Chapter Title: The IM Call That Triggered A Duel

(A/N: This once again draws heavily on laurellins' "Tales From Camp Half Blood" as a basis for the events of this chapter, and for the particular chapter, it is based on Chapter 39 of their fanfic "Percy's Trick", which depicts the campers' reactions to Percy's IM Call which had Luke reveal he was the one that poisoned Thalia's tree. Of course, given the chapter title, you can tell that things don't go as they did in canon on Camp Half Blood's end. How? Well, you're about to find out.)

Day Eight
Dinner

Colton felt he had to do something today, and he could not offer to waste it. Thalia's tree was about to pass away as soon as tomorrow came, and everyone could feel it. Even Kayla seemed more emotionally unstable than usual this morning, and he hated it.

Absolutely hated it.

Apollo's letter yesterday had made a couple of things clear to Colton. For one, he clarified that the part of his prophecy where he had to face one once.. it would be against Tantalus. The god of prophecies - among other things - didn't state when he would have to fight, just said that it would be today. The other part of it was, that Clarisse was on her way back with the Golden Fleece and would be arriving soon.

So even as everyone sluggishly went about their daily tasks waiting for the tree to die and the barrier to disappear, Colton just watched Tantalus like a hawk, never taking his eyes off of him every time their activities director was in his field of view. The other campers, even Kayla, could by now sense that the collision between Colton and Tantalus was finally going to happen, and so, in addition to being sluggish, everyone was on edge anytime the two of them were in the same area as each other.

Nothing came between them though, and so the campers settled down to dinner later that day, with Tantalus in the Big House and Colton on patrol again, they were both depressed, scared, worried, terrified, fearful, and everything in between. Kayla was not among them however, for Colton had practically insisted on taking her with him for patrol before dinner came around. Lee had relented, primarily because Colton was the only thing keeping his younger sister stable right now, and Colton knew it full well.

For his part, Colton knew his task today would be to keep Kayla stable, and win the fight against Tantalus. For the purpose of the latter task, he had even taken a extra sword from the armory - in addition to his usual sword - and sharpened it before evening patrol as a precaution. He was taking no chances, and Kayla knew it.

For now though, Tantalus seemed to be content with remaining in the Big House for now, and so for a bit, Kayla improved a lot, even working up the stability to shoot a few monsters with her bow and arrows, every kill seemingly making her feel more and more better, even with the sight of Thalia's about to be finally dead tree in her view.

Colton could tell that he was probably going to ask Clarisse to take Kayla out on patrol with him more often once she got back, for he was genuinely impressed with how well she shot. He had heard the stories about how well the girl could shoot, but seeing it in person, he could definitely see she was definitely blessed with Apollo's archery skills to a high degree. The girl was a natural.

Meanwhile, at the pavilion, the mood was far more despondent than with the two demigods on patrol. Some of the campers were simply waiting for the tree to die and get on with their ends, while others tried to cling on to hope.

"It's going to be ok," Malcolm said weakly, the quietness of the pavilion making sure his voice reached everyone despite how quiet he was. "Annabeth and Percy have beaten impossible odds and saved the day at the last minute before, they can do it again!"

Hector from the Ares Cabin spoke in response. "And what about Clarisse?!" He demanded. "Like, are you guys all forgetting this is her quest?!"

Kassidy, one of the girls in the Ares Cabin and slightly younger than Sherman, was next. "See that's exactly it!" she huffed. "No one's even talking about how this is Clarisse's quest, or the fact she was brave enough to go into the Sea of Monsters all by herself! All they talk about is Percy and Annabeth!"

Sherman would admit, they had a point. Ever since Percy came into camp, he and Annabeth had become the focus of everyone while he, Clarisse, and Colton slid into the background. After all, the trio had clawed their way to be within sight of surpassing Luke, gaining prominence along the way, and then Jackson had come along and ripped it out from under them. At least with Kayla around, and with Luke gone, Colton was clawing his way back towards what he had lost, but the damage had been done.

"Brave?" Carter, one of Annabeth's siblings shot back, "More like stupid! She should know better than to go on a quest without two companions. I just hope that doesn't get my sister killed, I swear to the gods."

"Oh please," Kassidy glared at him, "Not everything has to be about Annabeth, the sun doesn't shine out of your sister's ass!"

Sherman tried to get his siblings to stop, but it was too late. The Ares and Athena cabins were once again verbally going at it, having been at each other's throats since Clarisse left. Colton and Sherman had kept it down from the Ares side for the most part, but it flared up any time the two weren't around when one of their siblings got into this argument with one of the Athena kids. It went on for a while, during which Sherman just gave up and let it happen.

Eventually, Mr. D put a stop to it. "Will you brats stop your whining for once?!" he shouted, quickly sending the area back into quietness. Every now and then, the silence was punctuated by the sound of a gunshot, which indicated that Colton had found a monster that unfortunately had wandered into his and Kayla's line of fire.

Sherman sighed. If Clarisse returns alive, I'm definitely going to ask the Stoll brothers to help me get those two together, he thought to himself. Like, they were the only people keeping each other stable right now the fact that they couldn't see that their feelings were going deeper than they imagined right now were criminal, in his opinion.

But on a different note, he definitely understood that at this point, the relationship between his brother and Kayla might as well be another Percy and Annabeth type relationship, only with even more emotional dynamic and under different circumstances. It was definitely interesting to watch because of that, if he was to be honest.

