Chapter Title: Cháris Becomes A Chauffeur
(A/N: If you're wondering why I'm making references to General Grievous from Star Wars when it comes to Colton, it's for a very simple reason - not just because I feel the vibe to do so. It's more for showing just how much more determined and persistent, savage and angry, brutal and unstoppable he is becoming in his quest to keep his family and Kayla safe from any and all threats. So, in a way, the Lydian Drakon killing his parents in front of his own eyes is still affecting him even this far down the road.)
June 21st, 2010
If there's one thing I really haven't made clear all that much to be honest, it's that I'm a light sleeper. No, I am not kidding here. I literally am a light sleeper.
Even when I was sleeping with Kayla, I still was a light sleeper because you know, when you're a demigod, anything and everything could happen to you, so you gotta be prepared. So naturally, I just adapted to become more lethal. That being said, on the topic of my beloved girlfriend and queen, sleeping with her.. it's like I'm literally sleeping with the damn sun itself — though for obvious reasons, it's not literally the actual sun itself — or god for that matter, because I'm straight not gay. I mean, I'm okay with Michael and Jake being together, but I will not be okay if one of the other male gods tried to persue a relationship with me. I just wouldn't at all.
Anyways, sleeping with Kayla just felt so warm, so cute.. so beautiful.. gods.. I am seriously fortunate that no one can hear me think these things honestly. Because if any of my siblings or fellow campers other than Kayla heard this, there is no way in Tartarus that they would ever let me live it down at all. So yeah, thank god no one really knows about this — and for good reason too. After all, I do have a reputation to uphold as well here.
To think that in maybe a week or two — I don't how long — I'm back to having her by my side again.. god, how that warms me up inside greatly. I mean, believe me.. it's hard enough inside operating without her by my side right now. It really is hard believe it or not. Either way, it's not going to stop me. I do not care about what else Gaea could possibly send my way at this point — be it Giants or whatever. God fucking damn it, they will all perish. PERISH, I say.
Perish, Perish, PERISH.
Perish, Perish, PERISH.
PERISH, PERISH, PERISH.
Alright, you probably get the point now.
One way or another, they would all die or be scattered, either by my own hand or those of my girlfriend, my siblings, or my allies. Whatever the case may be, all those that oppose the Gods or my authority as the Monster King will perish. I can promise them all that for sure.
Because I'm not going to stop until either they are all dead or they win. And if that ever comes to past, condemn me to the deepest pits of Tartarus and have Kayla with me so that it is bearable — without harming her, of course. But, you get the idea. I am really pissed off right now over this whole thing, as much as I would like to wallop Zeus — Jupiter.. whatever fuck it, probably both of those r****** — in the fucking jaw right now, I couldn't just let Gaea or Porphyrion destroy all that I held dear. I just couldn't.
So yeah, it was another of those kinds of situations where I have to pull some sort of shit out of my ass since thanks to Zeus, I couldn't really count on much help from the Gods, or die. As if since becoming the Monster King, fate has decided to place the fates of my friends, family, allies, as well as future friends, family, and allies in my hands. And yeah, it is one hell of a pressure to have to be working under.
Any other demigod short of probably myself or Percy Jackson — or perhaps Luke, I don't know — would most likely collapse under the pressure of bearing such a tremendous responsibility here.
So, it was probably fortunate for everyone that it was me who had to really bear this responsibility. Believe me, there was no way that I was going to let them all down with such a weight on my shoulders. Not until I have fought to my last breath at that.
Such then, were the thoughts that were driving me when I woke up at the butt crack of dawn this morning, having slept in a chair near the front door with my Whitworth right beside me. I hadn't used my sleeping bag at all, if the previous sentence wasn't proof enough. Michael had fallen asleep in his sleeping bag behind the counter, and Lavinia was somewhere in the back — I wasn't really sure where to be honest. Either way, I couldn't really be passive today because we still had the quest to deal with. So I took a peek outside.
Sure enough, the spell was in effect, causing motorists to turn away from the gas station subconsciously if they got too close which seem to be starting an ever slowly lengthening chain of cars that had run out of gas on the interstate now.
I could very clearly hear the sound of cars running on the interstate from where I was in the gas station, making them just another reminder about the reality I currently was in. A reminder that I was really in a gas station on a quest to retrieve a sword — for reasons you already know.
I yawned, then looked to where Michael was sleeping — or more accurately at the counter. He hadn't gotten up yet — though given that it was dawn, sooner or later, he would. A couple minutes later, a yawn came from behind the counter, indicating to me that Michael as predicted was waking up.
"Ugh.." he muttered.
"Guessing waking up with the sun isn't pleasant to any of Apollo's kids.." I said to him. He simply glared back at me.
"Yeah.. it is, Captain Obvious.." he said back.
"Really? Captain Obvious..?" I said, chuckling. "Someone must have woke up on the wrong side of the bed."
"Why you.." Michael said back annoyed, before getting up and starting to look for something to eat.
He seriously looked worse than he did the day before.
