I'm really happy with the positive feedback I got from announcing that I will be rewriting the first few chapters. Thank you for your support! I'm not sure when I will get around to it, but soon. Don't worry. Anyways, I did get many reviews on the last 2 chapters and I can't reply to them all, so I'm sorry, but here are the ones that caught my eye. (Also, I'm just gonna say this, I am a girl. It seems like some of you kinda get mixed up with my gender in your reviews, so there you go.) Also, I apologize in advance, I am listening to Taylor Swift while writing this, so if I accidenly drop a TS reference, I'm sorry. XD
Reviews:
Jacob (Guest): Aw, that means so much to me! Just please don't lose too much sleep becaue of me! XD Anyways, thank you so much for that review. It meant a lot to me. (And seriously, thank you for saying I'm the best writer you've ever seen!)
IsItReallyTho: Haha, yes, you can use some of Percy's rizz. To all of my readers, here's a bucket of rizz for ya. ;) Thanks for the review!
Percy Jacksonfan96: I know, it really is sad to watch (and write) them get distant. But just wait, I think you will like the ending.
Zoe Nightshade: Thanks for your review! I actually realized half way through that I forgot to put him into the story. Thanks for mentioning him! I will consider putting Nico in the story, especially since I am rewriting the earlier chapters.
Disclaimer: Don't own. Also, PLEASE VOTE IN THE POLL ON MY PROFILE PAGE :D
Reyna's POV
"Legion, stand your ground!" Reyna shouted. She could hear a large hoard of monsters to the east of the valley. Their grunts and war cries could probably be heard in Canada for all she knew. They were loud to say the least.
The legionnaires shuffled anxiously behind her, Percy, Jason, and the centurions.
She glanced anxiously at Percy, and he shot her a comforting look, flashing his green eyes at her. It did little to calm her nerves, but she continued to put on a brave face.
The army sounded closer already. She twisted her ring on her finger before slipping it off and transforming it into a sword. The familiar feeling of the gladius in her hand gave her more comfort, but it was short-lived.
Reyna heard a cry from the front of her army and saw the archers firing their crossbows. Nausea filled her stomach, but she shoved it down. She had to be brave.
"First Cohort, advance!" She shouted. They did so, Octavian and his accomplice surging forward and the rest of them following.
The legion was outside of the camp, awaiting in the valley, but still inside the borders. They hadn't crossed the tunnel yet, but the monsters surely would. Hopefully Terminus's boundary magic would hold them off for a bit.
Jason caught her eye. He glanced above, and she noticed his jaw tense. Reyna looked at the sky, and saw a dark shape, silhouetting the sky. Something flying? She froze. Would it swoop downward?
Reyna could here Terminus shriek something, probably a battle cry. Reyna saw a shock of blue coming from his direction. It was good to be reassured that Terminus wasn't out of it, and that he was on their side once more.
More arrows were fired, and the First Cohort continued to match to meet the monsters. That was when Reyna saw the army.
Her stomach plunged. No way only 200 demigods could face off against an army this big. There were maybe a thousand, maybe more. That many monsters would destroy the legion. The thought made Reyna want to collapse.
"Di immortales," she heard Percy mutter under his breath. Reyna glanced at him. How badly she wanted him to hold her at that moment. To comfort her and tell her it was going to be okay. But Percy didn't know that it would be okay, and neither did she.
The army surged forward to the point where they were almost running. Reyna tightened her stance, prepared to pounce. The First Cohort met the army, their swords drawn and shields ready.
"Second Cohort, advance!" Jason shouted. The group complied, charging.
Reyna glanced at her fellow praetors. "Should we-" She didn't even finish the thought. They both nodded.
"Twelfth Legion Fulminata, advance!" Percy shouted finally. The remaining three cohorts followed the praetors lead as they ran forward to meet the First and Second Cohorts.
Swords clashed, spears crossed, and Reyna could hear cries. She hoped they were from Gaea's army, but she knew better. Those were human cries.
Annabeth's POV
Annabeth's sword slashed through a cyclops, and she tried not to think of Tyson. No, this was the enemy. The cyclops bellowed in rage as he turned to dust, the sound getting carried away by the wind.
