Heart Pierced - Kayla Knowles (1) - TheUnsuspectingWriter - Percy Jackson and the Olympians (2024)

Chapter 1: Heart Pierced

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Percy Jackson And The Olympians (But It's More Or Less Focused On Kayla And Colton)

Starring..

Jack Moore as Colton Reynolds
- 13 • Son Of Ares -
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Francesca Capaldi as Kayla Knowles
- 13 • Young Fashion Model, Archery Queen, Daughter Of Apollo -

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Djor Goodjohn as Clarisse La Rue
- Daughter Of Ares -

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Walker Scobell as Percy Jackson
- Son Of Poseidon -

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Charlie Bushnell as Luke Castellan
- Son Of Hermes / Host Of Kronos -

Everyone Else as themselves

I don't own Percy Jackson. I only own the OCs (face claims belong to the respective people who play the characters).

- - - - — — ❤️ — — - - - -

He never felt anything before, but she's the first one he's ever fought so hard for..

Chapter 2: Foreword

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First and foremost, this fanfic exists clearly because I see a lack of fanfics in which Kayla is one of the main characters, which given she is the daughter of both Apollo and another man, aka a gay couple which given that I have lesbian parents IRL, I am a total LGBTQ+ fan.. is just criminal. I mean, we got Nico and Will fanfics.. why not some more fanfics where one of the minor main characters finds love with somebody else?

Haven't seen the Percy Jackson show yet, but personally I do like the style and the way they represented the characters (Riordan's belief of ability rather than appearance is a rather interesting belief indeed, and one that honestly looks like it has done a fantastic job for the show). It is, for lack of a better word, downright incredible. Hermes, Zeus, Annabeth, Percy, Grover, Luke, Clarisse.. it's just perfect. Like put the Boys' Perfect Meme here to describe this show. Plus, it also does fit in with how I viewed Camp Half Blood as being a camp with cabins around trees and such (since I've seen most of both films).

That being said, I still think we can go further using Riordan's belief. Hence, this fanfic.

Another inspiration for this was the Apollo cabin fanfics done on Archive Of Our Own and Fanfiction. Done by several different people, they are beautifully well done and I'll be honestly, Apollo kids are just cute as hell. I'm saying that as an autistic, ADHD person who isn't really all that good around young ones, but dag nab it.. are they so precious. Pardon my inner fan girl there, it's just that even as a guy, these kids just melt my heart.

I will take some of the headcanons of Kayla from those fanfics and incorporate them in here.. but seriously, since her dad is a god and she loves archery, why not make Kayla into a head turning beauty who's an archery queen? I find it fitting for her, because seriously.. this girl is just cute through and through.

Plus, Camp Half Blood fanfics that focus on the other campers - god are they ever fun to read. Like, it's the kind of world building that really just fleshes out a place, much like I do to a certain extent in my Freezing/Clone Wars crossover fanfic. Like, there's so much going on with them behind the scenes that Riordan doesn't cover on in the books because sure, they aren't the focus, but it's still criminal in my opinion nevertheless. They may be minor characters, but each of them are still human and are late pre teens and teenagers and sometimes adults trying to find their way in a world where being a half-blood is not easy. And I think it's important we highlight those parts even while the main characters are off doing quests because let's face it, not everyone's favorite character is going to be one of the main heroes or a villain. Sometimes it's going to be one of those aforementioned minor characters that they want to see more of. For example, my favorite character from Attack On Titan is Mina Carolina, a girl that got killed off five episodes in the first season of the anime. So yeah.. if there are any Kayla Knowles fans out there, this fanfic is for you all! Enjoy!

Chapter 3: Part One - The Sea Of Monsters

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Part One - The Sea Of Monsters

In which Colton steps up for Camp Half Blood in a way that even his own sister and his other siblings never expected. All for a new girl he can't stay away from.

Chapter 4: I. I Didn't Ask To Pass Out After Gaining An Admirer

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Colton Reynolds could just about say that he had seen everything. He had been at Camp Half Blood since he was ten, having come three years ago, and from monsters to saving Apollo kids from snakes to saving Athena kids from spiders to everything else, he had seen probably more than the average kid at camp had.

That being said, he had mixed feelings about how far he had come. On the one hand, he was rapidly becoming one of the most skilled demigods in his cabin, rapidly closing in on that of his older sister and head counselor Clarisse La Rue, who saw Colton, along with one of their other brothers Sherman Yang, as her favorite younger siblings. He had the respect of his own cabin and even rarer for kids of Ares, the fact that his older sister showed more emotion towards him than even Yang, which the latter thought was very impressive to be honest.

On the other hand, he still felt like he was lacking something. On top of the several problems he also faced when it came to getting any farther.

First problem was.. Percy Jackson.

Look, he didn't actually hate Percy Jackson all that much - if anything Colton considered him an inspiration to try harder given the exploits of the son of the earth shaker Poseidon himself, plus oddly enough he found what he did to Clarisse a bit amusing- but he was still a little annoyed at him for knocking him off the pedestal that he had taken years to get as being one of the most powerful demigods at camp. He had only just claimed the third place spot after barely defeating Yang in a friendly fire duel during Capture The Flag just days before Percy showed up at camp, and already, the news Percy had managed to stand up to his and his siblings' father, Ares, had knocked him down to fourth place.

The second problem was.. Kronos, and the Gods themselves.

Although Clarisse considered him one of her two favorite younger siblings, she knew full well that he wasn't a typical Ares kid. For one thing, he was one of those who took pity on the plight of the kids of minor gods and those that still hadn't been claimed. It bothered him to no end.

The problem had been exacerbated by Luke Castellan's betrayal last summer. Despite Clarisse and Yang's best efforts, Colton was conflicted. His fatal flaw, unusually for Ares kids, had been caring too much for others, and he was debating whether he should also leave camp and join Luke, or stay. He was still undecided on the issue, but seemed to lean towards the first option. No, he hadn't had Kronos appear to him in his dreams yet, but if the Titan Lord ever did, Colton was totally sure that he would tell him that he was on the fence on the whole issue, and that he would require some time to think over it carefully.

Plus, he probably would also like assurances and hold him to an oath that once Olympus was destroyed, he'd get a share of the rewards and not be backstabbed by the Titan Lord.

The third problem was.. his own heart. He had lost both of his parents in the monster attack that forced him to come to Camp Half Blood, meaning that he was essentially an orphan, part of why Clarisse showed him more affection than others, except of course, Chris Rodriguez. She was the one who convinced to turn his grief into rage and a motivation to train harder, so he might one day get his chance for revenge against the monsters that had killed his parents, which according to Chiron seemed to be a Lydian Drakon from the way Colton had described it. (A/N: Yeah.. if any of you know how TLO goes, it's a hint of what's to come.)

Even so, despite all the love of his older sister and his other siblings (begrudgingly for the most part except in the case of Yang, who was basically his closest friend aside from Clarisse), he still felt like there was something missing. The frustrating part about it all was, he had no clue exactly what he was missing.

So it was that when the summer of 2007 rolled around, Colton Reynolds was at a crossroads. Loyal to his cabin, his father Ares, and the Olympians for now, but unsure of how long that would stay the case. Little did he realize that the Fates had the answer: forever.

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It all started with the warning toll of a monster attack one day in early June. The entire camp had been on edge, since it had been discovered someone had poisoned Thalia's tree on the crest of Half Blood Hill. The news that Chiron was being replaced, apparently the fallout of the aforementioned poisoning, did not help matters at all. Colton knew that full well, but also couldn't help but privately swear profanities against the Gods under his breath when he found out.

Even so, at the sound of the warning toll, he had been one of the first of the Ares Cabin to drop whatever he was doing - he had been jotting down notes in his cabin about a book he was planning to write soon, called Experiences Of A Demigod And Lessons Learned, which would be a self-reflection on his own experiences so far and the lessons learnt from them - and dash like hell for the armory and get ready for battle. Unusually, he was the first one to get there this time around, Clarisse and Yang hot on his heels.

A loud roar echoed throughout the camp from the crest of Half Blood Hill, and stomping noises could be heard from there as well. Given that unusually for Ares kids, Colton had spent a great deal of time reading books and listening to stories from other demigods of monsters that they had faced in the past, he had a pretty good idea of what was up there.

"Sounds like Colchis Bulls, siblings and fellow campers.." he shouted over the ruckus of campers in the armory frantically preparing for battle. Clarisse, who had managed to get herself ready quickly, jogged over to her younger brother, who himself was almost ready.

"You sure, Colton?" she asked, knowing full well by now just how useful her younger brother's advanced sense of hearing, even more so than other kids including herself, and his knowledge of monsters was to the Ares Cabin.

Colton nodded. "Most likely two up there, judging by how many footsteps I'm hearing right now.." he said, as Yang ran up to them, now also ready for battle.

"Colchis Bulls, huh? Well, I always wanted to be a bull fighter.." Yang joked, as the three ran out of the armory and up towards Half Blood Hill.

"These things breathe fire, Yang.. and you know what they say about playing with fire.." Colton admonished.

"You get burned, I know how it works.." Yang replied, just as someone's screams filled the air, filling all three with a sense of dread. Colton and Clarisse simply glared at Yang. "Don't look at me.. I didn't jinx that kid.." he said, as the three of them, with the rest of the Ares Cabin, plus mixed groups from the other cabins behind them, reached the scene of the action.

It wasn't pretty. Two campers were already downed, screaming from burns. Colton felt sick as he knew who those two were. It was Alexander, from the Hephaestus Cabin, and Benjamin, who was one of the trio's brothers. Beckendorf was already running over to them, and helping them out of the line of fire, profanities flying out of his mouth.

Colton nudged Clarisse as they were running, and gestured towards Benjamin. His head counselor let out a cry of shock, then growled in anger.

"f*cking bitch.." she hissed. "..those bulls will f*cking pay for this. Hang on Beckendorf, we're here!"

Beckendorf looked more than relieved to see the trio charging up to the fray. "Thank the gods.." he said. "Those bulls are a bitch to deal with!"

Clarisse turned to Yang. "Take Benjamin, Yang! Colton, you're with me.." she howled, and Colton nodded, knowing his sister knew full well that his particular method of combat would do wonders here.

"Why me?!" Sherman hollered, the other boy angry at being left out of the fight. Before Clarisse could say anything, there was Colton in a fit of anger, his fatal flaw on full display, shaking Yang by the collar.

"HE'S GONNA DIE IF WE DON'T GET HIM SOME MEDICAL ATTENTION SOON, BRO! DO YOU WANT HIS DEATH ON YOUR HANDS?!" he screamed in his brother's face, to which Sherman could only weakly reply, knowing full well that arguing with Colton when he was in this state was not a wise decision.

"No.." he muttered, just enough so that Colton could hear him even over the chaos of battle, and reluctantly got himself out of his brother's grip, headed over to Beckendorf, and started helping Benjamin to the infirmary.

Just in time too, for Clarisse hollered, "Colton! Watch out!"

He didn't need to think twice about it before he leapt forwards and sprinted a good 500 feet away from the sound of the Colchis Bull that had came for him. Turning around, he knew it was game time now, and took out his weapon, a modified Whitworth Rifle produced back in 1863 with a longer barrel with a lengthened ramrod to match, courtesy of Beckendorf.

It was a long story as to how Colton had ended up having this as his main weapon, when he wasn't doing Capture The Flag or doing close combat stuff in which case he favored a sword, but right now, it wasn't worth giving the rundown of it due to how serious the situation was.

With great urgency, and with the advantage of being in a position that the two bulls hadn't noticed him in yet since they were distracted by Clarisse taking charge of the other defenders and focusing their attentions on them, Colton started loading his rifle like those men did back in the old days as fast as he could.

Just as he was going through the two motions of "cast-about" while loading, he caught sight of two familiar demigods a good distance down the slope of the hill out of the corner of his eye. He turned for a moment, and couldn't really believe his eyes.

Close to one hundred yards or more from him, was Annabeth Chase and Colton's Problem No. 1, Percy Jackson, with a.. Cyclopes? It was weird, Colton was sure of that, but he didn't pay much attention to it. Plus, it didn't seem to be attacking them, so Colton figured it must be a neutral or friendly monster, which was rare, but then again.. they already had two really difficult ones attacking right now, and a third would have only made things worse, so the less the better.

Needless to say, watching Michael Yew from the Apollo cabin pelt one of the bulls with arrows which bounced off harmlessly against its armored skin was a bit amusing for Colton to watch. That's when things got very concerning. While Annabeth had one bull upset by her disappearing act and off looking for her, Colton could only watch in horror while he was aiming, looking for the right moment to fire, as the other one barreled past Jake Mason and Beckendorf, the latter of which had only just returned - thankfully both of them got out of the way in time - and slammed into his older sister's phalanx, sending her, Yew, some of his siblings, and a couple other campers flying. Clarisse landed in a pile of smoldering grass, and she looked hurt, trying to move as one of the bulls closed in on her.

"NO! DON'T YOU DARE!" Colton shouted, as he swung his rifle in the direction of the bull charging Clarisse and fired one of the specially designed rounds Beckendorf had created, designed specifically for hard targets such as Colchis Bulls, at it.

Blam!

The bullet, although going for the middle of its body as a kill shot, ricocheted off the side of the bull due to hitting it at an angle where penetration wasn't possible. Still, it definitely helped, as it stunned the Bull and dazed it, meaning that Clarisse was able to get out of the danger zone and to safety, thanks to Percy Jackson. Yeah, I definitely owe Jackson a favor, Colton thought as he frantically reloaded his weapon.

"Split up! Distract the bulls, confuse them!" Annabeth shouted, and Colton could see the wisdom in the suggestion. He wasn't using a silencer on his weapon, so she probably noticed now that he was around, being well.. himself.

A few seconds later, Annabeth's voice was enough to let him know that things were wrong again. "Percy!"

He looked up from returning the rammer, being at the end of that step. Percy was laying on the ground, clutching his ankle, with a bull bearing down on him. sh*t, he's injured, Colton thought.

"Tyson, help him!" he heard Annabeth shout, as he was in the middle of priming. Colton hoped that this Tyson person or someone else could get Percy out of the way, but if it came down to it, he would have to save Percy with a single shot.

"I, Annabeth, give you permission to enter camp!"

Colton was flabbergasted for a second as he aimed his weapon at the bull bearing down on Percy only to see the Cyclopes charge through the barrier and stand over Percy protectively. Colton felt the pressure now, and aimed right at the area his first bullet had ricocheted off earlier. Without a second thought, he fired.

Blam!

The bullet once again pinged off the bull's side and dazed it, allowing Tyson and Percy to get out of the way, and it was set upon Clarisse and the other campers in mere moments. Once again, Colton was desperately reloading as fast as he could, for he had lost sight of the other bull in the chaos of the situation in which he had taken the second shot.

It was as he was ramming his third round down the barrel with the ramrod like a madman, that Clarisse's voice gave him the answer.

"COLTON! TO YOUR RIGHT!"

He turned, and he returned the rammer to where it was stowed faster than he had ever done before upon seeing the second bull, coming up the slope of the hill and only just under a whole football field away, coming straight at him.

In the heat of the moment, he ditched the step of "cast-about" and went straight to priming, attaching the percussion cap to the lock like he was on a timer, which right now, he really was. The bull had closed to 45 yards away from him by the time he finished. He knew Clarisse and the others were running, but the bull would reach him before they could get there. He aimed, squarely at the middle of the bull's forehead, as it was now 25 yards away, and after two more seconds, he fired.

Blam!

He turned, and dove out of the way, rifle in hand, and fell to the ground, as the sound of bullet penetrating metal filled the air, followed by the sound of hooves passing where he had stood mere milli-seconds ago, and then it was followed by the sound of an explosion near him. His ears were ringing for a bit as he opened his eyes, and saw feet running up to him. Even so, he smirked, because he knew that dead-on, at point blank range, there was no chance of a ricochet.

Kill confirmed.

His hearing cleared after a few seconds, and he stood up, letting Yang handle his rifle - he was the only one other than Clarisse he even trusted to hold it for him - while he dusted himself off. Clarisse looked like.. very unlike Clarisse. Colton swore on the River Styx that his older sister had tears threatening to come out of her eyes.

"Y.. Y.. You.." she started, and Colton could only just bow his head in silence.

"Sorry.. for scaring you like that.." Colton muttered, before Yang just burst out in amazement.

"SORRY?! Dude, that was the most amazing thing I've ever seen.." he exclaimed. Colton looked around, and behind Clarisse, many campers were nodding their heads in agreement with Sherman's statement. Even the Cyclopes, who Colton guessed was Tyson, just looked at him in amazement.

Clarisse finally figured out the words to say by now, and so she said it to him. "Words cannot describe how much I want to kick your ass for scaring the sh*t out of me.." she said, looking like she was both relieved that he was alive, and pissed off that he had made her worry like that. Before he could say anything, Sherman let out a chuckle.

"Hey uh Clarisse.. don't look now.. but I think our sniper brother has an admirer.. and a hot one at that.." he said, causing both Clarisse and Colton to look at him quizzically. "Look in the other direction.." Sherman said, gazing straight ahead instead of at either of them.

Both of them turned their heads, and Colton's world turned upside down, because what he saw was the last thing he remembered seeing before..

"COLTON!"

Darkness.

(A/N: This opening part of this was inspired by Archive Of Our Own user Laurellins' take on the Colchis Bull attack from the books' version of events.I already said in a prior fanfic that I liked the movie version because it fit what I was going for in that fanfic, but I will admit, the book version is equally good.

Also, the way I depicted Colton here is personally a lovely bit of contrast to how most Ares kids fight, and while Clarisse may be a bit OOC here, I still love the contrast. She and the others prefer to get in close, while Colton prefers to fight from range, only engaging in close quarters if he has to, or it's Capture The Flag.

As for his choice of weapon, given what Ares gifted Clarisse during The Sea Of Monsters, I think it's very fitting for someone like Colton (and also yours truly in the fanfic I'll doing in which I'm in Percy Jackson's world being the hero on the side whose importance is vital to Percy's eventual victory over Kronos) to have it as his weapon of choice. The method he loads his weapon in is also a reference to the Civil War as well as the words "cast-about" are only found in a single manual, written by Major William Gilham of Virginia, who served briefly in the Confederate Army before leaving the army for the Virginia Military Institute, which he had served in prior to the war as an instructor.

Even so, for Colton, it's safe to say that his life is never going to be the same now. Hope you enjoy and tell me what you think!)

Chapter 5: II. Since When Were Daughters Of Apollo Blessed Like Daughters Of Aphrodite?!

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When Colton opened his eyes again, the first thought he could think of was, what the hell just happened?

One moment, he was standing close to the crest of Half Blood Hill with his siblings after he had placed a headshot on a Colchis Bull.. at point-blank range.

The next moment, he was here, lying on a bed in the infirmary, staring up at the ceiling. It was.. mind-boggling to say the least. He blinked once, then twice.. just to see if he was dreaming or something. Nothing changed.

So I'm not dreaming then, he thought to himself. I somehow legitimately passed out in front of my own siblings after looking in the direction of a beautiful girl..

He didn't know why, but the memory of her, the last thing he remembered before he blacked out, seemed to cause his normally somewhat cold, partially empty heart to come alive like he never felt it had before, filling him with an intense feeling of desire, affection, and hunger. It took all of his restraint not to go stir crazy from it before he calmed down. What the hell? That was.. weird, he thought to himself.

Though to be fair, what he had seen had been so beautiful, she probably was a daughter of Aphrodite. From the beautiful red hair dyed partially bright green that flowed down a bit of the way down her back, blue bell eyes like the sea that you could get lost in, the way she carried herself in the lovely black dress that stretched down to her knees with elegance and grace.. even with lots of freckles, every single part of this girl screamed glamorous perfection in his mind, and he didn't know why.

He didn't actually consider any lady that was single at camp to be all that attractive to want to gain their affection prior to now, mind you. Sure, there were plenty of pretty ones at camp, but he just didn't feel like going after them. It was just the way he was, to the point that saying that being a kid of Ares so he was focused on war or that he was too busy training with Clarisse didn't count as excuses.

He must have been thinking a bit too long, because a familiar voice shook him out of his thoughts.

"You mind telling me what the f*ck happened to you out there?"

Colton turned, and saw Clarisse standing over him, and just started sweating a bit. His sister was scary, yes.. but to have her standing over you when you're in a bed of any kind.. that was an extra kind of scary, even for him. But still, she wanted an answer, and he had to give her one.

"I'm at as much of a loss as you are in explaining why the hell I passed out after coming into eye contact with a beautiful girl.. because unless that girl was one of the goddesses in their divine form, then I have no clue.." Colton replied, dusting himself off and getting himself up out of bed, standing before his slightly taller and older sister. "How long was I out?"

"Few hours.. more or less.." Clarisse replied. "And that girl wasn't a goddess. She's Kayla Knowles, the daughter of Apollo."

Colton's jaw dropped in shock at what Clarisse said, and he'll admit, for someone who kept in touch with which celebrities were in the spotlight in the world outside of Camp Half Blood, he should have put two and two together sooner.

Kayla Knowles was a name that he was familiar with, because she had come up time and time again, both when he was out of camp and in it. The girl was said to be an archery prodigy, winning competition after competition since she was five years old. It wasn't surprising, considering that she was the daughter of Darren Knowles, a multiple time champion and Olympic Gold Medalist in.. you guessed it, archery. Plus, her father happened to have been an actor in several films mostly because of his archery skills, including even one of the Japanese Godzilla films from the 1990s as a cameo of himself.

Plus, Kayla was a natural beauty, blessed with charm, beauty, and appeal beyond her years, as some people put it. That alone also made it unsurprising that in addition to archery, she had also appeared as a model in several fashion shows from the age of nine, and was an instant hit. For her, who was the same age as him currently, to be the daughter of Apollo.. it was no wonder that Colton's jaw just hung open for a few minutes and Clarisse didn't say anything, for she knew exactly what Colton was thinking. There was absolutely no way.

Finally, she pushed his jaw up and shut with her hand, chuckling to herself. "I would let you continue having your jaw open like an idiot.." she remarked. "But considering that you're blushing like an idiot, I rather you have it closed before you embarrass yourself."

That in and of itself left him flustered, because he didn't realize until now that he was blushing. His brain was both in shock and also too busy processing that Kayla was Apollo's daughter. Finally, he regained enough control over himself to even find the next words to say.

"So how long was it until she was claimed?" he asked her, who simply smiled.

"Claimed the instant she stepped through the barrier.." she replied, causing him to look at her shocked again. "Happened just mere moments after you passed out. I don't know what was in her head, but she's done nothing but be.. interesting to say the least."

"How?" he asked. He would admit, he definitely was curious.

"The second after she met her siblings, she walked straight up to the Big House and has been waiting outside the infirmary for one person" she replied. "You."

Colton didn't know how many more shocks he could take. Everything about today was just one shock after another. "Apparently.. the sight of a guy in armor wielding a Civil War - era sniper rifle and inflicting a kill shot on a large metal bull charging right at him before he escapes being trampled at the last second makes quite the impression, from what she said to me before I came in here.." Clarisse said, smirking all the while, before turning and walking off, but not before stopping at the doorway for a moment.

"Well.." she teased, in a so un-like Clarisse type way. "She's all yours, lover boy." Then she left, leaving Colton alone with his thoughts. Of all the people she's immediately interested in.. it isn't the Cyclopes who stood in front of Percy. It isn't Percy for being well.. Percy. It's me, who nearly got myself killed just taking that Colchis Bull to the grave. Considering that Annabeth has been all over Percy ever since he killed the Minotaur with only its horn last year, that's quite something, he thought to himself.

Then he remembered something else, what the Oracle had said to him one night while Percy and Annabeth were gone.

His prophecy.

He had been cleaning in the attic of the Big House, having been shoehorned into doing it by his siblings much to his chagrin. Why Chiron even let him up there, even though he wasn't there to get a prophecy so he could go on a quest, he had no idea. To be fair, he was the only one in the cabin who wasn't creeped out by the undead lady up there, so that partially explained why his siblings insisted that he had to do it. Anyway, he had been in the middle of cleaning the window on the opposite end of the attic from the Oracle and turned around for a second to change something in his cleaning kit - he couldn't remember what it was. That's when he noticed the Oracle suddenly sit up in her chair, moving her legs. He blinked, not knowing what was happening. That's when, in the usual green mist, the Oracle of Delphi spoke the lines that had changed his life.

Even now, in the infirmary nearly a year later, he remembered it like it was yesterday.

Bulls give way to flaming red hair

Deciding the choice that drives one there

To save camp, he must fight

Once against one, then against many twice

Love builds a bridge strong

For him to guard well and care

When the time comes and war flares

A single kiss will bless them fair

He had kept those words to himself, and hadn't told anyone about it, not even Clarisse or Yang after that night. Why he didn't think of it the minute he determined the intruders to be Colchis Bulls, he had no idea. It didn't matter much now though, to be honest. The ball had been set in motion.. and the one destined to him had arrived.

- — - — - — - — -

He definitely felt like thanking Morpheus for not making him pass out again when he walked out of the infirmary, and almost instantly came into eye contact with her again. She wasn't alone this time like back on the hill earlier. Michael was there in the chair on her left, with Lee Fletcher, the head counselor of the Apollo cabin, there as well.

He'd probably had in been eye contact with her for at least a minute before Lee and Michael chuckled to each other.

"You two going to fall in love or keep staring at each other?" Michael asked teasingly, laughing with his older brother, and much to the two other teens' annoyance.

"Yew, you're lucky I don't have my Whitworth with me right now.. same for you, Fletcher.." Colton replied coldly, glaring at the two male Apollo kids, who just kept grinning like idiots.

"I gotta to hand it to you, being the guy who gets the attention of our newest sibling the day she arrives is quite the feat. Showing shades of Jackson, are you?" Lee teased, and Colton had half a mind to lunge for the Apollo Cabin head counselor at that moment. But, he held himself back.

"I wish you wouldn't compare me to that crazy kid, to be honest.." Colton complained. He really was sensitive to even being put in the same sentence with Percy's name, and that was a part of being an Ares kid he couldn't control. Lee and Michael got up, both black haired boys still looking as devious as the Stoll brothers right now.

"Guess we'll leave you too be.. can't wait to hear how this goes.. oh, the gossip.." Michael laughed as the two walked out of the Big House, leaving Kayla and Colton there to look at each other a bit awkwardly. Finally, it was Colton who, while scratching the back of his head, summoned up enough courage to break the ice.

"Honestly.." he started, looking down at the ground. "..I don't think I ever expected to attract the attention of such a beautiful daughter of Apollo the minute she arrives at camp."

Smooth, Colton. Smooth, he thinks to himself. God, you are an idiot.

"I mean.." she says, and it felt like his heart was pounding against his ribcage. He had never heard her speak before, but god damn it, even the way she spoke was perfection. It was like Aphrodite had given her blessing to this daughter of Apollo in every conceivable way. "..seeing a kid of Ares wielding a rifle against a Colchis Bull was not exactly what I had expected my first experience upon reaching Camp Half Blood to be. It's concerning, to say the least."

Bit by bit, he was feeling calmer in talking to her. "Yeah.. nothing's been the same since the winter of 2005.. not since that traitor Luke started working for Kronos.." he hissed, the bloodlust he felt in pure rage over Luke making its presence felt. By the Gods, he definitely wanted to kill that traitorous bitch.

Kayla gasped, shocked at that remark. "Long story.." Colton said, calming down. "..what happened today and in the future, from tomorrow to who knows how long, is just the consequences of that. Welcome to Camp Half Blood, where fate can throw you front and center of things regardless of what you want. Where in times like these, surviving against the odds is going to be what turns mere children and teens into adults faster than they want to."

Kayla simply nodded, nervous a bit from all of that. "You mind if I stick with you?" she asked, and he nodded without a second thought. "Because honestly, right now.."

She blushed a little, turning her head away. "..aside from my siblings, you're probably the only one I feel safe being around right now."

Colton felt like he could melt into a puddle of butter, and he still had no clue why. This girl.. she was making him feel ways he never felt before, and he wasn't even mad at all. He still kinda wanted to break Lee's face for the remark about comparing him to Jackson though.

"So this makes us.. fast friends then?" he asked, and Kayla simply interlaced her fingers in his.

"Yeah, it does.." she said, smiling.

Outside the Big House, Lee and Michael peered inside from around a corner through a window, both boys not even believing what they were seeing and hearing.

"The Aphrodite cabin are going to lose their minds when they find out.." Michael whispered to Lee, who simply nodded.

"Two potential couples, a new activities director, and a poisoned tree.." Lee replied, feeling both despair and hope at the same time. "The rest of this summer will be very interesting."

Lee had absolutely no idea how accurate he was with that last remark, because as events would soon prove, it would indeed be an interesting summer.

Chapter 6: III. I Honestly Want To Kill Tantalus

Chapter Text

(A/N: Zeus, you really are one dumb person. Like, I am of the opinion that the PJO fandom just exists to sh*t on Zeus and I don't care at all. Like, I just accept that as a head canon for the fandom.

Plus shout out to AO3 user laurellins, whose fanfic "Tales from Camp Half Blood" (particularly the parts about The Sea Of Monsters, plus the stuff about Clarisse and Chris.. I'm using a basis for what goes in the first part (Sea Of Monsters) and the second part (Battle Of The Labyrinth) - mainly skipping over The Titan's Curse due to the fact that aside from the scene with the hunters at Camp Half Blood, there isn't much there I want to depict. This is a fanfic dedicated more towards the campers (through Colton and Kayla) if anything in addition to Kayla Knowles fans, so it wouldn't make a lot of sense if I added in Percy's stuff from that book into this.

Also warning, major language and rage in this chapter because.. Colton snaps and his fellow campers aren't prepared for it.)

The minute Tantalus was in Colton's view for the first time, he swore he could immediately smell trouble. Just looking at the man, he could tell that this man was bad news. In his defense, having a man in an orange jumpsuit instead of an orange t-shirt looking like he spent time in prison was not exactly a sign that someone was friendly.

Then again, those eyes.. the way they look unhinged with a wild anger and rage inside of them didn't exactly inspire much confidence either. No matter how one sliced it, this guy was a threat and Colton knew it.

Sitting down at his cabin's table with Kayla on his left, also suspicious and uneasy about the guy in the orange jumpsuit and with Clarisse on his right, with Sherman across from them, he made his opinion known immediately.

"Hey sis.. I don't exactly trust that guy in the orange jumpsuit. He gives me the creeps" Colton said, eyes full of suspicion, as he couldn't stop looking in Tantalus' direction.

Clarisse stopped eating, looked up at Tantalus for a few moments, and then turned to Colton, her brunette hair swaying in a rather Clarisse-like fashion as she did so. "Yeah, I don't blame you at all. Doesn't help that the guy is Tantalus, Chiron's replacement.." she said back to him, causing Colton's eyes to go wide. He had heard the myth and he felt sick to his stomach knowing that man was in camp with them. His other siblings must have heard her too, because he was pretty sure that every other person at the table stopped eating as there was a general cessation of eating noises around him, aside from Clarisse.

"Holy hades!" Colton hissed back, keeping his voice down, even though Kayla could still hear him. "You mean that one ancient king who cut up his own son and served his as food to the gods who then sent him to the fields of punishment is our new activities director? Are the Gods insane?"

A tug on his sleeve indicated to him that Kayla had heard that, and really did not take it well. Clarisse turned to look at Colton again. "I don't know what in hades they are even thinking, but you're right. I don't trust him either.." she replied. "Best you two keep that to yourselves."

Colton nodded, but still, it didn't seem right at all. As consolation though, the sight of Percy and Tyson getting along well, to the point that Percy made the Apollo table quiet after someone must have said something he didn't like with a fierce glare, was rather nice, in his own opinion.

Even so, it was also sad that he and Tyson had to sit by themselves. Even Sherman noticed this, and like Colton before him, didn't hesitate to express this. "Camp rules are dumb sometimes, like look after what Jackson did for Clarisse, why not let him sit over here, along with that Cyclopes?" he said, and some of his siblings just looked at him funny.

"I think his name is Tyson, Sherman, but yeah. I agree" Colton added. "He should be able to. It's because of rules that they have to be sit by themselves."

"Did the gods make these rules? Because I have to say, their thinking is a bit flawed.." Kayla said next to him, and it took everything for Sherman and Colton to not burst out laughing then and there, but seriously, she was dead on target.

"You don't know the half of it, girl.." Clarisse said, finishing off most of her meal by now. "Their flawed thinking was one of the reasons that traitor Luke left in the first place."

Colton held back his anger and simply nodded along. It was true, Luke had cited the Gods' flawed thinking in regards to the kids who had stayed at camp for years and had never been claimed yet and to the kids of minor gods who didn't have cabins as one of the reasons to why he left. Deep down inside, despite all their anger against him for betraying the Olympians, both Clarisse and Colton knew that he wasn't wrong on that part. It was the way he decided to change things is what made him a traitor.

Either way, both of them were brought back to the present by the sound of Percy Jackson's voice. "Your camp already has problems.. sir!"

Sherman, Colton, Kayla, and Clarisse all looked once more over to where Tantalus was.

"Either this man is brave beyond stupidity.. or completely crazy.." Sherman muttered. "..because even I wouldn't say that out loud to him, at least not at this moment."

Percy, being Percy, couldn't help himself, it seemed. There he was, in front of Tyson, arguing with Mr. D and Tantalus. To Colton, it was absolutely one of those moments where he didn't even think Jackson shouldn't have done it. To be brutally honest, he would have done the same thing.

"Oh, go sit down, Johnson.." Mr. D said back, and rolled his eyes in the process. "I believe the table that you were sitting at is yours - the one no one else wants to sit at."

Clarisse simply reached over and grabbed Colton's collar. "I see that clenched fist.. but seriously.. don't try it.." she said, causing Colton to realize his right hand had clenched into a fist as he was watching the whole thing. Because Clarisse knew full well that knowing how much Colton, despite his calm demeanor and unusual combat style, could turn into a loose cannon just as unpredictable as a Colchis Bull in mere moments when he got enraged, wanted to go over there and scream "BECAUSE OF THE RULES!" in Mr. D's face.

To be fair, Colton was honestly half expecting Percy to snap, and again, he wouldn't blame him for doing so. But just as it seemed he was going to talk back, Percy stopped himself. He huffed and turned to Tyson, saying to the Cyclopes, "Come on, Tyson."

"Oh no.. that monster stays here until we decide what to do with it.." Tantalus said before both had left, causing a stir amongst the campers.

"Him! His name is Tyson!" Percy snapped back, frustrated beyond belief now.

"What the f*ck is wrong with him?" Sherman hissed. "Tyson helped us out with those Colchis Bills. Why the hades is he being treated like this?"

Clarisse's lips morphed into a scowl. For all her instincts to just let Tantalus show Jackson his place as payback for what he did to their father, Sherman was right. This was wrong, and she knew it. Listening to Percy recount the whole thing from his perspective, including Colton's near death kill shot at the last moment, only furthered her belief of this.

The final straw for the trio, aside from Kayla, was when in response to the whole thing, Tantalus started laughing. "Alright.. yeah, I feel you Colton. This guy is bad news.." Clarisse said, fists clenching out of rage right now.

"I so want to finish that f*cker off now.." Sherman hissed again, fury written all over his face.

"Yeah, same.. oh, the feeling of putting a damn bullet through the man's head.. and scattering his ass for miles.. how I want that.." Colton salivated, and then he turned to Kayla. She wasn't freaked out by what he was saying or anything, but she was also glaring with a silent fury at Tantalus.

"I want to stab him repeatedly with an arrow with a broad head tip.." she said at last, anger present in her voice. Colton knew then that the four of them all felt the same way. Tantalus was a threat to the safety and lives of every camper here.

"Leave us while we decide this creature's fate.." Tantalus commanded. Percy scowled but didn't fight it, merely saying something to Tyson and Tyson saying something back before he left to sit back at his own table alone.