"You miss Jake?" I asked, and that caused him to freeze. Eventually, he turned back around, looking a bit more emotional this time.
"Yeah.. I do.." he muttered. He genuinely looked concerned now that I had mentioned his name. "Is.. he.. doing okay? Do you know..?"
"I've been communicating with your sister — and my beloved girlfriend — through the telepathy link that we have.." I replied. "..and Jake has healed from the burns and injuries he sustained from that bronze dragon. The dragon also was successfully tamed, but was later destroyed in a quest to save Hera — I'll fill you in on the details later, but suffice it to say, I'm debating whether or not I should pound the dude that reversed your boyfriend's cabin's 'curse'.." I did air quotes with my fingers here. "..into the damn ground."
Michael's eyes widened a bit. "What exactly.. did the guy do..?" he asked me.
I just sighed.
"Leo Valdez apparently had the gall to try to ask out my girlfriend after already been told I was her boyfriend.. on the way to Camp Half Blood no less.." I said, and Michael's mouth simply dropped open. "Your sister decked him in the face for that though."
Michael covered his mouth with his hand, but he couldn't stop himself from laughing so hard and for a while at that. Regardless of all that, you could definitely tell he was proud of Kayla. I mean, how could he not? He watched her grow up a few years at camp, and watched her and me become the most powerful demigod couple in the history of Camp Half Blood.
"I mean.." Michael said finally. "I'm not surprised. I knew for a while she could throw such nasty punches. She decked Miles from Hermes in the face — knocked him out cold too — when he tried to ask her out while you were down in the labyrinth that one time."
"Wait.." I said, surprised. "Did she.. really?"
He simply nodded.
"She never told me that part.." I said, and I was not kidding. She hadn't mentioned this at all.
"Suffice it to say, after that, everyone in camp knew to instantly mention to newcomers how Kayla was off limits — we hadn't before then.." he said. "It was a sort of a unwritten rule prior to your labyrinth mission."
That explains a lot to be honest, I thought to myself.
"So uh.." Michael continued. "..what punishment do you have in mind for Leo..?"
The utter lack of objection in his voice made it perfectly clear that he was well aware that Leo had crossed a no-go line involving me and that he had to be punished for it.
"I don't really know.. yet.." I said back. Michael simply just nodded in reply.
Before he could even then respond, our conversation was interrupted now as the sound of footsteps from deeper inside the gas station signaled to both of us that Lavinia was now also awake. Sure enough, her head popped around the corner in the doorway to the office and closets at the back of the convenience store, with her left hand just rubbing her eyes.
She had a sort of elegant grace to herself appearing to us like that, it seemed. Not as graceful as Kayla, but graceful nevertheless. Michael took the moment to grab something from the aisle he was in, from the sound of items rustling over where he was. Most likely that item was about to become his breakfast.
"Morning.." she said to both of us.
"Rise and shine, sleeping beauty.." Michael said, and I couldn't help but laugh. Lavinia couldn't help but blush a little bit for some reason, which surprised me to be honest, but either way, it was definitely a funny moment. That was for sure.
A few moments passed before Lavinia had recovered her composure. "Sleeping Beauty? Really.. you're using fairy tales..?" she said back.
"What am I? The hunchback of Notre Dame or something?" Michael shot back, and I couldn't help but laugh harder now.
I'll admit, I did not expect Michael to be this.. hilarious this morning, but either way, it was definitely jolting me wide awake now — if there was any part of me still asleep right now that is. It was absolute laugh fuel right now.
It wasn't long however though before my seriousness kicked back in, because really, we had very little time to be laughing at each other's funny quips right now. Not when there was still a quest to be completed.
Still though, without transportation to get us even closer to our objective, we essentially were screwed basically. I know I had sent Cháris off to get a vehicle for us to take so that we could get closer to our objective, and then most likely use it to drive back, but as of right now, there was still no sign of any vehicle pulling into the gas station.
"Don't spend too much time eating and getting ready guys.. because time is of the essence, remember?" I said to them. They both looked at me and then at each other before it dawned on both of them.
"Yeah — you right.. we still gotta get Argonaut.." Michael muttered, before he looked at Lavinia again. "..I also have been meaning to ask this ever since I heard the sword's name, what's the big deal with this sword?"
I had to admit, even I hadn't heard much about this sword either. So I just nodded along with Michael, for an explanation into this sword would really be nice.
"It isn't just any sword.. this is well.. Argonaut, a legendary sword forged from a long piece of the master bolt said to grant the use — if other than Jupiter.. the power of the fury of the heavens" Lavinia stated, and believe me, even I couldn't help but have my eyes widen on that part. This was very new — and very interesting — to me, for multiple reasons with some of them being obvious ones and some of them being not-so-obvious ones. "It was with this sword that Jupiter cast the fury of the Romans onto whoever opposed. Carthage, the Gauls, all of them.. the moment the sword was pointed towards them, all their hopes of victory went down the drain."