Either way, the relationship between those two was definitely on the back burner in the minds of most campers as they ate in silence, uncertain of their futures. Tensions remained high, but no one else spoke. Frowns and scowls remained on a lot of people's faces as they ate.

A familiar voice to the campers though, definitely startled everyone, except for the two demigods up on patrol that were in the process of moving from one spot to another and so weren't in hearing range at the moment.

"This is no time for heroics Percy-"

Sherman turned his head, and was surprised to see the image of the back of Luke at the front of the dining pavilion. He scowled at the sight of the traitor, but kept his mouth shut since it seemed that Luke wasn't aware that an Iris Message was in progress. In front of the traitor was none other than Percy Jackson, holding his sword in front of himself as he stared down Luke. Annabeth, Grover, and Tyson were on either side of Percy, standing behind him with wide eyes as they tried to keep their eyes focused on Luke.

What pissed Sherman off even further was that it seemed some of the campers who had left camp in recent months appeared to be in the ranks of Luke's forces. He could definitely make out the form of Kent, son of Hephaestus, who had left two months ago.

"Who poisoned Thalia's tree Luke?" Percy demanded, a look of defiance on his face.

Luke huffed in amusement. "I did of course!" He snapped back. "I used elder python venom, straight from the depths of Tartarus!"

Sherman glared even harder at Luke's back. It was well known that Luke was the culprit to the campers, they all knew full well that it was most likely him. But without proof, they couldn't do anything about it, and that had landed them here. The gods, as usual, didn't want to listen, still embarrassed by what happened last summer.

"Chiron had nothing to do with it?" Percy said.

Luke outright laughed at him. "You know that old fool had nothing to do with it! He wouldn't have the guts!"

"You call that guts!" Percy hissed back. "You call that guts Luke? Betraying your friends? Endangering the camp?"

"You don't understand the half of it!" Luke yelled at Percy, raising his sword, "I was going to let you take the Fleece... once I was done with it."

Sherman was.. arguably a little confused at that. Why would Luke feel like letting Percy take the Fleece? It doesn't make sense at all, he thought.

"You were going to heal Kronos," Percy said bluntly, and Sherman just sighed. Yup, figured. Asshole was lying.

"Yes!" Luke replied. "The fleece's magic would've sped up his mending tenfold! But you haven't stopped us, Percy. You've only slowed us down a bit. Plus, I do have to admit. Even I wasn't sure where exactly in the Sea Of Monsters the Golden Fleece was. I spent months trying to figure out where exactly.. but I floundered every time. Words can't describe the amount of setbacks you've just made once more all for naught."

Luke was a little downcast at the part about those setbacks, indicating that it had affected him quite a bit. "Honestly, at least with the Fleece out of that area, I'm glad I don't have to go looking for a needle in a haystack anymore" he continued.

"And so you poisoned the tree, betrayed Thalia, you set us up- all to help Kronos destroy the gods," Percy listed off with a glint of victory in his eyes.

"You know that!" Luke shook his head in frustration, "Why do you keep asking me!"

Percy's grin widened, "Because I want everyone in the audience to hear you!" He said smugly.

"Wait.. what?" Luke said, confused. He was stationary for a few seconds, and then he and his forces turned around upon realization.

"Well.. well.." Mr.D said wryly, "..this is definitely some unplanned dinner entertainment."

Sherman chuckled.

"Mr.D, you heard him!" Percy said, "You all heard Luke. The poisoning of the tree wasn't Chiron's fault!"

"I suppose not" Mr. D replied.

By this point, Clarisse had returned to camp and had placed the Golden Fleece on Thalia's tree. She was about to go into her cabin and get changed when she stopped dead in her tracks. At the edge of the cabins, facing towards the pavilion, was Kayla, or at least the back of her. She seemed to be frozen in place, staring in horror at something. She was also shaking a little.

Clarisse walked over to her. "Kayla, are you okay? Where's Colt-?"

The moment her eyes turned in the direction of where Kayla was looking, Clarisse's blood ran cold.

There, at the dining pavilion, what the horrified faces of every camper there plus Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Tyson as well as the smug faces of the traitor Luke and his forces of the IM call were looking at was Tantalus, who had come down from the big cabin.. and taken Mr. D hostage with a sword to his throat.

"Surrender to Luke.. or he gets it.." Tantalus said maliciously, and Clarisse's blood now ran hot red with anger. That fucking bitch! She thought to herself. He was working for Luke the whole time?!

She was about to turn and run to the armory and grab a weapon, when a familiar voice stopped her.

"THREE WORDS PAL.."

Clarisse watched as Tantalus' head turned and his eyes went wide in fear. Her head also turned to the right.. and what she saw was both terrifying and awe-inspiring at the same time.

There was Colton, flying through the air and coming down on Tantalus from above, his Capture The Flag sword in his hands wound up to strike, full battle armor on, looking ready to kill. But she also noticed something that once again made her blood run cold.

Colton's eyes weren't brown. Instead, his whole eye, both of them, were completely painted blood red, with blood running down his face and cheeks. His arms also had streaks of blood running down them. He was different now, like something far darker had taken control of her younger brother and she was now witnessing it unleash itself.

"..GO FUCK YOURSELF!"

(A/N: Here we go. The brawl I told you was going to happen. Colton vs. Tantalus. Who's going to win this fight?)