There was a few moments of contented whispers from the other campers, but Colton did notice how their eyes flickered towards his cabin's table. They noticed. They know we're mad. Good.

Tantalus stood up a bit later, and even though Kayla was eating her food by now, the trio of Colton, Clarisse, and Sherman hadn't stopped glaring at Tantalus, each elder Ares camper full of rage.

"Another fine meal, so I'm told.." Tantalus started, while Colton couldn't help but snort. Says you, who still can't eat a piece of food even outside of the Fields Of Punishment.

"..and here on my first day of authority I'd like to say what a pleasant form of punishment it is to be here. Over the course of the summer I hope to torture.. er, interact with each and every one of you children."

Kayla whipped her head up from her food; Colton's fists clenched very hard; Clarisse starting cracking her knuckles, and Sherman let out a very low, audible growl. All four of them couldn't help but wonder whether Tantalus had been sent to them as an agent by Kronos or Luke. But what they all knew now was that this summer, to protect their siblings and the others, they'd have to face more than just monsters and a race against time to find a cure for Thalia's dying tree. They'd have to battle Chiron's replacement as well.

The next words that came out of Tantalus' mouth did not help at all. "You all look good enough to eat."

Mr. D clapped after what Tantalus had said, but the damage had been done. As Colton glanced around the Ares table, he could tell that each and every one of his siblings were thinking thoughts of bloody murder from the way rage seemed to boil over on their faces, not just Clarisse and Sherman.

"He ever tries to eat another camper, we're killing him.." said Clarisse, low enough so that Tantalus wouldn't hear. "Fair?"

Colton, Kayla, Sherman, and the rest of the Ares Cabin all turned to look at her and nodded. Even though Kayla wasn't part of the cabin, that didn't matter. She felt the same way as them, through and through. Like hell she was going to let Tantalus turn any of her new found siblings, especially the younger ones, into a stew.

"And there will be changes too!" Tantalus exclaimed. "We are reinstituting the Chariot Races!"

"Oh f*ck off.." Colton heard his older sister mutter. When Kayla, Colton, and Sherman turned to look at her, the look of pure horror on her face, even for a daughter of Ares, was unmistakable and told the trio all they needed to know. A feeling of dread spread through Colton and looking at Kayla and Sherman, he could tell neither of them had a good feeling about this either. The fact that he could see Lee, the head counselor of Kayla's cabin, have his face also contort in horror from where Colton was sitting did not help matters.

"Now I know these were discontinued quite a few years back due to, uh, technical problems.." Tantalus clarified and for once in his life, Colton really did not want to know what that meant. Unfortunately for him, the Fates had other ideas.

Lee's face had morphed from horror to rage and he had leapt to his feet, slamming his fists on the table shouting, "Three deaths and twenty six mutilations!"

Colton wanted to puke, but a sniffle from next to him stopped him from doing so. He turned his head and he felt his heart break in two. Kayla was crying, obviously horrified at the reason why chariot races were discontinued. Colton didn't know why, but he honestly felt pure rage and a bloodlust unlike anything he had felt before. Before he knew what he was doing, he had gently pulled Kayla onto his lap, with her facing him so she could cry into his chest, and wrapped his arms around her back protectively, much to the surprise of everyone who wasn't looking at Tantalus to see.

Colton didn't care and didn't notice, glaring daggers at Tantalus, imagining himself putting that bullet through his head more than before. Gently petting Kayla's head, something which seemed unnatural to him due to being an Ares kid - again he didn't care - he whispered into her ear, "I swear on the River Styx that I won't let Tantalus hurt you. I swear on the River Styx that before this summer is over, I'm going to defeat the f*cker for what's he doing to you, my siblings, and my fellow campers."

Clarisse didn't even try to stop him, for she could tell that right now, there was no reasoning with him. He was seeing red, and she knew it.

Multiple complaints sprung up from the various tables, with even some of Colton, Clarisse, and Sherman's younger siblings joining in.

"Yes.. yes.." Tantalus said, waving off the multiple complaints he was getting. "..but I know you all will join me in welcoming the return of this camp tradition."

"I.. want.. to.. butcher.. him.. so.. bad.." Clarisse hissed. Colton didn't blame her, he wanted to as well. Probably more badly than she did.

"Golden laurels will be awarded to the winning charioteers each month. Teams may register in the morning! The first race will be held in three days. We will release you from all regular activities in order to prepare. Oh and did I mention, the victorious teams cabin will have no chores for the month in which they win."

Colton was trying his hardest not to outright lunge like a psychopath for Tantalus at that moment. Even some of his younger siblings had gotten up from their seats and held his arms, just to hold him back.

Lee had noticed and he could tell that this was not going to end well. "There are definitely going to be some major fireworks this summer.." he muttered to Michael, who reluctantly had to agree.

Clarisse had enough. She stood up from her seat. "But sir! What about patrols? If we drop everything to ready our chariots-" she cried out, only to be interrupted by Tantalus, whose eyes couldn't help but blink upon noticing the extremely angry Colton sitting next to her, with Kayla sobbing into his chest, and a few of his siblings behind him, trying to hold him back.

"Ah the hero of the day.. brave Clarisse who single handedly bested the bronze bulls."

Colton snapped. "I'M SORRY! SINGLE-HANDEDLY?!" he roared, catching everyone by surprise. "MY SISTER GOT ONE OF THEM, I GOT THE OTHER!"

"What he said. I didn't -" Clarisse started again, but was once more interrupted by Tantalus.

"Not to worry my dear," Tantalus said, "this is summer camp. We are here to enjoy ourselves, yes?"

Easy for you to say when you're an ignorant piece of sh*t that for all we know might be an agent sent by Kronos, Colton thought angrily to himself. Words couldn't describe how enraged he was right now, yet somehow it seemed not enough for him to go over there and kill Tantalus with his own bare hands right now.

"But the tree-" Clarisse tried once more, and was again ignored. "Before we proceed to the campfire.. there remains one slight housekeeping issue."

Colton sighed in frustration, and as did Clarisse, Percy, Annabeth, and Sherman, as did a lot of the other campers, because they all knew full well what that meant. Tyson.

"Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase deemed fit to bring that thing here" Tantalus said gesturing to Tyson, causing Michael to explode and yell, "HE HAS A NAME, YOU KNOW!"

Clarisse sighed. Just her luck that her younger sibling and the raging bull of the Apollo Cabin were both equally pissed off now. Just my damn luck.

"Now, of course," Tantalus said, "Cyclopes have a reputation for being bloodthirsty monsters with a very small brain capacity-"

Nyssa opened her mouth to complain, but Clarisse didn't hear it, because at that moment, Colton snapped again, albeit in a way that left the entire area in silence.

"You can go f*ck yourself if you think that is true, you son stew boiling piece of sh*t.. considering you've been in the underworld for thousands of years.." he said audibly, and no one ever thought to yell out "language!" in response. Clarisse was left looking at her younger sibling in shock. What the hell was up with him? He had never acted like this before.

In his defense, Colton barely understood - or more accurately, was at a lost to explain - what was going on inside of him either.

Tantalus continued on, seemingly ignorant of the fact that he had multiple campers in two different cabins who really, REALLY wanted to kill him now.

"Now normally I would release the beast into the woods and have you hunt it down with torches and pointed sticks.."

Clarisse was about ready to launch herself and strangle Tantalus at this point, but like Colton, somehow couldn't bring herself to do it. The tension at the tables among many of the elder campers was morphing into pure rage now, and the others, especially the new and younger campers, trembled at what was happening.

"Until it proves worthy of destruction, we need a place to keep it! I've thought about the stables but that will make the horses nervous. Hermes cabin possibly?" Tantalus asked.

At that moment, Colton felt the same exact way Luke had felt about the gods before he decided to work for Kronos. That they were cold, heartless people.. well mainly Zeus.

"Come on.." Tantalus goaded, enjoying himself all the while, much to the continually growing fury of many of the campers, "the monster may be able to do some menial chores. Where should we kennel this beast?"

That's when Tyson's head lit up with the symbol of Poseidon over it. Colton couldn't help but lay off the rage long enough to smile. Poseidon.. you are one awesome father.

He had to admit, out of the big three, Poseidon was probably the most based of all of them. If he had been King, imagine how different things would be. But still, there was no time for what ifs right now.. and Colton knew it.

Because right now, he and the other elder campers at Camp Half Blood had three tasks in front of them. One is to find a cure to heal Thalia's dying tree. Two is to protect their siblings and themselves from both the monsters and Tantalus. Three - and the hardest task of it all - would be to get Chiron back, which was easier said than done.

But deep down inside, all of them - the Camp Counselors and Colton among others - were swearing themselves to achieving these tasks on the River Styx and they would all gladly rot in Tartarus if they failed.

Because failure was not an option.

(A/N: This chapter.. dear god. Colton is really going through some things.. a sign of things to come maybe.

Feeling like setting him up as an overpowered hero of the other Gods outside of the Big Three (as a counter to Jason and Percy) along with Kayla and maybe doing something where the three guys collide with Carter and Magnus down the road, plus Aru from the non-canonical Pandava Quintet series and Zane from the Storm Runner Trilogy and everyone is dragged in for the ride when these heroes collide with each other.

I mean, am setting him and Kayla up as overpowered heroes by the end of this that will be built upon in HOO and TOA, but not sure for the heroes crossover thing. Time will tell probably.

Anyway, hope you enjoy and see you in the next chapter!)

Chapter 7: IV. The Great Stymphalian Bird Turkey Shoot

Chapter Text

(A/N: Now you're all probably wondering how in the world a Whitworth wielding demigod is going to fit into this picture. I'll give you a hint.. the birds aren't the only things you'll find in the tree line. Plus, there's a reason Colton's been at Camp Half Blood for three years and hasn't run out of ammo for his main weapon yet.. it's Beckendorf. You'll see why here.)

Three years had taught Clarisse much about Colton since he came to camp. Among the many things about her younger brother she came to know full well was that he wasn't the kind who would do well in a chariot race, neither as driver or fighter. The reason why was simple. In the first case, given that the thirteen year old had never driven anything in his life, she really didn't feel like he was qualified to even drive a golf cart, much less a chariot with horses. In the second case, his style of combat made him ill-suited for the close combat conditions of chariot races.

He only preferred using a sword at all since his sister was teaching him how to use a sword as a backup weapon in case he had to fight in close quarters.

Colton was a bit different from other Ares kids because of this, and she knew it full well. Hence, she had chosen Sherman as her teammate in the chariot races while, with the acceptance of Mr. D, Colton was allowed to remain on duty as the only patroller for the camp boundary, which needless to say, despite being responsible for way more than what one thirteen year old could handle, it was a task that suited him just fine.

He functioned more like one of Artemis' best hunters than as a normal son of Ares, so Clarisse just ran with it.. since for the most part, unless there were too many monsters for him to handle, he could easily pick single monsters or even a duo of them without much difficulty. It was a system that she would see work to the camp's advantage on this particular day.

Tantalus, being the ignorant piece of sh*t - per Colton's opinion - that he was, was more focused on the chariot races, so he didn't notice at all that Colton wasn't there. To be honest, Clarisse preferred it that way. She had a feeling that things would get rough today when she woke up, so the less questions Tantalus asked about her younger brother's whereabouts the better.

As everyone was getting ready, Colton walked along the crest of Half Blood Hill, past Thalia's sickly tree. Honestly, in his opinion, he couldn't help but feel sorry for Thalia, having heard her story from Luke once. Losing your brother, then having to make the choice of sacrificing yourself for your companions.. no one should have to do that.

He looked up at the sky. Zeus had been the one to turn her into the tree she was right now, but no matter what, what Luke felt about him.. Colton couldn't shake off the fact that he currently felt the same way. Zeus was an ego-driven incompetent leader, and deserved to be replaced.

Casting those thoughts aside, his mind drifted towards.. well, probably the only other person than the Gods, Percy, Tantalus or his own siblings that he had been able to think of.

Kayla.

The daughter of Apollo had shook up his life, to put it bluntly. It hadn't been long before the relationship between him and her to become the talk of the camp, alongside the relationship between Percy and Annabeth. In all fairness, on the issue of the other potential couple, everyone other than these two could see that by now, Annabeth was head over heels for him from a mile away. But on the subject of him and Kayla, as far as he knew, they were fast friends. That was it.

So why did it feel like every time he thought that, he felt like the Goddess Of Love was laughing at him?

With his Whitworth rifle in the shoulder arms position, he did his patrol duties with what could be described as patience and stealth not commonly possessed by a child of Ares.

Everything was normal.

Before he saw a group of those birds.

Stymphalian Birds. He knew these birds well, having bulked up on knowledge after he came to Camp Half Blood. Monstrous man-eating birds that were like pigeons, these birds with sharp, celestial bronze beaks and the ability to shoot feathers like arrows at their prey were known for one thing and one thing only - stripping humans clean to the bone.

Colton's eyes went wide when he saw go past overhead through the barrier and into camp, literally ignoring the lone demigod with a rifle walking below them. Not good.

He picked up his pace, equipment clattering a bit as he went. Surprisingly, the birds continued to ignore him, even as he climbed into one of the trees he used from time to time as a sniper perch. He had a network of pathways connecting his sniper spots up in the trees, courtesy of Beckendorf and the Hephaestus cabin, and which some of the Apollo campers used from time to time. Most of the time though, it was only he who used it. Clarisse didn't really mind it all that much. As much as she was in the cabin who preferred getting up close and personal with their opponents, she always welcomed anything that helped her siblings operate to their fullest potential.

So here it was, that Colton made his along the well constructed pathways up in the trees as he followed the path of the birds, trying to see exactly where they were going.

Please don't be going to where I think you're going, he thought to himself as he followed them from underneath the leaves of the trees, because today was the day of the chariot races, and if the birds were heading to where the races were going on, everyone there - including Kayla - was in danger.

The thought of her made him quicken his pace, the birds somehow still not attacking him despite multiple groups of them passing overhead as he followed the original group.

When he got to where the birds were headed and peered over the edge of the sniper spot located at the Amphitheater, Colton's blood ran colder than the Goddess of Snow herself because for one, the birds had gone exactly where he had feared they were heading to. The Chariot Races.

A look of pure horror painted his face for a few moments, before he shook it off and the horror turned to rage.

"You have to got to be f*cking kidding me.." he hissed under his breath, as he took note of the scene. On the one hand, he could clearly see his sister and Sherman in their chariot, with their skeleton horses, below. He could also see the other chariots too, including Percy's chariot which had both him and Tyson on it.

He was not idly watching to see where everyone was though, because on the other hand, he could clearly see swarms of Stymphalian Birds in the branches around the area, though none of the birds had noticed him. He had gone straight into loading, getting down on one knee behind the five foot high reinforced wooden wall at the edge of the circular spot he was in, and moving his right hand quickly to his cartridge box and taking out one of the pink colored rounds.

They were monster cluster clearing rounds, or MCCBs for short, forged personally by Beckendorf. Designed to clear large groups of monsters by acting in the same way that canister shot in a cannon would turn it into a giant shotgun, they had also been designed to do so without harming demigods or other allies of the Olympians. Colton had a quite few of these in his cartridge box, and lucky enough for him, a box compartment in the wall near him in this particular sniper shot contained more.

In a matter of moments, he had bitten off the paper end of the cartridge, dumped the gunpowder down the barrel, and put the bullet in the muzzle before drawing the long rammer.

Down below, he could hear Tantalus applauding slowly before booming, "Right! You all know the rules, a quarter-mile track. Twice around to win. Two horses per chariot, each team will consist of a driver and a fighter. Weapons are allowed. Dirty tricks are expected but try not to kill anybody."

Colton quietly snorted. Still want to kill you though, you stew stirring asshole, he thought to himself as he rammed the round down the barrel and then returned to the rammer to its stow before he primed and co*cked the piece so that it was now ready to fire.

He peered over the edge once more. "Any killing will result in harsh punishment. No s'mores at campfire for a week! Now ready your chariots" Tantalus said, but Colton wasn't focused on him. He was looking for Kayla.

The chariots were being driven to the mark now, and he already knew that since three of the campers were able to drive to any extent - he knew Beckendorf had a learners permit - this was going to be anything but smooth sailing. The constant screeching coming from the hordes of birds in the branches near him and in the other trees around the other campers below him did not help matters.

He noticed Percy walk over to talk to Annabeth. From his Birds Eye perch, he couldn't hear what they were saying, but it definitely did not look friendly. He didn't care much about it though, as he continued to frantically search for Kayla. He found her sitting next to Michael along with almost the rest of the Apollo cabin on the side of the Amphitheater that he faced to the northeast of his position - since he was in the southwest corner of the clearing it lay in.

As if she had a gut feeling, her eyes drifted upward and met his, and the worried expression on his face as he pointed to the birds on either side of the amphitheater and made out the word "Enemy" with his fingers told her all she needed to know. She and the others were in danger.

He could see the fear manifest itself in her facial expression just as Tantalus barked for the race to begin. The chariots raced out onto and while he couldn't hear what was going on down there, he clearly had a good view of the action.

Too good of a view, he realized as the Hermes chariot immediately swerved into the Apollo one just after the race had started, into the wheel of the Apollo chariot, capsizing it before the horses of that chariot in return caused the Hermes one to capsize. From where he was, he could tell that both teams had suffered injuries, with one of the Apollo charioteers leaning up against their teammate limping and Connor clutching his wrist.

But just as he was about to switch his focus to the other chariots, a fluttering of wings indicated the worst to him. Oh no, they're about to attack, Colton thought as he gripped the Whitworth and slid the barrel over the top of the wall, aiming it squarely at the mass of birds starting to circle around everyone below.

Just as the birds start to dive-bomb, he opens fire.

BLAM!

He doesn't pay attention to how it went, since he's already frantically loading another round, but the shot deals plenty of damage. Dozens of birds are either killed instantly, torn apart, or fall out of the sky due to losing body parts in mere seconds as the round bursts into lots of shrapnel in the middle of the first group of diving birds.

He's loading faster than he ever thought possible and he doesn't know how, and he doesn't care. In only about 14 seconds, he's already loaded another round and without a second thought, he fires again.

This round tears into the birds now pecking at the campers below, killing a large group of them without them ever knowing what hit them.

He can hear the screams of the campers down below, and knows he has to help them, so he's loading and firing like an inhuman savage, loading rounds as fast as 12 seconds, just over half of the normal loading time it takes for one to load and fire three times in a minute. The sounds of his rifle going off vanishes from his mind as all he cares about is her. All he even thinks about as the mayhem unfolds is her.

Kayla.

Until Percy and Annabeth start playing one of Chiron's CDs on the loudest volume possible, it's a fight between him and the birds, one that the birds even though more numerous and despite the fact that some of them are starting to try to chew through the wall between him and them to get at the demigod pouring death from above, are losing.

It's 5 minutes of pure chaos, of a desperate fight between one man and a sh*t load of monsters. He's not even looking at where he's firing now, just slides the rifle barrel over the edge at a downward angle exposing only just his hands and fires before pulling it back over the wall and loading another round. She's the one thing that's driving the intense bloodlust he feels through it all, as the screams continue - he can hear hers as well - and he keeps firing.

Please be okay. Please be okay, he desperately hopes as the minutes pass and more birds continue to come. By the third minute, he's lost track of how many rounds he's fired off. By the fifth minute, he's not sure how much longer he can keep this up.

The sound of the CD is what alerts him to the fact that the tide has turned. He starts poking his head up and over the edge, and kills still more birds as Annabeth shouts "archers!" and arrows begin to pelt the birds as his shots burst like canister amongst them.

It's three more minutes of firing before the birds finally break off their attack and retreat, and Colton simply collapses, leaning his back up against the wall, sweating like crazy, exhausted, with the rifle leaning up against the wall next to him.

For the span of 8 minutes, he's fought like an absolute madman just to protect her, Clarisse, his siblings, and the others from the Stymphalian Birds. Before he passes out from exhaustion, he thinks of one thing. Clarisse, hope you're happy at your little brother today.

- — - — - — - — -

When he wakes up, he's back in the infirmary, and he blinks. How did he end up back here?

His thinking is soon interrupted by a familiar face. "Twice in two days.. by the gods Colton.. quit passing out.." he hears Lee say, and he turns his head, only for his whole head to turn red as a tomato as he blushes, and for good reason.

Standing next to Lee is Kayla, who has the cutest, adorable look on her face as she looks down at him in that way someone looks at their hero.

"Well? Do you have anything to say for yourself?" Lee asks, only for someone else to answer for Colton.

"Leave him alone, Lee. Even though I won the race, my little brother gave it all to save us.." Clarisse speaks, as she comes into Colton's sight line, and immediately hauls her younger brother out of the bed, and into an emotional hug.

She has tears in her eyes, a rarity for her, but she has a proud smile on her face. "Words cannot express how proud I am of you.." she says, hugging him tightly. "..I knew you'd come through for us."

Colton simply hugs his sister back, a warm smile on his face. "I'd throw myself into Tartarus if I didn't do anything about it, so I did what I was trained to do. Fight.." he says back, and Clarisse can't help but feel so happy for her baby bro.

She pulls away from him and steps back, only for Kayla to surprise both her and Lee by hugging Colton next, looking into his eyes, and saying sweetly, "You're my hero."

The massive blush on Colton's face the second after Kayla says it makes something perfectly clear to the two cabin counselors. For all of his talk of not being like Jackson, Colton was definitely following the Jackson route when it comes to relationships, except he wasn't as dense as Percy.

Even so, even for someone like Clarisse, it was cute to watch.

- — - — - — - — -

In the meantime, it had taken a full night just to get all of the dead birds off of the grounds. Even with some of them being cooked into a feast for Clarisse and Sherman, there were still so many dead or mangled birds around that they cooked a lot of the rest into stew for the campers and the rest were dragged and dumped just past the boundary. Colton's action had caused horrific casualties to the birds. After expending at least somewhere between forty to fifty rounds in the span of 8 minutes, he had killed at least close to six hundred birds and crippled dozens more, earning the action the nickname "The Great Stymphalian Bird Turkey Shoot" from the other campers.

Chapter 8: Kayla's POV - You're My Hero

Chapter Text

(A/N: An Interlude Of Sorts As We See Kayla's Perspective Of The Events Of Last Chapter.. And How Tantalus Reacts To Colton's Bird Massacre. Just to be clear, this won't be the last time we get Kayla's perspective on things.)

To describe Kayla in the moments leading up to Colton's desperate fight with the Stymphalian Birds to save her and the others would be.. deep in thought.

On the one hand, she couldn't stop thinking about how much she wanted to stab Tantalus through the head with an arrow or shoot an arrow through his head every time she looked at him.

On the other hand, the fact that Colton wasn't there as she sat in the stands of the amphitheater with her siblings was more disappointing to her than she first thought. Clarisse had simply explained his absence this way.

"He's always acted differently than the rest of us Ares kids. Being out on patrol is where he's in his natural element, and I prefer it that way."

To be fair, she did make sense. Kayla did notice Colton had been standing a good distance away from the other campers when she first saw him, inflicting the kill shot on the Colchis Bull with that rifle of his from point blank range. How that man could stand there with the massive bronze bull barreling down on him and stare it in the eye the way he did, a bit scared yet defiant, she had no clue.

Still, she couldn't help but feel anxious and clingy at the moment, mainly to be clingy.. to him. The fact that he let her cry into his shirt while he stared down Tantalus earlier and literally insulted the man to his face.. was amazing, to be honest. She had always felt that she was destined to be with someone who would do everything for her, which is why even at the fashion shows she attended, she always rejected the advances of any wealthy, rich boys that came near her. Having a war veteran that was actually a monster on her godly parent's payroll as a bodyguard definitely helped. (A/N: If you want to know who Kayla's bodyguard is, here's a hint: he appears as an antagonist in one of my other Percy Jackson fanfics (main series/crossovers).)

So it was that she sat there with her siblings, not really paying much attention to what was going on around her. At least until the incessant squawking started, causing her to snap out of her thoughts.

She looked up. Perched high up on the trees around them, or flying in to sit on them, were dozens, if not hundreds, of a peculiar sort of bird. With sharper and more curved beaks, made seemingly out of a different sort of material than normal bird beaks - since it shined in the sunlight way more than normal, eyes that sheened unnaturally, and looking larger and more bulkier than normal birds - or even pigeons for that matter, she had to admit that they were definitely interesting to look at.

After a while, she looked away from them, but then she noticed signs that these birds weren't friendly.

The first hint of trouble was from her own siblings. She glanced around after looking away from the birds and noticed some of her own siblings looking up at them. The expressions of two of her siblings were definitely what gave her the first hint.

She hadn't gotten to know all of her siblings that well yet, but she had warmed up quickly to head counselor Lee and a young, yet very bright ball of energy as she saw it, named Will Solace. Right now though, Will wasn't showing any of that happy, bright energy because he was looking up at the birds with a very worried, anxious expression on his face. It was as if he knew exactly what those birds were, as if he had seen them before. Next to him, Lee also gazed up at the birds with an anxious look on his face. He seemed to also recognize what those birds were.

Either way, Kayla seemed to get the message. Those birds weren't what they seemed to be.

At that moment, she felt the gaze of a familiar someone from above.

She looked up at the birds once more, gazing in a southwest direction, and came into eye contact with the familiar gaze of Colton Reynolds, who was right at the intersection of the two lines of birds, one stretching along the tree line opposite where she and her siblings were in a north and then northwest direction and the other extending along the south edge of the clearing and curving behind her in a northeast direction. She couldn't see all of him though, just his head and the end of his gun barrel behind a 5 foot tall carefully constructed wooden wall made of tree branches, wooden planks, and larger pieces of wood.

The look on his face, worried and scared as it was, gave her the second hint. It was when he immediately pointed to the two lines of birds in the trees and wrote the word "enemy" with his fingers, still having a terrified look on his face as if he also knew exactly what these birds were, told her what she needed to know. A feeling of dread, fear, and terror crept over her.

Those birds weren't friendly. They were monsters, and she - along with everyone else there - was in danger.

She wanted to scream, alert everyone to the danger, but couldn't. She knew that Thalia's tree had been poisoned, that's why the Colchis Bulls had been attacking when she arrived, but she didn't think it would get this bad, with hundreds of monsters all perched in the trees above them, looking down on them like a tasty treat, and somehow not having noticed Colton right in the middle of their lines.

How he had even gotten up in that perch, was a question she would definitely ask Clarisse and him later. Not right now though, not when fear froze her and she feared the worst.

She tried to shake it off and drifted her attention back to the chariots being led up to the mark, but try as she might, she couldn't shake off the feeling that something bad was about to happen soon. She couldn't help but watch Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase argue with each other from where she sat.

Colton had brought her up to speed on the story of these two, so she knew that at least there was some sort of friendship between the two. But she also knew that given how much Annabeth spoke and thought of Percy in the months since he had left camp last summer, before she had arrived here, it was evident to Colton and the others that Annabeth had much deeper feelings for the son of Poseidon than she realized.

Of course, that didn't stop her siblings, the Aphrodite cabin, and anyone else in camp willing to engage in gossip from talking about the other big thing to talk about, which was the relationship between her and Colton. Kayla didn't understand why.. they were friends, that was what she knew.

So why did it feel like she wanted him as more than just a friend right now? Was someone playing tricks with her or something? Was that it?

A conch horn blew, barely audible over all the screeching of the monster birds, causing her to shake away from her thoughts again and watch once more.

"By the gods, can those birds just shut up!" Michael complained next to her, seemingly not realizing what those birds were.

Tantalus barked out a single word to start the race, but she didn't hear it, and almost immediately, chaos started.

She definitely felt very anxious and worried when the Hermes chariot slammed into her cabin's chariot, sending both of her siblings manning it flying out and eliminating her cabin, though a part of her felt some satisfaction when the horses from her cabin's chariot caused the Hermes chariot, manned by the Stoll brothers, to capsize a few seconds later.

Everyone was whooping and hollering, caught up in the excitement of the race, oblivious to the danger that looked overhead. Kayla kept her eyes trained on the birds, waiting for when the terror would start. Just as she diverted her eyes a few moments later to see how the race was going, the area of the amphitheater suddenly got a whole lot darker.

Kayla knew full well what was happening, but she looked up anyway and for the first time in her life, the beauty queen / fashion model / archery champion felt like a damsel in distress. The birds had left their perch and were circling around above them, like hawks and vultures. For the first time at Camp Half Blood, she understood what Colton had meant when he had told her that fate could throw her front and center of things regardless of what she wanted. She suddenly understood why he swore that oath to protect her.

Because with Thalia's tree dying, there was a risk that this place would no longer be safe.

A flutter of movement out of the corner of her eye drew her attention as the birds hovered overhead. With what limited sunlight she had, she could definitely see the Whitworth rifle resting on top of the wall up there in the trees, Colton's head behind the gun and looking through the sight, a grim look of determination, duty, and rage painted on his face.

Then, all hell broke loose.

The birds began to dive, just as Colton opened fire. In the brief glimpses she had before she dove off of her seat onto the floor, she saw the round explode into pieces in the middle of the dive bombing birds, causing death and injury to quite a bunch of them. He was using a different type of ammo this time, she realized, but it didn't matter, not when she was screaming and bawling her eyes out now, terrified for her life. She felt someone get on top of her, followed by another.

Kayla opened her eyes and she could see the one immediately on top of her was Belle Adair from the Demeter cabin. She looked nearly as scared as Kayla was, but she used her body to shield Kayla's while someone else on top of them shielded both of them. (A/N: Belle is from a Percy Jackson fanfic made by another user of Wattpad, @-JASONSGRACE. Great set of fanfics, starting with "Beauty And The Beast", which takes place in the "Battle Of The Labyrinth" (Book 4). Highly recommend you check it out, and to the creator, this is a shout out to you for creating such good fanfics!)

From the screams, Kayla could tell it was Michael. She kept screaming as well, her scream mixed in with the scream of others, blending in with the screeching of the birds and the loud, rapid punctuating bangs of Colton's rifle going off repeatedly. She couldn't see him, only hear the sound of his weapon, but she wanted him desperately. To be enveloped in her friend's protective grasp, the safety it provided. But right now, at this point, since her siblings and her couldn't fire arrows due to the birds being everywhere, it was all down to Colton to defend them.

"f*cking sh*t! These things are f*cking.. OW! Annoying!" Michael screamed above the two girls, being pecked at by the birds. "To top it off, I'm being buried by dead birds!"

Kayla realized something even as she kept screaming and crying. If Lee was being buried by dead birds, that might mean that Colton was literally firing right down into the crowd of birds pecking at the campers to save her and the others.

How they weren't getting pelted with shrapnel, she didn't know, nor did she even care. All she thought was for him to save her and the others. She lost track of how long she stayed down there, buried underneath Belle and Michael. It felt like an eternity.

She also lost track of how many times she heard Colton's weapon going off. By how rapid it was, it felt like he had become Ares himself trying to save them.

BLAM!

BLAM!

BLAM!

Finally, the sound of loud, blaring music could be heard and the birds lifted away into the air.

"ARCHERS!" Annabeth shouted. Kayla couldn't tell where she was, but at least it seemed like the worst of it was over. As Michael got off of the two girls and grabbed his bow and arrows, Belle was free to move off of Kayla, and soon the redhead herself got up off of laying on her side.. only to gaze out into a sea of dead and dying birds. Practically all of them with cuts of varying sizes across their bodies and blood pouring out of them.

It was a chilling, horrific, scary sight. But Kayla didn't care much about it as instead of joining her siblings and firing arrows at the birds, she could only stand there and turn her head towards Colton's perch, more anxiety filling her as she noticed a couple dozen birds pecking at the wall between them and Colton, trying to get through. It wasn't stopping him though. All she could see over the birds was blurs of a gun barrel being aimed over the top of the wall, fired, and then pulled back over the wall, even as her siblings pelted the birds with arrows as well. Birds fell out of the sky to the ground, dead or dying, carpeting the ground with more bodies of the monster birds.

"Kayla! What are you doing?" Michael screamed in her ear, wondering why his younger sibling wasn't helping. Kayla simply pointed towards Colton's perch. Michael's eyes followed her finger, and he understood. "Colton's up there! He needs some help, guys!" he called to his siblings, and immediately, Kayla's siblings sent arrows in the birds' direction, being careful not to nick Colton's weapon as he continued to load and fire like a madman.

"Gotta hand it to him.." Belle said next to her, and Kayla turned to the girl from the Demeter cabin, noticing a smile on her face. "Only he has the guts to be up there in one of his sniper spots, loading and firing like a madman even with birds trying to bite their way through the wood to him."

Kayla couldn't help but feel a warm feeling at that remark about Colton, while finally, the birds broke off their attack and retreated. Colton also stopped firing, and the tip of the gun barrel could now be seen just poking out over the top of the wall, evidently propped up, but nothing more.

Kayla wanted to run to him, get up there somehow, and just hug him.. despite being safe, she was still very shaken and terrified right now and it showed, as tears were still coming out of her eyes. She didn't care that she had dirt on her hair or anything else at all. All she could think about was him.

It was at this point, clapping could be heard, and although Kayla didn't look towards who it was, the words spoken a couple seconds later confirmed that it was exactly who she thought it was.

"Bravo!" Tantalus cried. "It looks like we have our winners!"

"Are you serious?!" Michael exclaimed. "That's what he's worried about? After the rest of us nearly died?!"

A sudden sound of body hitting ground a few moments later caused Kayla to jump.

"Lee!" Michael shouted, and took a step forward, only to do the same thing.

This led to most of their lesser hurt and uninjured siblings fussing over the two eldest siblings, but Kayla didn't pay much attention. All she wanted was him. She didn't notice how badly she was shaking until Belle put her hands on her shoulders. "Look, Kayla.. breathe.." the other girl said to her. "He's all right. You'll be with him soon enough."

It didn't stop her.

"sh*t!" Belle cursed. "Clarisse! Sherman!"

Both mentioned siblings of Colton came running over, much to Tantalus' chagrin.

"Hey! Wait! You both should bask in the rewards!" he called out.

Kayla didn't hear what Clarisse said in response, but it definitely included a "f*ck off" in it.

"Belle.. what do you ne-.." Clarisse started, stopping mid-sentence when she saw Kayla uncontrollably shaking. "sh*t! What's wrong with her?"

"I think she wants Colton.. badly.." Belle said quickly, and Clarisse nodded to her. Kayla didn't look at either of them, she needed him now.

"Cool.. where is he? I heard his rifle going off.." Clarisse remarked, and Belle simply pointed to the perch where his rifle was, still propped up against the wall.

Clarisse understood, and turned to Sherman, "Guide them up to him, Yang. I'll take care with what stewpot wants." Then, she walked off back towards Tantalus.

"Those birds did nothing wrong.." Tantalus said, but Kayla didn't pay attention, not even when Sherman swore under his breath that he was going to probably gut Tantalus sooner or later. "Whoever that annoying marksman was will share the same punishment as the troublemakers."

"He can go f*ck all the way off.." Sherman swore.

All the while, Kayla could think one thing, even as she was led closer to the one person who could calm her down right now.

Thank you, my hero.

- — - — - — - — -

It was a good few minutes before they found him, as Sherman navigated the two girls through the wooden pathways up in the trees.

"How come I never noticed him up here until now?" Belle asked curiously, as she guided Kayla with one of her hands in hers.

"We kept the existence a secret.. Luke knew, Chiron knew, Mr. D knew.. hell everyone in the Ares, Apollo, and Hephaestus cabins knew about this. We just kept our mouths shut.." Sherman explained, as he walked ahead of them.

Coming around a corner behind one tree near the amphitheater, that's when they found him.

"Hey! I found him! I think he's passed out!" Sherman called out. He was about to call out to Clarisse below that they found him when Belle suddenly exclaimed behind them, "Kayla!"

Sherman turned, and saw a flash of red hair dart past. Despite her shaking, Kayla had shaken off Belle's grip, and darted up to the unconscious form of Colton, letting the tears fall and bawling her eyes out as she hugged him.