Annabeth continued forward, Percy in her peripheral vision. If he was in any danger that Annabeth knew he couldn't handle himself, she would interfere, just like she did in Manhattan when Ethan intended to stab him.
She sliced through another Cyclops who had probably charged at her in retaliation for his friend. Annabeth grunted with effort as she dodged his blows, eventually killing him. As she ran past to meet another monster, she saw the body of a demigod lying on the ground. Annabeth cringed and adverted her eyes, praying to the gods that he wasn't dead.
She'd seen that particular demigod around camp. He wasn't hard to miss with his dark hair and blue tips. However, Annabeth had never learned his name. Somehow, that made the sight even worse.
She hurried away, clashing swords with a dracanae snake woman. The monster hissed insults at Annabeth, but she didn't listen. Adrenaline pumped too loudly in her ears. Soon, the dracanae was dead.
This pattern went on for another 15 minutes. Had it been 15 minutes? Or more? She couldn't tell. The energy continued to flow through her veins, Percy sill in her vision. Soon, though, she started to tire. How many monsters has she killed?
Annabeth finally took her eyes off of the fighting, her eyes searching for her friends. She saw Hazel and Frank fighting side by side, in sync like when she and Percy fought.
"Annabeth, duck!" She heard Percy shout. Without questioning, she crouched down and blocked her head with her arm. She saw Percy's sword swipe over her head and a monster -she couldn't name it- take a swipe at him back.
Annabeth rolled out of the way and stood up, sword in hand, but by the time she was up, the monster was already dead. Percy brushed extra monster dust off of his hands.
"Got 'em," Percy said slyly.
"Nice one," Annabeth said, out of breath. "And thanks."
Percy dove out of the way and cut off the leg of a hellhound. Annabeth assisted in finishing the kill by stabbing it through the chest.
"Do you know how many... casualties... we've had?" She struggled to say the word. And the way Percy cringed didn't make it any better.
"So far-" Percy began, but he couldn't finish his thought before an empousai came lunging at him. He turned at exactly the right moment and dodged the emposai's lunge. Annabeth again, assisted in the kill.
So much killing.
"Uh, now might not be the best time to talk," Percy said hesitantly, his eyes searching. Who was he searching for?
"Just tell me," Annabeth's voice broke. She didn't really want to know.
"Seven," Percy said. "Seven. And that's only all that I'm aware of."
Annabeth looked down at her hands, the sounds of carnage around her. Honestly, she was surprised that monster's weren't just charging them. Percy and Annabeth had to be pretty popular names in the monster world. Annabeth was especially surprised that no giants were here hunting Percy down. She was glad, of course, but sceptical.
"Seven," Annabeth repeated. She hoped that she didn't know the names.
"I'm going to head over towards the river..." Percy said, eyeing something. Annabeth turned to see what he was eyeing, but all she could see were monsters and demigods. What would catch his eye?
Annabeth knew what he meant when he mentioned the river, however. She nodded to him, and dove back into the fight. That was before she heard him yell, "Reyna!"
Reyna's POV
Deja Vu. That's what this was. When the hellhound swiped its claw at her, she got instant deja but from that moment in the Field of Mars.
A small scream tore through her lungs. It burned. Bad.
"Reyna!" She heard Percy yell again. He sounded incredibly far away. Her vision swam.
She didn't remember the first scratch hurting this bad. For the record, she couldn't really remember anything at that moment. She was in too much pain.
Reyna clutched her arm to her chest, shielding it with her cloak. Percy caught up to her, muttering, "No. No, no, no."
Reyna glanced up at him, almost in tears. She would never forgive herself if she cried. And in front of Percy, no less.
"Come on," Percy said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. He angled his body in a way that suggested he was defending her. His other arm gripped Riptide.
A lot had changed since she was last clawed by a hellhound, but something that would never change was the fact that Reyna hated being protected. She tried nudging Percy off of her, but he remained firm as stone.
"Percy," she murmured in a small voice, pain making her the word break. "Go back to the fight. I can find the infirmary by myself. Go."
Percy's arm only tightened around Reyna. He was just as stubborn as he had been last time.
He pushed through the hoard of monsters, slicing any who came close. When any hellhound came into his sight, he growled and attacked it, all the while protecting Reyna.
