1,581I do not own anything of Percy Jackson and the series, Rick Riordan does. I follow the books and the plot and I do reuse some dialogue, but I alter them and fit it into my story. Again, copyright is all Rick Riordan's, I repeat, I do not own anything.
Description: Happened around Chapter 13: TTC - Dreams (I).
First scene is before the Camp Half-Blood vs Hunters in Capture-the-Flag. Later parts show the little fight between CHB's defense and Zoë's crew.
Drew POV
Drew crossed her arms, the metallic bangles on her wrists jangling, as she watched a fellow camper openly stare at the Hunters.
The immortal handmaidens of Artemis were practicing archery and no campers dared to approach them. If a demigod needed something from the archery range, they'd ask someone from the Apollo cabin. The Hunters seemed to only tolerate the children of Apollo, but even then, they held an expression of faint loathing. Everyone else just watched outside the range, in awe of their consistent bulls-eyes.
"You're staring," Drew pointed out.
Jade's eyes didn't move. "I know."
Drew tapped a finger to her lips, examining Jade from head to toe. Usually, it's incredibly difficult to get a read on this girl since no one could get a good look at her face, but Drew noticed that Jade hadn't stopped looking at the Hunter's lieutenant since the group entered the archery range. If she couldn't see the face, then she'd read the body language. Jade usually slouched like a banana all the time, but right now, she was leaning over the fence as if eager to get a better look.
Drew froze. Was Jade ogling at the lieutenant?
There was only one conclusion.
"Oh my gods. Don't tell me you have a crush?"
At that, Jade turned to give Drew a slow smirk before going back to staring.
Drew blinked in surprise, not expecting the other girl to openly confirm it.
"Dear Gaea, do you swing that way? Since when? Does anyone else know? Do you like girls more than boys?"
Jade leaned away from the fence with a bemused look. "You think I like boys, too?"
"You stared at Luke," Drew said in a matter-of-fact tone. "But everyone did because he was hot, so maybe that doesn't count. I mean, even the boys stared at Luke. Besides, liking girls and liking boys are not mutually exclusive choices."
"So, does that mean you know that Travis-"
"-likes Katie Gardner? Yeah."
"Dang." Jade sounded impressed. "Do you know this much about everyone else at camp?"
Drew repressed the urge to flip a lock of hair over the shoulder in self-satisfaction. Instead, she examined the cuticles on her fingernails with dignity.
"Yes," she said. She hoped she didn't sound too smug. Too much smug wasn't cool, as Silena once said.
"Woah, you sound so smug," Jade commented. "Y'know, Silena says that too much smug isn't cool-."
"I know," Drew responded tightly. "And I wasn't smug."
"I don't know, Drew, it sounded pretty smug. You said 'yes' like it was the most obvious thing in the world."
"I did not."
"You did."
"I did not."
"You did."
"I did not."
"You didn't, did you?"
"No, I said I did," Drew snapped and then shook her head in confusion. "No, I mean, I didn't-"
"Sure, you did," Jade concluded.
Gods, she forgot how annoying Jade could get when she wanted to.
The daughter of Aphrodite mentally counted to three before speaking again. "Jade?"
"Hm?"
"Shut up."
"Okay." Jade resumed watching the lieutenant.
There was a beat of quiet between them until Drew realized that Jade hadn't answered any of her original questions.
"Hey, wait. You never said if you liked-"
"Jade! Could you help me?" Silena, her cabin's counselor, approached them.
"Sure!" She chirped and stepped away from the fence.
Drew couldn't let her escape, so she tried to follow them.
"I can help, too!" Drew tagged along, but Silena shook her head apologetically.
"Sorry, Drew. I need help with the weapons shed and you've been banned from approaching the Hunters, remember?"
At that, Drew huffed petulantly while Jade laughed, or it was more like a cackle.
When the Hunters first arrived at camp, it only took one dinner for Drew to get into a petty squabble with two Hunters. She ended up cursing the girls with pimples across their faces, so Chiron punished her with bathroom cleaning for the next week. She was also forbidden to have further contact with the Hunters for the rest of their stay at camp. If she got into another argument with them, she'd have to clean the bathroom for the rest of the summer.
The weapons shed was next to the archery range, so Drew shouldn't get any closer than she already was.
"Actually, if you want to clean the bathroom for the rest of the summer, you should come," Jade said. "The girl's bathroom has been so clean because of you."