"Should I..?" Sherman asked nervously, before the long haired girl from the Demeter cabin just smiled in a mischievous manner.

"Nah.. let her.." Belle said. "It'll be fun to tease him about it once he wakes up. Besides, it's kinda cute."

The two demigods then just stood there for a while, letting Kayla have her moment with her hero.

- — - — - — - — -

She had outright begged her older sibling to let her sleep in the infirmary with him that night, because the minute she had stepped out of there after they had taken him in there, the anxiety and shaking started to come back. She didn't know why she had to do, but she knew she needed to.

So reluctantly, Lee let her. And so, she slept in the infirmary on another bed near his. Clutched in her arms as she slept was the teddy bear she had kept since she was two years old, a bit ragged but still in one piece. She slept soundly that night, without a care in the world or any nightmares of what had happened at all. Not when she was close to her hero.

(A/N: This is one of those head-canons of Kayla from other fanfics that I said I was incorporating into my version of the character here. In two fanfics involving Kayla written by Fanfiction.net user "pegasusbox", Kayla has a teddy bear that she really loves. I thought it was very cute, so even though she's aged up here - probably older than she actually is in canon, and with a different backstory, this headcanon of her will be part of her character.)
- — - — - — - — -

She was practically jumping for joy when he woke up the next morning, she was so happy. She still had no idea why, but she didn't care. She didn't care about it all right now.

After Clarisse had pulled away from him, she took the moment, walking up to him, hugging him, and saying to him as she looked up into his beautiful brown eyes, "You're my hero."

She loved the blush he made after he said that, because it was cute. Just like him.

She definitely felt embarrassed over the whole thing once she had realized what she had done a few hours later, but it didn't matter. Right now, in that room, it was only just her and her hero.

(A/N: His fatal flaw may be caring too much for others, but this is only just a taste of what happens when your fatal flaw might just be what turns you into a badass. Also, hope you do enjoy Kayla's perspective of the turkey shoot rampage that Colton goes on.)

Chapter 9: V. My Sister Is A Very Stressed Woman

Chapter Text

(A/N: Clarisse is a based woman, don't get me wrong. Yet, it's criminal that we only ever get to see her through the lens of anything and everything but the lens of a young woman who has stress from having to deal with younger siblings and now the added pressure of camp potentially no longer being safe and the guilt from the Stymphalian Bird attack that would have been disastrous had it not been for the intervention of Percy, Annabeth, and Colton.

With that out of the way, on with the chapter.)

Clarisse La Rue was a very stressed woman. Don't get her wrong, she loved being the head counselor of the Ares Cabin, and even if she wouldn't admit it, she outright adored her younger siblings, especially Sherman and Colton. But being the head counselor of a cabin of kids that either wanted to go and fight wars and kill people or in Colton's case, act like a loner who could secretly be a hunter of Artemis was no easy task. Far from it.

Her older sibling, Austin, had managed the Ares Cabin well in the years before he had left camp due to college and handed the position to Clarisse. He had no such problems managing the cabin seriously, and here she felt like she had way more responsibilities than just managing her siblings on her shoulders. Maybe Austin had similar issues and he just was smart enough to hide them effectively. (A/N: I am actually not referring to Austin Lake. Another one of my OCs, Austin Maxwell, takes the place of Luke as the host of Kronos in a different fanfic of mine. Here, he leaves camp a couple of weeks before Percy arrives, thus leaving Clarisse as the head councilor. Maybe I'll add him into the story in HOO or TOA. Dunno.)

Either way, she had a lot going on right now. Only Colton and Sherman saw it, the rest of her siblings were too busy basking in the rewards of their victory in the chariot races. As such, her favored siblings became an outlet for her to express her feelings and frustrations.

She had a lot on her mind. The guilt she had felt over not pressing Tantalus hard enough and insisting that patrols continue weighed heavily on her. She had even expressed such feelings back when the Apollo kids were treating her for her injuries.

The fact that Colton, who had been there in the right place at the right time, was being punished instead of rewarded for his valiant and desperate defense of the other campers, alongside Percy and Annabeth just felt wrong, and really further pissed her off.

WHY IS HE GETTING PUNISHED?! He was there when I couldn't be, she yelled internally at herself. It was madness that the man of the hour, her younger brother, was being treated like this by a man who had no business managing a camp of kids.

Oh, how she wished Chiron was back here. f*ck this stupid situation, f*ck Tantalus, f*ck that bitch Kronos, f*ck that traitor Luke, and most of all.. f*ck YOU ZEUS!

She wasn't the only one who was unhappy about how Colton was treated. Even as Tantalus continued about on with what was beginning to be seen by the other campers as his 'Nero-like' reign of the camp, Kayla Knowles was also pissed off at him over Colton.

She had been livid when she finally heard what Tantalus had said about Colton's brave action. That bitch! How dare he to that to my hero, she thought to herself. She may have been only thirteen, but even she could tell that this was the wrong way a soldier, even a soldier as old as her, should be rewarded.

She hated Tantalus.

Hated him with every fiber of her being. She wished that the centaur Clarisse, Colton, and the others had talked fondly of, Chiron, was here instead of Tantalus. Perhaps things would be much more stable, even with the urgency of the situation.

That brought her thoughts to the boy she couldn't stay from.. couldn't stop thinking about right now.. Colton. He was everything all the boys who had tried to claim her heart with their looks, wealth, and their totally atrocious behavior weren't. He was caring, not an asshole, and best of all, willing to put his life on the line to save others. I mean, who couldn't like a guy like that?

Either way, these were very strange times she was living in. As for Colton himself, he found himself having even more hatred for Tantalus. The minute he found out he was being punished for what he did, he nearly went apesh*t, with both Sherman and Clarisse managing to calm him down after a while.

Washing dishes with Percy and Annabeth was not fun, but it gave him an idea.. an idea courtesy of Annabeth. Percy had told her about strange dreams involving the satyr Grover Underwood, and something about him found 'it'.. something fleece related.

The minutes Annabeth put two and two together and told Percy that it was the Golden Fleece, he nearly dropped the plate he was cleaning. There was no way in the world that someone had found the Golden Fleece.

The more Percy talked though, it seemed apparent to Colton that this was for real. Its location, however, would not make it easy to get. The Golden Fleece was reportedly, from what Annabeth described based on what Percy said to be Grover's location, to be in Polyphemus' cave, located somewhere in the Sea Of Monsters, aka the Bermuda Triangle.

Talk about a tall task.

Percy and Annabeth then talked about getting Tantalus to give them permission to receive a prophecy and go on a quest, but Colton wasn't listening. This was.. perfect.

A quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece. This was just the break they needed.

He had to find Clarisse.

- — - — - — - — -

His sister was as per usual, in a very agitated and annoyed mood when he found her, sitting on the steps of the Ares Cabin all by herself after just having come back from patrol.

"Still stressed out over the whole situation?" he asked, trying to not exacerbate the frustration and anxiety he knew Clarisse was feeling. She turned, looked up at him, and simply nodded without showing much expression on her face.

"Well.. turns out getting punished for what I did may have actually been a good thing, since I overheard some stuff from Jackson and Chase that I think you might want to hear.." Colton said, a smug smirk on his face. Clarisse perked up, looking up at her younger brother again with a more open and listening kind of look.

"Spill, Colt. I'm all ears. Because if it's good.." she said, trailing off because she hoped that whatever came out of Colton's mouth wasn't a waste of time.

"Oh trust me.. it is very good" he replied, looking more and more hopeful. He then proceeded to explain what he had overheard, about Annabeth making the connection that Grover apparently had discovered the location of the Golden Fleece and that it was apparently located in the Sea Of Monsters. Clarisse looked at him skeptically after being told all of this.

"And Jackson knows this how..?" she asked him, very interested now.

"Apparently, he has some sort of dream link connection with the satyr as far as I know. Past that, I have no clue.. but if Grover has found it, getting him and the fleece out of there could be the break we need.." Colton said, his eyes twinkling like bright diamonds.

Clarisse grew a smile on her face. "Indeed.. it could.. all we need to do is get him to let us get a prophecy and a quest.. and by us I mean me because seriously, I need the rest of you to guard camp and the others from Tantalus and the monsters.." she said, looking him dead in the eyes with a very serious look. "Got it?"

Colton could only nod in reply. He wanted to help his sister - go on the quest with her to get the Golden Fleece, he really did want to, but he knew she was right. So he could only nod in response, because there were no other options for him at that point.

"Here's the plan, Colton.. if Annabeth and Percy are going to try to put forth this idea, then I'm going to use what spot I have in Tantalus' good graces and get that quest - and get the Golden Fleece and Grover. While I'm gone, you'll be the one in charge.." she added after a few moments of silence, causing Colton to gulp. To be fair, he had never been a counselor of any sort in his life, and right now, with the situation already as tense as it was, his older sister was asking him to take a major step forward in responsibility.

Once again, he couldn't say "no" to her because the situation as it was had become one of those times where saying "no" was not an option at all. Plus, if this worked, they could save camp - well more Clarisse than the Ares Cabin, but still. They had to try.

So, like before, he just nodded which made Clarisse smile. "I knew you'd understand, Colt.." she said, before getting up and walking away from the cabin, as the sun began to set. "Now come on, time to get that prophecy."

- — - — - — - — -

Truth be told, he hasn't expected that his siblings would leave him on one of the stone benches surrounding the campfire all by himself when they reported to it at around 9:00 pm, meaning that when Kayla came, a smile ran across her face when she noticed it, and so she walked over and immediately plopped down.. right next to him, taking his hand in hers.

He tried his hardest not to blush, but failed, much to the amusem*nt of the other campers. It was for a lack of a better word.. embarrassing. Yet at the same time, he honestly liked it having her with him, each of them holding hands. It was weird, and he didn't know why. Either way, there wasn't time to dwell on it right now. He had to stick to Clarisse's plan.

They had to get that quest.

Lee was trying hard - very hard - to cheer everyone up that night honestly, but it just wasn't bringing everyone's spirits up. Colton had to admit, just this once, he appreciated the effort.

Even so, only Tantalus clapped after the last song had finished, seeming to be the only person - other than Kayla and every camper who was staring at both Colton and her - having a good time. "Well that was lovely!"

Lee shot a withering glare at Tantalus as he led his other siblings minus Kayla to sit back down. Evidently, he didn't like that coming from Tantalus at all and Colton couldn't blame him.

"Now then!" Tantalus stated. "Some announcements about tomorrow's schedule."

Colton rolled his eyes and he heard a low growl emit from Kayla next to him. Looking at her, she was also glaring fiercely at Tantalus. Both of them seemingly felt the same way. What did he have for them this time?

Before Tantalus could say anything, Percy and Annabeth suddenly stood up, catching everyone's attention except Clarisse and Colton, who for those that paid attention to those two, simply gave each other a knowing, determined look.

"Sir" Percy said firmly, and everyone leaned forward to listen.

Almost everyone, that is. Both Clarisse and Colton mentally prepared themselves. They both knew it was time to get phase one of their plan underway. It was no longer time to plan, now it was game time.

"Oh? Kitchen boy has something to say?" Tantalus asked in a mocking tone, causing some of Colton's siblings to snicker, though him and Clarisse just held their laughter inside themselves. Although it was amusing to see Jackson get knocked down a peg right now, there was no time for such things.

"We have an idea to save camp.." Percy began, and Colton and Clarisse waited, keeping themselves patient for the right moment.

"Indeed.." Tantalus said, more ignorantly than anything else. "Well, if it had anything to do with chariots-"

"The Golden Fleece" Percy interrupted. "We know where it is."

Kayla was surprised by this, and turned to look at Colton, but the way he looked at his sister with a knowing smirk on his face told her that he already knew about this. How, she did not know.

"The fleece can heal anything" Annabeth continued. "It made an entire land fertile and stopped all sickness. It was one of the most wanted ancient treasures ever. The fleece can save the camp. I'm certain of it."

Tantalus' response simply made Colton nod at Clarisse. Time to act now.

"Nonsense" Tantalus replied dismissively. "We don't need saving. Besides, the Sea Of Monsters? That's hardly an exact location. You wouldn't even know where to look."

Clarisse and Colton stood up, surprising everyone again.

"With all due respect, sir.." Clarisse began. "We had been attacked by two Colchis Bulls which got inside the barrier due to the tree being poisoned before your arrival.. we were attacked by different types of monsters before then that were able to get past the barrier to the tree being sickly, which due to the fact that it ties in with the barrier, made it weaker."

"She's right.." Colton added, taking secret satisfaction in the fact that they were about to use Tantalus' own job against him. "That tree is tied to the barrier around the camp. That barrier goes down, the monsters are able to get in freely, and soon poof, no more campers and you would be out of a job and back in the Fields Of Punishment. It's that simple."

Those twin sets of reasons from Clarisse and Colton seemed to make Tantalus understand, because he started to seem deep in thought. Percy, however, kept going.. just as the duo hoped he would. Indeed, no one even noticed the slight smiles that developed on either of the two's faces as Percy talked.

"I would know where to look.." he said sternly, to which Annabeth looked at him confused and whispered something to him. Both Colton and Clarisse looked at each other, confused. Colton hadn't heard anything about this, so he and Clarisse were both caught by surprise.

"Thirty, thirty-one, seventy-five, twelve."

It took him a few seconds, but Colton recognized exactly what those numbers were. Coordinates, of course, he thought to himself. Turning to Clarisse after having turned his head away, he simply and quietly mouthed "coordinates" to her and after a couple of seconds, his sister nodded, understanding now what those numbers were completely.

"Ooo-kay.." Tantalus muttered, being as dismissive and ignorant as ever of reality. "Thank you for sharing those meaningless numbers."

It took a stern look from Clarisse to keep Colton from launching himself at Tantalus over that one.

"They're sailing coordinates.." Percy shot back. "Latitude and longitude. I, uh, learned about it in social studies."

Annabeth got the hint then and there, and Clarisse couldn't help but just grin at her younger brother for being smarter than an Athena camper for once. She (Clarisse) may have helped homeschool the kid for parts of 3 straight years, but all of that was paying off now.

"30 degrees, 31 minutes north, 75 degrees, 12 minutes west. He's right! The Gray Sisters gave us those coordinates. That'd be somewhere in the Atlantic, off the coast of Florida. The Sea of Monsters. We need a quest!" Annabeth exclaimed, and that really got things going.

"Wait just a minute-" Tantalus started, but it was too late.

"WE NEED A QUEST! WE NEED A QUEST!" the other campers start chanting much to Tantalus' frustration, and to Clarisse and Colton's amusem*nt.

The flames of the fire rose higher as the campers kept repeating the chant over and over. "It isn't necessary!" Tantalus insisted, but the other campers didn't listen. They kept repeating it over and over.

Finally, Tantalus seemed to have had enough. "Fine!" Tantalus shouted, looking very, very angry now. "You brats want me to assign a quest?"

The response from the other campers was instant.

"YES!"

"Very well," he agreed. "I shall authorize a champion to undertake this perilous journey, to retrieve the Golden Fleece and bring it back to camp. Or die trying."

Colton and Clarisse smirked at each other, and it was only at that point that Kayla realized that the two had something planned that the others didn't know about. Suddenly, it seemed like when they put their minds to it, Ares kids could be very sneaky when it came to their plans. At least, these two showed it.

"I will allow our champion to consult the Oracle!" Tantalus announced. "And choose two companions for the journey. And I think the choice of champion is obvious." Clarisse and Colton knew full well exactly who that person was, and they just didn't say anything, just kept smiles on their faces.. which Tantalus still hadn't noticed.

"The champion should be one who has earned the camp's respect, who has proven resourceful in the chariot races and courageous in the defense of the camp. You shall lead this quest...Clarisse!"

The campfire glowed many different colors at the moment for some reason, but Colton didn't care. Phase one of Clarisse's plan was seemingly working to perfection.

The Ares cabin, except for Colton, started stomping and cheering, "CLARISSE! CLARISSE!"

Clarisse pretended to look stunned. Then she swallowed, and her chest swelled with pride, pride also from the fact that her plan was working. "I accept the quest!"

But, of course, as things looked like they were going flawlessly, Jackson had to open his mouth again and throw a wrench into it, much to Colton's annoyance. Seriously, that kid needed to learn when to shut up.

"Wait!" He shouted. "Grover is my friend. The dream came to me."

"Jackson.." said Colton. "For the love of the gods, don't do this to yourself." He put it far more calmly and nicely, despite his anger, than some of his younger siblings at that moment.

"Oh shut up Percy!" huffed Maximus, a red haired boy slightly taller than Colton from behind Clarisse. From behind himself, Colton could hear Sherman bellowing. "Sit down! You had your quest last summer!"

"Yeah! He just wants the spotlight again!" Benjamin roared.

Clarisse leveled a glare at Percy as well while saying, "I accept the quest. I, Clarisse, daughter of Ares, will save the camp!"

Colton just gave off a smug look at Percy while his siblings cheered behind him, and Percy's eyes widened. He just realized that me and Clarisse had planned what we did, he thought to himself.

Percy's face fell into a grimace, dejected, but soon other campers tried to argue. "That's not fair!" Malcolm yelled, placing a hand on his older sister's shoulder and glaring at Colton and the other Ares kids. Kayla just watched it all with bewilderment and intrigue. The more she hung around Colton Reynolds, the more she was finding out that he definitely broke the typical Ares kid stereotype.

"It's Annabeth's and Percy's idea!" Malcolm continued. "They should get to go on the quest!"

"Yeah! Last time I checked, the dream came to Percy, not you!" Travis joined in. "..and as we know Percy has a pretty strong track record with impossible quests."

Sherman wanted to open his mouth again, but Colton put out a hand in front of him, and Sherman understood, letting his older sibling do the talking.

"For your information, Travis.." Colton said, a calm collected look on his face. "One time does not equal a track record. He needs two or more to have one. Plus, it's a literal sea of monsters. Don't necessarily think that two young ones like Percy and Annabeth are going to make it very far. Heck, on my own, I likely wouldn't make it very far either. Besides, last time I checked, only one cabin is in this guy's good graces and it's the Ares Cabin."

That's when Will Solace of all people decided to speak up in favor of Clarisse, which Colton would admit, he did not see that coming. "It would be a little unfair to give this quest to Percy and Annabeth after they just got one last year," Will said. "Clarisse is strong and she cares about camp, I think she can do it!"

Colton smugly smirked. "See.." he said. "Even Will gets it." Clarisse simply gave Will a smile.

"Why not have all three of them go!" Katie from the Demeter cabin cried out, and the entire camp either erupted into laughter or complaints. They all knew that there would be no chance that would work out well. But as usual, Colton was one step ahead of them all. "True.. but the prophecy she gets could potentially dictate that could happen.." he said, knowing full well that Tantalus wouldn't like that.

Clarisse couldn't help but smirk. He may be different, but my little brother definitely thinks ahead, she thought to herself, for she knew he was right, and timed that remark well.

"Stop doing your stupid flower power, peace and love sh*t, Gardner," said one of the male Demeter campers.

"Well in that case, Percy and Annabeth got the dream so they should get the quest!" Katie huffed.

More arguments broke out.

"Well I don't care what Will says," Michael stated, "Clarisse would just f*ck it up. Percy and Annabeth went to the underworld and came back alive- I think they can handle the sea of monsters."

Before Clarisse could say anything, Colton had turned his head to Kayla's brother and calmly said, "Wanna run that one by me again, Yew?"

Michael simply shut his mouth from then on.

The arguing almost degenerated into a full on food fight, but by this time, Tantalus had enough. "Silence you brats!"

Everyone froze, all except Colton, who simply plopped back down next to Kayla, who made him blush because she was looking very interested in him. "You're smarter than you look.. and I like it.." she whispered.

"Sit down.." Tantalus boomed. "..and I will tell you a ghost story."

Said story turned out to be a bit of an embellished version of his own story, which Colton tuned out. He was glad he only tuned back in right before the end though, because from the slight squeezing of her hand, Kayla could tell he was definitely pissed off by Tantalus implying that he would probably kill the campers for being disobedient to him. Clarisse could also tell, and she looked worried. At this point, it was only a matter of time before these two came to blows with each other.

It wasn't just the two of them that noticed. The rest of the campers did as well, and they felt worried too. Because it was definitely like when Tantalus had first come four days ago, because Colton never acted as mad as that before. Something had to give, and they didn't want to know how long it would be before the proverbial volcano in their ranks right now exploded.

"Clarisse, the oracle my dear, go on," Tantalus said. Clarisse looked sour, which was a rather unusual sight for people to see.

"But sir-" she started, and Colton sighed. In all honestly, he should have factored in the possibility that doing this would have made his elder sister look like the teacher's pet, which was not who Clarisse was. He didn't, and he felt like an idiot for not doing so.

"Go!" Tantalus bellowed, and Clarisse left for the Big House.

Colton's fury-filled face was glaring holes into Tantalus like Colton's own eyes were lasers, but it didn't stop Tantalus from looking squarely at Percy. "What about you, Percy Jackson? No more comments from our dishwasher."

Tantalus then turned to Colton, intending to say something to him, but one bout of eye contact with the angry kid and the new activities director was quickly looking the other way.

"Good. Okay then.. and let me remind everyone- no one leaves this camp without my permission. Anyone who tries... well if they survive the attempt, they will be expelled forever."

Colton started moving his foot, scratching the dirt around it. For those campers that could see what he was doing, and not shocked and anxious about the future, the message was deadly clear.

"H E ' S A D E A D M A N."

"But it won't come to that. The harpies will be enforcing curfew from now on, and they are always hungry! Good night, my dear campers. Sleep well," Tantalus said tauntingly.

Colton held his anger in, trying not to snap. But it seemed like Tantalus was doing everything he could to make the campers snap at him. One thing was for sure, it took almost all of his siblings to drag him back up to the cabin, but he couldn't stop glaring holes at Tantalus.

(A/N: Seems like Colton's getting close to a boiling point with his fury and hatred towards Tantalus. Wonder how long it takes before he snaps. ;) )

Chapter 10: VI. The Temporary Reign Of Colton I

Chapter Text

(A/N: There's going to be something funny in the dynamic of these two once they fall for each other, in that every time monsters and villains try to rip them apart, they are only going to either a.) become stronger or b.) have one or both of them claw their way back to each other.

Like, his feelings for her are what's making him be like he was in the last chapter.. essentially turning his fatal flaw into potentially the key to unlocking his full potential. He has no idea.

Also, he's temporary head counselor. Oh boy. Add in a snake day while Clarisse is gone, and you have definitely got some more ship teasing moments. Spread out at random over the first 7 days.

As for their obliviousness, Luke and Percy will unintentionally help them realize how they feel for each other. But I'm saving that for BOTL.

Also this chapter was fueled by listening to multiple versions of the song "Safe and Sound".

Anyways enjoy!)

Day One
Dawn

Being a head counselor was.. for Colton, something that definitely felt like he had stepped into a whole new world. Or to be more accurate, the duties of it were split between Sherman and Colton in a mutually beneficial sibling partnership. Since Colton was more of a loner who preferred to do things his own way, Sherman handled their younger siblings while Colton concentrated on Clarisse's other duties for now.

To his credit, after last night, Tantalus made sure to give Colton a very wide berth to the point of bending his own rules just to make an exception for Colton. So it was when he woke up about an hour before the butt crack of dawn the next morning - having said goodbye for now to Clarisse the night before - and gotten himself changed out of his sleep clothes, gotten himself ready, and headed out of the cabin without waking his other siblings with his gear on and rifle in hand to start a morning patrol, the Harpies simply let him do his thing.

Clarisse had left him a bag of poptarts in his knapsack for him to eat for breakfast, and for all subsequent mornings for a week until she was gone, so he ate it quietly while sitting up in one of his sniper perches, this one directly opposite Thalia's dying tree.

He was lucky that he had fitted his rifle with a homemade silencer the night before, for just as he finished eating, and daylight started to light up the Atlantic Ocean and the grounds before camp, he spotted a medium sized hellhound come out of the woods at the base of the hill to the left of the tree, apparently having also waited for sunlight to at least let it have a sense of direction as to where it was going. Once the sunlight had lit up enough of the area, it started walking up the hill towards the camp, not noticing the demigod hidden in the trees.

He slid out the barrel of the rifle over the top of the wall, peered through the sight at the approaching hellhound, then he fired.

Poof!

Thanks to the silencer, little if any noise was made as the round, a normal bullet this time around, was launched at the monster and the hellhound was killed instantly, falling on its side with a bullet hole through its head, a clean through and through headshot.

He loaded another round quickly, expecting maybe some more monsters to come, but it was evident soon enough that for now, the woods around Camp Half Blood were monster free.

Good, Colton thought to himself. So much the better.

He sat down on his butt, leaning up against the wall, yawning as he did so.

It may not be a perfect day in Camp Half Blood, thanks to Tantalus, but on this morning he could rest easy.

- — - — - — - — - — -

Day Two
Dawn

Once again, he had woken up prior to the butt crack of dawn, but before he could go up to his usual spot, a familiar scream made his blood run cold.

Kayla.

Any mystery as to why evaporates seconds later when he hears the hiss of snakes. And lots of them. He's out of the cabin in a flash, only having just changed into normal clothes with a sword in his hand before any of his siblings are out of bed, and immediately is slashing and hacking away snake after snake after snake, in the pre-dawn darkness. The snakes are in a horde today, but he still manages to fight his way through to the doorway of the Apollo Cabin by the time the sun comes up, having lost track off of how many snakes he's killed. The rest of the campers are scrambling to get up, only for Tantalus to come up and tell them to go back to sleep.

He doesn't hear the complaints of the others, because he's already deep into the Apollo Cabin.. and into what can only be described as hell. Snakes are all over the place, with the door to the bathroom shut tight. The amounts of crying and screaming coming from inside there indicate that the Apollo cabin is trapped in the bathroom, leaving it down to Colton to end their terror stricken morning.

For the next solid hour, even as Tantalus orders the rest of the cabins to go straight to breakfast, he's hacking at snakes, killing and clearing out the Apollo cabin of them in a methodical fashion. He knows he can easily be bitten by one of these snakes, but he doesn't give even one sh*t about it. He's only focused on her, and he still doesn't know why. He just feels an overwhelming desire to make sure she's happy and safe.

Slowly but surely, the live snakes in the cabin diminish as they are rooted out from every conceivable spot and killed, leaving the floor littered with dead snakes. At last when it is over, he takes a broom and proceeds to spend another fifteen minutes sweeping all the snakes out of the cabin before walking over to the door. "Lee.. you and the others can come out now.. all of the snakes are now dead.." Colton says, before there is an anxious 5 minutes of waiting and listening to sobs and crying before Lee finally works up the courage to say, "Thank you."

He unlocks the bathroom door, and allows it to open, letting the Apollo Cabin funnel out past Colton. Michael, however, seems to have recovered quicker than his siblings on this occasion because before Colton can do anything, Yew grabs him by the collar and chucks him into the bathroom before he props a chair up against the door, and just starts laughing.

"WHAT THE HADES, YEW?!" Colton shouts, before the sobs of a familiar female behind him remind him of why he even went into the cabin in the first place. He turns around and he swears, it feels like his heart splits in two.

Kayla's in the bathtub, in just a pair of fancy slippers, a white t-shirt, and her underwear, holding her teddy bear, sobbing and shaking uncontrollably again.

In an instant, he's put down the sword and hopped into the bathtub, gently pulling his terrified friend into a gentle hug. Gently patting her back, he doesn't get up out of the bathtub, he just stays in there, calmly saying as she sobs, "It's gonna be alright. Your hero is here, Kayla. You're safe now."

For a while, all the sounds outside vanish and it's just the two of them. Gradually, she calms down, going from terrified to just being happy and satisfied. He doesn't let go, and she doesn't feel like wanting to make him.

He forgets how long he stays in there with her, all he knows is that it's long enough that when Sherman eventually comes into the cabin, removes the chair, and comes across the sight of the two in the bathtub, Kayla now peacefully napping in her hero's grasp, Colton has to swear his younger sibling to secrecy and to tell no one of this or he'll come and kick his ass.

Sherman eventually breaks the oath next summer.

- — - — - — - — -

Day Two
Evening

Many of the campers have already gone back into their cabins, feeling dejected and tired after the events of the day, but Colton remains at the campfire, with what had once been a smoldering pit of embers earlier for the most part now glowing brightly for him. He doesn't know why he's still there for the most part. He just doesn't feel like sleeping with his siblings for the most part.

He thinks of Clarisse and wonders how she's doing. A letter she had written yesterday had made its way into camp in the afternoon and his siblings were all taking turns reading back in the cabin, but Colton wasn't interested. All he knows is that she must be doing what she has to.

She's not alone in that monster infested area though. Sherman had informed him when he found him and Kayla in the tub that Annabeth, Percy, and Tyson were gone from their cabins, thus forcing Tantalus to make the rules stricter, much to Colton's frustration.

Everywhere, he sees campers struggling to keep themselves optimistic and hopeful in the face of this anti-fun assault unleashed upon them.

He hates it.

It breaks his heart almost as much as seeing Kayla in the bathtub that morning. By this point, he starts to accept that their friendship is a bit closer than he first imagined. Is he okay with it? Yes.

Either way, she's what keeping him going for the most part through these trying times, which says a lot about how he much has changed in the past four days.

He's interrupted from his reverie by the sound of Lee, who's in his night clothes, coming down with a teary-eyed Kayla in tow. "What are you even still doing out here Colton?" Lee asks him.

"To be honest Fletcher, I don't know.." he says, wanting to yawn but stopping once he sees Kayla. In an instant, he's gotten off of his butt, and taken the girl in a hug. "Can't sleep?" he asked Lee.

"Nightmares. Both those hated snakes and those Stymphalian Birds. She's really been shaken up the past couple of days.. she can't even sleep without you now."

Colton just sighed. As much as he wanted this to be a joke, he knew that it wasn't. He thought of Apollo and how it must pain him to see his daughter shaken up beyond belief, scared out of her mind and thinking nowhere is safe except with her hero.

And so, he ends up sleeping with her in his arms, teddy bear pressed between them, a smile on her lips, and possessive thoughts slowly creeping into his head, because he knows from the sounds of murmurs in the cabin that his male siblings, except Sherman, are jealous as hell.

(A/N: This is another fanfic shout out to Az56796743 who is doing a fanfic on Luke Castellan. In their fanfic, Luke and the girl he eventually falls for, the Demi-primordial daughter of Gaea, sleep in the same bed as friends at one point. Given how Kayla basically is shaken up, which let's be honest, only underscores how difficult things must have been at Camp Half Blood at this point, is a far-cry from the archer we most often see her as.)

- — - — - — - — -
Day 3
Morning

He ends up taking her with him on patrol, not minding carrying a sleeping daughter of Apollo with a teddy bear in her arms in his own up to his sniper's perch. It's only 25 minutes after the sun is up that she awakens, and nearly panics for a moment. He's there instantly, calming her down, and she relaxes and smiles.

He gives her a piggyback ride on the way back to her cabin so she can change her clothes, and to Lee, it's honestly one of the cutest things he has ever seen. The sight of Kayla on his back, happy as one could ever be, lifts the campers' spirits at a time when they need it.

- — - — - — - — -
Day 4
Noon

He's out on patrol along the barrier when one of his youngest siblings, Claude who is only just eight, runs up with tears in his eyes. It's unusual for Ares kids to be crying, but no matter who it is, since Sherman isn't around, he acts like a big brother. In an instant, he has Claude in a hug and gently pets his head, trying to get his little brother to calm down.

"Hey buddy.. it's okay.. I'm here.. what's wrong?" He asks. It takes a few minutes of calming him down before he states what the problem is.

"Hector called me a bad word.." he says, trying not to burst back into tears. Fortunately, with the help of his older brother, he succeeds.

His sibling, meanwhile, is made to run 50 laps around the arena before he can join his siblings at the campfire that evening as punishment.

- — - — - — - — -
Day 5
Breakfast

It's now that Sherman has to take over caring for his siblings after Colton's couple of days of acting like a good sibling, because Tantalus was being an absolute asshole to.. everyone.

It was really pissing Colton off.. and the only one who could even keep him under control most of the time was.. Kayla.

Even Sherman noticed by now, that he devoted enough time to being with her as a friend that just her being around him kept his anger in check. How long that would last, he wasn't all that sure.

What was true that since the third night, Colton had commandeered Clarisse's queen sized bed for him and Kayla, having used some of his time to write up a note for Clarisse explaining his actions. As cute as it was to some, the fact that his brother and her still viewed themselves as friends was definitely frustrating.

Having Percy and Annabeth being clueless as heck about their feelings for each other was bad enough, having two potential couples oblivious.. it made Sherman want to rip his hair out sometimes. (A/N: Yeah, he definitely can't stand it. Lol.)

Right now at Breakfast, was a perfect example of Kayla keeping Colton in check. Travis had said to the kids of the Hermes Cabin that they would fly on actual pegasi this morning, and one of the youngest, Avery, had accidentally bumped straight into Tantalus while walking to breakfast, who proceeded to berate the girl and then punish the whole cabin.

Colton tried to get up from his seat, but a gentle tug on him by Kayla had him sitting back down, content to glare in bitter hatred at Tantalus. It was weird to say the least, it was like Kayla was basically acting as a way to keep his fatal flaw in check.

Even so, Sherman knew full well that the pressure was building inside of Colton, and it was only a matter of time before his brother full on snapped. He only hoped he wasn't in the crossfire when that happened.

- — - — - — - — -
Day 6
11 am

"God, he's such a bitch!" Travis complained to Colton, who simply nodded.

It was no secret that the older of the two head counselors of the Hermes Cabin wanted to wring Tantalus' neck out of pure fury and send him back to the Fields Of Punishment at this point.

Colton couldn't blame him.

He had cracked down hard on the Hermes Cabin throughout these complex and difficult days, banning pranks on Day Two after a whoopee cushion incident in the afternoon. It didn't necessarily help that the girl Tantalus berated yesterday, Avery, was by now a nervous sobbing wreck, and only had managed to be calmed down last night by Silena's intervention.

It was cruel, it was horrible, it was disgusting. It was all three of those things.

With every time he saw him, Colton couldn't help but be reminded of just how much Tantalus proved that on a basic thought level, Luke had been correct. The Gods had, for the most part, grown cold and uncaring about their children, and Tantalus exemplified this. It was bad enough that Travis had been able to convince him to be on board with his plan - that he had managed to convince the other cabins of - of revolting on Tantalus through pranks.

Those stupid rules of Zeus prevented the good ones from intervening on behalf of their kids, which at this point, Colton had to believe that probably most of the Olympians fell into this category of those who wanted to intervene but couldn't.

He would later receive a message from Apollo later on that day indicating how correct Colton was in that assessment.

But the bottom line, Colton could feel something stirring inside of him. Something that wanted to fight.

For better or worse, the final confrontation was drawing close.

- — - — - — - — -
Day Seven
Afternoon

He was sharpening his sword - the one he used for Capture The Flag, which had a longer than average blade stained with both monster blood and blood from other campers that in a rare instance of his Ares' side showing, he had refused to allow anyone to clean the blood off - when the final straw arrives.

He was by himself in the armory - Sherman was managing their siblings - when Travis bursts in, face full of horror and out of breath. Colton takes one look at him and his blood runs cold when he realizes.

"How bad is it?" Colton simply asks, and Travis takes a few moments to gather his breath before he can respond. The sound of crying rises through the silence, making the point more clear to him.

"Very bad.." Travis responds, and in an instant, Colton is on his feet, the two boys racing back towards the source. He's left the sword in the armory, probably requiring some more sharpening since he dropped it, but he doesn't care.

When he arrives at the scene at the arts and crafts area, his anger level goes through the damn roof and then some. Kayla's crying and so is Will too. Lee and Michael are watching Tantalus walk off, fury on their faces. Nearby, a destroyed painting of some of the campers having fun lays on the floor, in pieces and smudged. The other campers, including Colton's own siblings, are horrified.

