left to guard their flag.
For the game, the Hecate cabin had rearrange the woods to form a circle. The creek) split at one point, making a Y shape boundary line that divided the circle-woods into three equal parts. The Pack's territory was sandwiched between the Hunters' and Campers'
The Pack's offense was acting swiftly. Three of them were attacking via land and acted as a distraction while the seven were using the trees hopping from one branch to another, discreetly knocking out the positioned archers. Three of the seven were archers.
Once they reached the flag, they used one of B's inventions: a glove that makes the thing it touch invisible and leaves a hologram of it. One of the Pack members swooped down and grabbed the flag making it invisible and leaving a hologram of it in its place, unknown to the campers guarding it.
They swiftly passed to friendly territory.
"THE CAMPER'S FLAG HAS BEEN TAKEN!" someone announced.
"Impressive," Artemis said which kind of shocked the centaur and the three cousins. "For boys" Artemis added.
Now, the team to take the Hunters' flag was having trouble.
It was almost impossible for them to sneak up on the Hunters posted on the three branches so what they did was used the opposite branch of the tree a hunter was positioned in, and discreetly jumping to the next three branch.
This time, their distraction was bigger. Only two of them were sent to capture the flag and the rest of the eight were distractions.
To make the matters worse, the campers, figuring out the hologram thanks to the announcement, became back up for the Hunters
They had captured the flag, but soon, they would figure out it was a hologram, and it was nearly impossible to get back to their territory with the amount of Hunters and Campers.
Meanwhile, back in the Pack's territory, five of the eight that was left were secretly posted in one of the highest branch. They too were archers.
They kept shooting arrows to those who dared enter their territory. And when they shoot, they jump to the next branch so that their positions were not exposed.
Those that did get pass the archers had to face the remaining three members of the pack.
They were circling their flag and skirting the circumference with a 5m radius from the flag. However, whatever intruder approached, they weren't even able to get 10 meter close to the guards because B also put another invention. They created a ditch surrounding the whole flag and covered it of a hologram of land, so whoever went close fell into the ditch.
Noticing this, a hunter managed to shoot a magnetic arrow, stuck it into their flag and retrieved the arrow with the flag attached to it. The Hunter started running back to their territory with the flag and victory at hand.
The guards jumped over the ditch but was behind considerably. They weren't gonna catch the Hunter in time
As the hunter began to near the creak, the image of a member of the Pack formed who was running with the invisible Hunters' flag as well.
It was obvious that the Hunter was going to cross the creek faster so when the Hunter was about to cross the creek and into friendly territory, the member of the pack through the flag like a javelin spear.
The moment the Hunter set foot on friendly, territory, the Hunters' flag touched the ground with a thud. The Hunters' flag began to shimmer as its invisibility (since it was not touching the gloves anymore) began to dissolve.
Silence.
Percy and Nico couldn't help but smirk
Thalia sighed, and that made Percy and Nico guilty. She can't even be happy for the win of one of her families without rubbing salt on wound to the other, they thought miserably. Sometimes they thought it was better if Thalia didn't know anything of the Pack at all. If she didn't care. Ignorance was a bliss. But they couldn't do that to Thalia. They couldn't keep her in the dark like that. They sighed. Finally, when Chiron seemed to snap out of his daze, he announced,
"THE GAME IS OVER. THE HUNTERS AND THE PACK HAVE TIED!"