"I said shut up," she hissed. Drew's mild germaphobic habits went into hardrive on the first day of cleaning the girl's bathroom, so the porcelain toilets were the prettiest white they'd ever been in a decade.
"That's true," Silena agreed. "Honestly, thank you, Drew. The bathrooms do look really good lately. Also, did you spray your air freshener in there? I recognize the cherryblossom scent that you gave us the last time you visited Japan and it smells great! I love that you went above and beyond, everyone really appreciates it."
Drew glowed at the recognition. Earning praise from Silena was one of the best things a girl could do at Camp Half-Blood.
And then, she saw Jade's deadpan expression behind Silena's shoulder.
"Yeah, thanks Drew," Jade parroted. "Though, it'd be nice if you kept cleaning-"
Drew saw red. She lunged around Silena, fully intending to strangle Jade.
"Come here!" she shrieked.
Jade snickered as she dodged Drew's manicured claws behind Silena's back. When Drew went left, Jade went the other way like opposite magnets.
"Drew! What are you doing?" Silena raised her voice in disapproval, trying to keep them separated. "Both of you need to stop!"
Drew nearly had Jade in her grip when a loud thunk jolted them to a stop. An arrow had planted itself on the fence post closest to them. All three of them turned to see the source: a scowling lieutenant Zoë at the top of the archery range.
"Okay, let's go before we piss her off anymore," Silena said as she separated them. "They're the ones waiting for our help with the weapons shed."
Jade perked up at that and yanked the arrow out of the fence post.
"Can I return this to Zoë?" Jade sounded suspiciously eager.
Silena looked at the arrow in Jade's hand and then at Drew with a questioning brow.
Drew rolled her eyes and then gave her older half-sister a vague gesture between Jade and Zoë. Silena got the hint and did a double take.
"You're kidding." Silena said in disbelief. "Jade, do you actually have a crush on Zoë?"
Bewildered, Jade blinked. "How did you guess that?"
Drew audibly groaned in frustration. "Oh my gods, can you just answer the question?"
"Does it bother you?"
A distortion of unintelligible words came out of Drew.
"Just give a straight answer," she choked out.
Jade grinned. Silena saw it coming and tried to cover the other girl's mouth.
"I thought you said that I wasn't straight?" The muffled words became the last straw.
"That's it, I'm done. I'm leaving," Drew decided. She turned around and walked away in defeat.
She should've known better than to ask Jade for anything. It was never worth the effort.
"Jade." Silena sounded exasperated.
"She makes it too easy," I defended myself. "You have to understand me on that."
The head counselor entered the archery range while shaking her head. "Let's go before the lieutenant shoots another arrow at us."
I considered it. "That wouldn't be too bad."
"Girl, please," Silena stressed. "Of all people, you picked the most stuck up person on the entire planet, and not to mention, she's immortal and eternally sworn to maidenhood?"
"But I don't actually like-like her. I just like her face."
Silena gave me a knowing look. "Just her face?"
I twirled the Hunter's arrow between my fingers and cleared my throat. "Uh, well maybe, I think the princess 'you-are-peasants-and-I-am-above-you' attitude is kinda hot."
"What?"
"She can step on me?" I elaborated.
Silena blanched at my confession. "Oh my gods, Jade. Oh my gods. I knew that the silent ones were always the ones to watch out for, but this was not what I was expecting. You have messed up tastes, I swear."
She snatched the arrow from my hand. "Give me that. You are not going near her."
When we met the Hunters at the weapons shed, Zoë was waiting in front of the group with a foot tapping the floor impatiently.
"A snail would find its shell faster than dawdlers looking for their shoes," she said in a snippy tone.
To her credit, Silena didn't react to the passive-aggressive remark and instructed me to show some of the Hunters the supply closet on the other side of the shed.
I led a few of them to the backside, opening the encrypted lock with Silena's counselor key. After showing them the boxes for bow and weapon maintenance supplies, I stepped back and waited for the Hunters to take what they needed. There was wood polish, spare bow strings and notches, carving tools if needed, sharpening stones, bonding glue, and more. I overheard one girl talking to another in Ancient Greek, which made me wonder how old they were.
A dark-skinned girl with freckles next to me asked, "Excuse me? Are there a couple rolls of leather cord that we could take?"
"Yeah, it's here," I said and opened a separate container from the top. "You're new to the Hunters, right?"
The girl paused as she grabbed a handful of coiled leather. "Oh, yes, I am. How did you know?"
I gave her a once-over glance. "You don't have the silvery glow that the rest of them have. It takes a couple of days for it to start showing."