Colton turns to Travis, and Travis goes from horrified to terrified. Colton's eyes have somehow gone from brown to blood red now, and he has a glare of fury so intense it looks like that he could kill Kronos without a second thought.

"What. Happened?" Colton says, anger seeping like crazy through his words, and Travis doesn't waste a second before responding.

"Apollo Cabin was making stuff, and Kayla and Will collaborated on a really beautiful painting of many campers, including you, having a good time like in the past" Travis explained. "They invited everyone over to see it, and they were planning on showing you. When Tantalus came in, he berated the entire Apollo Cabin, said he could do better. Then he broke the painting.. and spent the next five minutes insulting both Will and Kayla before leaving."

Colton simply nodded, and then his eyes turned back to brown in front of Travis, though the intensity of his glare still remained. Then, he set to work calming down both sobbing Apollo kids, but Travis now knew something that the rest of the camp didn't.

Colton was far more different than other Ares' kids than even Clarisse had realized.

He had an omen then that it wouldn't be long before whatever was lurking inside the boy would make its presence felt. Because for him to have his eyes go blood red, that was not normal. Not even for Colton.

Travis only hoped that Clarisse would come back soon, since it was likely that it was only a matter of days or even hours now before Colton finally lost it, and so completely that not even Kayla could stop him from going at Tantalus.

Travis felt worried and sick. On the one hand, they might succeed in driving Tantalus away from camp. But on the other hand, they might have to find out just how deep the dark side of one of their own goes in the process. He certainly didn't want to find out the latter, because Colton was one of the more calmest Ares kids he had ever known. Surely, he couldn't be worse than Clarisse when he got completely pissed off.

Could he?

(A/N: Things have reached a tipping point, it seems. Tantalus has seemingly poked the bear and it will only be a matter of time before he finds out how wrong that move was. As for Colton's eye color change, that's just a sneak preview of what's inside him. Since the quest for the Golden Fleece apparently takes 8 days in the book, it only seemed natural that I set it up so that the collision between Colton and Tantalus becomes completely unavoidable by the end of the seventh day. Hope you also enjoyed the ship tease moments between Colton and Kayla, and how close the two are becoming.)

Chapter 11: VII. The IM Call That Triggered A Duel

Chapter Text

(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 her 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 circ*mstances. 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 amusem*nt. "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 f*cking 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 f*ck 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?)

Chapter 12: VIII. My Sister Has To Watch Me Duel Tantalus

Chapter Text

Tantalus released and shoved Mr.D aside, bringing up his blade as Colton brought his blade down on it. The sparks that flew off of both of their blades were so numerous, that Clarisse thought that they would set the camp on fire eventually. Fortunately for everyone, no such thing happened.

Colton landed on his feet, and the two of them stood there, snarling at each other, neither able to push the other back. Luke slashed his sword to end the IM, but no one was watching. Their attention was fully on the fight playing out between Tantalus and one of their own.

"Figured you were working for Luke and Kronos.." Colton hissed at him, causing Tantalus to snarl even more.

"Yeah, so what? They offered me a lot to make sure this camp fell, depriving the Gods of a safe haven for their children.." Tantalus snapped back at him.

"f*ck you" Colton responds.

The two traded blows with each other then for a while, and Colton had to admit that as they fought, moving away from the pavilion, that Clarisse's lessons on how to use a sword were definitely paying off because while Tantalus had been trained with it as well, he was very rusty and not at his prime. As such, Colton seemed to have a bit of an advantage.

That being said, his opponent knew how to use a sword, so it wasn't like Colton was fighting a weakling. The amount of clangs from their swords colliding was so rapid and numerous that Sherman put his hands over his ears, trying not to go insane from the noise.

"COME ON COLTON, POUND HIM INTO THE GROUND!" Travis hollered from behind him, as some of the campers cheered him on.

"THAT'S IT COLTON, NO MERCY!" Lee shouted.

Clarisse wanted to cheer him on too, but looking at her younger brother's appearance, it simply stopped her from doing so. Because it was not normal at all.

His eyes completely blood red.. blood dripping down his face, cheeks, arms, and legs.. it was weird and horrifying. Like, really weird and horrifying. She had never seen anything like it before.

That being said, it somehow was not stopping Colton from taking all the lessons she had given him about using a sword and showing that he understood them completely. Every strike, every parry, every blow.. exactly as she had taught him.

Still, the blood was.. very concerning to her. She turned to Kayla. "You have any idea about why he's like that?" she asked. The other girl could only shrug her head no in response.

The fight only grew more physical and bloody as Colton landed a kick to Tantalus' leg, causing Tantalus to then attempt to head-butt Colton, which only gained him a slash across his forehead, causing blood to drip down Tantalus' face.

Sherman could tell that all of that anger and rage simmering in Colton for the past week and a half was now unleashing itself tonight as the man slashed Tantalus' thigh, causing more blood to come out.

"AAHHHHH!" Tantalus screamed. "You.. you bitch!"

"More where that came from, Motherf*cker.." Colton responded, as he continued to duel Tantalus.

Tantalus apparently took that as an insult, since he then charged Colton, which proved to be the biggest mistake of his time at Camp Half Blood.

With one swing, Colton disarmed Tantalus before he roundhouse kicked him in the chest to stun him and then a right hook to the face sent Tantalus flying over the Pavilion - literally over it, in the air - before landing on his ass nearly two hundred yards from it. Colton, meanwhile, didn't even have a single scratch on himself. His fight had been that flawless.

Tantalus was done. He knew he had failed. Kronos was definitely going to murder him now.

Everyone gazed back at Colton after staring in shock and awe at what he had done, and noticed to their complete shock that the blood was gone from his body and his eyes were back to normal.

Silence reigned for a moment, before Kayla burst forward and hugged him with tears of joy, followed by Clarisse a few seconds later.

The pavilion exploded into cries of joy, shouts of awe and excitement, and campers jumping up from their seats and wandering over to Colton to congratulate him on his victory.

(A/N: I imagine they are going berserk like this below:

https://youtu.be/sHEzsGRcuC4 (UFC Commentators KO Reaction Meme Clip)

Because to be fair, I don't think I have seen any other fanfic writer actually do a version of Sea Of Monsters where Tantalus actually fights a camper. So, at least for this chapter and for more meme-ing, I see no god up here.. other than me. And now back to the chapter!)

"Holy sh*t! That was awesome, Colton!" Lee shouted, no one even bothering to correct him on language because honestly, even the young ones were outright amazed that Colton had won.

"Man of the hour!" Travis said, joining in on the pile of hugs on the guy. His brother, Connor, added on, "Dude, that was sick and wild as hell! Pure genius!"

Kayla cried into his chest out of joy, and Clarisse simply wailed in relief on his shoulder, crying out, "Y..Y..You idiot! Please stop scaring the sh*t out of me like that!"

Sherman walked up to his brother, and simply just said to him, "You sir.. have to be the second most fearless insane man in the camp after Percy."

At this point, Colton wasn't even mad that Sherman had compared him to Percy. He himself was trying to understand what the f*ck had just happened. The minute he saw Tantalus holding Mr.D at sword point, he was literally seeing red. Something had taken hold of him, something that called out to fight. What it was, even he was at a loss to figure out.

But then, he thought about his prophecy. Could it just so be that Tantalus was the "one" it referred to that he to fight to save camp the first time?

It definitely was possible, but still, compared to this, he suspected the other two fights were going to be even more harder. But that still didn't really explain his rage, his behavior, why Kayla seemed to be the only one who could keep him from making a bad choice like Luke did because of his fatal flaw. Unless, of course, it may be a part of the prophecy too.

Which left him at a crossroads, even as everyone continued hugging him. What was he going to do now? Would he tell everyone or would he keep it to himself?

A voice at the back of his brain said at that moment, you keep it to yourself, you're going to end up like Luke.

No, no. I don't want to end up like that traitor.

Then tell everyone.

I don't want them to be mad at me for hiding it from them, even Kayla.

People are going to die eventually, either way. Might as well get it over with now.

Yeah, you're right.

By this point, everyone had stopped hugging and had stepped back, concerned with his lack of response.

"You.. okay, Colton?" Lee asked.

Colton turned his head upward, having been staring down at the ground, and gave Lee a grim look.

"Meet me at the campfire everyone. I think its time I'd come clean on the secret I've been hiding since last summer. My prophecy.." he said, turning around and heading towards first the Ares Cabin and then the armory, leaving everyone confused as to what he meant.

Prophecy?

Colton got a prophecy last summer?

They couldn't believe it, but they wondered what the hell he had meant by what he said, and believe me, they were all about to find out.

(A/N: Shorter chapter than usual, since like I said, I have yet to see a good Tantalus vs. camper fight scene in a fanfic to base this off of, so.. although you probably would have liked for a longer fight scene, that is what I can do. Hope you enjoy!)

Chapter 13: IX. I Come Clean About My Prophecy

Chapter Text

(A/N: Here we go. Colton coming clean to camp about his prophecy. More shipping moments and other stuff will most likely ensue.)

It was an awkward silence that the campers were under as they sat around the campfire, waiting for Colton. He had given them about half an hour for them to process the bombshell revelation he had told him in the aftermath of his fight against Tantalus. Many of them couldn't begin to comprehend it.

Percy, Annabeth, Grover, Tyson, and Chiron also gathered around it as well, having returned during that half hour and having been brought up to speed on what had happened by Lee and Clarisse. Even they were all stunned at the revelation, especially Chiron.

The night it had happened, Colton hadn't said a word when he came back down from the attic, looking like he had seen a ghost or something up there. Chiron just attributed it to maybe he had seen a ghost of a demigod from the past, since they were known to make appearances up there from time to time. Now, he knew that it had been something else.

Kayla simply couldn't believe it. She had no words to even describe how she felt about this whole situation.

Clarisse and Sherman felt.. unusually worried and annoyed at themselves. The fact that Colton had lived with the knowledge about this prophecy since last summer and not once had the two suspected that something was up was like a punch in the gut. That he had managed to keep this a secret for so long, mainly because of them being distracted by Luke, was an absolute shock to both of them. Why would he feel the need to keep this a secret? What was said to him by the Oracle that would cause him to act like that?

The sound of footsteps all alerted everyone gathered their that Colton himself had returned. He walked around the campfire, sat down by Kayla, head looking down at the ground and sighed. "I guess you'd like me to start from the beginning, wouldn't you all?" he asked.

"That would be greatly appreciated, Colton. Please do.." Chiron answered, and Colton simply looked up, had to blink twice when he saw that Chiron was back, before he turned to his siblings. "While Percy, Grover, and Annabeth were off locating Zeus' missing lightning bolt last summer, my siblings all decided to guilt trip me into cleaning the attic one night because Sherman didn't feel like doing it.. he was the one who was supposed to that night.." Colton started, causing his siblings to feel the stares of everyone else upon them, and look down to the ground in a little bit of shame.

"I wanted to refuse, but couldn't.. since Chiron would get suspicious.. so reluctantly, I went up there.." Colton continued. "..got up into the attic, and started cleaning. For a while, there was nothing happening really. Quiet night, aside from the distant thunder in the distance since you know.. Zeus was still angry and suspicious of Poseidon back then."

The fact that he could remember it so well was surprising to many, since it had been almost a full year since that quest. The quest that had exposed Luke as an agent of Kronos.

"I was in the process of cleaning the window opposite the Oracle, behind the ladder you would use to enter the attic.." Colton told them. "..and I had just turned around to get my cloth wet with more water, when I noticed movement out of the top of my vision. I looked up. The oracle's hand was moving.. literally moving, and keep in mind, I hadn't said a single word to her at all."

He gave them a few moments to process that before Beckendorf spoke up. "So what did she say to you then?" he asked, having a gut feeling that he wouldn't like the answer.

Colton trembled a little, remembering that prophecy from that night, then stabilized himself. He nodded, sighed and then spoke.

"It went something like this.." he started. "Bulls give way to flaming red hair.. Deciding the choice that drives one there. To save camp, he must fight.. Once against one, then against many twice. Love builds a bridge strong.. For him to guard well and care. When the time comes and war flares.. A single kiss will bless them fair."

"Wait.. I'm sorry.. did you just say 'war'.. did you just say that?" Annabeth said from across the campfire, and Colton looked at her, and grimly nodded.

"I'm guessing that's why he came back into the cabin that night looking like he just witnessed the end of the world.." Clarisse said, remembering her own memories of that night. In her opinion, she didn't blame her sibling at all after he had repeated the prophecy to them for not telling her or the others that night. None of them wanted to believe that war could be coming.

"Honestly, the first couple of nights, I actually thought it was a joke.." Colton said, and was about to say more when Chiron interrupted.

"Colton, please. Prophecies from the Oracle are not jokes.." he said, and Colton just looked at him, slightly miffed.

"I'm not kidding, Chiron. I actually thought it was a joke.." Colton replied back, with Kayla now clinging to his arm. "Then.. when that traitor Luke left camp and Percy nearly died, that's when I knew.. that it wasn't a joke. I didn't really know what to think back then."

"So you knew.." Annabeth started. "..you had warning that whatever Luke was doing wasn't going to stop with the lighting bolt.." She stood up, growing angry. "..and you chose not to tell anyone?"

Colton looked at her angrily. "WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO?!" he asked. "I didn't want to cause a damn panic, Annabeth! Like, for god's sake, you'd probably do the same thing if someone told you that war was coming soon."

Annabeth wanted to open her mouth to speak, but she couldn't, so she sat back down, looking very grumpy. Percy tried to calm her down, but Colton didn't pay them much mind, he just kept talking.

"I guess I was still in denial when this summer started, to be honest though" he continued. "I didn't put two and two together and made the connection that the Colchis Bull attack and Kayla's arrival meant that my prophecy was finally starting until after I passed out the first time."

Kayla's heart skipped a beat for some reason, she didn't know why. But what she did know now was that she was the girl in his prophecy, she was certain of it. But that meant eventually, she was going to fall in love and kiss him.

She looked at the skies in disbelief to be honest. She had figured that there could be some very cute guys to hang out with and fall for, but it seems that fate had already decided who she would end up with. It was like a very weird way of saying you're soulmates with another person, and she didn't really like it at all.

"Look.. I get how you all feel. I myself am still partially trying to process this even now.." Colton stated, being completely honest with everyone else, who looked at him with shock, fear, uncertainty, and dread. "It's hard really.. to know that you're going to be swept up in a war eventually and you're only like a teenager or pre-teen or just a kid, not an adult."

Clarisse simply put her hand on his shoulder. "Well look Colton.." she started. "We're here for you.. we can help you through this."

Kayla gently tugged his sleeve, and when he turned to look at her, she gave him a gentle, warm look, signaling that she would also help. He smiled, and that warmed her heart, even if she still couldn't believe that eventually, this man was who she would fall for.

"Thank Clarisse.. thanks Kayla.. thanks my siblings.." he said, tears in his eyes a little bit. "You all are the best."

"So do you have any idea about how the rest of the prophecy is going to play out or anything?" Lee asked, drawing Colton's attention over to him.

"As of now, apart from what I do know, no I'm not certain.. prophecies are confusing for a reason, Lee.." Colton responded. "And look.. I didn't even ask the Oracle for it or anything. She just straight moved her hand and then just told me right then and there."

"Wait.. wait.." Chiron said. "Let me get this straight.. she just outright said it with no prompting at all?"

Colton nodded, and instantly, murmurs and whispers were a-buzz at the campfire over the revelation. Nothing like that had ever happened before.

"I don't know if that fight with Tantalus means I'm one step closer to completing this quest of mine.. for what prize, I do not know.. but if it is, I am definitely not looking forward to my next two fights.." Colton added in. "I can say that much."

"Look.." Percy stated. "You might have to fight against many, but chances are it doesn't have to be alone. You have all of us."

"Yeah, that's right.." Tyson added. "You do."

Colton wanted to believe that was true, but the way the Oracle had spoken his prophecy, he was certain that it wouldn't be the case.

"Yeah.. I do.." he started, trailing off. "But I got a feeling that it might be the case."

Gasps of shock and horror filled the camp, but were silenced when a familiar look of rage and anger filled Colton's face.

"I don't even know what in the gods I even did to deserve this.. but if this is how the Fates want to play with my life, then I can assure them that I'm going to fight my way through to the end, no matter what it takes.." he declared. "I swear it on the River Styx."

He stood up, fists clenched and then shouted at the sky. "YOU WANT TO TAKE THE ONLY FAMILY I HAVE LEFT IN THIS WORLD AWAY FROM ME, KRONOS?! THEN YOU CAN GO f*ck YOURSELF!"

No one bothered to call him out for the language he used in that, they were all stunned. This was a whole new side of Colton, and one that they definitely had very mixed feelings about. Colton sat back down on the log next to Kayla, looking like he was preparing for the long road ahead. She held her hand out, and he took it in his, not letting go. When he spoke again, his voice was quieter now, but no less determined. "If this is what my life is going to come down to, so be it. I lost both of my parents to that Lydian Drakon, I have yet to receive word on whether any of my extended family is living, and now here comes a war. At least finally, I seem to have a chance of getting out of this sh*tty hand life has dealt me up to now.. because seriously.. I'm far stronger now than what I was when I first came here.." he said, tears in his eyes again. Kayla wrapped her other arm around him to hug him too, a chorus of adoring coos and gasps rising up from the crowd.

Clarisse and Sherman then hugged him too, before the rest of the camp, except Chiron and Mr. D, joined in. Colton just smiled brighter than a Christmas Tree with lights all over it. It was a testament to how much Camp Half Blood was his family now. It was a very touching moment, since it signified that no matter what Luke and Kronos were planning, they would all face it together.

Up at Olympus, many of the gods couldn't help but smile and have tears in their eyes from how cute and adorable the scene was. Hera, Ares, Athena, Poseidon, Apollo, Demeter, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hermes.. all of them couldn't help but enjoy the scene below. Most of all Hera, who simply burst into tears of joy upon seeing it.

- — - — - — - — -

"So she's sleeping with you because she can't sleep without you? That's why you've taken my bed? Seriously?" Clarisse asked Colton, partly amused at this change in circ*mstances. She had read the note Colton left her that informed her about Kayla's nightmares and that she was now sleeping in the Ares Cabin with him, which Chiron had accepted after she had taken the note to him.

The two siblings just stood on either end of the doorway to the head counselor's room, which was basically cluttered with stuff from both Clarisse and Colton now. Kayla was laying in the bed, waiting for Colton to get in and under the covers with her.

"Yes.. what was I supposed to do? The girl has been traumatized by birds, snakes, and Tantalus since she's arrived.. and guess who's done the leg work in calming her down each time? Me.. so yes.. she sleeps with me.. in your bed.. you don't like it, welcome to the new reality Clarisse.." Colton said back to her. Clarisse threw up her hands in bewilderment, before sighing.

"Okay.. fine.. I'm sleeping on the floor then.. since this is my room.." she said, before leaving. "..and keep the door open until I get back."

He wasn't expecting his sister to return, with Sherman helping her carry a mattress into the room, which she propped down on the floor on Colton's side of the bed to sleep on, but that night.. with the Golden Fleece reversing the damage on Thalia's tree, he slept with Kayla practically snuggling into her hero, and with Clarisse under two blankets, head resting on two pillows while she slept on top of the mattress on the floor.

He stared up at the ceiling and sighed.

This is my new reality, huh, he thought to himself. Somehow, I feel like that this is only going to get weirder before this is over.

..incredibly accurate.

(A/N: So Colton comes clean, Percy and the group are back, Chiron's back, and the campers have a moment of unity. One more chapter and the first arc of the story is complete.

I hope you all enjoy that moment of family there I put in because hey, like they are each other's family, whether they like it or not.

The gods, as stated by Riordan, may not have DNA, but that doesn't stop the demigods from being considered practically each other's family since they all come from the same family due to ancestry. That's just how I see it to be honest.

But yeah.. slowly but surely, Colton and Kayla are becoming closer. It's only a matter of time..)

Chapter 14: X. I Am A Lucky Bastard.

Chapter Text

(A/N: And here we are! The final chapter of Part One of this story. Next up is Battle Of The Labyrinth, where Percy and Luke will unwittingly provide the push to get Colton and Kayla to realize their feelings for each other.

Once more, this chapter is inspired by a chapter from laurellins' "Tales Of Camp Half Blood", specifically the last chapter for Sea Of Monsters, which coincidentally also happens to be a Kayla-centric chapter.)

The next morning was to a certain extent, brighter than it had been the past morning, for what reason Colton was not sure. He didn't really pay much attention to it though, even if it meant he had to put on shades while doing morning patrol. It didn't stop him from scoring two quick kills with his rifle on this morning though.

Kayla remained in Clarisse's bed, apparently also feeling safe with his own sister back in the bed that she had once slept in alone. I mean, to be fair, she was in the cabin of the people who did have live land mines and barbed wire planted around their cabin, so for demigods, she was essentially in what could be described as the Fort Knox of Camp Half Blood.

That alone meant that Colton didn't have to worry much about her as he ate another pop tart this morning for breakfast, before securing another monster kill that brought his total for this morning up to 3 monsters. Not a bad morning, and certainly the first one in which he could actually breathe safely now that Tantalus was gone.

It was only after an hour though that Sherman came running up to his perch through the walkways, panting and gasping for being short of breath at the moment.

"Where's the fire, brother? And good morning to you.." Colton remarked to his brother. After gasping for air for a few more moments, Sherman let out what he had to say after clearing his throat.

"Chiron wants you down at the pavilion with the others. He has some words he wants to say about you.." Sherman told him, causing Colton to look at him with skepticism.

"I'm not joking, you dumb f*ck. Come on.." Sherman hissed, and at that, Colton started to follow his brother, wondering exactly what Chiron had to say about him.

- — - — - — - — -

Needless to say, the sight of Colton walking into the pavilion, with full gear on and his rifle at right shoulder shift position was an inspirational one to the campers, who greeted him with a friendly round of greetings. He smiled, because honestly, it was safe to say that his relationship with all of them had definitely improved a good deal because of last night. He stood next to Chiron as Sherman sat back down at the Ares table.

He couldn't help but blush and look away the minute he locked eyes with Kayla. God.. that girl is so beautiful, he thought to himself. Chiron then started to speak.

"A few quick announcements this morning.." he started. "I know everyone is very tired - well, almost everyone.." Cameron rolled his eyes because he knew Chiron was full well referring to him. "..from the.. events of last night, so I will make this brief. For one, patrols are unnecessary for the most part - although Colton is free to continue as he pleases - and will not need to happen thanks to the deeds of our very own Clarisse, in bringing the fleece to camp as well as Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Tyson, who helped her complete this quest.. plus the deeds of Colton here as well."

The words caused a round of applause and cheers throughout the dining pavilion, as Clarisse and her siblings all puffed up their chests and Colton simply smiled. "But.. until I can get a proper guardian.." Chiron continued. "..I want there to be a constant guard over Thalia's tree and the fleece. Annabeth, Clarisse, I'll let you organize that."

Colton sighed, for he knew full well that his sister and Annabeth would definitely rope him into this. Not that he minded anyway. He guarded that sickly tree in the mornings from the first time they found out it was poisoned to yesterday, so might as well continue to do so before his services were no longer needed and he could turn his attentions to something else.

"And Lee.." Chiron continued. "..your cabin will be excused from guard duty as a thanks to all the hard work you've all put in these past few months."

Kayla and Colton could hear sighs from the Apollo table as Kayla's siblings slumped in relief. Colton knew full well that they had been working their asses off almost nonstop over the aforementioned period of time, splitting their time between the infirmary and patrolling. No one even protested the ruling at all.

"Additionally.." Chiron added. "I've spoken to Mr.D and heard of Tantalus's re-implementation of the chariot races back to camp. Given the circ*mstances, I will be allowing the planned races at the end of the week to continue."

As much as Colton wanted to slip back into the worried mood he was the first time Tantalus had suggested it, he couldn't this time around. For one, he could actually watch the races this time instead of having to fight and work his ass off like a madman saving everyone. That was at least a positive to this situation. Plus, he could actually sit with Kayla this time, a thought that even though he didn't show it, definitely made him feel happy. Like.. really, really, really happy.

Lee and Michael almost immediately got into an argument over Michael being able to participate this time, and Lee eventually relented, but only allowing Michael to be the driver. Michael for his part didn't press Lee further, he was content with driving.

While Colton did want to participate, he didn't mind being a spectator again this time around. It seemed much better than being on one knee up in one of his sniper perches, driven by the screams of his girl.. wait, since when did I start thinking of Kayla as my girl? ..to be loading and firing like an absolute speed running madman into a massive flock of Stymphalian birds without any regard to the fact that some of the birds were chewing through the protective wood wall trying to get at him while he was slaughtering them. Besides, his sister would do everything she could think of to keep him out if he tried.

Chiron's voice quickly snapped Colton out of his thoughts. "Enough," Chiron called, "I have many of the same concerns as the rest of you, but please relax. These races will not be a frequent event, only held on special occasions from now on. And we have far more safety measures in place now than we did years ago. As long as all of you treat your fellow charioteers with fairness and respect there should be no catastrophes."

That seemed to calm the more hesitant campers' anxieties a bit, which Colton knew was understandable. At least Kayla looked more excited for chariot races this time around than she did last time, he noticed.

"That will be all for today, everyone's free to head to their daily activities!" Chiron finished, prompting a burst of happiness and energy as everyone got up to go about their daily tasks.

- — - — - — - — -

The next couple of days saw Kayla's stability and happiness soar, much to Colton's joy. With things much more safer, she felt free to express herself to the other campers, quickly demonstrating her skill and prowess with a bow and arrow and quickly proving to the others that despite her moments prior, she was still Apollo and Darren Knowles' daughter. The Apollo and Ares cabins seemed more linked together now because of her, with any pranks on the Apollo Cabin by the Stoll brothers prompting some form of retaliation by Colton, Sherman, Clarisse, or one of their siblings.

With camp secure for now, Kayla's elegance, beauty, glamour, skill, and character shone through, and she quickly made fast friends with the Aphrodite Cabin. In particular, she became good friends with Silena, the head counselor. But the one friend that mattered to Kayla the most.. was Colton.

The mere fact that she was sleeping with the guy that could put a bullet through a monster without even bothering to let the monster know where he was at helped keep practically every single boy who wanted to get close to her away, and believe her, she enjoyed it fully. He was like the camp equivalent of her bodyguard, only she was much more linked to him.

Needless to say, the fact that they now knew that they were destined for each other seemed to lift some of the obliviousness off of each other, but there was still quite a level of denial that remained to be overcome, much to everyone else's frustration.

The night before the race, Kayla actually felt good enough to sleep in her own cabin again. While she did manage to sleep through the night in there, meaning that Colton was back in his bunk while Clarisse regained her bed, though she still kept the mattress in her room just in case, the same couldn't be said much for Colton. It was not until 12:30 am that he fell asleep, and he actually overslept his usual wake up time by an hour, getting up with the rest of his siblings at breakfast time.

Being without Kayla to sleep with bothered him a lot, and it left him wondering, Do I really enjoy sleeping with her? He blushed heavily at the thought, thankfully while still in the bathroom at the time so no one could see it.

A quick breakfast awaited him before he headed down to the track with the rest of his siblings, plopping down next to Kayla. "Enjoying your time here now?" he asked. She nodded, and simply wrapped her arms around him to hug him, happy as could be.

He simply petted her head gently, and she blushed a lot.

"At least I can watch this with you.." he said.

"Yeah, and I love that you can.." she replied.

After last time, it did look that the rules for chariot races had been amended this time around given that Percy rushed over to the Athena chariot to team up with Annabeth. It was ironic, to say the least, given that the gods Percy and Annabeth were kids of had this feud between them.

Colton didn't mind it though. It was a chariot race day, so this made it a bit more interesting.

The moment Percy was situated, Chiron blew on the horn, causing all the horses to race from their spots. Instantly, Percy and Annabeth were in the lead, as expected. Clarisse, compared to last time, was not having the best of luck this time around. The Stolls had immediately zeroed in on her, and fighting between the Ares and Hermes chariot had erupted almost instantly.

As much as Colton wanted his sister to win, as did Kayla, who was rooting for both her cabin's chariot as well as the Ares one, today didn't seem like her today. The Apollo chariot, with Michael driving, closed in on Percy and Annabeth, with the duo seemingly unaware.

Michael's partner - Colton forgot who his name was - threw a weighted net at the two of them, intending to knock them down, only to be batted away by Annabeth using one of her javelins. It was a frustrating moment for both the Apollo Cabin as well as Kayla and Colton, but then Michael's partner got a good hit on one of the wheels of the Athena chariot.

Michael then got his chariot alongside the Athena chariot, which then turned out to be a major mistake for the Apollo team because a few exchanged taunts and a spear with a blunt tip thrown later, both Michael and his partner ended up tumbling out of their chariot.

"Aw, come on!" Kayla huffed. "That was such a cheap shot."

Colton nodded in agreement, because with Apollo out of the running and his sister's chariot now too far behind thanks to the Stolls, who had gone down just a couple minutes after the Apollo team had gone down, Percy and Annabeth looked like the clear winners this time around.

Both of them - Kayla and Colton - were then concerned when freaked out by the lack of guidance, the horses of the Apollo chariot immediately headed back towards the stables, plowing through the stands a good 20 yards away from the duo, and nearly trampling the Demeter kids.

Kayla stood up, and looked to Colton. "I gotta go help.." she said to him, and he nodded. She ran over to help her siblings, and Colton almost did a double take when he saw Sherman and Travis both running over to help too. He had to admit, it was definitely cute to see them princess carry two of the Demeter girls - Katie Gardner in Travis' arms and Miranda Gardiner in Sherman's arms respectively - off towards the infirmary, since both had twisted their ankles in diving out of the way.

In the meantime, the damage Michael's partner had put on the Athena chariot had slowed Percy and Annabeth down enough that Beckendorf and Mason on the Hephaestus chariot caught up to them.

Colton hoped that Beckendorf would win this.

Beckendorf attached metal ropes to the Athena chariot, while Mason was driving. It looked like Beckendorf had the upper hand, but then..

"WHAT THE f*ck?!"

The words left Colton's mouth before he could even think of anything else, as Percy and Annabeth swapped places in quick fashion, allowing Percy to cut the ropes connecting Beckendorf's chariot to them. With the ropes cut, Percy and Charles engaged in a sword fight until Beckendorf tossed a bag into the Athena chariot.

"Greek fire? Damn, Beckendorf going hardcore here.." Colton muttered, as he watched this unfold. Percy apparently had been blessed by the gods further as his watch then transformed into a huge shield.

"Oh for f*ck's sake.." Colton cursed as Percy then managed to knock Beckendorf off and tossed the Greek fire back into the Hephaestus chariot, taking them out of the race. He looked at Clarisse's chariot, which was approaching his direction while still far behind the Athena chariot. His sister looked at him after having watched the whole Beckendorf debacle and mouthed the words "You know what? Maybe I'll let you drive or fight next time" to him, causing Colton to smirk.

Finally, his sister was considering letting him be a part of this. Even with the fact that Percy and Annabeth would win this race, this today was already good.

It was at that moment that he saw Kayla beckoning him with her finger down on the edge of the track near the finish line. Like a puppy, he walked over to her.

As he did so, Percy and Annabeth soon crossed the finish line. Everyone cheered despite the fact that except for the Athena cabin, their chariots hadn't won the race. Then, Annabeth called out that it wasn't just them, and that they owed their lives to Tyson.

Percy called him his baby brother, and Tyson was then pushed to the front of the crowd, blushing as he was pushed there.

Annabeth then kissed Percy on the cheek, and everyone was roaring even louder, including Colton.

But the second Annabeth's lips left Percy's cheek, that's when Colton felt Kayla's lips..

On. His. Cheek.

The crowd has gone silent when it happened, and then went apesh*t berserk. Colton couldn't hear them, or notice Kayla walking away, blush all over her face, thinking to herself about why did she just kiss his cheek.

All he could hear was the sound of fire, and feel like he was on Cloud Nine.

Inside his brain, he was flying through a fiery landscape and roared to himself, "I LOVE BEING A SON OF ARES!"

He was one lucky bastard, and he knew it. The fact that he ended up in the infirmary soon after for passing out - again - much to Lee's consternation, and for a couple of days thus missing the moment when Thalia Grace was resurrected from the tree she had been turned into, did not dampen his spirits one bit.

Lee had been right. It would be an interesting summer.

The head counselor just hadn't expected that the next one would be his last and the one where his little sister would finally fall for the boy she had just kissed on the cheek, or that the summer after the next one would be when Percy and Annabeth finally admitted the obvious.

- End of Part One -

Chapter 15: Part Two - Battle Of The Labyrinth

Chapter Text

Part Two - The Battle Of The Labyrinth

In which Colton faces down the odds for the first of two times and faces an impossible task from his father: keeping both his sister and Kayla alive in the coming battle.

(Or, the arc that finally has both fall for each other.)

Chapter 16: XI. I Get Dragged By My Sister After Her Boyfriend (Or So She Denies)

Chapter Text

(A/N: I'm using more of laurellins' "Tales From Camp Half Blood" as a basis for this chapter and the next, though they are somewhat altered to fit the context of the story.)

November 2007
Over four months later..
Colton's POV

Kayla had to go back at the end of the summer, to her father. More fashion shows and archery tournaments, she told me. Words cannot describe how much I miss her. It was for a lack of a better word, depressing.

I still did what I did, but honestly, every monster kill that I took with the Whitworth just felt way more personal now, because I knew full well, there was a chance that she could die out there and her hero would not be around to save her.

I talked to my siblings less, except for Sherman and Clarisse - as well as Annabeth and Thalia. Thalia hadn't taken the news that Luke had turned into a different man than the one she remembered too well, and Annabeth was just different.. not happy at all for some reason that Percy was away in High School while she was here at camp without him.

I think it was for that reason that we all became close friends in the months following Thalia's resurrection. I'm not sure.

Point is, I was like a whole different person without Kayla, and practically everyone at camp knew.

Clarisse had been gone for a couple weeks in November. Chiron had sent her on some sort of mission, for what she didn't say. Chiron wasn't talking either.

I let Sherman be temporary head counselor while she was gone, because without Kayla in my life, I didn't like doing it.

Every time we met up before she went back, after that kiss on the cheek, things just felt.. like.. more personal in a good way. I still don't know why, all I do know is that is because of her.

I've now gotten into the habit of killing as many snakes in camp as I can when it's snake day for the Apollo cabin. Lee appreciates it greatly. But still, nothing could really make up for the lack of Kayla in my life. I felt miserable.

It was after those two weeks were up that Clarisse came back. Instead of reassuming cabin duties, she had grabbed me by the collar, told Sherman that he was still head counselor for a bit longer, and then dragged me out of the cabin, while I was kicking and screaming, and out of Camp Half Blood, until she got tired of me flailing like an idiot and told me to shut up.

Next thing I knew, I'm with my sister in the airport getting on an airplane heading to Phoenix, Arizona. I was so confused. What the hell is even going on here?

"Why did you have to do that?" I asked her as we waited for the plane to depart, albeit in a quiet manner.

"Why did I do what?" she asked back.

"Why did you drag me out of the cabin?" I replied.

"You have been moping around camp like a weenie for the past couple of months since Kayla left so I thought I take you to get some fresh air.." she snapped back. "Besides, you can help me with that task Chiron gave me."

"What task was that?" I asked back.

She sighed. "Something about Luke maybe looking forward a possible invasion route into camp."

I tried my hardest not to start laughing. "That's impossible. Barrier is strong. There's no way that they can get in."

"Not above ground, dummy.." she hissed back at me. "Below ground. Ever heard of the labyrinth?"

I got a feeling of dread in my throat, but I nodded. "It's here in America with us" she added. "Said to be all underneath it. Every place imaginable has an entrance. From Louisville, Kentucky to the middle of the Mojave Desert.. and possibly in Long Island, New York as well."

"So what exactly does going to Phoenix have to do with anything?" I asked, and she got a very serious look on her face.

"One of Luke's people just showed up outside my mother's house, suffering majorly. I.. it.. it's Chris."