The infirmary was all the way on the other side of the Little Tiber. At least, when they had battled in the Field of Mars, the infirmary had been closer.
The pain overwhelmed her, and eventually the tears swam over her eyelids. She tried hiding her face with her hair, but it didn't really help that her hair was in a braid.
Percy noticed her silent weeping and his determined face immediately fell. "It's worse than I thought," he said to himself.
Reyna tried to hold back her tears, but the agony pulled them out of her tear ducts. It was truly embarrassing.
Percy kissed her hair, apparently not caring if anybody saw. The touch made Reyna feel better mentally, but not physically.
Percy also didn't seem to care about the blood that was seeping through her cape and onto his shirt. He just continued to pull her along, toward the awaiting medics.
Reyna made a mental note to assign healers to help fight and heal people on the actual battlefield. She didn't know why she hadn't thought of it before. It would've been helpful to think of before this fight.
Reyna's vision swam with red. She was losing so much blood, that she was afraid that she would pass out. Reyna also avoided looking at her arm. She was worried that the sight of all the blood would actually make her faint. She swallowed her panic and continued to walk as fast as she could.
Reyna didn't know when, but she eventually passed out. How much more embarrassed could she get?
She also didn't know how Percy had managed to get her to the infirmary. Had he carried her? The thought made her anxious.
All she knew was that she woke up on a cot, probably in the infirmay. The sounds of battle still raged outside. Reyna longed to be out there, continuing to fight, but she knew she couldn't. Not in this condition.
Reyna turned and saw that her left arm -the arm that had been scratched- was bandaged tightly. No blood was seeping through as far as she could tell.
"Oh, you're awake!" Lucas called. He rushed to her side, and looked over at something on Reyna's left. She turned and found Percy sitting at the side of the bed, worry evident on his face.
"Percy!" She yelled, agitated. "What do you think you're doing here?"
Percy smirked. "Watching over you."
Reyna's face went red with humiliation and a little bit of anger. He should be fighting! Not sitting here watching over her like a mother would a child.
"They need you out there!" She seethed. "I order you to leave."
Percy's smirk grew. "As praetor, I can cancel that out."
"As senior praetor, I say go!"
Lucas cleared his throat. "Uh, praetors, can I get a few words in before either of you argue?"
Reyna looked up at Lucas, her face still pink. "Yes, I apologize."
Percy nodded at the blond boy.
"Well, first thing. Praetor Reyna, what did you do to get hellhounds to hate you so much?"
Reyna grimaced, flushed with embarassment. "I don't know," she admitted.
"Second, did you notice the ambrosia by your bed? I was gonna force feed it to you while you were sleeping because your face got so pale... but luckily you woke up before I could."
Reyna wanted to die just then. How much humiliation could one take?
Percy handed her the square of ambrosia, and she nibbled on it as Lucas continued to talk.
"And lastly, I don't think you're in any condition to continue fighting."
Reyna tried sitting up, not quite finished with the godly food, but as soon as she did, she knew it was a bad idea. She became nauseous.
Percy must've seen the paleness in her face, so she gripped her good arm and pushed her back down on the bed, flashing her a warm yet cautious smile.
"There is, uh, one complication that might affect your healing," Lucas said, grimacing.
Reyna's eyes tightened with worry, bracing herself for the worst.
"But, before I say, Percy, how's your back?" The healer turned to Percy.
Percy arched his back as if being reminded that it was injured. "Now that you reminded me, it hurts a little, but not as bad as it used too."
Lucas nodded thoughtfully, and took a deep breath before saying, "Well, Reyna. What happened to Percy's back… that's what happened to your arm."
Reyna blanched. "Wait. What?"
An overwhelming sense of dread overtook her. Not dread for herself, but dread for the legion. If all the enemy monsters had access to such a substance that could kill so easily, the legion wouldn't stand a chance. What's worse, is that no body even had a clue as to what it was.
Oooh, scary plot twist!! Haha, I hope you enjoyed this update. I can't wait to push this sorry forward even more. There are so many loose ends that will be brought together all very soon. Just be patient! Again, please review and vote in the poll. I need more feedback!