She looked down at herself and then over at her fellow Hunters, realizing that my observation was correct. Zoë had the strongest silvery glow. Even though the sun was still out, her body refracted the light, casting a pale glimmer around her. All of the other girls emitted a similar soft radiance in varying degrees, most likely depending on how long they'd been a part of the Hunt. This girl was the only one who didn't exude any hint of luminosity.
Then she blurted out, "Do you think I made the right choice of joining them?"
I raised my brows. "You think you didn't?"
The girl hesitated, obviously agitated by her own thoughts. "I think I did what's best for me," she said quietly.
I put away the container, thinking about what she said.
"It's understandable that you'd want what's best for yourself," I reasoned. "You just have to deal with the consequences, if there's any."
The newbie Hunter drooped her head at my words. From that reaction, I guessed that her decision to join the Hunt probably hurt someone else's feelings.
At the back of my mind, I had a nagging feeling that the newbie Hunter was someone I should know about, but I dismissed it. I wasn't in the mood to care right now.
After the Hunters finished taking what they needed, I made sure everything was back where they belonged and then locked the closet. We returned to the front of the weapons shed where there was a standoff between Zoë and Silena.
The two girls stood toe-to-toe and while Silena was taller by at least three inches, Zoë made up for the lack of vertical with the arrogant set in her shoulders.
"Valentine's Day is a perfectly acceptable holiday to celebrate," Silena asserted.
"Valentine's Day is a foolish excuse for a celebration," Zoë countered. "There is no need to celebrate a fickle and pointless endeavor."
Silena's perfect eyebrows nearly reached her hairline. "You think love is a 'fickle and pointless endeavor'? What about the love of family? Of friends?"
"Ah, if the goddess of love proclaimed more philia and agape, then there would be no dissatisfaction," Zoë said stonily. "But the fourteenth of February remains for a different reason, wouldn't thee agree?"
A new voice chimed in. "What's so special about February 14th?"
Everyone stared at Percy. He entered the range and was followed by the Stoll brothers. All three of them hauled an array of weaponry in large bundles.
Percy absorbed the context in front of him and sighed. "Right."
Zoë took the opportunity to excuse themselves, so the Hunters left the archery range without another word. Silena waved tight fists in the air behind their back in silent rage.
"Ugh, she makes me so mad!" Silena ranted. "Valentine's Day came from Saint Valentine, the son of Aphrodite who performed marriage rites for people forbidden to marry because of their different social standings! It's not some simple holiday about dating, it's about proving that love exists even when the world is against you and-"
"Not to interrupt your history lesson, but Thalia was looking for you," Travis interjected apologetically. "I think it's about capture-the-flag."
Silena whirled around. "Capture-the-flag? Hades' seventh circle, yes."
The head counselor of Aphrodite's cabin stalked off. We watched her leave with a mixture of concern and amusement.
Conner voiced everyone's thoughts. "Did Silena just volunteer for capture-the-flag, willingly?"
"That's what it looked like," Percy confirmed. "Alright guys, I have to head back to the stables."
"Thanks, Percy," Travis said. "Jade, could you help us organize this stuff?"
I looked at the pile of scattered weapons on the ground. Work. That's great.
"Sure." A mindless chore wouldn't be too bad to pass the time.
Camp Half-Blood vs Hunters in Capture-the-Flag
Even though Travis and Conner usually cracked jokes throughout capture-the-flag games, they were alert and silent this time. No one wanted to lose against the Hunters, so everyone was vigilant of their surroundings.
About fifteen minutes into the start of the game, the Ares demigod, Cam, returned to Zeus' Fist with a slight shortness to her breath. While doing a quick reconnaissance of the forest, she had caught sight of Zoë and two Hunters running across the edges of the trees on the other side of the field.
"Three, including the lieutenant," she announced. "But there has to be more than them out there."
"There's probably at least four more running around the opposite way," Malcolm estimated. "We need to make sure they fall into the booby traps across the river."
"Conner and I can do that," Travis volunteered quickly. "We set those up, so it's better for us to go."
Malcolm nodded. "Go, and keep them away!" he shouted after them.
Travis and Conner tapped everyone's shield as they left our group. When they ran past me, we fist bumped each other.
"Keep it in your pants," Conner said with a knowing grin. I rolled my eyes.
The remaining four of us, Malcolm, Beckendorf, Cam, and I stayed quiet in a four point guard around Zeus' Fist. We each had a periphery of two others at either corners of our vision while also being watchful of the view in front of us.