I was in shock. It couldn't be. Chris Rodriguez had been Luke's younger sibling and one of the first that had ran off from camp to join his cause. How in the hell had he ended up in the middle of the Arizona Desert? Unless..

"You think it's connected to the labyrinth why Chris turned up at your mother's house?" I asked her. She nodded.

"If it is.. then we know Luke is definitely searching for an entrance.. the question is where is the location of said entrance in camp if it exists?" I asked, not feeling too good in asking that question at all. I hated it.

Absolutely hated it.

"That's a question I wish I didn't have to ask.." replied my sister. "Like, I really wish I didn't have to, but that traitor had to go and join Kronos, so here we are."

Indeed, here we were, asking ourselves those difficult, gut-wrenching, heavy questions. All because Luke thought the best way of ensuring a better future for demigods was to help the very people that the Gods overthrew in the first place take over the world. What an idiot that guy was.

Because if he succeeded, it would mean the end of my siblings, of Camp Half Blood, of me, and.. Kayla.

My girl.

I had to pause and take a few deep breaths at that thought. Why the hell am I calling her that in my head? It's not like I have deeper feelings for her than just being friends.. do I?

- — - — - — - — -

No matter how much I racked my brain, I still couldn't get an answer to that riddle by the time we landed in Phoenix. "So this is where you can from, sister?" I asked her as we walked through the airport after getting off the flight. She simply turned and nodded.

"Born and raised out here by my mother.. at least until I had to go to camp.." she said. "I still keep in touch with her by phone, that's how I found out about Chris."

"Your boyfriend?" I teased, and she turned red in the face.. unusual for my sister, to say the least.

"N..n-no!" she stuttered. "He's not my boyfriend! Why would I even have feelings for that idiot who left camp to join that traitor's crusade against the gods? Besides, that's rich, given your relationship with you know who.."

It took a few moments before I realized who she was talking about. Now it was my turn to turn red in the face out of blushing and embarrassment.

"Look.." I said after a few more moments. "..she and I are friends, that's all. I just miss her a lot."

"You know what they say.." she called out. "..absence makes the heart grow fonder."

I stopped there for a few moments, confused as hell. What the f*ck did she mean by that? Like, is my heart growing fonder for Kayla the more I miss her?

It felt weird, really weird honestly. I couldn't figure it out, so after a few more moments, I took off to catch back up to Clarisse.

- — - — - — - — -

I didn't really know what to even expect about where my sister grew up, but honestly, the two story red brick house with a blue reinforced roof connected by power lines just off a dusty road more or less matched at least part of what I expected. Just on the outskirts of civilization.

That would be just about all that met my expectations on this particular trip, to be honest.

I stood behind Clarisse as she knocked on the front door, and we waited a few moments before her mother, who was slightly taller than her, opened the door. Her face looked tired and very stressed out, yet she gave her daughter a tight hug. "Thank the gods you're here.." she said to her daughter. "He's been getting worse. I've tried mortal medicines and prayed to every healing god I could think of. But nothing has helped."

Those words had me thinking about what the f*ck must have gone on down in that literal hellhole of a maze. Seriously Chris, what the f*ck happened to you?

"I even tried praying to your father. Usually he'll send me some kind of sign, but nothing this time" Clarisse's mother said to her.

"Probably because Chris is now an enemy of the Gods now.." Clarisse revealed to her mother, causing her mother's eyes to go wide. "None of them would want to intervene to help him."

"Should we be helping him then..?" she asked awkwardly, trailing off at the end.

Clarisse huffed. "Yes, we are going to help him. Me, you, and Colton.." she said, turning and gesturing to me. Clarisse's mother looked at me, and to be completely fair, I could definitely see that she took more traits physically from her mother than from Ares while standing a few feet away from the two of them.

Her mother looked almost like her twin, they were so similar despite the height difference that I would call them twins if I didn't know any better. Either way, I just gave a wave when she looked at me.

"I'm not letting him get away until he can look me in the eyes and explain why he betrayed me" Clarisse continued. "Besides, he was close to Luke from what I remember. He could have useful information."

I didn't want to be the one that pointed out the obvious about how hard that was going to be, but I felt like I had to.

"Uh.. Clarisse.." I started. "I don't mean to be rude, but given what your mother just said, I have a feeling that doing that is going to be easier said than done."

Her mother simply nodded along with what I was saying. "Alright.. you can see him first.. but I'd like to talk with Colton for a moment.." she said, allowing Clarisse entry into the house.

"He's in the guest room!" she called out, before stepping out of the doorway and turning around to me.

"So.. you're her younger sibling Colton.." she said warmly. "Clarisse has said so much about you, young man."

I couldn't help but look away and blush. "Yeah.. well.." I responded awkwardly. "She isn't the type to speak so warmly about other people in front of the other campers. So, color me surprised."

I wasn't lying at all either. She never was the type to do that publicly, only in private.

"OH MY GOD!" Clarisse shrieked from inside the house in horror, interrupting the conversation between me and her mother. "CHRIS!"

Her mother turned around in worry, and to be fair, I was worried too.

"How bad was he when you found him?" I asked as we both made for the door and I entered into my sister's house. The grim look on her mother's face when she turned to look at me told me all I needed to know.

It was very, very, very bad.

I felt sick to my stomach. "I'm sorry I asked.." I muttered as we made our way into the guest room. Clarisse stood in one corner, frozen in a state of fright and horror.

Chris was lying on the bed, definitely not asleep as he just squirmed and mumbled under his breath, not even acknowledging our presence. He was bandaged quite heavily, for there were multiple bandaged wounds on his body that we could see, most likely having been done by Clarisse's mother. And honestly, I'll admit, it definitely made me start to consider Clarisse's house as not a bad place to be dumped if I was wounded heavily and dumped in the middle of nowhere.

Chris' eyes were unfocused and wild as he repeated words under his breath over and over. He was physically a bit different than the last time me or Clarisse had seen him, now being a bit taller than my sister and with his hair being longer and more unruly, but it was still Chris nonetheless.

"I'll leave you three then.." her mother spoke, shaking me out of my thoughts and my sister out of her horror staring. "I'll make some more offerings to Dionysus and Apollo in hopes they will intercede to heal his mind."

Clarisse thanked her mom quietly, and then left, leaving me and Clarisse with Chris.

"What the f*ck was he even doing down there in the labyrinth?" I hissed to my sister.

"I think he was looking for Ariadne's string.. you know.. the string that Theseus used to find his way out after he killed the Minotaur.." Clarisse replied, and I nodded. "Mother said he kept referring to string in the singular form, so that's probably what he was looking for."

"But why would Luke even need the string..?" I asked, trailing off when I realized the uncomfortable truth. That entrance into camp.. it probably does exist after all. That's why Luke sent Chris down there.

Clarisse looked at me, and I looked back at her. Her eyes, filled with dread and horror and realization, told me all I needed to know. She realized it too.

"That entrance into camp.." she muttered. "Guess it does exist after all. This is just f*cking great."

Kayla was not going to take that news well at all. Then again, neither were me or Clarisse right now. In a matter of moments, we were back to that state we were in when Thalia's tree was dying. Unsure of how the hell we were going to save camp and protect our siblings too.

She turned to Chris now and cautiously approached him. "Chris?" she spoke quietly, evidently not wishing to startle him.

His eyes blinked at her like he was seeing things, "Mary?"

My sister was confused, but even as she spoke, I was trying to decipher it. "I don't know who Mary is. My name is Clarisse, surely you remember me?" she asked.

Then it hit me. He wasn't down there alone. He must have had company along with him and something went terribly wrong down there.

Chris' words only made me more sure of this. "We should give up Mary" he said. "He'll keep making us fight till we die anyway. Let's just die now."

"Who's making you fight? Who's Mary?" Clarisse asked, her voice rising slightly. Before Chris could say anything else, I filled in the dots for her.

"You weren't alone down there, Chris. You had people with you and they died.. and you wanted to quit because Kronos wanted you to keep fighting. Is that it?" I asked as his vision slightly cleared enough for him to turn at me and simply nod before he slipped back into the mania.

Clarisse looked at me, eyes wide with horror. Chris started shaking his head frantically, "Melina you have to stay quiet!"

That name, both of us did remember. Melina had been the second oldest in the cabin, and she had only briefly led the cabin for the time between Austin leaving for college and Percy arriving at camp. She had left camp a few hours after Percy arrived and never returned for some reason.

We had always thought she had decided to return to her family. But now, it seemed she too had been drawn into Luke and Kronos' war against the Gods. It was very much a rude awakening for both of us, me and Clarisse.

"Melina? Like my sister?" Clarisse asked more quietly this time, but Chris didn't answer. He was giving the thousand yard stare right now and it frustrated my sister a whole lot.

She wanted to pour something down his throat, as she was reaching for nectar, but I grabbed her hand to stop her. "What? Are you nuts?" She hissed at me.

I looked her grimly in the eyes. "Just.. let me try.." I said calmly and she nodded.

I turned to Chris. "Look Chris.." I started. "I know you've probably most likely been driven mad by the Labyrinth, but I'd like to ask you a few questions. First off, did Luke send you down there with Mary and Melina?"

The mania once again seemed to wear off as he looked at me and nodded. "Might I ask what reason he gave you, if any?" I continued. The mania wore off more, as he started to remember.

"H-He.. said.. that he needed the string.. to help guide the army through the Labyrinth to Camp Half Blood.. he needed a safe route through there.. string seemed like the most likely thing that could help us do it.." Chris responded, confirming me and Clarisse's worst suspicions.

An entrance from the labyrinth to Camp Half Blood definitely existed, there was no longer any doubt from either of us now.

"Did Mary and Melina die before you went mad or after?" I continued, and Chris shook his head, clutching it with his hands a little bit.

"I.. don't know.." he said. "Maybe before, I think.."

He then started muttering, "Damn illusions and traps."

"Illusions and traps?" I asked him, curious. The mania seemed to be almost gone from him now.

"Yeah.. those things were a bitch.." he said. "One of them was of Clarisse.. and I had to tell myself that she wasn't in the labyrinth over and over.."

Clarisse's heart just broke. The labyrinth had tortured Chris by using herself as an illusion to do it. It was beyond cruel.

"What exactly do you remember last?" I asked him, and in a flash, the mania melted away completely and he stopped doing those mad motions.

"Kinda hard for me to remember.. but I was running like crazy, and I rounded this corner.. and I saw this guy.. this ghost dude.. with a beard.. looked like Minos.." he said, and he looked at Clarisse for the first time and blushed.

"Minos? As in King Minos?" Clarisse asked him, her face going a bit red just from seeing Chris looking at her.

"Yeah.. he called himself the Ghost King.." Chris said back, before he seemed to remember something else. "Antaeus is down there too."

"That guy Hercules crushed in a bear hug after lifting him off the ground?" I asked, and Chris turned and nodded.

"God.. Clarisse.." he said, and my sister just melted from his words. "You're even more pretty since I last saw you.."

I turned to the door, and opened it, with Clarisse's mother standing on the other side. "Dionysus gave me a sign that he would heal him.. is his mind cured now?" she asked.

"Yeah it is.." I told her, the sound of Chris and Clarisse chatting behind me confirming this to her. "I managed to jog him back and reveal most of what happened down there."

"Well good.. that's very good.." she said before Clarisse walked up behind me. "Colton, move please."

I did as my sister asked, sitting down beside Chris. "I need you to take me to the exact spot where you found Chris after he escaped the labyrinth" Clarisse said to her mother.

Her mother gave her a bewildered look. "Why?"

"I need to go in the labyrinth myself.." Clarisse replied before turning to me. "You stay here with him."

I nodded, before I smirked. "So is he your boyfriend or no?" I teased as she walked out of the room.

"For the last time, Colton.." she hollered back. "..he's not my boyfriend!"

The door shut and it was now just me and Chris, who simply just said, "Yep.. you really have not changed much."

Chapter 17: XII. The Labyrinth Is A Reason Why Some Things Should Never Be Upgraded

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(A/N: I know Chris spends the entirety of BOTL suffering from the madness Minos gave him in the Labyrinth before he is healed, but seriously Rick, I just find that wrong.

Like, you really gotta torture Clarisse like that bro? I know it's the gods' fault that he has to wait the whole damn book before he gets cured, but like.. you really gotta put Clarisse under that kind of stress? They're kids and teens, god damn it.

Point is, part of why I make these fanfics is just to ease the suffering of other characters. Thalia, Luke, Clarisse, Chris, Pollux, etc. ..like they may be heroes.. but realistically, they would be traumatized shell shocked shadows of their former selves by the time the Great Imperial War ended. They're no different than the 104th Cadet Corps in AOT or Ahsoka Tano in Clone Wars.

They're child soldiers, and it's about time some of us started making fanfics where despite all the things they have to go through, there is some sort of Disney-like plot device at the end that reunites them with those that they lost, even if the Fates hate it.

Okay, rant over. On with the chapter.)

Chris and I just stared at each other for a while, in silence. It was a rather awkward silence to say the least really. I hadn't seen Chris in like a year or two.. I don't know.. and here I was with him in the middle of Arizona after he went into the labyrinth and experienced horrors that no man should ever have to experience - or woman, demigod, or living being for that matter.

And to be fair, the labyrinth I'm talking about isn't just the simple stone maze that housed the Minotaur back in the day. Oh, no.

This labyrinth is what can be safely described as a god damn machine of death. Daedalus was an inventor, but honestly, giving a whole maze a damn mind of its own - basically the ability to be constantly expanding, constantly changing, constantly upgrading itself is a reason why some things should never be upgraded.

It's been said that this thing runs all over the planet, like one massive invasive species. Personally, that's the only part about it that I find impressive. Other than that though, if you don't have a way through this place, you're f*cked buddy. Because this thing is designed to shatter your mind and then take your life, and yeah.. I do not say that lightly or with any happy feelings about it at all.

Which makes it a miracle that despite the death of his companions and the insanity given to him by Minos, Chris made it out of there alive. Like, we demigods may be part god, but we are what can be described as basically pure cannon fodder for the labyrinth alongside mortals who don't see through the mist. That's why we avoid the damn place like the plague.

The fact that Luke was sending demigods into that dark place - most likely under the orders of Kronos - was disturbing in and of itself. Because chances are those demigods most likely were ones that we have never seen at camp before - the satyrs have been reporting that they have been coming across less and less demigods in recent months, don't ask me how I know - or ones that had already left camp and most likely like Chris, ended up in the ranks of Luke/Kronos' army. He was sending them into the worst place imaginable for demigods on the damn planet, all to find the string that would allow him to destroy my home.

It was sick.

It was twisted.

It was so, so wrong.

Words couldn't describe how sick I felt to my stomach about it.

"You going to puke there Colton or-?" Chris asked, shaking me out of my thoughts.

"I.. I'm good.." I replied. "Honestly just deep in thought."

"I mean, now is a very great time to reevaluate your life choices if you're me.." Chris joked. "But hey.. what you said earlier.. about me being Clarisse's boyfriend.."

He paused for a moment, wondering what he was going to say.

"..it got me thinking about the time I spent in Luke's army. Mary.. that younger of the two girls sent down with me.. she was a daughter of Apollo.. looked way too much like Clarisse.." he mumbled, just audibly enough for me to hear. He had tears in his eyes. "I tried to protect her.. I failed.. and I think looking back on it, I think it was a sign. Of how much I fell for her."

I had to force myself to keep my mouth shut. Because there was no way in hell Chris Rodriguez just confessed that he had fallen for my sister Clarisse La Rue right in front of me. There was no way.

Chris noticed my surprised expression and keep talking. "Yeah, I realize now.. I'm in love with her.. and I f*cking regret ever leaving camp in the first place. I don't expect her to feel the same way as me, so if she doesn't, then it's not going to hurt all that much" he continued. "I swear on the River Styx, I'm going to do everything in my power to protect her. I couldn't protect Mary, so I might as well give my life and love to the girl that I probably should realized before now that I was always destined for. I'll do everything in my power to protect her."

He was serious.

He was f*cking serious.

I didn't say anything, I was honestly shocked at the turn of events. Then, I thought of Kayla.

I don't know why I have a habit of thinking of her at times like these, but she just crept into my thoughts.

Maybe that's how I feel about her? Maybe I'm in love with her?

As much as I wanted to believe that was true - I mean, she was basically destined to be with me by a damn prophecy.. how is that not a definite sign she's going to be with you - a part of me still felt that we were just good friends and that we couldn't be at the verge of love.

Besides, while she was the girl of my dreams - literally by now - the thought of her ever admitting that she felt the same way just seemed.. distant. Sure, she had kissed me on the cheek during the summer, but that couldn't have been because she had a crush or something close to feelings of love for me, could it?

It was a possibility to be sure, that much was true, but at this moment, I had my doubts about it.

I hadn't noticed my cheeks had turned red until Chris snapped me out of my thoughts. "Got a special someone, Colton?" he asked me, and I just shrugged my head.

"Those red cheeks of yours say otherwise.." Chris said back, smirking at me. I looked away, embarrassed.

"Like look.. nobody else is here.. so I'm all ears. You meet anyone recently that makes you feel like that? A friend, maybe? Come on.. guy like you.. you had to have met someone recently.." Chris begged, and I reluctantly relented.

"Yeah, there is one that I met recently that makes me feel conflicted about my feelings for her.." I said, trying to stop myself from saying the last word, but couldn't.

Chris' face lit up like he was a son of Aphrodite, now very, very interested. "Well? Who is she?" he asked.

I felt like I was being charm-spoken or some sh*t. Like, despite me not wanting to tell him, my body seemed to have a mind of its own right now.

"Let me just say, you wouldn't believe me if I told you.." I said back to him, blushing like an idiot.

"Well? Out with it.." he said.

"It's Kayla Knowles, who is apparently a daughter of Apollo.. yeah, I know.. crazy right?" I said, somehow coherently despite blushing. I don't know how and I don't know why.

Chris looked like a deer caught in headlights. His brain was definitely trying to process that one, because I don't think even he could believe that. Finally, he let a couple of words slip from his mouth.

"You have got to be kidding me.." he said. "..there's no way that the Kayla Knowles is a demigod.. there's no way."

"Dude.. you don't know half of the stuff that's unfolded in my life since she arrived.. like, she's definitely someone I can't stay away from that's for sure.. and I think it's the same for her, dunno.. I mean she did kiss my cheek that one time, but.." I rambled on, until Chris interrupted me.

"Hold up a second.. did you just say that Kayla Knowles kissed you on the f*cking cheek, bro?" he said, eyes wide as they could possibly be.

I felt embarrassed once more, realizing that I had said that out loud. "DUDE!" he shouted. "That's a sign she wants you, bro."

"Is it though?" I asked, still hesitant to believe it so. "Because we are good friends and despite this damn prophecy about me and her that I will explain at another time because it's a long story, I don't want that to change."

"Give it time bro.." he said, placing his hand on my shoulder. "Sooner or later, you'll realize it. Wouldn't be surprised if camp is making bets on when you and her get together right now."

I felt mortified at the thought. Like, why in the hell would they do that?

Chris chuckled. "Seems like we both have some special in our lives.." he said, patting me on the back. "I'm definitely going to confess to Clarisse once she gets back."

"Hope that goes over well.." I told him, but he was just grinning like an idiot.

"I promise you, indeed it will.." he replied. Deep down inside though, I was still thinking to myself. Could it be possible that she feels the same way as me? Could it?

- — - — - — - — -

It was a full day before Clarisse returned from the labyrinth. Chris found the waiting just unbearable, in his own words. The fact that Clarisse's mother told us that she had gone down in there did not help matters much. Chris looked panicked, and I eventually managed to calm him down after a while. It made me wonder what exactly happened to Mary down there that made him act like that. Chances were, given that it was the labyrinth, that I wouldn't like the answer at all. So I didn't ask him about it, and honestly, it was probably for the better in the long run given that this wouldn't be the last time the daughter of Apollo would be around in me and Chris' lives. (A/N: I won't say when you'll see her again, but definitely somewhere in the sequel.)

To be honest, I was worried too. My sister was down in that hellhole and god knows what was happening to her down there. I wanted to go down there too, but I felt like I had to stay with Chris, lest he somehow slip back into the insanity. I don't know how that would happen, since he was healed by a god, but I felt like it could.

The minute Clarisse walked into the guest room the next day, Chris' heart was probably beating through his rib cage like crazy the way his face looked. He looked f*cking relieved, happy, joyful, and every happy emotion you could possibly think of at the exact same time.

It hurt honestly for some reason.. I don't know exactly. Just here it was, my sister and Chris then proceeding to confess their love for each other and kiss each other, while I just sat in the corner.. at least for a while. Eventually, I sat outside on the porch, thinking about things - like actual things like the Gods, monsters, and so on.

No matter how hard I f*cking tried though, it always came back to her.

Kayla, Kayla, Kayla.

She was driving me crazy, and I couldn't understand it. Guess it's a part of my Ares blood or something holding me back from realizing the truth.

Hopefully, I get to see her again and maybe see if being close to her helps ease the suffering I'm feeling from being away from her.

If not, I might as well have my sister place me in a mental institute or something. I have no idea at all at this point right now honestly.

Chapter 18: XIII. Back To Camp (And Kayla)

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(A/N: In case you are wondering how long it's going to be before this two finally confess their feelings to each other, the 8th Chapter after this one is when it will happen. Just to give you a general sense of how many more chapters of slow burning you're gonna have to endure. There will be an interlude and a Kayla POV as well before then, just as a heads up. But yeah, we are getting close.)

Winter Solstice
Camp Half Blood

We got back to camp a couple weeks later, just in time for the winter solstice. Clarisse's mother drove me, Chris, and Clarisse the whole way back, which was incredibly sweet of her. We somehow encountered no monsters the whole way back either, which was very nice.

But still underneath it all, was the knowledge that camp wasn't safe.. not unless we somehow managed to destroy the labyrinth. How we would do it.. was beyond the thinking capabilities of me, Clarisse, and Chris, much to me and Clarisse's annoyance. This was just sh*tty honestly, I thought to myself. Here we are having to put our own siblings on edge again because Luke knows where a stinking entrance to the labyrinth inside Camp Half Blood is and we had no clue where it was or how to destroy the labyrinth to prevent the invasion.

It f*cking sucked so god damn much on ice, believe me. It really, really did and I hated it. The fact that I still missed Kayla - and it had grown worse in those two weeks - did not help at all, not a bit. I don't know why, but I just wanted to take her away from all of this, take her to maybe another dimension, where she could live in happiness, safety, and peace with her hero. I mean, it would be a hell of a lot better than having to worry about her constantly in this sh*tty excuse of present circ*mstances.

Yeah, I know. Being a demigod is rough as sh*t. Percy probably told you that a lot already, hasn't he?

Moving on.

We thanked Clarisse's mother for driving us all the way to camp, and then jogged up Half Blood Hill. As we reached the crest, someone was there waiting for us. My heart skipped a beat.

It was Kayla.

I swear to you, I don't know why I was more happy than I thought I was going to be to see her. But I was.

The moment she saw me, she put on the biggest smile she could ever put on and just ran towards me. I ran towards her as well.

"Colton!"

"Kayla!"

We met just inside the barrier and hugged each other. The look of happiness on her face made me so full of joy. If she was happy, then I was as well. She was wearing her camp clothes, evidently having arrived back some time prior to me.

As for me, in a white t-shirt underneath a dark green sweatshirt with the words 'Gettysburg National Military Park' on it with a light gray coat on top of that, as well as in dark blue form-fitting sweatpants with long socks and my usual dark red and gray tennis shoes, I looked like someone ready for temperatures just above snow temps, which to be fair, the temperature was just around that range.

None of that mattered, because I was back in the place where it always felt warm, both in the air and in spirit. I did have to take the coat and the sweatshirt after a while due to sweating a lot, but Kayla and I didn't need to say much to describe how each of us felt.

We both missed each other, and that's all we needed to let the other know.

Eventually, I spoke. "Kay.." I spoke, using the nickname I gave her after she kissed me on the cheek. "You're just as beautiful as the day you left camp all those months ago."

She blushed and looked away, taking a bit to come up with a response. "I..I..I'm glad you think so.." she replied. "So what have you and Clarisse been up to?"

She definitely shouldn't have brought that up, but the instance she said it, the bad thoughts about the whole labyrinth came rushing back into my head. Luke's out there, searching for the string so he can get through that hidden entrance that we don't know about.

She must have noticed my expression had changed to a sour, worried look because her next words carried worry in them. "Something bad happen?" she asked me. I didn't want to cause a panic, so I just simply told her, "Luke's not done yet. Not by a long shot."

She gasped, and nodded, understanding it apparently. But she then returned to her happy look and said, "As long as I have you here with me, I'm ready for whatever that coward Luke can throw at us and camp."

She looked very confident in saying so, a far cry from the scared girl that I had helped through the dark days of Tantalus during the summer. She had come a long way, and it made me smile.

"I feel the same way.." I said, looking around at camp. "It's good to be back."

- — - — - — - — -

Before we continue on, I just want to make something clear. The Hunters Of Artemis seem to have a strange kind of relationship with me. Anytime they are in camp since I got my Whitworth rifle, somehow I'm the only guy other than perhaps Mr. D and Chiron (sometimes, it's Beckendorf or Luke or Lee as well) that they even give the light of day in talking to. It just felt weird, and I had no clue why they even felt like talking to me at all.

Then again, I was the only guy in camp - and an Ares kid at that - who hunted monsters in a similar manner to them, the only difference being that with the barrier, I was free to take as many shots as I wanted and they couldn't do a thing, unless they maybe came through the aforementioned labyrinth entrance. But other than that, anytime a monster poked its head out on the clear field of fire that was the southeastern to eastern to partially northeastern slope of Half Blood Hill in daylight hours, they could do little to prevent themselves from getting picked off by the guy with a Civil War era sniper rifle waiting up in the trees to add another monster to his grim death toll.

Speaking of that, for those of you who like numbers, before Kayla came along.. since I am a year round camper, the amount of confirmed kills I had taken at camp prior to then was about 50, since Clarisse was keeping track. Since she had come along, by now, I was just under 800 confirmed kills, only a handful of those kills being taken with a sword in those early days. The rest were all with the Whitworth rifle.

But anyways, why did I have to stop and talk about the strange relationship I have with Artemis' hunters? It just so happened that a couple hours after me, Clarisse, and Chris had arrived back at camp, other people arrived.

Of course, it included the goddess Artemis herself, Thalia Grace, Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, and Grover Underwood. Apparently, while me and Clarisse were off, a series of events had led to Artemis being captured and forced to hold up the sky to free up the Titan Atlas, only to saved by Percy and his questing crew. Two of her hunters had died in the quest, which was tragic.

So, in their grief, guess who a couple of the hunters that happened to know me better than the rest of them do once they found out? That's right, talk to me.

I was hanging out with Kayla on the porch of the Apollo Cabin, chatting about how things had been like we had done back in the summer, when Phoebe who was the best tracker and healer of the hunters as well as Hunter Kowalski who was frequently used by the hunters as a scout, came up looking teary-eyed and gloomy.

As much as the hunters tended to be distrusting of men, I apparently because of my alternative style of fighting and the fact that often I did things by myself was someone that they could at least talk to. I didn't mind honestly.. it may have been strange, but hey.. they wanted to use me as a conversation outlet, I didn't mind helping them that way at all. So yeah, I did feel sorry for them.

"Heard about Bianca and Zoe.." I said rather glumly to the two of them, as they took seats on chairs near me and Kayla. "..I'm so sorry for both of you all's loss."

"Thanks.." Hunter said, Phoebe remaining silent. "It's just hard to believe that thy lieutenant could be gone now."

"Life happens, that's how it works.." I said back, simply just watching the light snow falling to the ground. It wasn't like that cold inside camp, it was more or less mild but still snow fell inside camp.

I also felt a bit angry. This whole bullsh*t crusade of Luke's to destroy the gods had cost us a lot over this past year and a half. Zoe, Mary, Allen, Halford, almost Chris.. there was a lot of pain and suffering that Luke had caused us.

"Who votes once the stinking traitor is put down for good, we convince Artemis to maybe take you Hunters to the beach or something? Just you all.. because let's face it.. you all will probably deserve it.." I suggested, causing all three girls' faces to look at curiously. I stared straight ahead, across the clearing at my cabin, watching some of my siblings walk in and out of it.

"I'm not doing this to be perverted or anything.." I added on. "I just personally think you all should get some reward once this is all over with." I was being brutally honest with them here. Like, there were a lot of things all of us could do once this whole war business with Kronos and Luke was over. A lot more of us would probably not make it to that point, but it was honestly better to celebrate and remember the dead for their valiant sacrifice rather than letting ourselves be weighed down by the trauma and suffering.

"I mean.." Hunter said after a few moments of silence. "He does have a point, honestly. Personally, I wouldn't mind." Phoebe looks at her, I couldn't see what her expression was from where I was sitting.

"Are you nuts?" she asks Hunter.

"Like.. look.. I don't mind hunting monsters and what not. If I can enjoy myself on a private beach without having to fear for thy lives of you, me, and thy others, that would be great.." Hunter said back to her.

Kayla was blushing quite a bit at the thought for some reason, even though it wasn't intended for her.

Phoebe seemingly sounded like she was about to protest her fellow hunter some more, but caught herself. She was silent for a few moments, before she spoke again.

"Fair enough. I can accept thy logic.." she said.

I will admit. The idea of the Hunters Of Artemis sunbathing on a beach sounded hot, but I knew full well that saying so was going to get my ass pelted full of arrows. Plus, I simply wasn't much of a perverted person, having been blessed with Ares' sense of righteousness and duty to protect women. I mean, the man himself did kill one of Poseidon's sons in the past for attempting to rape of his daughters, so personally I found the fact that I was blessed with this part of my father to be very cool. At least I meant that compared to some of the other campers, I was the more level headed one compared to those who got immature and maybe horny in conversations like these.

So I just kept my mouth shut as Phoebe and Hunter both became onboard with the whole idea.

- — - — - — - — -

We lost another kid in the night of the Winter Solstice. Bianca's brother, Nico Di Angelo, who apparently was a son of Hades. I honestly wasn't much surprised that Hades seemed to have broken the pact. I mean.. the fact that Percy existed had left the rest of us wondering if kids of Hades existed out there.

Anyways, Nico ran off into the woods after not taking the news of his sister's death from Percy too well, and had apparently just vanished. It was, in short, another blow to our efforts. But we kept going as best we could.

After the cabin counselor meeting that night, where Clarisse shared what me and her had found in Arizona to the others, Clarisse gave my siblings the final confirmation of what we all knew was coming ever since I told everyone at camp back during the summer. War was coming.

The news of that an entrance to the camp through the labyrinth most likely existed unsurprisingly set everyone on edge over the next few days, even as Christmas came around. It took the holiday cheer out of the festivities, I could notice that for sure.

Kayla took it better than most of those our age or younger - Kayla had turned fourteen in October and my birthday was coming up in the middle of January - but you could still how worried everyone was.

Lee immediately gave Kayla over to me so she would be able to sleep better - which would have been fine had Clarisse not decided that Chris would sleep with her. So in the end, for the rest of the holiday season and into the new year, Chris and Clarisse slept in the queen sized bed while me and Kayla basically snuggled each other under the multiple blankets on top of the mattress on the floor, and to be honest, compared to during the summer, it felt so much better than then, to have her sleeping with me again.

I still had no clue why that was though. But for now, I at least had probably plenty time to figure it all out.

I hope I didn't jinx myself by having that thought.

Chapter 19: XIV. Travis Brings Me A Present (And I Get To Use It)

Chapter Text

(A/N: There's this one scene from a different AO3 fanfic, this time from A03 user "grumpylia" titled "hold on to the memories (they will hold on to you)", which is a Tratie centered around Travis and Katie's relationship between Sea Of Monsters and The Last Olympian. Specifically, a scene where some of the campers get sent fleeing to their cabins because two hellhounds have somehow gotten in - most likely through the labyrinth. It honestly felt like something that would be perfect to do an alternate version of, in which a gift of Travis to Colton ends up being used on the two hellhounds - to devastating effect. Plus, this is me abusing the skills of Hermes kids being able to steal everything - including, and this is true, live land mines during BoO - so why not? Anyways, here's the chapter. Apologies if this is a mammoth long one if it becomes that.)

Mid February
Excerpt from Colton Reynolds' manuscript "Experiences Of A Demigod And Lessons Learned From It"

There are four types of gifts/presents one could receive at Camp Half Blood and two ways you could get them. One category of this was that you would get a gift that was a prank from someone, most often the Stoll brothers. Other times, you could get a gift that turns out to be worthless later on down the road, and might get you killed in the process. But most of the time, one might get something they like that helps them pass the time at camp or something along those lines or similar.

The rarest category of these is when someone gets a gift that turns out to be crucial later on, saving the life of the user, the group, or maybe the whole camp.

Sometimes your gifts/presents are given to you by your godly parents, other times they are given to you by other campers, family, or other mortals.

Why exactly am I taking the time to explain this? Well, my birthday and the day after it recently highlighted the part about the rarest category and how it sometimes could be given to you by other campers perfectly.

- Flashback into Colton's memory -

It was a typical morning in January, at least for Camp Half Blood. A light carpeting of snow on the ground, plants still more or less in full bloom given the mild, warmer temperatures inside camp, and..

"STOLLS!"

That. It isn't a normal morning at Camp Half Blood at any point of the seasons without Katie Gardner shouting the last name of the brothers Travis and Connor right after she wakes up, and wakes up almost everyone else in camp in the process. The morning of my birthday was no such exception.

To be honest, I was honestly excited for my birthday. Everyone could see in the days leading up to it. While it could very well be my last normal birthday - or my final birthday in the living world at all for that matter, a birthday was still a birthday.. and I awoke after Katie had woken up everyone else with her loud voice to a smiling Kayla, making me blush.

"Wonder what those devious little buggers have done to the Demeter Cabin now.." Chris said as he and my sister got up out of bed, shortly followed by me and Kayla a few moments later. Walking outside our cabin and seeing me and Clarisse' siblings looking at Cabin Four, I don't think Chris and I could help but laugh our asses off, me more out of amazement than anything else.

Somehow.. I can't explain how in the world the Stolls managed to pull this off.. they had changed the clothes of every single Demeter camper from their normal sleeping clothes into their swimwear. It's a good thing I wasn't immature like them because I wasn't going to ask how, that's for sure.

Travis and Connor, as well as most of the Hermes Cabin, thought it was funny too, though the siblings were somehow keeping their laughter in check. Turning to look at my siblings, Sherman couldn't help but just stare at Miranda as she came out, entranced. It could be that he was interested in her.. he did have a blush on his cheeks when he saw her and she blushed and looked away when she saw him looking at her.. but I don't know.

That's when Kayla shouted, "STOLLS! WHAT THE HELL?!"

That took me by surprise, so I turned to look at her and I swear, I went from laughing to trying my hardest not to act like an idiot in the span of two seconds. They hadn't just changed the Demeter kids' outfits to swimwear. They had done the same.. to Kayla.

And personally, in a beautifully designed red two piece bikini outfit, she did look very beautiful in it, but she was shivering a little and looking very pissed off at the Stolls. I was blushing.. hard, much to the amusem*nt of everyone.. except Kayla.

That's when Connor called out, "Hope you like your gift from me, birthday boy!"

And I have no clue what happened next, because the next thing I knew, I was back to standing in the Ares Cabin being held back by Chris and Sherman after I had apparently lost it and beat the sh*t out of both Travis and Connor.. with my own bare hands no less. Talk about a very normal morning at Camp Half Blood.. on your birthday no less.

- — - — - — - — -

Travis and Connor were alright, having received only minor injuries thankfully, but that prank did mean that they both had to do kitchen duty for two months, per Chiron's orders after he gave them a severe scolding from what I was told, plus have to be watched at all times by Clarisse and Lee to prevent similar events from happening. Meanwhile, with me.. since I was the birthday boy that day, I got off scot-free.

