Chapter Title: I Didn't Ask To Pass Out After Gaining An Admirer

Colton Reynolds could just about say that he had seen everything. He had been at Camp Half Blood since he was ten, having come three years ago, and from monsters to saving Apollo kids from snakes to saving Athena kids from spiders to everything else, he had seen probably more than the average kid at camp had.

That being said, he had mixed feelings about how far he had come. On the one hand, he was rapidly becoming one of the most skilled demigods in his cabin, rapidly closing in on that of his older sister and head counselor Clarisse La Rue, who saw Colton, along with one of their other brothers Sherman Yang, as her favorite younger siblings. He had the respect of his own cabin and even rarer for kids of Ares, the fact that his older sister showed more emotion towards him than even Yang, which the latter thought was very impressive to be honest.

On the other hand, he still felt like he was lacking something. On top of the several problems he also faced when it came to getting any farther.

First problem was.. Percy Jackson.

Look, he didn't actually hate Percy Jackson all that much - if anything Colton considered him an inspiration to try harder given the exploits of the son of the earth shaker Poseidon himself, plus oddly enough he found what he did to Clarisse a bit amusing- but he was still a little annoyed at him for knocking him off the pedestal that he had taken years to get as being one of the most powerful demigods at camp. He had only just claimed the third place spot after barely defeating Yang in a friendly fire duel during Capture The Flag just days before Percy showed up at camp, and already, the news Percy had managed to stand up to his and his siblings' father, Ares, had knocked him down to fourth place.

The second problem was.. Kronos, and the Gods themselves.

Although Clarisse considered him one of her two favorite younger siblings, she knew full well that he wasn't a typical Ares kid. For one thing, he was one of those who took pity on the plight of the kids of minor gods and those that still hadn't been claimed. It bothered him to no end.

The problem had been exacerbated by Luke Castellan's betrayal last summer. Despite Clarisse and Yang's best efforts, Colton was conflicted. His fatal flaw, unusually for Ares kids, had been caring too much for others, and he was debating whether he should also leave camp and join Luke, or stay. He was still undecided on the issue, but seemed to lean towards the first option. No, he hadn't had Kronos appear to him in his dreams yet, but if the Titan Lord ever did, Colton was totally sure that he would tell him that he was on the fence on the whole issue, and that he would require some time to think over it carefully.

Plus, he probably would also like assurances and hold him to an oath that once Olympus was destroyed, he'd get a share of the rewards and not be backstabbed by the Titan Lord.

The third problem was.. his own heart. He had lost both of his parents in the monster attack that forced him to come to Camp Half Blood, meaning that he was essentially an orphan, part of why Clarisse showed him more affection than others, except of course, Chris Rodriguez. She was the one who convinced to turn his grief into rage and a motivation to train harder, so he might one day get his chance for revenge against the monsters that had killed his parents, which according to Chiron seemed to be a Lydian Drakon from the way Colton had described it. (A/N: Yeah.. if any of you know how TLO goes, it's a hint of what's to come.)

Even so, despite all the love of his older sister and his other siblings (begrudgingly for the most part except in the case of Yang, who was basically his closest friend aside from Clarisse), he still felt like there was something missing. The frustrating part about it all was, he had no clue exactly what he was missing.

So it was that when the summer of 2007 rolled around, Colton Reynolds was at a crossroads. Loyal to his cabin, his father Ares, and the Olympians for now, but unsure of how long that would stay the case. Little did he realize that the Fates had the answer: forever.

- — - — - — - — - — -

It all started with the warning toll of a monster attack one day in early June. The entire camp had been on edge, since it had been discovered someone had poisoned Thalia's tree on the crest of Half Blood Hill. The news that Chiron was being replaced, apparently the fallout of the aforementioned poisoning, did not help matters at all. Colton knew that full well, but also couldn't help but privately swear profanities against the Gods under his breath when he found out.

Even so, at the sound of the warning toll, he had been one of the first of the Ares Cabin to drop whatever he was doing - he had been jotting down notes in his cabin about a book he was planning to write soon, called Experiences Of A Demigod And Lessons Learned, which would be a self-reflection on his own experiences so far and the lessons learnt from them - and dash like hell for the armory and get ready for battle. Unusually, he was the first one to get there this time around, Clarisse and Yang hot on his heels.

A loud roar echoed throughout the camp from the crest of Half Blood Hill, and stomping noises could be heard from there as well. Given that unusually for Ares kids, Colton had spent a great deal of time reading books and listening to stories from other demigods of monsters that they had faced in the past, he had a pretty good idea of what was up there.

"Sounds like Colchis Bulls, siblings and fellow campers.." he shouted over the ruckus of campers in the armory frantically preparing for battle. Clarisse, who had managed to get herself ready quickly, jogged over to her younger brother, who himself was almost ready.

"You sure, Colton?" she asked, knowing full well by now just how useful her younger brother's advanced sense of hearing, even more so than other kids including herself, and his knowledge of monsters was to the Ares Cabin.