Getting ready for the iminent clash, I took off my hat and clipped it to my belt. It limited my view, so it's best to leave it hanging on the hip. I readjusted the shield on the left arm and pulled my borrowed sword out of its sheath. I wasn't using my usual twin blades since I generally used those for more extreme situations.
The setting sun casted low shadows around the field and the husky evening sky creeped in, darkening the forest. With our attentive silence, the sound of grass and leaves rustling grew louder as the last rays of the sun disappeared behind the forest. It was getting harder to see with nightfall, so we had to also rely on our ears to catch any sound of human bodies passing through.
Suddenly, on my left, Cam crouched lower. "I see silver. It's the lieutenant and two of her bogeys, the short haired brunette and redhead. They're less than four hundred meters away. I think they're going to pounce on us any minute."
The children of Ares always had amazing eyesight even in the dark. Sometimes, I could swear they had night vision.
"Alright, everyone, pick your poison," Malcolm ordered. "We want to split them up so they can't use each other as covers when they shoot arrows."
I promptly called out, "Dibs on the lieutenant."
Cam gaped. "You're kidding."
"I am not."
"You're crazy," Malcolm stated warily.
"Yeah," I scratched my neck. "I think I am."
"Disturbing, but okay," the son of Athena acquiesed. "What about the other two?"
"I got the brunette," Cam claimed. "She's not good with short range."
"Then, I'll take the redhead," Beckendorf said. "She's fast, but I can knock her down."
Malcolm climbed onto the base of Zeus' Fist as the last line of defense of our flag. "Sounds good. At the very least, we hold them off until Travis and Conner return. At worst, they have to drag our bodies with them if they want to take our flag."
"They're moving!" Cam shouted. "Coming my way-"
Three streaks of silver darted through the dense trees, getting closer at a slant in Cam's direction. I watched their distance and paced to the left, joining Cam. Beckendorf went to Cam's other side and we stepped away from Zeus' Fist in a slow march forward.
Holy crap, they're fast.
Within twenty seconds, they broke the clearing and sprinted across the field. Zoë led the trio in an arrowhead formation.
Malcolm yelled, "Scatter!"
I moved first ahead of Beckendorf and Cam.
Without skipping a stride, Zoë let loose two arrows, one right after another. I deflected both of them with my shield and met her halfway. Zoë pulled out a white knife, scraping it against my bronze sword, before jumping back when I shoved the shield towards her ribs.
The other two hunters aimed their bows in my direction, but Beckendorf and Cam jumped them before they could shoot.
"Pretty gutsy to come here with only three people," I said.
Zoë's proud stance didn't waver. "No more needed to overwhelm little fledglings. Our experience far outweighs numbers."
I whistled. "An older, experienced woman. Nice."
I don't think Zoë got my meaning because the lieutenant only frowned before feinting right.
Not falling for the trick, I mirrored her steps and blocked the way, but I didn't try anything. Zoë measured my wingspan, lengthened by the shield and longer blade, with a speculative eye. She was waiting for me to make the first move, but I stayed where I was.
Zoë tried going left and again, I matched her movements and swung the shield when she nearly got past me.
Judging by the ruckus on either side, Beckendorf and Cam were faring fine, so I just needed to focus on the lieutenant. There was no rush for me to actively fight her. More engagement risked letting her get away from me, which wouldn't be good.
But then, I enjoyed a good game of footsies.
The fact that Zoë hadn't pressed on either made me think that she was stalling as well.
I asked, "Waiting for your friends?"
The lieutenant's expression didn't betray anything, but she still didn't move.
"They're probably caught in the traps across the river. No need to wait, if that's what you're doing," I baited her.
I must've been correct because she went full-throttal into the offensive. She jumped back to draw her bow. I ran forward to maintain the close proximity and raised my shield to block.
Half of a dozen arrows flew. I dodged the first couple, caught another with my sword, and let the shield block the last few. When my shield lowered, Zoë was in the air, flying with her knife in hand. The knife hooked down onto the shield and with her other arm, she locked around my sword hand and shoved against my shield. The force strained my arm socket, forcing me to drop my sword.
Ow, oh shi-
Zoë grabbed my shield and taking advantage of it tied to my left arm, she attempted to trip me. Instead, I twisted around and threw her over my shoulder. The lieutenant nimbly landed on her feet like a gymnast. Without losing her grip on the shield, she swung me to the side. It wrenched me off balance, so I yanked on the shield's leather straps and pulled my left arm out.