Birthdays at Camp Half Blood were always nice to the ones who had their birthday there, since everyone decided to treat you like their sibling for once that day - if you weren't engaged in pranks like Travis and Connor Stoll. So naturally, I was about as happy go-lucky as a now fourteen year old could even be.

The fact that I had Kayla around me made it even extra special.

Even so, it didn't stop Travis from somehow slipping away from Lee and Clarisse back to his cabin and getting his present for me, because I'm pretty sure everyone's eyes went wide and gulped in shock when during my birthday lunch, he called out, "Hey Colton! I'm bringing my gift over!" and then came jogging into view of the dining pavilion carrying.. a MG42 (Maschinengewehr 42) from WWII in mint condition in one hand and with the 250 round ammo can in another, plus the two spare barrel container and what looked like a folder wrapped by tape on top of it slung over his back.

(A/N: By the way, for those of you that don't know your history, this is what possibly the best machine gun ever created (entering production in Germany in 1942 at the height of the Second World War) looks like: MG42. There you go.

So yeah, MG42s in Percy Jackson is now a thing as of now. The world keeps turning nonetheless. Back to the chapter!)

I felt like the happiest kid in the world. Honestly, growing up, I had always wanted one of these guns, since I honestly was a die hard fan of the MG42. And now, thanks to Travis, it seemed my dreams were coming true.

The campers around me, meanwhile, felt concerned.

"Travis.." Beckendorf spoke up. "..how in the living daylights did you manage to get your hands on an MG42?"

Travis looked at him with a bit of uncertainty and then decided to come clean with where he had found it. "I wasn't even looking for it to begin with.." he said, standing in front of the whole pavilion at the entrance. "..I was honestly looking for maybe a pack of trading cards while out in the Bronx before I came to camp for break, and I ran into the gray sisters around Yankee Stadium. Told me to look in the lot across the street, said I would find a few things that would help with Colton's prophecy. And Beckendorf, let me be clear, even I was shocked when I first saw this. I didn't think they meant having to somehow move a literal machine gun through NYC without being noticed. Like, it took me so long just to get back to the car where Connor was without being spotted by monsters or mortals."

The look on his face told us that he was telling the truth, and Annabeth acknowledged that. "Good to know.." she said, as Travis walked in and handed me the gifts, much to my joy. He then petted my head gently, which I could only smile to and walk out, only to be confronted by Chiron, who he then explained the whole story of my gift to him. "Does seem weird that the sisters would give him a tip that led him to something that helps Colton, though he does seem to be enjoying it."

I looked at Annabeth like she had two heads. "I always wanted one of these, Annabeth! Okay?" I said. "It's my birthday! So Travis did something very, very good!"

Annabeth didn't say much after that. Kayla was a little concerned by the fact that I now was the proud owner of an MG42, but she seemed to lose that concern once I told her that with this gun, mowing down hordes of monsters would be a piece of cake now. Beckendorf meanwhile took the folder and looked over the contents, apparently containing the blueprints for the ammo and spare barrels as well as replacement parts for the gun. How someone close to the Olympians managed to obtain this, I will never know.

But hey.. that's the joy of gifts that really, really help later on. Sometimes, you find them or they find your gift giver in the most unexpected of ways. But hey, I wasn't complaining about it. Not one but at all.

- — - — - — - — -

It was the day after my birthday that I got to use it. Michael Yew and I decided to at least read the manual and get the basic gist of how to properly place this weapon. And yes, the stuff that came along with the weapon happened to include a damn manual. How the hell someone managed to find all of this and then proceed to dump it next to Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, I will honestly never know at all.

Why Michael even decided to want to check out how to operate this thing, I also have no clue at all. Maybe I'll ask Lee someday.

We had chosen this low, separate knoll just northwest of the cabins overlooking this clearing between the cabins and the arena, and we had managed to get it set up in a good spot where we were practically invisible to just about anything except if they approached us from the direction of the cabins, yet still had a perfect field of fire in a good 90 degree arc across the field, with our center line cutting diagonally across it.

We weren't going to fire the damn thing, of course. We were just practicing loading and such at the time, getting used to it.

Kayla was back in the Apollo cabin, enjoying some free time. Katie, Miranda, and the Demeter and kids were down in the clearing, a good 7 ft to 9 ft down in elevation, about a good 75 yards from the cabins. Silena was with her siblings a bit further down the clearing, on the far side of it. Mitchell and a couple other campers had just gone into the woods, looking for something - I never asked what it was he was looking for.

Just as Travis and Sherman came over, both of them decked out in armor and weapons, intending to ask what the hell me and Michael were doing, a scream sounded out from the forest. "GO BACK!"

It was Mitchell. Obviously, something was very wrong. The sound of snapping branches and such in those woods only made certain of it. I co*cked the gun, and quickly fitted the belt into the feed after opening the top and fitting the first round into the where the cartridge stops were. "RUN!"

Michael and the others were confused, but I wasn't. "Change of plans, buddy.." I told him as I turned off the safety. "You're going to hear some noise." Mounting the gun in my shoulder as per the manual, I waited. Michael looked surprised, but the noises coming from the woods quickly made him aware that he and I could be the only ones standing between our siblings and monsters at this moment. He placed his fingers carefully on the belt.

Mitchell tore out of the woods, looking like hell was hot on his heels. Poor boy was scared out of his mind. A second passed before panic spread.

The second camper tore out of the woods the next second after, screaming at the top of her lungs, "Retreat!"

By this time, I could make out based on the sounds exactly what we faced. Hellhounds. Two of them.

The last camper tore out of the woods, nearly knocking over Katie, much to Travis' concern, as he tore past her and Miranda. "RUN! BACK TO THE CABINS!"

I turned to Sherman and Travis. "GET KATIE AND MIRANDA OUT OF THERE NOW!" I shouted and they took off running.

"Run!" screamed one of Silena's siblings as she turned on her heel and start dashing like crazy across the distance between her and the cabins, just over a football field. I swung the gun a bit to the right, Michael and I shifting our bodies to compensate.

Silena and her other siblings soon followed, and after Miranda and Katie turned and saw them, the Demeter kids followed suit. Travis and Sherman reached them a few moments later, Travis picking up Katie and Sherman picking up Miranda.

The hellhounds burst into view now, stomping forwards, heading straight for Silena and one of her younger siblings, since they were closest. All of them were about at least 80 to 85 yards away from the two of us, well within this gun's range.

Silena and her sibling tripped, and seeing the hellhounds closing in as well, they screamed.

Kayla screamed as well - I don't know when she had come out - and that's when I opened fire.

(A/N: Here's the sound of an MG42 for all of you who want to have some audio: MG42 Sound)

I don't think words could describe the noise of the thing as I pulled the trigger and let loose a six second burst that at a muzzle velocity of 740 m/s, obliterated both hell hounds without harming Silena or her sibling. It sounded like.. Zeus letting multiple lighting bolts strike the ground simultaneously one after the other.

Either way, with the rapid rate of fire this thing had, even if it kicked a bit in my shoulder, those hellhounds did not stand a chance. Both of them were perforated down their sides, riddled with bullet holes and they keeled over dead, not getting up.

Michael and I couldn't believe our eyes at the sight. It was nasty, to say the least.

Both of us looked at each other and grinned. Then I saw Kayla nearby, looking at the two of us in shock.

"D..D..Did you just do that?" she asked me. I nodded, smiling like an idiot.

She beamed, looking bright and happy. "God.. you are something Colton Reynolds.." she said and walked off, making me blush.

Michael looked at me, then grinned. "You sure you're not in love with her?" he teased. I looked at him annoyed.

"I still don't know.. and I am trying to figure it out, Yew.. so give me some time to think or I might use this damn thing on you.." I snapped back.

That shut him up.

For a while, all anyone talked about was the two dead hellhounds and how me and Michael just so happened to be in the perfect spot to do so. Not that I minded it at all.

Chapter 20: Interlude - A God’s Thoughts

Chapter Text

(A/N: And we now take a brief break from Colton's perspective to consider the thoughts of a particular god. In particular, from the perspective of Ares on Kayla and Colton. Enjoy!)

Colton has and always has been one heck of an.. unusual blessing for me.

Look, I'm proud of all my kids.. Clarisse, Sherman, all of them.. but Colton.. I feel like that kid's been blessed far beyond even my comprehension.

Like.. there's always been something about him.. that just feels like he's destined for far greater things than even Percy Jackson. Ever since he was born, it's just felt that way. I don't know why.

Look, I might be the God Of War, but even as I sit here on my throne, having to listen to Zeus go on and on about those stupid ancient rules for the umpteenth time, I can tell you I am not an asshole to my kids.

That MG42 Travis gave Colton for his birthday.. that was my gift. I just felt like since Travis was in my son's doghouse, he needed to do something to look like a better person to my son. So I helped him out, with some assistance from Apollo and Hephaestus.

Speaking of Apollo, I'm going to switch gears and talk about my son's relationship with his daughter Kayla now.

Do I think those two deserve to be together? If it makes him happy, then I'm happy with it too. You see, I'm not like Hera, who is obsessed with "perfect family". If one of my daughters is lesbian and they find someone good for them, then I'm okay with it. If they break my kid's heart, then I'm mad.

Like, don't get me wrong, those two are a damn match made in what those Christians call heaven or something.. I don't know. Like they are just perfect.

If only my son can get over the hump of being so close to the truth yet not realizing it.. like IT'S SO OBVIOUS IN FRONT OF YOU, KID! What the hell are you doing?

My son may be a genius sometimes.. but he can also be an idiot, like right now. God, once again I wish those stupid ancient rules didn't god damn exist.

Oh, Zeus is calling on me. Gotta go.

Chapter 21: XV. Secret Entrances To Safe Places Should Be Banned

Chapter Text

(A/N: Summer's here.. neither of them realize it.. but they can't outrun their feelings for much longer. Some more Belle in here eventually.. so for -JASONSGRACE , here's another shoutout to you. Anyways, let's dive into things, shall we? Also, this chapter also functions as a list of the Apollo siblings around in this universe, so there's going to be quite a few references to fanfics made by other people in this too.)

Summer 2008

June 2nd

After the hellhound attack in January, things had been way more tense around camp, even more than when Tantalus had been around. You could see it everywhere you went. Even my sister looked more on edge than ever before.

The attack had shaken everyone up, believe me. Michael and I probably were the only two that hadn't suffered as much as the other campers, because in the months since then, much to his frustration, we were the ones having to calm down many of the other younger kids since we seemed to be among the most stable of the campers, with Charles Beckendorf just below us.

Michael and Jake Mason, from Beckendorf's cabin, are a couple apparently. He let it slip that they had been dating for a few months now, I was honestly happy for the two of them and wished them the best. I became friends with Michael not long after he told me that, which was a couple weeks after the hellhound attack.

But anyway, the signs of stress were everywhere. Kayla seemed to take comfort in me holding her hand more again, Silena was a bit of a nervous wreck after the hellhound attack and suffering from a bit of PTSD - Beckendorf was helping her the best he could and she's doing better now. Travis and Katie seemed to have grown a bit closer as the result of the attack, as have Sherman and Miranda. What that means for those four, I have no clue of knowing.

As winter faded into spring and spring eventually turned to summer, things seemed to improve. The edgy tempo of things decreased, and although a lot of people, especially my siblings, were still on high alert - I for one was taking longer and longer patrol shifts than normal as a precaution, as suggested by Clarisse - things were seeming to return to normal. The fact that we still hadn't found that labyrinth entrance yet was part of what kept us on edge in the Ares Cabin.

Clarisse, Sherman, Annabeth, and I had combed over the woods multiple times since the hellhound attack and we still hadn't found a thing. It was frustrating, honestly, more so to me and Clarisse. Speaking of my sister, she and Chris have been going steady for a few months. Despite being older than Travis and Connor, Chris let them keep being co-counselors of the Hermes Cabin and took over as an assistant head counselor of the Ares Cabin. Ares himself visited a couple of days after Chris took over in the role, which was in April, to officially declare Chris as an honorary son of Ares, which came with the blessing of a couple of Ares' powers to Chris. My sister could never have been more happier, even if still on edge.

Anyways, as the seasonal summer campers started trickling back in on May 30th, you could get a sense that things might heat up once more this summer. A few new kids had joined the ranks in the months between January and June, but along with that came an apparent reported increase in monster attacks in the region. Much of it was concentrated in the NYC area, but reports had been trickling in from nearby Newark and from Philadelphia and other cities in the region. It was concerning to say the least. A couple of the attacks had occurred close to camp as well, shaking up some of the new kids in the process.

In the intervening time, I had gotten to know the kids of the Apollo Cabin - Kayla's siblings - and believe me, they may be scared of snakes because of their dad's past with Python, but god damn it, they are some of the sweetest kids and teens to ever bless this earth.

Lee was the oldest and head-counselor, and thus was the one in charge. He didn't seem to mind many things, and usually left the snake cutting to me when snake days came around, since given my extended patrol hours, I usually was the closest one not doing camp activities or up early or out late when such times came around. On the side, whenever he has free time, he's been giving me piano lessons, due to the fact he had been learning the piano prior to coming to Camp Half Blood and also the fact that we do have a piano in the Big House.

Michael - I've already talked a bit about him, but the spiky haired kid, while short in height, had a fiery temper that meant that his height has never held him back. He was a chill dude once you got to know him, though he was honestly a little annoyed about the fact that Kayla was proving herself to be the best archer of the cabin, since he and Lee had been fighting a back and forth mini-war for the title in the couple of years before Kayla came around.

Austin Lake was also a chill dude, and by god, while he may have been the only jazz saxophone player I've ever been around, he was the best I've ever heard. He seemed to be the sibling Kayla got on with the most, and also the one who as a result, really watched me like a hawk whenever I was with her. To be fair, all of her siblings did that, but he was the one that did it the most. God, his stare felt uncomfortable to be under.

Will Solace.. sometimes I feel like that this kid is the literal personification of an Apollo demigod, I swear. He came to camp only a couple months before I did, and under far better circ*mstances than I had. He and his mother had been attacked by those same Stymphalian birds that attacked camp last summer when he was ten, and they had been saved by Maron, one of the more prominent satyrs and one of the best at that. This guy had been the mentor of Grover, mind you. Anyway, his mom is still alive, but Will was a little shaken up by it all. Clarisse seemed to be more attached to the kid than any of the other Apollo campers in a familial way (she had saved him from a snake once), so my cabin usually gave him a wide berth so as to not bring my sister's wrath upon ourselves. He started training to become a medic under Yew's guidance last summer.

Alice was what you could call the literal definition of the saying that dark doesn't always equal bad. She may have been a goth kid, unusual for Apollo kids, but that didn't stop the third oldest camper in the cabin from being a sweet soul with limited foresight powers and being able to make a room glow, despite having black hair partially dyed purple in some spots and wearing whatever black and yellow colored clothes she brought with her when she came to camp. She and Kayla got on well, me.. we're getting there.

Victoria was what could be described as a wolf in sheep's clothing. She wasn't a bad person, don't get me wrong, she was a good kid. It's just that her personality was on par with my sister than with any of her siblings. She was also president of my father's fan club - something which I find just weird to be honest. I mean, if there's anyone my father is even going to stick with for romantic reasons, it's probably Aphrodite. Victoria and the fan club were essentially beating a dead horse, to put it bluntly.

Aurora was another child of Apollo that fit into the celebrity category. So similar to Kayla, yet under different circ*mstances, I will admit. She was a beautiful person, don't get me wrong, but I found her better as a friend than as someone I want to date, which would make me a damn hypocrite if you know.. I fell for Kayla. I don't know if that's how I feel for her.. but..

..moving on.

Aruna was the second oldest camper in the cabin, being a year younger than Lee right now (she was 17 - he was 18), but she definitely fit along well with Kayla - and by extension Aurora. Aruna had also been a young fashion model before she came to Camp Half Blood - although in her and Aurora's cases, they were more singers than archers. Sweet ladies, and arguably good friends. Do hope they find someone good for them.

Of all the kids in the Apollo Cabin, those were the ones (besides Kayla) that I interacted significantly with. I did help them as well as the other kids with their grief after Chris broke the news soon after we arrived back at camp that Mary was dead. Some of the kids I had been never able to interact with - Mary being the most obvious one, but a few others had left prior to now too, including Theo, best swordsman of the cabin - and those left.. I was slowly trying to earn the trust of many.

Half of that was because of the arch-enemy type relationship between my sister and Michael, which did have its comical moments. The other half was simply how on edge the Ares Cabin was - and how it would often lead to my siblings overreacting and mistrust between other campers and my siblings forming as a result. I myself tried to avoid such incidents as much as I could, but given that my siblings were, in Clarisse' words, 'a bunch of walking stone statues on a hive mind'.. they weren't as fortunate as me, Sherman, or Clarisse. (A/N: Feel like that's something that Clarisse would say. Dunno.)

Point is, thanks to Kayla, I was getting very close with her siblings more than I had in the three years prior to her coming to camp. Still though, I had a gut feeling that by the end of this summer, I would be much closer to them than right now. I don't know why I felt like that, just had a feeling.

- — - — - — - — -

Percy arrived at camp around noon today, having escaped a couple of empousai at Goode High School in Brooklyn thanks to a clear sighted mortal named Rachel. Annabeth was with him, and as soon as the two had gotten back into camp, I swear.. there were people going up to the Hermes Cabin to adjust, withdraw, or place their bets on when those two would hook up. Apparently, the activity was most intense on if they would hook up this summer, from what Michael told me.

Now, don't get me wrong, I was all for those two hooking up with each other. There was something about those two from the start when they had met that told you that they were destined for each other. It wasn't as direct as getting a prophecy spat in your face that told you that you were going to end up with a red haired girl, but you could tell that there was something there. I didn't know exactly what it was, honestly, but just looking at them interact, I had to agree.

Either way, now that these two were back, it would be a matter of waiting until sparks started flying between these two. Fortunately for the rest of us, we wouldn't have to spend it being bored.

There was a new guy in camp, not a camper. More like an instructor. Quintus was the name, sounded.. almost roman honestly. Made me wonder if there were other kinds of demigods out there than just us Greeks. Maybe when this whole war with Kronos is over or something, I'll find out.

Anyway.. tall, bearded with a mustache to boot, and with gray hair and eyes - possibly a son of Athena, maybe.. dunno - Quintus looked like he had seen plenty of wars already, which I only suspected further given that he was brought on by Chiron as the new sword master.

The peculiar part about this dude was that he had a hellhound for a pet, called Mrs. O'Leary.

I actually was the first to encounter her and Quintus, funny enough. I was walking up to the staircase that led up to my treetop perches, before the sun rose as I usually did, when I encountered both of them. I nearly blew Mrs. O'Leary's head off with the Whitworth, already having a round loaded in there - something I started doing a couple months ago, loading it at night so I didn't have to in the morning.

He barked "recover arms!" at me, which I recognized as a command from the drill manuals I used, and went from aiming to the last position of priming, out of habit. He then proceeded to explain who he was and that Mrs. O'Leary was friendly, and I quickly warmed up to both of them.

Kayla met up with me once the sun rose, and I'll admit, she was a bit surprised and shocked when I told her about it. But I'll admit, even she found the fact that Quintus had tamed a hellhound as a pet to be.. rather interesting. I'll admit, I did as well.

But either way, it was definitely a shock for Percy and the others who encountered her a bit after Percy and Annabeth arrived back at camp. Percy nearly killed her before Quintus stopped him, from what Michael told me.

The other thing that everyone found interesting about Quintus was that he apparently came from a time when there was no camp for half-bloods, which let me just say, made me feel pretty awesome about it. I never had been able to meet a full grown half blood before, but now.. it looked like I finally got to do so. That's another thing off of my bucket list finally.

Belle also stopped by to check on me and Kayla while we were up there, and I told her about Quintus too. Needless to say, the daughter of Demeter was as surprised as Kayla was when I told her about Quintus having a hellhound as a pet. I should have had a camera because the reactions on both of their faces.. god they were priceless.

"Colton?"

I gotta go, someone is calling me now.

- — - — - — - — -

I open the door. It's Clarisse.

"Quintus has got a new game he wants to let us play.." she said. "He was looking for you."

"Clarisse.. you know full well that I'm not a fan of using swords unless it's.." I started, but she interrupted me.

"He said you can use the Whitworth, bullet for brains. Only normal rounds, none of Beckendorf's specials" she added, then left.

I thought she was done, but then she hollered, "YOU GOT TEN MINUTES, DORK!"

Dork. She called me a dork. Well, not the worst name I've been called here. So I grabbed the Whitworth, traded out my special rounds for the normal ones from the closet nearby, fitted my armor on - normally it's just the chest-plate and chain mail leggings (don't ask me how I managed to get those) - and then walked out of the cabin.

- — - — - — - — -

By the time I got there, almost everyone was ready for the game, and I will admit, pretty much everyone was surprised when they saw me walk up, carrying the Whitworth in one hand and my sword in the other hand.

Quintus smiled. "Ah, Colton.. glad that you could join us.. I see that Clarisse was successful in getting my message to you.." he said to me.

"Indeed she was.." I replied back. "I'm here now. So what are we in for?"

Quintus chuckled, and that's when I noticed the boxes behind him. Interesting.

"Well, I'm glad that you asked, Colton.." he said. "I was just about to tell everyone else when you showed up. So without further ado, I will explain things now."

Everyone was listening attentively, and as my head swerved to check out the crowd, I could see Kayla a good 25 yards away, standing with her siblings plus Belle from Cabin Four.

"Now.. as for what we are about to do.. you will be in teams of two for this, with one exception.." he said, trailing off for a second. I simply rolled my eyes. He's already chosen them.

Everyone got their hopes up. "Which have already been chosen!" he yelled, much to everyone else's disappointment. I couldn't help but let out a cackle.

"AWWWW!" everyone shouted, except me.

"Saw that coming.." I said, laughing a few moments longer.

Quintus simply looked amused. "Pretty observant for a son of Ares.. no wonder Clarisse spoke so favorably of you.." he said, to which I had to blush a bit. Of course my sister would speak about me that favorably. I mean, I'm the one who helped her get that quest for the Golden Fleece last summer.

"Teacher's pet.." I heard Percy mutter from the crowd. My head whipped around in his direction.

"You wanna go, sea boy?" I taunted, making Percy back off. Everyone knew that I would be definitely coming for a fight with Percy, so he did everything he could to avoid that fight.

"Anyway.." Quintus explained. "Your goal is simple. "Collect the gold laurels without dying. The wreath is wrapped in a silk package, tied to the back of one of the monsters. There are ten monsters. Each has a silk package. Only one holds the laurels. You must find the wrath before the other teams. And, of course, you will have to slay the monster to get it, and stay alive."

Guess that's why he allowed me to bring the Whitworth, I thought as I looked down at my gun. Sure enough, when I looked back up at the crowd of my fellow campers, every head was looking in my direction, even Percy was too.

Makes sense, I thought. The team that has me on them would have a huge advantage. Pretty sure everyone is hoping they are in that exception with me now.

"I will now announce your partners," Quintus said. "There will be no trading. No switching. No complaining."

I sheathed my sword, and just loaded the Whitworth then and there as Quintus produced a big scroll of paper and started reading off duos of names.

"Charles Beckendorf and Silena Beauregard. Travis Stoll and Katie Gardner. Sherman Yang and Miranda Gardiner. Chris Rodriguez and Clarisse La Rue.."

Jesus Christ, I thought to myself. This guy was like going by couples and playing matchmaker.

"..Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase. And for the exception.. it'll be Colton Reynolds, Kayla Knowles, and Belle Adair."

I blinked. Wait what? Did I hear that right? Me and Kayla on the same team? With Belle?

Kayla and Belle had walked over to me while I stood there, lost in thought like an idiot. "I think Quintus broke his brain.." Belle said, giggling.

I shook myself back to reality, and started sweating almost immediately when I looked at everyone else. Everyone, except Kayla, Clarisse, Sherman, Chris, Lee, Michael and Belle, were all glaring at me in annoyance. They definitely were not happy I wasn't placed on their team.

"Come on!" Percy called out. "Why does he get the exception?"

Quintus flashed Percy a glare. "What did I just say Mr. Jackson?" he asked him, and that shut him up.

I couldn't help but chuckle. Serves him right, I thought to myself.

"Grover Underwood with Tyson."

I couldn't help but laugh a little. Okay, I did not see that coming.

"Wait what? B-but—" Grover protested, probably not able to believe what had just happened.

"No, no," Tyson whimpered. "Must be a mistake. Goat boy—"

Yeah, this was.. definitely awkward, to be honest.

"No complaining!" Quintus ordered. "Get with your partner. You have two minutes to prepare!"

Considering that Kayla and Belle were with me already, he didn't have to tell them. Even still, I had to admit, Quintus was honestly a bit crazy. And personally, I liked that just fine.

- — - — - — - — -

Walking through the woods with my partners was a bit awkward. Sure, it was hard enough when you're the only guy in your group, but it's even harder when both of them have one arm wrapped around each of your arms on either side of you. Like, holy hell!

So yeah.. I'm both blushing like an idiot and nervous as hell. Because these creatures could be anywhere. Like, anywhere in these woods.

This is just.. uncomfortably awkward. Like, just having Kayla wrapped around my arm just gives me butterflies in my stomach. Maybe.. just maybe.. I do feel something for her.. maybe?

My train of thought is interrupted when we hear a rustling sound in the woods ahead of us. Kayla and Belle release themselves from my shoulders and ready their weapons, Kayla with her bow and Belle with her celestial bronze sword, called ηλιοτρόπιο (Greek for "sunflower"). I aimed the barrel of my gun at the source, a few yards ahead of us, as well.

We didn't have too long to wait before one of the monsters, a scorpion, burst from the bushes ahead of us. Too easy.

Before Belle could hack at it, and or Kayla could fire an arrow, I pulled the trigger.

BLAM!

It was a clean through and through, missing the silk package and killing the scorpion instantly. I was loading another round while Kayla and Belle went over to check. I was halfway through drawing my rammer when Kayla shouted, "NO WAY!"

I paused, rammer pulled out from its stow and in my hand, arm extended to full length, and glanced at them. Kayla held the golden laurels. No way.

There was no way I had just inflicted the kill shot that won us the game. But, I had. I couldn't believe it.

Kayla turned me and beamed. I couldn't help but blush, so much so I nearly missed putting the ramrod in the barrel. I caught myself though.

"This is amazing!" Belle said. "Let's head back to Quintus."

"Indeed.. everyone is going to be so jealous.." Kayla said as well. They jogged past me, leaving me to finish the loading process as I tried to keep with them.

- — - — - — - — -

Long story short, we won. But as soon as everyone had gathered up, I noticed something was wrong. There was no sign of Percy or Annabeth.

Chiron noticed too. "Percy and Annabeth!" he called out. "Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase!"

"They didn't come out, Chiron," Grover said worriedly. "I didn't see them during the game either."

Neither had me, Kayla, or Belle. Chiron had a very concerned look on his face. "Search parties then. Heroes!" he called out. "You will remain with your cabins to search the forest. No one should ever be alone. No groups of less than three people."

Everyone understood and filtered back over to their respective cabins. Clarisse turned to me and I looked her in the eyes. It seemed we were both thinking the same thing. Labyrinth.

We both knew that it was a one in a million chance that those two had found an entrance to the labyrinth. But it seemed to be the only logical explanation to this. Percy and Annabeth couldn't just disappear into thin air.

So we searched, moving in the direction of Zeus' fist. It was me, Clarisse, Sherman, and one of my younger siblings, a boy by the name of Curtis.

"Jackson! Chase!" Clarisse hollered out. We didn't see anything at first, but once we got to Zeus' fist, it was evident that something had happened here. I noticed something on the ground. Silk packages. Three of them.

"Clarisse.." I said to her, and then pointed to the silk on the ground. She noticed and nodded.

"Guess we're in the right place then.." she said, just as a rustling of leaves and such alerted me to others being here, and that's when Percy and Annabeth popped out from behind the rocks ahead of us.

"Where in the gods have you two been?" Clarisse asked them. "We've been looking forever."

Percy looked confused. "But we were only gone for a few minutes.." he said. I was confused. That was impossible.. they had been gone for much longer.. unless..

I turned to Clarisse. She turned to me, horror and realization evident on her face, the same expressions on her face. We both knew. There was no way.. but by accident, Percy and Annabeth had found the entrance into camp from the Labyrinth that we had failed to find for so long.

Chiron came up, and I pulled him aside. "I think they found it.." I whispered to him. "The labyrinth entrance.."

His face paled, before he regained color and galloped over to Percy and Annabeth. I sighed, and felt myself be filled with a sense of dread. At least we finally know how those two hellhounds got in..

I had another thought after that. A lot of people are in for a shock, when the news is made public. I knew then and there.. it was only a matter of time before the next part of my prophecy would be upon me. It's now just a matter of when.

(A/N: In case you're wondering, Colton has a journal so the entire first part of the chapter is basically a journal entry, which is fitting given the chapter prior to the interlude with Ares was from his book that he's working on.

And now, for the number of references and shoutouts:

- Victoria is a character exclusive to the Lightning Thief video game for the Nintendo DS. She is a child of Apollo in-game.

- Alice is an OC character that has appeared in different fanfics both on Fanfiction and Archive Of Our Own, either as a young sibling (per TsarinaTorment) or as an older sibling (per TheTimeTraveler24). This take of mine on her is more in the older sibling category, though I do use some of TsarinaTorment's version of her here too.

- Theo is another character that has appeared in multiple fanfics on AO3 and Fanfiction as well. So shout-out to all who use him as a character too.

- Mary is from laurellins' "Tales Of Camp Half Blood" and like I said before, this won't be the last time we hear of her.

- Aruna and Aurora are OCs from a Luke Castellan fanfic made by Imaginebooks . In it, Aruna is the older sibling and Aurora is the celebrity turned camper (brought by Apollo himself) who turns Luke into a dissected man verbally. It's.. interesting to watch honestly.

Some things about me that have also slipped into this chapter: It is of my opinion that aside from the girls of Percy Jackson (and girls from other fandoms), Apollo kids are just god damn sweet as hell. I'll die on that hill swearing it.

Some bits of the Katie fanfic I used as inspiration for XIV crop up in here as well, and also there is another thing in here that I will come back too once the Battle of Manhattan is over. Try guessing what it is.

Also, a little bit in the second part of the chapter is taken from A03 User TheTimeTraveler24's fanfic "Keep Your Face Always Toward The Sun", which is a rewrite of an earlier fanfic of theirs about Will Solace through the books of the original series. So shout-out to them as well.

Either way, things are heating up now. Destiny is about to force Colton and Kayla to confront their feelings for each other.. and everyone is about to watch the fireworks explode.)

Chapter 22: XVI. I Get Shoehorned Into The Labyrinth (And Kayla's Not Happy)

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(A/N: The chain of events that leads to the part you all have been waiting for begins in this chapter. Hope you're ready for the rollercoaster of emotions. Just one thing I want to make clear. Most of the rest of Part Two is inspired by fanfic user "Askinar-The-Dark" and his fanfic "Demigod?", in which Kronos somehow has a demi-Titan son of his own in the modern age and that son goes on to defeat his father while taking Percy's place as being the one who is sent to Calypso's Island in BOTL, and somehow manages to get Thalia Grace to fall in love with him. I know, ironic isn't it? Anyways, here's the chapter!)

June 4th

Lee and the Apollo Cabin drove off an Aethopian Drakon that had been lurking near the border since like one am during the night. I apparently slept through that, as did Kayla.

Either way, Clarisse informed us all in the Ares Cabin this morning about the labyrinth entrance, which confirmed my suspicions from yesterday.

She pulled me off to the side while we were walking to breakfast though. I was honestly surprised, as was Kayla.

"Apologies, Kayla.." Clarisse said kindly. "But I need to speak to my younger brother.. alone please."

Kayla nodded, and walked off, leaving me and Clarisse by ourselves.

"What was that for..?" I asked her.

She had a serious look on her face. "Annabeth got a prophecy last night, and part of it involves you."

Oh joy. Another prophecy.

Sarcasm. Yeah, I know.

"So what did it say?"

Clarisse looks left and right, making sure no else is around, before she looks at me again. "Before I say this to you, I suspect that there's a part of this that Annabeth is leaving out, but I'm not sure" she says, and I nod, a little bit curious.

She took a deep breath and cleared her throat. "It went like this. You shall delve in the darkness of the endless maze. The dead, the traitor, the lost one raise. Gun and Bow find the truth.. to seek the joy that they never thought. You shall rise or fall at the ghost king's hand. A child of Athena's final stand. Destroy with a hero's final breath."

I noticed something. That was only seven lines.

"Yeah.. I can definitely see why you think Annabeth is hiding something.." I told her, and she nodded in agreement.

"So.." she replied. "..what do we know?"

"We know from Chris that Minos is currently the ghost king now.." I said, thinking over it. "But given what he did to Chris, there's a chance that he isn't the one who does that part of the prophecy. I just don't think it's likely he'll give Annabeth and whoever else she brings with her on this the option of rising."

"So what are you saying? That's there going to be a new ghost king?" she asked me.

"Possibly.. you never know.." I said back to my sister. "We also know that the maze is the labyrinth. That's obvious. Plus.. we know that gun and bow probably refers to me and Kayla.." I couldn't help but blush a bit at that. "..and that the dead could possibly mean that kid that ran off at the Winter Solstice. Bianca's brother, Nico Di Angelo."

"Indeed.." Clarisse responded. "Grover thinks that the lost one refers to Pan."

I considered it. Pan had been missing for a really long time, without a trace of him having ever been found. If he was underground.. then..

"I think it might be.." I said back to her. "It would make sense if Pan is the lost one because he's down there in the labyrinth."

"Maybe.. but there's no way to know for sure.. unless we found him down there.. and the labyrinth is perilous as it is.." she responded, and I nodded. She was correct. Unless we found him down there, we had no way to know for sure if my theory was correct.

"Fair enough.. but still.. it's our best bet given what we know.." I told her. "..when are they off?"

"Annabeth leaves today.. along with her quest partners.." she told me. "Chiron asked both of us to meet with him and the other head counselors later on today."

"Really? You sure?" I asked back, and she nodded. Usually, I was never called for cabin counselor meetings, so this was a rarity for sure.

"Okay then.." I told her, walking towards the pavilion. "..let me just get some breakfast first. I can't go into a cabin counselor meeting on an empty stomach."

- — - — - — - — -

We met up with Chiron and the other counselors after breakfast and after Percy and Annabeth had stepped off into the labyrinth. To be honest, I wasn't surprised that Annabeth had picked Percy. It wouldn't make sense for her to pick anyone else.

Lee, Silena, Charles, the Stoll brothers, Miranda, Pollux, and Malcolm were all there alongside Chiron in the meeting room of the Big House when me and Clarisse arrived.

Nobody spoke. Chiron looked nervous honestly, which was to be expected, given the situation. "Ah.. Clarisse.. Colton.. glad to see you could make it.." he said, trying to remain calm.

"Indeed.." I replied. "Might I ask why you called me here too?"

"I have a mission I need you to do.." he told me. "We have a problem when it comes to defenses. We lack magical weapons at the moment, since three of them were taken into the labyrinth.. and the only one here at camp is with Lee."

I nodded. Oh, so weapons-gathering run.. simple.

"Where exactly do I get magical weapons from then?" I asked.

Chiron looked a bit more nervous. "From Hephaestus' forge.." he replied.

"And where exactly is the forge then?" I asked again, having a sinking feeling that I was not going to like the answer at all.

Chiron looked even more nervous now than when he spoke the last time. "The last time I checked, the location that Hephaestus preferred his forge to be was.. in the labyrinth."

I paled at Chiron's words. There was no way he was asking me.. ME.. to go down into that death trap of a place and go to Hephaestus or a Cyclopes to get more magical weapons. But I had heard him, so it was likely that I was. In a way, it made sense about the location. By having his forge in the labyrinth, Hephaestus would have a lot easier time accessing metals to work with. It made perfect sense honestly.