Colton nodded. "Most likely two up there, judging by how many footsteps I'm hearing right now.." he said, as Yang ran up to them, now also ready for battle.

"Colchis Bulls, huh? Well, I always wanted to be a bull fighter.." Yang joked, as the three ran out of the armory and up towards Half Blood Hill.

"These things breathe fire, Yang.. and you know what they say about playing with fire.." Colton admonished.

"You get burned, I know how it works.." Yang replied, just as someone's screams filled the air, filling all three with a sense of dread. Colton and Clarisse simply glared at Yang. "Don't look at me.. I didn't jinx that kid.." he said, as the three of them, with the rest of the Ares Cabin, plus mixed groups from the other cabins behind them, reached the scene of the action.

It wasn't pretty. Two campers were already downed, screaming from burns. Colton felt sick as he knew who those two were. It was Alexander, from the Hephaestus Cabin, and Benjamin, who was one of the trio's brothers. Beckendorf was already running over to them, and helping them out of the line of fire, profanities flying out of his mouth.

Colton nudged Clarisse as they were running, and gestured towards Benjamin. His head counselor let out a cry of shock, then growled in anger.

"Fucking bitch.." she hissed. "..those bulls will fucking pay for this. Hang on Beckendorf, we're here!"

Beckendorf looked more than relieved to see the trio charging up to the fray. "Thank the gods.." he said. "Those bulls are a bitch to deal with!"

Clarisse turned to Yang. "Take Benjamin, Yang! Colton, you're with me.." she howled, and Colton nodded, knowing his sister knew full well that his particular method of combat would do wonders here.

"Why me?!" Sherman hollered, the other boy angry at being left out of the fight. Before Clarisse could say anything, there was Colton in a fit of anger, his fatal flaw on full display, shaking Yang by the collar.

"HE'S GONNA DIE IF WE DON'T GET HIM SOME MEDICAL ATTENTION SOON, BRO! DO YOU WANT HIS DEATH ON YOUR HANDS?!" he screamed in his brother's face, to which Sherman could only weakly reply, knowing full well that arguing with Colton when he was in this state was not a wise decision.

"No.." he muttered, just enough so that Colton could hear him even over the chaos of battle, and reluctantly got himself out of his brother's grip, headed over to Beckendorf, and started helping Benjamin to the infirmary.

Just in time too, for Clarisse hollered, "Colton! Watch out!"

He didn't need to think twice about it before he leapt forwards and sprinted a good 500 feet away from the sound of the Colchis Bull that had came for him. Turning around, he knew it was game time now, and took out his weapon, a modified Whitworth Rifle produced back in 1863 with a longer barrel with a lengthened ramrod to match, courtesy of Beckendorf.

It was a long story as to how Colton had ended up having this as his main weapon, when he wasn't doing Capture The Flag or doing close combat stuff in which case he favored a sword, but right now, it wasn't worth giving the rundown of it due to how serious the situation was.

With great urgency, and with the advantage of being in a position that the two bulls hadn't noticed him in yet since they were distracted by Clarisse taking charge of the other defenders and focusing their attentions on them, Colton started loading his rifle like those men did back in the old days as fast as he could.

Just as he was going through the two motions of "cast-about" while loading, he caught sight of two familiar demigods a good distance down the slope of the hill out of the corner of his eye. He turned for a moment, and couldn't really believe his eyes.

Close to one hundred yards or more from him, was Annabeth Chase and Colton's Problem No. 1, Percy Jackson, with a.. Cyclopes? It was weird, Colton was sure of that, but he didn't pay much attention to it. Plus, it didn't seem to be attacking them, so Colton figured it must be a neutral or friendly monster, which was rare, but then again.. they already had two really difficult ones attacking right now, and a third would have only made things worse, so the less the better.

Needless to say, watching Michael Yew from the Apollo cabin pelt one of the bulls with arrows which bounced off harmlessly against its armored skin was a bit amusing for Colton to watch. That's when things got very concerning. While Annabeth had one bull upset by her disappearing act and off looking for her, Colton could only watch in horror while he was aiming, looking for the right moment to fire, as the other one barreled past Jake Mason and Beckendorf, the latter of which had only just returned - thankfully both of them got out of the way in time - and slammed into his older sister's phalanx, sending her, Yew, some of his siblings, and a couple other campers flying. Clarisse landed in a pile of smoldering grass, and she looked hurt, trying to move as one of the bulls closed in on her.

"NO! DON'T YOU DARE!" Colton shouted, as he swung his rifle in the direction of the bull charging Clarisse and fired one of the specially designed rounds Beckendorf had created, designed specifically for hard targets such as Colchis Bulls, at it.

Blam!

The bullet, although going for the middle of its body as a kill shot, ricocheted off the side of the bull due to hitting it at an angle where penetration wasn't possible. Still, it definitely helped, as it stunned the Bull and dazed it, meaning that Clarisse was able to get out of the danger zone and to safety, thanks to Percy Jackson. Yeah, I definitely owe Jackson a favor, Colton thought as he frantically reloaded his weapon.