I rolled in the grass. Zoë threw the shield at my head before running off.
Behind me, Malcolm screamed, "Jade, what the actual fuck are you doing?! Take her down already!"
I got up and bolted after Zoë, leaving the shield and sword behind. I passed Beckendorf who was chasing the redhead into the woods. Cam had her Hunter down on her back.
So, I wasn't the fastest runner, but I just needed to get close enough. Zoë was only twenty paces away from Zeus' Fist when I tackled her.
We both hit the ground and turned over to our feet. Zoë got up faster, but I tripped her.
Undeterred, Zoë scrambled to get up again when I did another leg sweep. She flopped onto the grass with a dense thud. Logically, she should've still gone for the flag, but I think the second trip snapped a nerve because Zoë turned around and came at me with a frustrated yell.
To be honest, I panicked a little. I ripped my hat off my belt and threw it at her face.
With that millisecond of a distraction, I pulled both blades out of the Void and swiped at her knife hand. Zoë couldn't do anything to me because of the difference in reach and could only parry my attacks. She narrowly dodged close sweeps with gritted teeth.
When it was clear that she had to get close, I left a brief gap in my defense in the middle of swinging and changed my left grip to reverse. Zoë jumped in with the knife angled for my neck.
Gotcha.
I got low and sidestepped, sliding my left sword against the knife. With my right, the tip of the katana caught her chin.
Zoë froze.
When the realization of her loss slowly sunk in, the Hunter dropped her knife and glared at me.
At that moment, I took in how Zoë looked. Grass from our tumble sprinkled over her head and stray hair strands fell out of a loose braid, framing her flushed face. The lieutenant's dark eyes were no longer stoic, but full of outrage.
They glittered with a kind of fury that could only be expressed by individuals who had incredible pride in their lives. The kind of person who'd rather die with dignity than allow defeat.
With her silver glow and fiery eyes, Zoë looked like the human embodiment of a falling star.
Oh, I realized.
I had it bad.
A drenched pair of the Stoll brothers returned from the woods, leading a chain of four Hunters equally doused in water. All of them seemed pretty roughed up. The clash at the river must have been quite a hassle as everyone appeared disgruntled.
The Stoll brothers brightened when they saw me holding Zoë at sword-point. They dropped off the four captured Hunters at Zeus' Fist before going into the forest to track down Beckendorf and his target.
"Pants?" Travis inquired as he sped by.
"They're on," I assured him. "Hurry up."
Soon, the other three Hunters were tied and escorted to the base of Zeus' Fist. With the adrenaline of the skirmish dying down, Malcolm smacked my shoulder.
"That was not okay," he reprimanded me and pointed to where I tackled the lieutenant. "She was this close to getting the flag."
Dusting off the grass, I picked up my hat and fixed it over my head.
"I got her, didn't I?"
"She disarmed you, took your shield, and nearly got away until you tackled her," the son of Athena clarified. "You didn't 'get' anything."
"Is that why grass is in her hair?" Beckendorf asked curiously and I nodded. He held out a low-five and Cam had a fist bump, so I hit both.
"The tackle was funny," Cam admitted. "And I can't believe you tripped her two times in a row, she looked mad."
Annoyed that no one was getting his point, Malcolm jabbed at the same spot next to Zeus' Fist and repeated, "She was this close!"
"Give her a break, Malcolm. Jade was just excited," Conner snickered.
The son of Athena frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I called dibs, remember?" I reminded him.
Confusion, realization, and confliction crossed over Malcolm's face until he settled for a deep sigh.
"You are so weird," he managed to say. He sounded deeply disappointed in me.
I gestured to where Zoë sat. "She's literally a princess. Is it weird to think she's hot?"
Cam made a face. "Yes. Why would you admit that?"
We all turned around to check on the Hunters. While all of them were irate, Zoë was particularly sulky. She looked at me with disgust and such loathing that if eyes could shoot lasers, I'd be dead.
"Hey, don't look at me like that. It hurts," I said with a fake whimpering tone.
Travis shook his head. "Pyscho."
We bided our time with idle chatter, but I was very much aware of the lieutenant's stare digging into the back of my head.
The image of her proud face and dark eyes blazing with violent anger stuck in my mind. I couldn't shake it off.
She was a falling star and the Titan who held up the sky would be the one to cast her down.
It's what was meant to be, I told myself. I'm not here to save people.
I ignored the dull ache in my chest.
x
There's some changes from the og chapter, but meh whatever.
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