But still, it meant that I would have to go down there and find him.

"Do I at least get to take anyone else?" I asked him, hoping at least I wouldn't have to go down there alone.

"No."

You got to be f*cking kidding me.

As expected, Clarisse was.. not happy at all. That was an understatement to be honest. My sister looked mortified at the idea.

Her face was paler than even I had ever seen before.

"No!" she shouted. "He's not going alone. You know what happened to Chris! No!"

Chiron shifted his body, looking a good bit uncomfortable with all this. Silena was also pale at the thought of me going down there alone; Lee had a look of outright horror on his face; Beckendorf looked like he was not a fan of this decision at all; Miranda just looked at me with pity; the Stoll brothers were outright shocked, and Malcolm was in disbelief. "Clarisse. He is more than capa.."

My sister interrupted him. "NO! No one is!"

On the one hand, she was right. No matter how skilled you were, no matter how capable you were, the labyrinth was designed to break you down to a scared person before it finished you off. We all knew that full well.

On the other hand, we needed those magical weapons if we were to withstand Luke's onslaught should he attack camp. I had to make a decision.. one that honestly made me feel between a rock and a hard place.

I put my hands on my sister's shoulders, looking at her now tear-stained face.

"Clarisse.. look.." I said, really feeling downright guilty. "I don't like this either.. but everyone else is needed here at camp.. so I'm gonna have to go down into there. To protect you, to protect Kayla.." I blushed at the mention of Kayla from myself. I still don't know why I do that. "..to protect everyone, I have to do this."

I hugged her, letting her cry into my shirt.

"Why?!" she screamed. "You know how dangerous that place is!"

I got serious. "I don't like my options here either, I said that before. But if it means we have some more magical weapons to use against whatever Luke is going to throw at us, it's a hell of a lot better than letting all of camp be destroyed by an army of monsters" I answered her. I never seen her this emotional, not since Chris.

My mind thought of that man. Oh, I thought to myself. He was going to have his hands full tonight.

"Please don't go, little bro" she pleaded with me. "Please. It was bad enough that Chris had to go into that.. that terrible place.. but now you as well?!"

"Do I look like I even have a damn choice in this, sister?!" I snapped back. "I have to."

"No. You don't."

Then she pulled herself out of my hug and stormed off, and my heart honestly felt like it was shattering into a million pieces.

If Clarisse was like this, I thought to myself. I shudder at how Kayla is going to react.

I didn't stay for the rest of the meeting. I simply left after that.

- — - — - — - — -

I never got the chance to see how she reacted, and to be honest, part of me was glad that my heart didn't have to break into more pieces over her reaction.. but at the same time, I felt angry that I couldn't be there to comfort her and assure her that I would return.

But as I stepped towards that labyrinth, seemingly beckoned towards it by something about an hour after the meeting, decked in full gear, two swords sheathed on my back, a mixture of rounds in my cartridge box, and Whitworth Rifle in hand, I knew one thing and one thing only.

That no matter what happened down there, I was coming back to Camp Half Blood. I would come back to Kayla Knowles. Whatever it took. I swear it on the River Styx.

And so.. I took my first steps downward.

Into the darkness.

Into the labyrinth.

Hopefully, I would come back from this alive.

(A/N: The reason why I love Askinar's version of BOTL is because of how emotional it gets, and how despite the fact that Thalia is a hunter who in this AU sticks with Camp Half Blood during the actual battle, the Male OC Fayden Thatch taking Percy's place in being the one who gets sent to Calypso's Island and having to sail back to Camp Half Blood causes Thalia to realize her feelings for him.

That's why I said Luke was going to be the unintentional reason as to how Kayla realizes her feelings for Colton. Simply being the servant and then host of Kronos sets the chain reaction that we are starting to see play out here.

Either way, next chapter is going to be a Kayla POV chapter, and it's going to be a good one!

As to when I'll start using notes for these chapters, maybe when this story is done.)

Chapter 23: Kayla's POV - Realization

Chapter Text

(A/N: I'm a guy trying to write out a girl's perspective. I apologize if this doesn't go over well. Also, short chapter. Will be longer in future.)

I'm pretty sure I had a total meltdown when Lee told me that Chiron had sent Colton down into the labyrinth.

I'm pretty sure that it actually took the personal intervention of Apollo to calm me down.

Lee told me once I woke up the next morning that I had the biggest meltdown of any Apollo camper he had ever seen. That only made me feel worse.

So yeah, I. Was. Miserable.

I brushed some of the strands of my hair out of the way as I went about helping my siblings, trying to stay stable. It was hard to though, without Colton there. My hero.

Ever since he saved me from those nasty birds, I will admit I think I did have a crush on him.

The only reason I went back to camp in December and have been there since was because somehow, without him, everything that used to give me joy and happiness - the fashion shows, archery tournaments - felt rather hollow without him there. It was all because of him.

Because of Colton.

Michael tries more than any of my other siblings to help me through it. Clarisse and Sherman do too. It's nice, to be honest. But it just makes me sad when everyone is talking about if Percy and Annabeth make it back out alive out of the labyrinth.. and barely anybody mentions Colton.

Like, I get that Percy is a child of the big three and has done miraculous things for the Gods, but.. Colton has done probably just as much as Percy even if he hasn't gone on as many quests as Percy has. He's saved my life as well as many of the others, he's saved Mr. D's life, he defeated Tantalus.. WHAT MORE DOES HE HAVE TO DO TO BE RECOGNIZED AS SOMEONE WE SHOULD WORRY ABOUT?!

I think I'm starting to realize why he doesn't like being compared to Percy so much. Percy probably made him less important, that's why Colton wants to fight him so bad.

Honestly if he were to fight Percy, I'd think Colton would win.

- — - — - — - — -

I got better.

Not exactly at full capacity, but better.

I still missed him dearly. Even with everyone else around trying to cheer me up, nothing seemed to work.

All I wanted was him.

Eventually, Silena decided I had enough and dragged me out of camp.

She took me to NYC in the van in the garage, said we were going to meet up with Aphrodite, her mother.

I was confused. What's Aphrodite got to do with me wanting Colton?

I had no idea of the revelation I was about to get.

- — - — - — - — -

In a red dress and high heels, Kayla along with a similarly dressed Silena walked into a high class restaurant close to the Empire State Building.

Aphrodite was waiting for them, in one of the booths.

"Ah.. Silena! My beautiful daughter! I see you have brought my relative's daughter Kayla with you like I asked. I appreciate it greatly.." she told Silena.

Silena beamed happily, while Kayla was just mesmerized by the goddess' beauty. She was the very definition of beauty. Of course, that's what she had been told at camp to see it now was just incredible, in her opinion.

"So.. Ms. Kayla Knowles.. I hear you're having trouble with the absence of a man in your life.." Aphrodite said cutely, making Kayla try her hardest not to burst into tears then and there. She only nodded.

"Kayla Kayla Kayla.. men can be dense for only so long.. so get your head in the game.." she said.

Kayla didn't want to, as she laid her head down on the table. "He's down there.. in the labyrinth.. and he's going to die. I don't want him to die. I don't want my friend to die.." she replied.

Aphrodite touched her head. "Your father states that he will come back.. that much I know. So let me just say this, you don't kiss a friend's cheek if you keep thinking of him as just a friend.." she stated. "You don't feel like everything that used to give you happiness doesn't if he's not there because you think of him as just a friend."

Kayla looked up at Aphrodite, confused. "You only feel and do those things because you fell in love with him.." she told her. Kayla felt confused, but in that moment, her heart felt like it was burning.

Burning with such an intense desire.

And it was only for one person. For him. Colton.

At that moment, Kayla Knowles knew the truth.

I'm in love with Colton Reynolds.

And now she started praying heavily to the Gods in her mind in the hope that she might be able to confess her love to him when he returned.

- — - — - — - — -

Lee watched in amusem*nt as his sister and Silena came back into camp that night, Kayla looking happy as could be. His sister just raced past him, beaming brighter than ever.

Lee just turned to Silena. "What's up with her?" he asked.

Silena just gave him one answer that made him realize that this summer was the one.

"She realized she's in love finally."

Lee knew then that it was only a matter of time. For the love of the Gods, Colton, don't die.

(A/N: Yeah short chapter, but Kayla's finally realized she's in love. Colton's still got a short distance to go before he realizes, but he'll get there. And if you know what Percy does the first time he's in the labyrinth with Annabeth.. well.. pray that their rivalry doesn't explode into violence. Just a hint.

Either way, for a chapter that is short and to the point, I think it definitely is a good one now.)

Chapter 24: XVII. I Meet An Empousai Who Has Second Thoughts (And Swears Me To Secrecy)

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(A/N: Given that I have portrayed Kelli as someone who acts more loyal to the protagonists than to Gaea (see my Godzilla/PJO crossover fic "Godzilla: Of Halfbloods and Kajiu" for example), I honestly am going to do so here too, to be honest with you all.)

"Son of a bitch."

Colton felt like he was in Tartarus. He wasn't actually in Tartarus, but close enough. The labyrinth truly was something else.

He hadn't even known what to even expect honestly.. so down here, he was at the mercy of this place.. and he knew it.

That's why he was very.. very cautious to be honest.. as he made his way carefully through the corridors, looking for any monsters or signs of traps that could lurk in every straightaway and around every corner. To his surprise, it seemed like out of all the days this could happen, the labyrinth was giving him a free pass.

The traps sent his way hadn't been complex, lethal, or anything like that.. more of the regular simple variety, those that could be easily detected. So it was literally very easy to dodge and escape them.

Monster wise, he had run into a few, but never in any serious numbers. Every once in a while, he'd come across a lone monster in his path - he'd lost track of where he was minutes ago and was now just following his gut - which he quickly dispatched with a single bullet. It was literally the easiest going in a mission he ever had.. and that was saying much, given that up until now, he had never been outside of camp except for the one mission with Clarisse.

And here I am, whole body deep in the hell hole that's the labyrinth and having the f*cking easiest damn time down here, he thought to himself. Fantastic. It's like fate for once is making things easy for me.

The minute he thought that, he felt stupid. The fates never made anything easy.

For them to do so now only meant something was coming. Because of that, he remained on edge, checking around each and every corner before moving across every intersection and around every corner.

For now, though, nothing seemed to come, which was confusing and unsettling in and of itself. Was it this was an elaborate trap in and of itself? Lure him into a false sense of security before setting every monster imaginable on him? It felt like a possibility to be honest, in his opinion. For a son of Ares that was incredibly smart, all the possibilities that he could think of ran through his head.

So what in the f*ck was the labyrinth planning for him then? He thought to himself, as he cautiously made his way forward. Chiron hadn't thought of giving him a damn map, which would have helped, but then again, the labyrinth was always expanding, always evolving.. making mapping this damn area difficult if not nearly impossible. So he was essentially going in blind, trusting that with luck, he would get to Hephaestus' forge.

It was almost an hour when he came to a certain intersection that seemed different than the rest. Physically, it looked the same, but what made different was the voice in his head - he didn't know whose voice it was - that started calling out to him.

Come, child..

It was chilling, to say the least..

Come, child.. become the king you were meant to be.

He was confused. King? What the f*ck? He thought to himself. As far as Colton knew, the only king around was Zeus, lord of Olympus. Of course, he could count Poseidon as king of the seas and Hades as king of the underworld, but as far as he knew, any other titles of kings had been handed down by the Gods to those they saw worthy, not by a random chilling voice in the middle of the death trap known as the labyrinth calling out for a kid to come to them to be crowned.

Besides, what in the gods was he going to be made king of? He thought as he continued to progress deeper and deeper into the labyrinth. As he went, at random intervals, the voice kept calling out to him, guiding him a certain way.

That's it, child. This way.. come to your destiny.

Personally, Colton hoped it wasn't Kronos calling out to him. He figured that the Titan Lord could be mad that Colton had foiled his plans to break the spirit of Camp Half Blood via Tantalus the past summer, but even Colton couldn't shake the possibility that this could be a trap set by the Titan Lord as a means to kill Colton as revenge for what happened last summer.

Even so, Colton didn't have much of a choice. He had to get those magical weapons or else camp would be slaughtered. That would mean the death of Sherman.. Clarisse.. and Kayla, and by god, he would rather burn in the pits of Tartarus if he ever let that happen.

Like hell I'm going to let that happen, not on my watch, he thought to himself as he kept progressing. He hadn't encountered any monsters for a while now, so he was slightly surprised when he looked around a corner at an intersection a few minutes later..

..and came face to face with an empousai, in its true form. Somehow, despite looking at her in this form, he wasn't paralyzed.

Instinctively, Colton leveled his weapon at the monster. But before he was able to fire, the empousai called out, "Whoa! Whoa! Chill, half blood! I don't want to hurt you!"

Colton hesitated, confused as hell out of his mind. What the f*ck is this? He thought to himself. An empousai that is willing to spare my life?

Looking into her eyes, he could tell that the monster was experiencing some form of regret, which was curious to say the least.

Colton moved the weapon from aiming after a few more moments, testing to see if the empousai was telling the truth. Surprisingly, she didn't pounce on him, confirming that she was telling the truth.

"An empousai.. that doesn't want to hurt a demigod.. I have to say, this is a first.." Colton said awkwardly after a few more moments.

The empousai nodded. "These are confusing times to be honest.. what is a demigod like you even doing here in the labyrinth? Especially carrying a gun?" she asked, because to be fair, this empousai never knew that demigods even used guns up until now.

"Let's just say.. I'm different than the others. Firearms seem to be more of my specialty than normal weapons to be honest.." Colton replied. "I'm Colton. Colton Reynolds, son of Ares."

"Kelli.." the monster replied. "An empousai as you can tell, so creation of the goddess Hecate."

Colton nodded. "You wouldn't happen to be heading to Hephaestus' forge, would you?" Kelli asked. Colton couldn't do much, but nod.

"Woman's intuition, if you want to ask how I know.. just a hunch.." Kelli replied. "And about the forge, if I were you, I'd be careful about going in there."

"Might I ask why?" Colton asked.

"I've heard that Telekhines have taken over the place recently.. so yeah.. if you're looking to forge stuff, you're gonna have to fight to clear it first.. just a heads-up" Kelli answered, before glancing left and right, behind herself first and then past Colton when she turned around, seeing if anyone was listening.

"C.. Can I trust you to keep a secret?" she asked, and Colton was a bit confused. A monster asking a demigod, a being most monsters hunted, to keep a secret.. this was a first. Even so, he couldn't risk an attack by Kelli.. so he had to accept.

"Of course.. you can trust me.." Colton replied, hoping she'd take the bait.

Kelli sighed, and then cleared the throat. "I'm supposed to be a part of Kronos' army, but in reality, I'm actually a double agent working for Gaea.. and I honestly am starting to think both are equally bad people.." she spoke, causing Cameron some surprise. Gaea? The primordial of the Earth? Kronos' mother? There was no way, he thought to himself. Kelli could see the surprised expression on Colton's face, so she continued.

"Yeah.. Kronos' not the only one looking to resurrect himself. Gaea is too.. has been for a good few decades.. been trying to resurrect the Giants too.. nearly succeeded in reviving herself in the past.. but was foiled.. even so, one of her kids is alive once more.." she explained, causing Colton to sputter in even more shock.

"Alcyoneus.. the bane of Hades.. he's alive up in Alaska currently, biding his time.. been alive since the 1980s.. but enough of that.." Kelli added on. "As to what I'm doing in Kronos' army, I'm essentially an agent in his ranks if you may. Using his war against the gods as a way to hopefully resurrect Gaea, and honestly.. I'm starting to see how bad things will get for everyone else if either one of them succeed."

Colton nodded. "From what I've heard, life sucked for everyone else the first time either of these bastards ruled over the earth. Zeus is bad too, but I don't see how replacing him is going to make things any better for the children of the other gods, like Hecate, who defected to Kronos and Gaea's side.." Kelli continued. Colton had to admit, for an empousai, she was making perfect sense. But still, the knowledge was troubling. He knew that there were gods that had defected to Kronos' side, but for there to be gods that had defected to Gaea's side too.. it was a troubling revelation.

"I guess you could say that I'm caught between a rock and a hard place then.." Kelli finished. "..and I know, that must be a lot to take in."

"Yeah.. it kinda is.." Colton said, nodding. "So.. even if we - and by we, I mean the Olympians, finish off Kronos and his forces - we're still going to have to fight Gaea eventually, right?"

Kelli nodded this time, causing Colton to mutter a few curses under his breath in anger.

"Well, that's fan-f*cking-tastic.." he muttered. "I mean, having to fight the titans is bad enough.. Giants are worse since you need a god fighting alongside a demigod to kill it, from what I know.. so how the f*ck does one fight the earth herself?"

"Wish I knew.." Kelli replied. "To be honest, the prospect doesn't look too good."

Colton could only nod in agreement, because she was right. The prospects of the gods and demigods winning in a fight against Gaea didn't really look too good, not at this moment at least.

"What a time to be alive, huh.." Colton said after a few more moments. Kelli nodded. "So what are you doing all the way down here?"

Kelli just glanced back and forth again. "Looking for Daedalus' workshop."

"After the string for Luke, I see.." Colton responded, and Kelli nodded.

"Yep, you guessed it.." she said. "It's more or less punishment for failing against Percy Jackson. He killed Tammi, a trainee of mine."

Colton chuckled. "I mean, you went up against the guy who killed the Minotaur with its own horn when he got to camp.. the guy who everyone in camp talks about.. the guy I desperately want to knock down a peg so bad.. I'm not surprised. The amount of luck that son of Poseidon has is absurd.." he replied.

Kelli looked interested. "I guess you and Jackson have a history then?"

Colton nodded. "Let's just say.. while I don't really hate the guy, I'm still annoyed at him for knocking me off the spot of being third strongest in camp after I worked my ass off to get there.. defeating my own half brother in a fight - not killing him though - to claim that spot.. I worked my way up for three years before Jackson came along.." he explained, his bloodlust and desire for a fight with Percy showing.

Kelli felt sorry for him, honestly. "Ouch, that sounds rough.." she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. He didn't flinch much.

"Tell me about it.." he replied. "Currently, I'm still 4th.. behind my own sister Clarisse, the daughter of Athena.. Annabeth Chase, and Jackson himself."

"And you defeated Tantalus last year.." Kelli said. "I'm surprised you aren't back in the top three."

"Yeah, it's frustrating.." he told her. "Jackson's been at camp for about three years now - he only comes in the summers, and in the wintertime too - but he's gone on more quests than most of us have ever been on. He's currently down here in the labyrinth too.. going on his 4th quest in three years. Like, what is this sh*t?"

"4 quests.." Kelli murmured. "The fates must really favor him."

"Yeah.. it's annoying honestly.." he replied, just as that strange voice from earlier returned.

Come, child.. come and claim my blessing.

Colton looked around, trying to find the source of that voice. "You looking for something?" Kelli asked.

Colton looked at her. "I've had this weird voice in my head guiding my movements in here for some time now.. telling me to come to it so I can be crowned king or something.. it's weird really.. about as weird as my time in here so far.." he explained. "The traps I've found have more or less primitive, easily avoidable, and for the most part non-lethal.. and I have encountered very few monsters down here. When I do, they are always alone. It's like something is manipulating the labyrinth to give me a easy trip.. I don't know how else to explain it."

"That is so weird.." Kelli muttered. "..I have never heard of the labyrinth acting like that before. Definitely sounds like something else is controlling it."

"Yeah.. but what?" Colton asked.

I am, child. Come to me and you will find the answers you seek.

There it was again, beckoning him towards wherever it was. Colton felt an urge to keep going.

"Sorry.. I gotta go.. it's beckoning me further on.. nice chatting with you.. hopefully we can find a way out of this.. you and me.." he said, flashing a smile at Kelli, who smiled back.

"Indeed, son of Ares.." she said back. "I hope we can indeed."

Then, Colton pressed forwards, continuing deeper into the labyrinth, the sound of his footsteps disappearing into the distance.

Kelli sighed, and continued eastwards or in what seemed to be east in this maze, the red haired, fiery eyed monster girl hoping that there was a way out of all of this.

Chapter 25: XVIII. Percabeth Is A Thing (And I Think Percy Got Us Both Killed)

Chapter Text

(A/N: Again, some of this is from Askinar-The-Dark's fanfic "Demigod?", so shout-out to them.)

I continued forward through the labyrinth, encountering more of the same stuff I had encountered prior to meeting Kelli. To be honest, the whole thing still felt weird in my head, not just my encounter with Kelli, but this whole time I've been in the labyrinth. I had a gut feeling that Percy and Annabeth were having a more difficult time than I was, but even so, this in and of itself was unprecedented.

The labyrinth was one of the most malevolent things - or should I say, conscious things - towards demigods on the planet. There was absolutely no way in hades - or hell for that matter - that it would give me this much of a free and safe pass going through it. Something or someone had to be controlling it currently. The question was, what or who was it?

I was really on edge, honestly. Not that anyone could blame me honestly. Because seriously, I was having the most unbelievable luck in the labyrinth right now that a demigod could hope to even have and it made me very edgy and anxious. When is the other shoe going to drop? When is this damn place going to drive me insane like Chris or perhaps kill me?

The fact that I kept hearing that weird voice in my head did not help matters much.

That's it, child. Keep following my voice. Come to me.

It was creepy as sh*t, honestly. Like, really creepy. Yet, I couldn't help but be beckoned by the voice towards where it was coming from. So I continued forwards, turning this way or that way at times to continue following the voice, killing the random monster that came across my path as I went. The thing is, the monsters I encountered.. seemed to be about as confused as me as to what was going on. Like either they had gotten lost or were puzzled by why the labyrinth was acting the way that it was right now. Confused enough that for the most part, they never saw the demigod with the rifle that killed them.

Even so, thanks to Kelli's warning earlier, I knew that this good luck probably wouldn't last once I reached Hephaestus' forge. Telekhines were nasty things to come across, if I were to be honest with myself. I had never seen one before, but I knew from the myths and from the fact that the traitor Luke had come across a couple of them during his failed quest, that they weren't monsters that you could take lightly. These were immortal, dangerous opponents.. and skilled blacksmiths too. I had heard once that the quality of their work could greatly surpass that of Hephaestus on his best days if they worked hard enough. I didn't know if that was true or not, but it did leave with a healthy respect for their abilities to be honest.

So you can safely say that I was well aware of how difficult my task of getting magical weapons for camp had just become. Just my luck that the hard part of this whole thing is when I get to the forge, I thought to myself as I carefully maneuvered myself around a simplistic and primitive spike trap. The life of a demigod was never easy, was it?

I will admit, having a creepy voice in your head guiding you towards where it was in a dangerous place such as the labyrinth was helpful in a sense. Even though I didn't know where exactly I would end up - or even if I would end up at Hephaestus' forge, it did help me have an easier time navigating through the labyrinth than I otherwise might have had.

Clarisse was down here for a few hours - equivalent to a day up on the surface of the planet - so I knew full well how abnormal my experience was. Words couldn't begin to possibly even describe this at all. The best thing I could be able to come up with at this time would be that this must be how Percy must be to be so f*cking blessed by the fates. People say the fates don't pick favorites, but given the stories of Percy's adventures, they sure seem to f*cking favor him right now honestly in my opinion.

That being said, the knowledge that he was probably having a tougher time with Annabeth right now made me smile, even as I walked through the corridors, the sound of my shoes taking one step after another along the stony floor of the labyrinth being the only sounds I could hear most of the time, other than the occasional monster, the voice in my head, and the rustling of my gear.

Honestly, I didn't want to spend any more time in this treacherous place than I needed to. I had stopped to talk with Kelli although that was not initially my intention, but that would about it. I had to find Hephaestus' forge, I had to get those magical weapons, and then I had to somehow get back through the labyrinth to camp with said weapons. I wished I could just go back to camp to Kayla right now, I really did.

But the threat of Luke, Kronos, and their forces destroying camp and killing what family I had left in this world and the only home I had left drove me to keep going. I had no other choice.

This was a war now.

A war to decide the future of America, and probably the whole world as well. A war for the survival of the Gods. A war for the future of demigods. A struggle for existence, if you may.

So I had to do this. For Percy, For Annabeth, For my siblings, For Clarisse, For Kayla, for the mortals, for the gods, for Camp Half Blood. It was for them all that I had to do this.

I had a feeling that I wasn't going to die from this, given the nature of my prophecy, but then again, when you're a demigod, you never knew. All I could do was fight to the best I could give and hope it would be enough to live and survive another day, or in this case, prevent camp from being destroyed and my friends - and Kayla - from meeting horrible fates.

So I pressed forward, following the voice in my head to its source, hoping that I would succeed in my mission.

- — - — - — - — -

I could tell that I was at least getting close to something after maybe two more hours down here, because the heat started to rise, and I could smell a bit of sulfur in the air. I was getting close to lava, it seemed. Hopefully where the lava was, that's where Hephaestus' forge was too.

Good, child. You are almost there.

I still hadn't figured out who in the world that voice talking to me was. I could at least definitely rule out the possibility of it being Kronos at this point though. It seemed to want me to come to it for reasons other than destroying Olympus and what not, to be honest.

Eventually, I came to a corridor that ended in a doorway. I could feel the presence of whoever was speaking to me being on the other side of that door somehow. It also was really hot by now, and I could hear lava churning. I guessed I was under maybe a volcano now, though I couldn't tell. Hopefully the forge was on the other side of those doors.

So I walked up to the doors, and pushed one open a little, taking a peek inside. There was a metal bridge that extended a good distance forward of me as I noticed that on the other side of the door was a massive sized cavern. A complex web of metal bridges weaved and connected various locations around the cavern, including more doors similar to the ones I was opening and to a rock ridge that flowed around the cavern, to a central area of machines, cauldrons, a massive anvil - everything you would expect in a forge.

I couldn't help but smile. Hephaestus' forge. I had found it, thanks to that weird voice.

I pushed the door opened more, and slipped on inside, taking cover along the boulders on the crest of portion of the rock ridge next to the bridge that was past the doors I had entered, and peered over the edge a tiny bit.

Lava flowed around the central massive area just about what seemed to me to be one hundred meters down below, and on many of the bridges and in the central area, were plenty of Telekhines hard at work operating the forge.

A flash of what seemed to be celestial bronze out of the corner of my eye caught my attention, and I shifted my focus to the right. I just about let out a scream in shock when I noticed who it was, but I caught myself before I could. About at least a quarter of a mile away from me, sneaking around behind the rocks along the edge of the same ridge I was on, was none other than Percy f*cking Jackson.

Looks like the labyrinth led him and Annabeth here too, I thought to myself, watching Percy.

While some of the Telekhines weren't looking, Percy leaped into a cauldron, which after a few more moments, the molten monsters picked it up and took down the metal bridge that they were on towards the center.

The heat was very intense and unbearable a bit, to be honest. I was sweating like crazy right now, and my eyes were stinging. I f*cking hated this place a lot right now.

But I kept watching Percy regardless of all of that as he approached the center of the area undetected. Glancing around at the center area, I saw something that made my blood run cold. Three of the monsters were on top of an anvil, forging what looked like.. Kronos' scythe.

I paled.

That was bad.

"Zeus is evil!" shouted a fourth monster loudly enough that I could hear it. "He cast us out after we forged the finest weapons of the Gods! He no longer has our loyalty, for we now serve Kronos!"

"Kronos! Kronos! Kronos!" shouted the three monsters forging the scythe.

"Zeus was a fool to cast us aside and rely on those bumbling Cyclopes.." the fourth monster continued. I felt bad for Tyson after hearing that part. "That is why we have taken over the forge of the usurper Hephaestus. Soon, my brothers, we will control the undersea furnaces, our ancestral home!"

I was confused for a bit. How the hell do you even have furnaces under the sea? That was probably a question I would have to ask Poseidon if we survived all of this.

Then, I glanced around again. I didn't see Percy, but the fact the one Telekhine just literally vaporized out of nowhere with no warning at all at the edge of the center circle while doing nothing let me know where Annabeth was. She was apparently invisible from the looks of it.

I took a look to the right where I had entered. Some of the monsters were gathering another cart to carry down, and hadn't noticed me yet. So I quietly crept over, close enough that I could hear them yet still out of view.

"God damn it, this sh*t weighs more than I thought it did.." sighed one of them. "Stupid metal."

"Ascoles, shut the f*ck up and pull your weight.." said another.

They walked off, leaving me there wondering exactly how the hell I was going to get down there.

As it turned out, I didn't really have to put myself in one of those carts. Percy did the distraction for me.

"...BACK OFF!" his voice shouted out of nowhere, startling even me. Small crashing noises were heard, and then, "CLASS DISMISSED!"

The Telekhines stopped what they were doing and moved off towards where Percy was, allowing me to sneak down the metal bridge into the center area. It took me a few moments, but I managed to get close to where Percy was, concealed from view pretty well from both where any monsters could see me and from Percy himself, as he seemed to be arguing with air. I had the Whitworth slung on my back, connected from trigger guard to ramrod by a strap made out of a very durable material - I forgot what it was called - that rested on my waist.

Then, the air turned into Annabeth, who shoved her Yankees cap into her back pocket. She looked very pissed off at Percy.

"No! Percy!" she yelled. "You can't kill all those Telekhines!"

Alone by himself, probably not. Then again, I was around, though he didn't know it yet, so maybe we had a chance.

"I have a plan. Go invisible, and run!" Percy said back.

I was confused. The f*ck kinda plan was that?

Then, Annabeth did something that totally caught me off guard.

She. Kissed. Him.

I was shocked honestly. But then I thought, finally. HOPEFULLY, THIS DUMB DENSE IDIOT FINALLY REALIZES THAT SHE IS IN LOVE WITH HIM AND HE SURVIVES TO CONFESS TO HER.

One could only hope though.

Annabeth disappeared, and I unsheathed my sword, ready for combat.

Before I could reveal my presence to Percy, I felt myself being touched by cold, clammy hands. I turned left and right, only to see no one. Still, it felt rather calming. I could feel something being placed on my head, almost as if it was a crown or something - I couldn't tell for again I could see nothing there.

Arise, my chosen one - for you are now the Monster King.

Then it hit me.

Monster King.

Monsters.

Typhon.

I held in a scream. THAT f*ckING VOICE WAS TYPHON THE WHOLE TIME? I thought to myself. I felt a massive surge of energy flow through my body.. and I thought I was about to transform or something. Then, after a few moments, the surge abated and I could no longer feel the hands, the object on my head, or that surge. I took a quick glance at myself, feeling something on my neck. It was a necklace made out of bones, linked together by what seemed like rope made from the fur of the Minotaur and connected to a black jewel connected by steel to the rest of the necklace. Fitting piece of jewelry, I thought to myself.

I snapped back to reality when a voice said, "THERE! GET HIM!"

The Telekhines had found Percy.

Time to fight.

I turned and leapt from my spot, being above where Percy was. Ten young Telekhines were charging Percy, with four adults standing unawares. Perfect timing.

I got the jump on the adults, slicing all four to pieces, killing all of them. Percy took care of the younger ones in short order.

I went over to him. He definitely looked surprised to see me.

"Colton?" he exclaimed. "What are you even doing here?"

"I got sent down here to get more magical weapons for camp by Chiron.." I explained. Percy was about to say something when he was hit by lava, screaming.

I turned around, noticing three more adult Telekhines having joined the party, all of them with globs of lava in their hands, courtesy of dark magic.

I was about to go attack them.. when everything blew up.

My last thought before I blacked out was..

Percy Jackson, so help me gods, I'm going to murder you when I wake up, asshole.

Pretty sure I prayed to the gods that I could make it back to Kayla before I had that thought, though.

But yeah, it was safe to say.. that I might be dead.

Chapter 26: XIX. Hephaestus Helps Me Realize Something

Chapter Text

First thing I knew when I woke up was that I was tasting sand.

Yes, sand in my mouth.

Disgusting.

I spat it out, then winced when I closed my mouth. f*ck. I am so going to kill Percy for this, since now I was dead, it seemed and Kayla would be forever depressed.

I opened my eyes, struggling to do so, which confused me. I should be dead - what the f*ck?

First thing I saw a stone ceiling, as I was staring straight up at it. From the position of my body, it seemed that I was laying down on my back from the way I felt.

The ceiling was bright though, for some reason, and I could hear the sounds of the sea, and it did feel warm.

I blinked once, then twice, straining to do so. I turned my head to the left, and even that took effort. There, on a stone bed nearby, was Percy in a white t-shirt and a drawstring pair of gray trousers. He was still asleep, it seemed.

I heard footsteps approaching, so I turned my head back to the first position, once again straining as I did so. A woman entered my field of view, a gorgeous one at that. Lovely almond eyes, silky and gorgeous caramel-blonde hair, wearing a white dress with a headband around her head.

I immediately recognized who she was.

Calypso.

Imprisoned by the Olympians for her support of the Titans during the last Titan war, she was stuck on a phantom island, unable to leave it but others could. If I was on Calypso's island along with Percy, that meant.. despite all odds..

..both of us had survived the explosion.

That meant one thing. I wasn't dead after all, I was alive.

That thought led to another. Kayla.. I gotta get home to Camp Half Blood. They need me.

"I see you're awake.." Calypso spoke, snapping me from my train of thought. I could only nod in reply.

"Rest up for now.. you're both too weak.." she told me, and I once again nodded. "Safe to say.. never seen two heroes land on my island at once before."

I mean, the idiot next to me produced an explosion that got us into this mess in the first place, I thought to myself as she walked off for now.

I closed my eyes, because yeah.. I was very weak. Percy looked no better, so rest is what I did.

- — - — - — - — -

When I opened my eyes again, I was able to do so without straining as much as I did before. I could also move around a bit more easier, though it still took a bit of effort.

I turned towards where Percy was. He wasn't there. So I looked out towards where the light was coming from.

I could see the sea for a far distance extending outwards outside of the cave I was in, and a sandy beach rising upward from the shore for about maybe 50 to 55 yards before a grassy plain with some trees covered the rest of the short distance to the mouth of the cave.

I could see Percy out there on the beach with Calypso, evidently in conversation.

I looked down at my body. I wasn't wearing my stuff, though the necklace Typhon had given me was still hanging around my neck. I was, like Percy, in a white t-shirt and a drawstring pair of shorts, though mine were green. I definitely looked like I had taken quite the punishment in the explosion. Plenty of scars along my skin that I could see - arms, legs, feet. But despite that, I was still alive.

I looked to my right now. There, propped up against the wall, was me and Percy's gear, as well as our other clothes.

At least I know where my stuff is now, I thought to myself as I slowly but surely got out of the bed I was on and slowly walked out.

This place was what you could describe as paradise, if your idea of paradise is being imprisoned and stuck on an island you couldn't leave. Silk curtains, gems in the ceiling, fruits lining the walls.. like it was a very tropical kind of paradise, which was fitting since you know.. we are at Calypso's island which is gods knows where.

I must have been a bit too loud in walking, because Percy and Calypso turned around and saw me. "Colton.." Percy gasped. "..you're alive.."

I glared at him. "Jackson.." I hissed. "I swear to the gods that if we never make back to camp - and to Kayla and Annabeth, I will personally send your ass to Elysium."

Calypso looked concerned. "You mind explaining what you're mad at him about?" she asked.

I turned to her. "I think it's that he's the one who exploded in Hephaestus' forge that got us into this mess in the first place.." I said, shifting my focus back to Percy, who was just whistling.

"Don't f*cking play this off like it's nothing, Jackson!" I shouted. "We're stuck on Ogygia now because of your sh*t. Like my gods, at least we lived.. because I was going to make your life in the underworld hell if you got us both killed, son of Poseidon."

Percy seemed confused as to what I was saying. "Wait.. we're on Ogygia?" he asked. I sighed in frustration. "Yes, you dumb f*ck.." I said back.

"And mind telling who are you again, Mr. Trigger Happy?" Calypso asked me, looking a bit annoyed at how I was behaving. I felt ashamed, let my anger get the best of me like an idiot.