"Split up! Distract the bulls, confuse them!" Annabeth shouted, and Colton could see the wisdom in the suggestion. He wasn't using a silencer on his weapon, so she probably noticed now that he was around, being well.. himself.

A few seconds later, Annabeth's voice was enough to let him know that things were wrong again. "Percy!"

He looked up from returning the rammer, being at the end of that step. Percy was laying on the ground, clutching his ankle, with a bull bearing down on him. Shit, he's injured, Colton thought.

"Tyson, help him!" he heard Annabeth shout, as he was in the middle of priming. Colton hoped that this Tyson person or someone else could get Percy out of the way, but if it came down to it, he would have to save Percy with a single shot.

"I, Annabeth, give you permission to enter camp!"

Colton was flabbergasted for a second as he aimed his weapon at the bull bearing down on Percy only to see the Cyclopes charge through the barrier and stand over Percy protectively. Colton felt the pressure now, and aimed right at the area his first bullet had ricocheted off earlier. Without a second thought, he fired.

Blam!

The bullet once again pinged off the bull's side and dazed it, allowing Tyson and Percy to get out of the way, and it was set upon Clarisse and the other campers in mere moments. Once again, Colton was desperately reloading as fast as he could, for he had lost sight of the other bull in the chaos of the situation in which he had taken the second shot.

It was as he was ramming his third round down the barrel with the ramrod like a madman, that Clarisse's voice gave him the answer.

"COLTON! TO YOUR RIGHT!"

He turned, and he returned the rammer to where it was stowed faster than he had ever done before upon seeing the second bull, coming up the slope of the hill and only just under a whole football field away, coming straight at him.

In the heat of the moment, he ditched the step of "cast-about" and went straight to priming, attaching the percussion cap to the lock like he was on a timer, which right now, he really was. The bull had closed to 45 yards away from him by the time he finished. He knew Clarisse and the others were running, but the bull would reach him before they could get there. He aimed, squarely at the middle of the bull's forehead, as it was now 25 yards away, and after two more seconds, he fired.

Blam!

He turned, and dove out of the way, rifle in hand, and fell to the ground, as the sound of bullet penetrating metal filled the air, followed by the sound of hooves passing where he had stood mere milli-seconds ago, and then it was followed by the sound of an explosion near him. His ears were ringing for a bit as he opened his eyes, and saw feet running up to him. Even so, he smirked, because he knew that dead-on, at point blank range, there was no chance of a ricochet.

Kill confirmed.

His hearing cleared after a few seconds, and he stood up, letting Yang handle his rifle - he was the only one other than Clarisse he even trusted to hold it for him - while he dusted himself off. Clarisse looked like.. very unlike Clarisse. Colton swore on the River Styx that his older sister had tears threatening to come out of her eyes.

"Y.. Y.. You.." she started, and Colton could only just bow his head in silence.

"Sorry.. for scaring you like that.." Colton muttered, before Yang just burst out in amazement.

"SORRY?! Dude, that was the most amazing thing I've ever seen.." he exclaimed. Colton looked around, and behind Clarisse, many campers were nodding their heads in agreement with Sherman's statement. Even the Cyclopes, who Colton guessed was Tyson, just looked at him in amazement.

Clarisse finally figured out the words to say by now, and so she said it to him. "Words cannot describe how much I want to kick your ass for scaring the shit out of me.." she said, looking like she was both relieved that he was alive, and pissed off that he had made her worry like that. Before he could say anything, Sherman let out a chuckle.

"Hey uh Clarisse.. don't look now.. but I think our sniper brother has an admirer.. and a hot one at that.." he said, causing both Clarisse and Colton to look at him quizzically. "Look in the other direction.." Sherman said, gazing straight ahead instead of at either of them.

Both of them turned their heads, and Colton's world turned upside down, because what he saw was the last thing he remembered seeing before..

"COLTON!"

Darkness.

(A/N: This opening part of this was inspired by Archive Of Our Own user Laurellins' take on the Colchis Bull attack from the books' version of events.I already said in a prior fanfic that I liked the movie version because it fit what I was going for in that fanfic, but I will admit, the book version is equally good.

Also, the way I depicted Colton here is personally a lovely bit of contrast to how most Ares kids fight, and while Clarisse may be a bit OOC here, I still love the contrast. She and the others prefer to get in close, while Colton prefers to fight from range, only engaging in close quarters if he has to, or it's Capture The Flag.

As for his choice of weapon, given what Ares gifted Clarisse during The Sea Of Monsters, I think it's very fitting for someone like Colton (and also yours truly in the fanfic I'll doing in which I'm in Percy Jackson's world being the hero on the side whose importance is vital to Percy's eventual victory over Kronos) to have it as his weapon of choice. The method he loads his weapon in is also a reference to the Civil War as well as the words "cast-about" are only found in a single manual, written by Major William Gilham of Virginia, who served briefly in the Confederate Army before leaving the army for the Virginia Military Institute, which he had served in prior to the war as an instructor.

Even so, for Colton, it's safe to say that his life is never going to be the same now. Hope you enjoy and tell me what you think!)