Michael and I looked at each other. I could see the same expression of shock, fear, and urgency in his eyes that I had. We both were on the same page. Shit just got way too fucking real all too fucking quick.
We had to get to that sword and fast. There was no time to waste now.
If what Lavinia says is true, then this sword could not be allowed to fall into Gaea's hands at all costs. If it did, we were fucked — even with my Monster King faction assisting.
Internally, I was kicking myself for not having read up on Argonaut before departing for the quest, but in retrospect, I stopped because I remembered that at no point prior to setting off on this quest did I have any time to ask if New Rome had a library, much less read up on the topic of Argonaut.
Just goes to show that what you don't read will come back to bite you in the ass, and man did it bite me on this occasion. That was a no doubter for certain here to be honest with you. It stung hard.
But hey, I had no time to fret over what I should have done back then, for reasons already stated. If anything, this only reinforced the obvious urgent-ness for us to get back on the road quickly, like a bat out of hell. But, also as before stated, we had a problem. We had no vehicle, and none of us could drive. So it would be down to Cháris to both find us a vehicle and get us closer to our objective than we were right now.
Still, there was currently no sign of him, which was a bit troublesome. I had great confidence in the Herald, however, so I was not too worried. Besides, it meant I at least had some time to talk with Kayla again, which definitely was going to be nice.
Because I'll be real with you here, words cannot describe how much I want to tear the person who separated us by putting me to sleep and making me amnesiac apart.. limb from fucking limb over that. They just cannot.
Yeah, I was completely ticked off. And suffice it to say, even though Michael didn't show it as he sat at the cash register eating some pop tarts, I wouldn't be surprised if he felt something similar. I would think of him as insane if he wasn't, to be honest.
But either way, I had some chatting to do with my girlfriend.
Morning to you, my dear Queen..
Colton.. gods.. you're as sweet as always.. I miss you greatly..
I miss you too.. and I will tear every monster that stands in my way apart if that's what it takes to find my way back to you and Camp Half Blood..
She giggled, and sighed happily. We'll be sailing out to Camp Jupiter in a few days time.. so you don't have to wait for long.
Well that's nice.. I telepathically said back. Deep down inside, my heart started to burn like an inferno — it felt so warm. I look forward to that greatly.
Words cannot express how much I look forward to it too, she said in a manner that can only be described as pure seduction. She wanted me.. badly, and I had to say.. I loved every bit of it.
Kay.. believe me.. words cannot express how much I miss having you by my side. You're the reason I'm still breathing, the main reason that keeps me going through all of this.
I know.. just don't get yourself hurt.
Somehow, I'm probably not going to be surprised if I do end up injured during this great prophecy.. especially since lo and behold, the sword me, Michael, and Lavinia are going after has turned out to be an item of very significant importance.
Wait.. what?
I then proceeded to explain to Kayla what Lavinia had said about Argonaut.
You have got to be kidding me..
She did not sound happy at all with the revelation.
I know. Just my luck that my quests, as rare as they are, somehow end up having just as much importance as Percy's quests do.
Yeah, they do - and I agree that you need to do whatever it takes. We don't need any important weapons in Gaea's hands right now or Porphyrion's for that matter.
Point taken. You can rest assured that I will do so.
I know you will - you haven't let me down nor any of the others or the Gods yet, that's for sure.
I wanted to speak with her some more.
The sound of Michael's voice, however, signaled that things were about to get rolling.
"Hey, there's a car pulling in now!"
Colton.. you there?
Yeah Kay.. I'm here, though I gotta go.. seems like Cháris might have returned with a vehicle for us to use..
Okay then, be careful. Love you.
Love you too, goddess~
I had been facing towards the refrigerated section during my conversation with Kayla, and now I turned back in the other direction. Sure enough, there in the driver seat of a white Toyota RAV4 that was pulling into the gas station, was Cháris. I will admit, the whole scene really did take me aback for I had no clue till now that Cháris could even drive. But hey, he and the other heralds have been around for thousands for years, so I imagine that at some point before my minions as the Monster King went into hiding, they must have had some experience driving cars in the 20th Century - that's probably the only logical way I could explain the scene in front of me.
"He's.. literally.. driving.. a.. car.." Lavinia stuttered, obviously not even believing what she was even seeing. "..despite being made of fire."
"I have no words as how to even explain this to myself in my own head right now.." Michael said, about as equally in shock.
I will admit, as surprising as this was, it was also revealing in a way. It revealed to me at least that Cháris had more skills up his sleeves than he let on - and pointed out the utility of having a minion that could get you vehicles if you were without one and needed to get somewhere quickly. I filed this information in my head, and just grabbed as much of my gear as I could and started outside. I hollered over my shoulder as Cháris brought the car to a stop, "Come on slow pokes! MOVE!"
Turning back to Cháris in the car, I was grinning like an idiot as he rolled down the window on the driver's side, the door of which most likely would face towards me when opened. "Satisfied, young master..?" he asked, as I opened the trunk of the car and start putting my stuff in there.
"Absolutely indeed.." I replied.
I had to admit, this day was starting out great.