Chapter Title: A Recap And My Own Thoughts
If words could be even used to describe how Chris Rodriguez was feeling at this present time in his life, he would definitely use the two words that were 'lost' and 'worried' if he were to be brutally honest here. He wasn't exactly kidding on that part at all. That was how he really truly felt as of now, and for good reason.
It was hard enough having to manage an angry ball of energy in the form of Ethan in your own cabin, while also having to keep your girlfriend stable because her brother, alongside his cabin counselor, both happened to be missing. It was really weird for Chris honestly — who in all honesty, had technically been in this type of situation before, albeit under very different circumstances at that.
But then again, this situation right now was currently his reality, and it was taking its toll on the former member of the Hermes Cabin. It well and truly was. Even so, today — if Chris were to be honest here — had been anything but normal. To be fair, things after Colton, Michael, Luke, and Percy had disappeared were not normal, but what had happened today had even disrupted this new 'normal', and Chris could see it from a mile away.
For starters, it wasn't exactly normal for Hera to simply drop what seemed to be a definite hint as to where the guys are, only for them to end up bringing two new demigods and four amnesiac - Chris was definitely certain that the other four of the newcomers to camp were exactly that - already claimed demigods at the same time. It just wasn't normal.
It definitely was not normal at all for one of those amnesiac demigods to just so happen to be a child of the Big Three as well. If he had to be honest, he thought he had already seen the last of Big Three kids after Nico Di Angelo. Evidently, as this latest guy showed, Chris was dead wrong. He had to admit, Jason was definitely a bit intimidating. The way the son of Zeus looked like a statue from another era, the way he had more muscle than even Cato did at this current time, Jason was built like a tank in Chris' own opinion. The fact that he had a coin that could turn into a sword if it landed heads or a spear if it landed tails - just from the result of the coin flip - only strengthened this in his mind.
Still, he knew that whatever this guy had done probably wasn't nearly enough as the insane feats that Percy and Colton had achieved. On the subject of those two, Chris would admit that if anything, they had a bit of an odd rivalry going on between them. Sure, from what he had both seen as well as heard from Clarisse, Colton would be the one looking for a fight and Percy would be finding ways to get out of it - but even so, the fact that the two of them could put aside their own differences with each other at times just to get the Gods to actually give a shit - and even that hadn't lasted long thanks to Porphyrion being an absolute obsessive bitch over Colton's Monster King powers - about their own kids was absolutely impressive indeed. Chris had to admit, whenever those two got together and didn't either insult or argue with each other, they could really get things done. It was an odd dynamic currently, but then again, Chris didn't mind it at all.
With that out of the way though, as he sat in his bed in his cabin - listening to Ethan quietly snore in his own bed, Chris' thoughts turned back to the newcomers now that the tangent about Colton and Percy was over now. If Chris had to be honest, there was something crazy about how Bryce seemed oddly familiar to someone else. Chris hadn't really quite figured out exactly who he resembled, but if he had to guess, he was definitely suspecting Tartarus as of this moment - at least from what he had heard of the primordial. He had to admit, the resemblance of him in Bryce was disturbingly uncanny and unnerving at the same time. It took a whole lot of concentration for him just to be able to keep eye contact for even a few minutes. Chris suspected that this might wear off over time, but for now, it was just really unnerving to even look at Bryce as of now.
He still couldn't believe that Bryce was actually his brother in his former cabin. Like Travis, he had a hard time really accepting this reality. Bryce just didn't seem like the type of guy that would be a Hermes kid. If anything, some of his traits made him seem more like an Ares kid if he had to be honest. While he was happy that his girlfriend and her siblings got a new sibling in the form of Clara, he had to admit - she probably would never fill the shoes that Colton had left behind - if they didn't manage to find him.
He had to be honest here, with Colton.. anyone trying to replace him would have shoes that they would never in their lifetime be able to fill. They just couldn't, and Chris was dead certain that Kayla wouldn't like it if anyone tried to replace Colton. Chris honestly felt guilty over the fact that he played a role - albeit an indirect one in simply supporting Kronos for a while - in how Colton and Kayla got together. His heart hurt from what Clarisse had said about how he had been there for her during those dark days in 2007 when Thalia's tree was dying - before they had acquired the Golden Fleece.
He apologized to Colton about his brief betrayal of camp, sure.. but he still felt like he had some work to do to make up to him, Clarisse, and the others. He knew Luke had more work to do too for what he had done in the name of Kronos, that was for certain.
Ethan did too - and if Chris had to be honest, Luke and Ethan were especially lucky to even be here at all - and Chris would be kidding if he said that he himself wasn't among that category - considering what they had all done in support of Kronos. The alternatives were either death or they ended up like Alabaster. Banished from camp so that they couldn't corrupt their siblings.
Chris honestly wondered what exactly Alabaster was even up to at this point, if he even was still alive right now. He had no way of knowing right now, and given what else was happening right now, he didn't exactly have the time to go looking for him right now either.
His mind wandered back to the newcomers, starting with Alyssa. To think that this shy girl was an Aphrodite kid was amazing.. to be honest. She didn't seem like the type of camper that would fit into the Aphrodite Cabin.. not since Drew took over that cabin while Silena left with Beckendorf for college. She seemed more like Kayla.. the type that wouldn't leave anyone she formed a special kind of relationship with.
If there was any silver lining to Alyssa being an Aphrodite kid, it was that she wouldn't have to face Drew alone if things ever came to it. She at least had Piper, who to be honest.. seemed like a rather interesting case in Chris' opinion. Then again, he hadn't really ever seen anyone who claimed to be the girlfriend of a guy who although handsome and also a demigod, also happened to be both a child of the Big Three (and Zeus at that) and also amnesiac at the exact same time. It was just really unbelievable to even see, if Chris was being honest here.
He definitely had never seen that before.
And finally, there was Leo. Chris would admit, he definitely was pretty appalled that this kid would even have the damn nerve to try to ask out Kayla when she was already with Colton. As much as he felt sorry for the kid for having to deal with what would most likely be a very angry pissed off Colton when they found him and he found out about it, he would also say that in some respects, Leo honestly deserved it. Kid seemed to be trying way too hard to get a girlfriend, and needed to be taught a lesson about how some girls were just off-limits and that he had to try a different approach than the one he was using. That was the least he could learn, in Chris' own opinion.
Like if anything, it would at least be a meaningful lesson for Leo, handed to him by the guy that in fairness, was the last guy that you wanted to piss off when it came to what you did to his girlfriend. If you even so much as made Kayla sad, hurt her, made her cry, made her scared and afraid, or made her upset, it was likely that before the day was over, you would likely be either in the infirmary or possibly dead if you just so happened to be a monster not on the side of our cause because you pissed him off over what you did to Kayla.
It was honestly amazing, in Chris' opinion, how the Apollo girl had even managed to make that walking juggernaut rival of Jackson basically turn into something even more terrifying than what he already was before she came to camp. Colton had never been the one to even try to make relationships with girls beyond that of friend or ally, he was just that busy training in order to achieve his goal of getting revenge on the Drakon that killed his parents. Since Clarisse had started training him, he had taken to training like a duck to water - basically training in anything weapons related became his favorite part of the day no matter what day of the week it even was. If Luke hadn't betrayed camp, personally Chris felt that it honestly would not have been too much longer before Colton had cemented his place as the strongest in camp and dethroned Luke from the title, even though the guy was pretty much probably on his way out the door if he hadn't joined Kronos.
Then, Kayla had come along and per Clarisse's words, even with a prophecy destining him and her to be together, something inside of Colton just "snapped". He had become more angry, more savage, and more brutal towards anything that got between him and her or him and the rest of them - his family. And yet to both her and them, he had also become much more mellow, more open to showing his tender side in a way that he hadn't until Kayla had come along.
It was amazing, really. Since he left camp a couple weeks after Luke had nearly killed Percy with the pit scorpion, Chris had honestly been amazed with the Colton he had been with in Arizona. He would admit, even now - he still was shocked that he had managed to get kissed on the cheek by Kayla - an absolute celebrity. But like he said before, Chris felt guilty that he had played an indirect part in what brought Colton and Kayla together. Either way, he still wouldn't trade that for the world.
Despite the guilt he felt, Chris had to admit that things had definitely turned out better than they might have so far because of what Kayla had done to Colton. Of course, Kayla hadn't really done much to Colton other than be kind, gentle, and sweet around him. All she simply did to him was basically make him do the equivalent of neuron activation on a whole another level without even so much as trying to. She had turned him into the absolute unstoppable badass Colton currently was now without even meaning to. And for that, he had to admit, it might as well have changed the course of history as they all knew it.
And right now, Colton was out there - somewhere. Chris just hoped that they found him and the guys soon. They could really use their help right now. Sure, they had the Monster King's army, but Colton had been their best asset, with Percy and Luke right after him. With all of them gone, Chris was uncertain whether they had a hope for the future.
Hopefully, they could find a way to turn things around.
(A/N: As of this chapter being published, we now have ten chapters to go before the end of this arc. There will be a brief author's note in the next chapter explaining why we have ten chapters to go and not more than that. Until then, see you on the next big one!)