"Colton Reynolds, son of Ares. I apologize for my behavior, Ms. Calypso. Please forgive me.." I said softly.

"Apology accepted. Now mind telling me what the two of you were doing in Hephaestus' forge that resulted in Percy exploding, please?" she said, and I explained everything.

She looked away for a bit, pondering everything, before marching over to Percy and smacking him in the face. I chuckled.

"Ow!" Percy called out. "What was that for?"

"You put my father back underneath the sky?!" Calypso called out.

"I had to save Artemis and Annabeth! What was I supposed to do?!" he called back, and I couldn't help but chuckle more. I mean, my fatal flaw was caring too much for others, but personally.. watching Percy's fatal flaw get him into trouble was amusing to watch.

But, at the same time, I had to admit that she deserved freedom from this prison. After all, the fact that she hadn't lost her mind after being stuck here for so long was amazing honestly, but still.. the Gods kept her there for too long.

I decided to step in, parting the two from arguing. "Look.. I will admit, the gods are not perfect. That much is true. That being said, I'll let myself suffer the cruelest punishments if the Titans win.." I said, turning to Calypso. "..and also, I do think you deserve freedom too. Like, being kept on this island for so long and wondering when you'll ever be able to escape.. that is just cruel in my book."

Calypso nodded along, understanding at least it seemed a good bit of what I was saying.

"That being said.. as much as Percy probably would like to stay, being the dense headed doofus that he is.." I continued, causing Calypso to chuckle and Percy to holler out behind me, "HEY, I'm not dense!"

"..we are going to eventually have to leave. I'm sorry.." I said, because to be fair, if we could take her from this island, we could. But I had studied the myths and knew her story, so we couldn't. She nodded, a few tears in her eyes.

"Hopefully, me and Percy can convince the gods to free you from this island.." I said, and that brightened her day. She hugged me, and I was surprised for a bit, but deep down inside, I could feel a distant aura of jealousy from far off. Kayla.

It was confusing, and even as she let go and talked to Percy some more, having forgotten the anger she had at him a few moments ago, I was still deep in thought.

Why was Kayla jealous? Why could I sense her jealousy?

- — - — - — - — -

We stayed on Ogygia for gods knows how long. I lost track of it. I didn't have any way of knowing to be honest, but I did know it was definitely at least more than a few days.

Percy had become fast friends with Calypso, and the two were growing really close. I'm guessing it was because she wanted one of us to stay with her, though it teared me up inside because I knew that because of circ*mstances, she wouldn't get either of us. It was tragic, but then again, such was the life that she lived. It was almost as if the gods were toying with her.

Anyways, we were eating dinner one night, all chatting to each other - well Percy and Calypso were, I was off to the side thinking endlessly about Kayla and hoping that she was okay - when out of nowhere, a bright light appeared on the beach, forcing all three of us to look away temporarily. When we turned back, there standing in the sand was Hephaestus, who started limping over to us. Gods, it was painful to watch him walk. I felt bad for the guy.

"Well.. well.. if it isn't Calypso. As beautiful as ever" Hephaestus said. Calypso just nodded her head.

"Lord Hephaestus.." Calypso said in reply politely. "..what a surprise to see you here."

"Indeed.." the god replied. "However, I am here for these two." He pointed to both me and Percy.

"Been looking for us..? At least I can know how long we've been here finally.." I said.

"Colton, first of all.. yes.. I have been looking for both of you. And two, it's been nearly two weeks.." he said, and I was shocked. Two weeks, almost two weeks I've been away from Sherman.. from Clarisse.. from camp.. from Kayla. It hurt my heart.

I tuned out everything for a bit. I came back in on this below.

"Hephaestus, what's going on? Is Annabeth.." Percy started, only for Hephaestus to simply nod.

"Yeah.. she's okay" the god responded.

"Did you tell the others that we are okay?" Percy asked.

"Not my place, guys.." Hephaestus said to us. "Everyone thinks you two are both dead. Annabeth and that red-head girl.. Apollo's kid.. are both in hysterics.. the red head is also rambling about how she never got the chance to tell her hero that he stole her heart or something, dunno."

Hephaestus keeps talking, but I couldn't hear what he was even saying anymore. I couldn't hear Percy or Calypso either.

Everything is now quiet, and I can only hear myself. Just myself and my own thoughts.

Honestly, it absolutely hurt to hear that Kayla was in hysterics.. it hurt harder than I could ever believe it could. My heart broke at it. It really did.

But the last few words that Hephaestus said were confusing to me.

Stole her heart? What did he mean by "her hero stole her heart"? What exactly did he mean by that?

It took me a few moments before I realized what he meant. I stole her heart because Kayla fell for me. The girl had fallen in love with me.

A rush of memories came running back. Sleeping together with each other, the hug when we reunited at the Winter Solstice last year, the kiss on the cheek she gave after Chiron came back, how she held my hand.. how I blushed every time I mentioned her..

I still blushed just thinking of her now honestly. Nevertheless, I was still confused a little. Why? Why did I blush like that whenever I thought of her?

That's when it hits me.

You're in love, that's what it is.

I blushed so hard I felt like I was going to pass out, but I had realized it finally.

I had fallen for Kayla Knowles , but I just didn't realize it until now . I, Colton Reynolds, was in love with Apollo's daughter.

I am so f*cking screwed, am I?

Then I did pass out, but one thing was certain. Come hell or high water, I was going to claw my way back to Camp Half Blood with Percy, and nothing was going to stop me from confessing how I really felt to the girl of my dreams.

No matter what, I was coming back to Camp Half Blood. My friends depended on it. Clarisse depended on it. Kayla depended on it.

Hang on, love of my life. Your hero is coming home.

(A/N: It took him a little while longer, but this oblivious yet smart dolt finally realized the truth. He's in love. Now, he's gotta get back to her. And to any monster that might come across his and Percy's path while doing so, they may want to avoid them altogether. Because Colton is now dead set on admitting to her his true feelings and he is not going to stop until he gets to.

Also another shout-out to Askinar-The-Dark, since a little bit of their version of this part is included in here too, mixed in with a small piece of the book version and mostly my own writing. I think it looks good honestly. But yeah.. he's finally realized. Now, he's gotta get home and hopefully not murder Percy before he gets back to Camp Half Blood. We'll see.)

Chapter 27: XX. Coming Back Home

Chapter Text

(A/N: Here we go. One more chapter.. and then next is the part you've all been waiting for.)

The next day, Calypso made us a magical raft for us to sail back home on. Once I woke up in the middle of the night, I slept until morning, and then made Percy swear on the River Styx that he would get the Gods to promise to free Calypso. Because look, as much as she was a titaness, she didn't deserve to be kept on this island like a prisoner. She deserved freedom.

I wanted Kayla, sure, but that didn't stop me from wanting to help right the wrongs that others had been dealt as a consequence of their actions. Calypso's imprisonment on Ogygia definitely felt the bill as one of those wrongs. So in a sense, you can't really blame me for wanting to help right that wrong. Not all gods are idiots, but when it comes to the Olympians, ignorance, lack of empathy plus lack of caring and forgetfulness run deep in this family. Calypso, camp, and that traitor Luke - they had all been victims of those things one way or another. Had the Gods been better people, none of this would ever have happened.

Luke knew that full well. Yet, he chose to betray us. There was no doubt in my mind that it was Kronos who corrupted him into doing so. I was sure of it. I still was pissed off by Luke betraying us.

I will admit, I didn't look upon Luke as favorably as many of the other campers did. He did do some nice things for me, but I wouldn't consider us as friends, more like acquaintances if I were to be honest. He rarely saw much of me, especially after I got my Whitworth rifle. Speaking of this gun, I might get around to telling you the story of how I got this weapon once this war is done with. Maybe, just maybe.

Anyways, because of that, I think it was much easier for me to accept the betrayal of Luke than most of the other campers when he nearly killed Percy with that pit scorpion. I don't have any regrets about swearing that if I ever came across the bastard, I would not hesitate to put a bullet through the traitor's head. I still don't have any regrets about that even now, honestly.

You betray the gods, you pay the price. That's how it works around these parts.

Either way, getting back to Camp Half Blood would mean that we were one step closer to that goal.

So it was that after me and Percy had put on our other clothes, got all our gear, and had made final preparations to leave, that we stepped on to the raft. Percy said a few words to Calypso, but I wasn't paying attention to what they said. I had a certain redhead on my mind.

Okay.. look.. I was a little bit pissed off at Hephaestus for not telling Kayla, my siblings, and camp that me and Percy were still alive. Like, can you even blame me for such a thing? I wasn't the one who got the two of us into this mess to even begin with, Percy had. I was just collateral damage to put it bluntly. At least, that's what I saw myself as to be honest. How the hell was I supposed to know that Percy would blow up and get us here in the first place? So why did I have to suffer and have my friends - and the girl that was going to become my girlfriend one way or another - believe that we were dead? It was some Grade A Bullsh*t, if you ask me.

Enough of that, though. Point is, I was solely focused on Kayla.

"Camp. Take us home to Camp Half Blood.." Percy spoke, snapping me from my thoughts, and then the boat began to move. At it did so, aside from Kayla, I had one other thought. Calypso, I swear to you, if the Gods don't free you if they agree to Percy's request, then I'm going to make sure that someone comes along that does free you from that island. I swear it on the River Styx.

Little did I realize what that would mean for me down the road..

- — - — - — - — -

As we drifted through the sea, towards home, towards Camp Half Blood, I'm pretty sure Percy and I's thoughts were both focused on the same thing. Would Camp still be okay when we got back?

I'm pretty sure that the worst case scenario for me right now would be coming back to camp only to find Luke's forces slaughtering the family I had left. I couldn't bear to see that. I had no idea what Percy's worst case scenario for this would be, but I was inclined to think that it would be probably something similar. Speaking of Percy, looking at him, his blonde hair seemed to glow as bright as the sun out here on the sea.

I must have been staring at Percy for too long though, because his voice snapped me out of my train of thought. "You okay Colton?" he asked me, out of concern. I simply nodded, while the sound of the ocean could be heard all around the raft the two of us were on.

"You seemed distant back at Ogygia.. and also what was with you blacking out when Hephaestus was talking last night?" he asked me, and I had half a mind to scream out to him then and there that I was in love with Kayla. But I didn't, because this idiot on the boat with me had Annabeth crushing head over heels for him and even after she had kissed him square on the lips in Hephaestus' forge, this dumb f*ck was still oblivious as ever. Like dear god, someone hit this guy with the kitchen sink or something.

"How do you think it feels to be told that the people you care think you're dead because none of the gods ever thought to tell them that you're okay? How do you think it feels Percy?" I asked back. Percy pondered that for a moment.

"I'd simply surprise them when they are hosting a funeral for me to show them I'm not dead.." he replied, and I again had half a mind to strangle the poor f*ck with my bare hands right here and now.

"Of course. You chose that answer because you're a child of the big three.. you don't know what it's like having more than one sibling in your cabin at the same time.." I snapped back. "You think Clarisse and my siblings are okay right now? Huh, do you?"

"No.." he said back.

"Then why you'd go with that answer then, idiot?" I asked him. "How emotional do you think they are going to be that we are alive? How emotional do you think Annabeth is going to be to see you alive?"

"I don't know.. maybe as much as a friend?" Percy said.

I lost it.

"PERCY JACKSON, SHE KISSED YOU ON THE LIPS IN HEPHAESTUS' FORGE! IT MAY HAVE BEEN BECAUSE SHE DIDN'T WANT YOU TO DIE, BUT IT'S ALSO BECAUSE SHE SEES YOU AS MORE THAN A FRIEND, YOU IDIOT!" I hollered.

"Wait.. does she see me as more than a friend?" he asked. God, this guy was clueless beyond hope.

"Figure it out yourself, dumb dumb.." I told him.

"Hey!" He snapped back. "I'm not a dumb dumb! And you're one to talk, given you got Kayla crushing all over you!"

That's it. I'm telling him how I really feel about her. No butts about it.

"So? At least I've recognized now that I'm in love with her.." I told him, and he looked at me like I had grown two heads.

"What?" he asked, confused. "What did you just say?"

"You heard me, water boy.." I said. "The reason why I blacked out while Hephaestus was talking was because I realized that I have fallen in love with Kayla Knowles. That's the reason why I'm even trying to put up with you on this trip home. I'M IN LOVE WITH HER, AND GOD DAMN IT, I'M COMING HOME TO ADMIT MY FEELINGS FOR HER, COME HELL OR HIGH WATER!"

Percy just chuckled. "Took you long enough to see it.. everyone at camp was betting whether you and her would hook up this summer, including me.." he said back, and I held back from pushing him off the boat, for more than one reason.

Because of course.. of course Percy f*cking Jackson would be making bets on my love life. What a small world this was.

"Well.. once we get back to camp, all of you are about to get your wish. You happy about that, oblivious-man?" I said to him, smirking.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He said to me.

I simply shrugged, crossed my arms, and continued to smirk. "You know full well what it means, Jackson. You might as well be just as clueless as I was.." I said, turning around. He bombarded me with requests to explain myself, but I didn't say anything. I just thought of Kayla, Clarisse, my siblings, camp, and Annabeth. Especially Annabeth this time around.

Annabeth Chase, I thought to myself. You might have picked the world's most dense and oblivious person to fall in love with. If you ever succeed in getting him to feel the same way for you, I say congrats. No betting on it for me, just congrats.

And yeah, it was true. I didn't even bet on when Percy and Annabeth would maybe hook up. I simply was trying to make it happen by getting Percy to get over the dense hump that is his brain and recognize that he's in love with Annabeth. Apparently, he was not quite there yet.

- — - — - — - — -

It was about late-afternoon, I was guessing, by the time we got back to Camp Half Blood. The raft arrived on the shores, and both me and Percy jumped out onto the shore, and stopped dead in our tracks.

Everything was quiet, way too quiet. I didn't like it one bit. "Seems Hephaestus wasn't kidding.." Percy muttered next to me. "They do think we are dead."

"No sh*t, Sherlock.." I snapped back at him. Percy ignored me and pushed on towards the cabins. I followed him, hoping that I would find Kayla there.

Much to my own frustration, I didn't. The cabins were deserted completely, and the archery range looked empty too. "Where is everyone?" Percy asked, and that's when I smelled something.

Smoke.

"Hey uh.. Percy.." I said, and Percy looked at me. "You smell smoke?"

Percy sniffed the air for a couple of seconds, and then he nodded. "Yeah.. I do.." he said back, before the two of us started glancing around, trying to find out exactly where it was coming from.

It wasn't long before we found the source. The amphitheater.

My heart filled up with a sense of worry. I hope they aren't doing what I think they're doing, I thought to myself as Percy and I moved in the direction of the amphitheater.

We stopped dead in our tracks near it when we heard sniffles and then Chiron saying, "-after so many days, I believe our prayers have gone unanswered. We must accept the worst, but some campers would like to speak."

We quickened our pace, as Clarisse said some words about me and Percy. We crept around to the back of the amphitheater, up the slope of the ridge that led to Half Blood Hill, using the forest to conceal ourselves from view. How we made up there without anyone hearing me, I will never know.

"...so, yeah. He was a great friend. My best friend, and one of the best siblings I ever had. I think we'll all miss him."

My heart broke just looking at the scene as the two of us stood in the tree line at the back of the amphitheater. It was exactly as I had feared. They were doing a funeral ceremony for both of us.

Clarisse had tears in her eyes and was trying not to break down completely as she walked back to her seat on stage after giving those words. She down in her seat, and on her left was Annabeth and on her right was.. Kayla.

I wanted to cry, to scream, to let her I was okay.. but the sight of her in all black, head down, her sobs audible from where me and Percy were.. just froze me in place. I wanted to punch Hephaestus in the face right now, I really did. Even she did look like the beautiful fashion and archery queen as she was in that outfit, it still broke my heart to see her like this.

Annabeth got up and made her way to where Clarisse had stood.

"Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, was a brave hero.. as was Colton Reynolds, son of Ares.." Chiron stated. "One of them accepting to go on a quest with young Annabeth here was a dangerous thing to do - as we all know - but.. I bare some of the responsibility here too.. by sending Colton down there into the labyrinth too. But both have not returned, so we can only assume that both are dead. So I have asked Annabeth here to say the final words."

Annabeth was shaking horribly, that much was evident. Percy and I stepped forward, standing at the back of the crowd. No one was even looking at us still. She took a deep breath and turned to the campers.

"Percy was probably the bravest friend I ever had. Colton was the next bravest, after Clarisse of course.." she started.

I smiled at that.

"He.."

Her eyes traveled blindly around the crowd, and landed on the two of us. She froze when she saw both us, and she looked like she had seen a ghost.

"..THEY'RE RIGHT THERE!"

Chapter 28: XXI. Reunions (And I Get The Girl Of My Dreams)

Chapter Text

Alternative Chapter Title: I May Or May Not Consider Percy A Genius Now

(A/N: You all have been waiting for this. I aim to deliver. That is all for this author's note.)

"..THEY'RE RIGHT THERE!"

Everyone turned to look at us, shocked as well. There was a long, awkward silence that hung over the area for a while. I had to admit, it definitely was awkward.

I mean, I've basically been gone from camp for gods know how long alongside the guy who's gone on more quests in two years than literally the rest of the camp probably will go on in their lifetimes, and here they are, about to burn funeral shrouds to honor both of us. Talk about one heck of a reunion, but that was reality right now. We had simply walked in on it.. and everyone is just looking at us like we had come back from the dead.

As to the reactions of the campers, they really varied. Sherman was blinking constantly, seemingly unsure if he could believe what he was seeing. Clarisse had tears coming out of her eyes, which hurt. Some of my other siblings had tears of joy. And Kayla..

Kayla's eyes had looked up the minute Annabeth had shouted that we were here, and my heart broke at the sight of her. Like, it was one of the most heartbreaking sights I have ever been witness to honestly. It just hurt to look at her the way she was right now.

She had been crying.. hard. Tear streaks ran down her face, lots of them. Parts of her clothing, I now noticed, were stained from her tears. She looked at me, eyes pleading.. hoping that I wasn't a figment of her imagination.

Words could not describe how much I wanted to rip apart Kronos with my bare hands for being the f*cking reason she was like this - the main reason we were even in this situation in the first place. Like, I really wanted to do that to him so bad right now. That bastard had caused her enough pain already. But enough of that. Enough of thinking about that asshole. I have other plans right now.

I, her hero, had returned to claim her as mine once and for all. No more beating around the bush about my feelings for her. I put up with Jackson on the way back just for this.. and only this. Nothing except this.

I did think back to him being oblivious for his feelings for Annabeth for a moment, and wondered if in an alternate universe, this could have been them, not me and Kayla about to do what we were probably about to do. If only you weren't so f*cking dense about your feelings for Annabeth, dumbass..

Like the other thought before, I cast it to the side. No time to think about it really, because it was now or never. Time to tell her how I really felt.

But first, just to confirm to her that I'm back.. I simply point at Jackson. "If you're wondering which of us decided to cause this predicament of the two of us getting stranded on a damn island with Calypso, who helped us out before we sailed back here.. blame this idiot" I say, flashing Kayla a smile. It felt good to give some payback to him for getting us in that mess. "HEY!" Percy shouts in response, but I'm already moving, towards Kayla.

Kayla's moving too. She's got a smile on her face as bright as the sun despite having tears in her eyes. Her eyes twinkle like stars, and she glows brightly. Really bright. Even in that black dress, stockings, and heels, she glows brighter than ever before.

My heart burned like an inferno for her. It really did. She was the one who lit it aflame and as far as I was concerned, as long as I was with her, it was going to burn like that forever. No matter what, my heart is always going to be her.

As we get closer to each other, I can hear the words of some of the other campers.

"Holy sh*t, dude.." I hear Travis say. "..I think they're finally going to do it.."

"No way.." Lee gawks. "..is today the day they finally do it?"

"Aww.. this is going to be so sweet.." Belle pipes up. "I have tears of joy in my eyes."

"If they do this.. all I have to say is.. took them long enough.." Aruna says.

"I knew they would eventually" Chris speaks. "The minute they hugged each other on the Winter Solstice, I knew they would fall in love with each other one day."

"If they seriously do it today.." I hear Sherman speak up. "..everyone is going to owe Percy all the money we bet on this."

Okay, that was surprising, I think to myself as I get closer and closer to her. Percy Jackson out of all people predicted correctly the day me and Kayla are going to admit our feelings for each other. Ironic.

But then again, who could have expected that Percy f*cking Jackson of all people could have predicted this? Certainly not me.

But I wasn't going to dwell on that. Not when the girl of my dreams is right in front of me. Not since the fact that I've waited for this moment since I realized how I truly felt and god damn it, is it glorious for this to be finally happening.

When we reach each other, she hugs me and starts sobbing into my chest, only for me to pick her up princess carry style, and stare down into her eyes, an affectionate smile on my face. It takes a few moments before she stops crying, realizes what I'm doing, and beams happier than ever before.

"So you realized too, have you?" she asks happily.

"Yeah I have. I fell for you, Kayla. I fell for you, and now your hero is back.. to claim you~" I reply back, and that's when we lean in..

..and kiss each other.

Right.

On.

The.

Lips.

It may have been our first actual kiss, but god damn it, did I ever feel like I was sitting on Zeus' throne with her when I kissed her. Forget cloud nine, kissing her felt like I was in the Isles Of The Blest and Elysium combined.

Her lips felt so sweet, so warm, so loving.. it was perfect. She kissed me back.. hard, wrapping her hands behind my neck. I couldn't blame her though. Because of Percy, up until now, she probably thought I was dead.. and that she would never get the chance to tell me how she felt. But despite that, I came back.. to the girl that called me her hero. In some ways, this was a heroic homecoming like something out of a movie.. the main character coming back against all odds to the person they loved. But, in reality, this was just life for demigods sometimes.

Either way, I felt like the happiest man in the world in that moment. That kiss.. was the minute my pierced heart linked with hers. That kiss.. was the minute the hole in my heart left by my dead parents was finally filled.

Around us, the entire camp is going absolutely apesh*t. Cheers, applauds, and shouts of support echo all around. Because they had been waiting so long for us to do this.

"OH MY GODS!" Silena hollers in joy. "This is so amazing!"

"This is the sweetest thing I have ever seen.." remarks Aurora.

"Awweee.. how adorable. She definitely deserves him.." Katie cooed.

"Words cannot describe how absolutely amazed I am.." Malcolm, one of Annabeth's siblings, calls out. "..at how lucky Colton is."

It was true, even I could see that. I was one lucky son of a bitch right now.

"Damn.. he finally realized it.." Michael says. "..finally.. we were all waiting for this."

"KAYTON is finally a thing! LET'S GO!" shouted Travis.

Indeed.. they all had been waiting for this for a good long while. Now, it was finally a reality. Thanks in no small part to one Percy Jackson on my end.

Kayla and I gently pull apart from each other, each of us gazing affectionately into the other's eyes. I didn't know what to say for a bit. The emotions I felt were so overwhelming, that words would fail to describe them.

It felt like a fairytale.

Literal fairytale moment.

Finally, I figured it out, because looking back, I guess I could see why everyone had bet on this since last summer. Why everyone had been waiting for it to happen. I mean, I think it was obvious to everyone from the start. I had been head over heels for her ever since the first time we saw each other.. and I was too oblivious to realize it. It was safe to say that she probably had been the same way.

"I guess.. in retrospect.. despite the prophecy.." I said to her, being honest with both her and myself. "..from the moment I first saw you, I think my heart knew.. that it was always going to be you - no question about it. I was head over heels for you.. and I never knew until now."

She blushed brightly, and that made me more happy than before. "I think it was the same for me too.." she says. "..so now, I guess that makes us.."

She trailed off, a little bit embarrassed to say it. But I knew what she would have said, so I finished it for her.

"You're totally right it does!" I said back, and we kissed each other again, causing more squeals, hollers, and excited shouts of celebration to rise up behind us.

"Well.. this is something.." Chiron spoke, and that's when Annabeth hollered, "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!"

Everyone went quiet at that remark, and I set Kayla gently back down on her feet. I turned around. Annabeth had marched off the stage and shoved past everyone up to Percy. She was rather furious from the looks of it.

"I-we thought you and him were dead, seaweed brain!" Annabeth shouted at him.

"I'm sorry.." Percy responded. "We just got lost."

"Bro.. you're the one that blew up in the forge and got us stranded on an island.." I said, much to Percy's annoyance.

Annabeth looked flabbergasted after my comment. "How did he just blow up?" she asked me.

I simply shrugged. "Beats me.. he got hit by lava from a Telekhine and I was about to go attack it when like everything just blew up.. and next thing I know.. I was tasting sand.." I told her. "..like really, I'm being honest. I don't know what happened. One minute I'm in the forge, and the next minute, we're both stranded on an island!"

"Still though.. two weeks, Percy! Two weeks! Where in the world have both of-.." Annabeth continued, turning back to Percy, before being interrupted by Chiron.

"Annabeth, Percy, Colton, and Kayla.." Chiron said, looking at the four of us. "Perhaps we should discuss this somewhere more private, w shall we? The rest of you, back to your normal activities!"

Before Percy and Annabeth could protest, Chiron picked both of them - rather easily I might add, placed them both on his back, and galloped off towards the Big House. I turned to Kayla.

"Guess we walk then.." I said to her, and she nodded, and as everyone else just watched in awe and adoration, we walked out of there hand in hand, as boyfriend and girlfriend.

Reunions with my siblings could wait a bit. Right now, I just wanted to enjoy the moment. I may have been crowned Monster King a couple weeks ago by the worst monster known to the Gods, but right now, that seemed minor compared to the title I have now. I'm now the boyfriend of the daughter of Darren Knowles and Apollo.

Homecoming had never felt so perfect.

- — - — - — - — -

I think there was something that happened when I blacked out after realizing that I'm in love with Kayla. I'm not sure, but Percy felt like he was leaving something out. It pretty sure seemed that way, if I were to be honest with you.

Annabeth seemed to think the same thing. "Why are you even sad about it every time I ask you something about Ogygia?" she asked him. Before he could respond, I interrupted.

"He's sad for reasons I have no idea about. I'm sad thinking about it because like leaving a woman stranded on an island for thousands of years, unable to leave it but others can.. that's just torture.." I said. "..I just think she deserves to be released, that's all."

Kayla looked at me, a bit suspicious. "I don't know what he even did, but as far as I know, Calypso and I were on friendly terms. We were just friends, and I felt like maybe she deserved a chance at life off the island. She's been there for thousands of years, why not at least set her free?" I said back to her, and I was being brutally honest with Kayla, which given that her godly parent just so happened to be the god of truth, was all I could. If I even told a lie, I was f*cked - and by f*cked, I mean.. picked apart by the child of a god who is a literal lie detector.

Thankfully, she nodded. That meant she knew I was telling the truth.

"Either way, you two have been gone for two weeks.." Annabeth said, after getting her emotions under control. "..and honestly, Colton.. I feel sorry for you for having to be stuck with him for that long."

"HEY!" Percy shouted.

I simply smiled, and Kayla just giggled. "Thanks for the empathy, Annabeth.." I told her and she nodded with a smile in reply, before she frowned while turning back to Percy.

"Look, when I heard the explosion, I thought-.." she started before Percy interrupted her. I knew what she was going to say. ..thought you were dead.

"I know" Percy replied, looking quite haunted.. at least his eyes did. "I'm sorry. But I figured out how to get through the labyrinth. I talked to Hephaestus."

I wondered if I should let everyone know about what happened with Typhon while I was down in there. Eventually, I figured no.. only Kayla and Chiron needed to know this and keep it a secret for now. The idea of Typhon, of all people, making someone - a child of an Olympian for that matter - a king over monsters sounded about as absurd as my prophecy had been when I heard it the first time. But somehow, this was reality.

"He told you the answer?" Annabeth asked him.

"Well, he sort of told me that I already knew. And I do. I understand now.." he said, taking a deep breath. I hadn't heard this part, since you know, I had blacked out after a realization of love, so this was.. surprising to say the least. "We need a mortal with the sight. They can guide us through the labyrinth. And well, Rachel has the sight."

I'm guessing he was referring to the same Rachel that had helped him ward off Kelli and her partner two weeks ago. It seemed like the most likely answer.

Annabeth's jaw dropped in disbelief. "Percy, that's crazy!"

It sounded crazy, but the thing was.. it definitely could work. Clear sighted mortals had an advantage in the labyrinth, as being able to see through the mist meant that they could see things others might miss. And then again, it's Percy Jackson. The man himself has done plenty of crazy things and somehow not died by this point.

Chiron looked deep in thought, and definitely not in shock. He considered the idea as he stroked his beard. "There is a precedent to this, however. Theseus had the help of Ariadne" he declared. "Harriet Tubman, daughter of Hermes, used many mortals on her Underground Railroad for just this reason."

"But it's my quest.." Annabeth said. "I need to lead it."

There she goes. Annabeth's fatal flaw was acting up again. Hubris can be fatal, especially when it comes to matters such as the labyrinth. Chiron must have felt the same way, given what he said next.

"My dear, it is your quest. But you need help.." he told her, much to Annabeth's frustration.

"And this is supposed to help?" she snapped back. "Please! It's wrong. It's cowardly. It's-.."

"Hard to admit that we need a mortal's help.." Percy interrupted. He was certain that it would work, which only served to make Annabeth angrier. "But it's true."

A lot of us may call him an idiot, dumb-dumb, whatever insult we can pull out of our asses sometimes, but right now, even I couldn't argue with his logic. He was literally hitting the nail on the head for once.

"As they say, desperate times call for desperate measures.." I added in, much to Percy's surprise. I didn't want to admit it, but there were times where I may or may not have considered Percy a genius, and believe me, this definitely counted as one of those times. Throughout it all, Kayla just stood next to me, holding my hand tenderly and lovingly in hers. God damn it, did it feel so good.

Annabeth boiled over and she jabbed her finger at him. "You are the single most annoying person I have ever met!" she huffed, before storming off before Percy could say anything. I felt bad for the guy, for once.

"Dude.." I said to him, before Chiron could say anything. "..don't feel bad, Jackson. I think you have the right idea. Athena kids can be stubborn because of their hubris.. and you don't suffer from it. Keep at it, kid." I simply patted him on the back.

"Thanks.. Colton.." he said shyly. "Thanks for believing in me."

I smiled and nodded. "Knowing her, she's probably going to go back down there tomorrow, so stick to your plan, kid."

"Will do.." Percy replied and then walked out.

Chiron just gazed at me and Kayla. I had to fess up about my failure. And since Percy and Annabeth were gone, maybe my secret as well.

"Can I ask you both to keep a secret for me? I may not have gotten the weapons like you asked, Chiron, but something else happened down there that I don't really want anyone else other than you two to know" I said with a serious look in my eyes. Both Kayla and Chiron nodded.

"I think Typhon was manipulating the labyrinth somehow to lead me to Hephaestus' forge.. dude was also speaking to me telepathically or something somehow too.." I started, causing Kayla to gasp in shock and Chiron to look at me worried.

"Why was he doing that?" Chiron asked.

"That's where it gets weirder. Before I could hook up with Percy in the forge, it felt someone was touching my shoulders and placing a crown on my head. And then Typhon just says.. that I am now the Monster King and his chosen one. I have no clue what he's talking about, but it felt like I was surging with power for a moment, and then it was all gone, and all that was left was just this.." I said, holding up the necklace Typhon gave me. Chiron studied it.

"Interesting. Concerning, but also interesting.." he said. "Keep me informed if anything else happens. And you're right. No one else at this camp needs to know about this. I will inform the gods though."

I nodded. "Thanks, Chiron.." I told him. "Thanks, Kayla." She blushed and nuzzled my cheek. God, I'm so in love with her, my heart extends all the way down to Tartarus. "So what now?"

"Get some rest, you two.. we have work to do.." he told us, and I nodded once more, before I walked hand in hand with Kayla out of the big house.

Straight into a mob of my siblings. Guess I'm paying the price for putting sibling reunions later right now.

(A/N: Shout-outs to -JASONSGRACE and Imaginebooks here again. But yeah, after all this time, Colton finally gets to admit it to Kayla.)

Chapter 29: XXII. My Dad Makes Me A Deal

Chapter Text

Alternative Chapter Title: I Get The Talk From Kayla's Siblings

(A/N: Part of this is inspired by AO3 user Laurellins, though this is more from her headcanons of Apollo kids than anything else, mainly the headcanon that whenever an Apollo kid starts dating someone, their siblings become super overprotective.. to very overreacting levels. And also given how much Michael tried to get Colton and Kayla together earlier, I think it's fun to demonstrate that the Apollo kids can be both the sweetest things on the face of the planet, but still be devils in disguise. Plus another shout-out to Askinar-The-Dark since part of this is also inspired by his fanfic.)

As soon we got out of the big house, I got plowed into and group hugged by all of my siblings, Clarisse being especially emotional. I ended up at the bottom of a pile of my siblings, with Kayla just looking on in adoration at the sight. Gods, that girl is beautiful in every conceivable way.

"Don't.. leave.. me.. again.." she said while sobbing. I hugged all of them, having really missed all of them as much as Kayla. The younger ones were about as emotional as Kayla was earlier, oddly enough.

"Hey guys.. yeah.. I missed you all too.." I said to them from the bottom of the pile. "I could have been back to you all and Kayla sooner.." Kayla beamed at the mention of herself. "..had Jackson not blown up."

"He literally destroyed a damn mountain in that explosion.." Sherman muttered, to which one of my other siblings - I forget which - called out "language!"

"Did he really?" I asked Sherman, who was on the upper end of the pile. He nodded.

"Wow.. unbelievable.." I muttered, even as I was petting heads, calming down siblings, and just feeling happy with the group hug. "Percy really does not know his own strength.."

Even with that revelation, it was a good long while before my siblings all got off of me after I calmed them down.

- — - — - — - — -

Chris decided to spend the night in the Hermes Cabin that night, much to Clarisse' chagrin. I'm guessing he needed a break after managing her for two weeks. In any event, Clarisse slept in my bed out where I used to sleep, and Kayla and I slept in the cabin counselor's bed.

Looking into her beautiful face in that bed as boyfriend and girlfriend, for the first time.. god was it sweet as hell. "Has anyone ever told you that you are a goddess?" I teased.

She blushed. "C-Colton.." she stuttered. "..I'm not that beautiful.."

"You so are.." I said back, kissing her forehead. She sighed happily as she nuzzled my neck. I moaned a little from it, and she giggled. Her eyes were still twinkling like diamonds, and it was so beautiful. "Percy apparently had the winning bet on when we hooked up.." I admitted. She gasped in surprise.

"Sherman admitted it when I was running up to you about to confess my feelings earlier.." I continued. "..safe to say, I'm honestly surprised, considering that I tried - and failed - to get him to realize that Annabeth is in love with him on the raft ride back. Percy is so dense it's illegal."

"Yeah it is.." she replied, both of us keeping our voices down so we wouldn't wake up the cabin. "..so did anything happen to the two of them while they were down there?"

"Right before Typhon crowned me Monster King.. she kissed him on the lips in Hephaestus' forge before fleeing with the aid of invisibility. I watched, and they didn't see me.." I said, and she gasped again.

"Awweee.." she cooed, before toning it down. "Too bad he couldn't take the hint."

"Yeah.. big oof on Percy's part indeed.." I replied.

We fell asleep snuggled up to each other not long after that. To be fair, we should have noticed the lone human figure watching us from up on top of the ridge near the amphitheater. Because I would end up fighting this person quite a few times down the road due to reasons that originated from what went on in Hephaestus' forge. (A/N: I let you all guess who the mystery figure is. I'll give you two hints: they're related to Gaea and they are an elder sibling to others.)

- — - — - — - — -
From The Journal Of Rachel Elizabeth Dare

Blessed be honorary,

Multiple times god,

Multiple times titan,

Monster King.

This stupid confusing patch of words has been stuck in my head since last week ever since that weird lady said it in my head. I think it has something to do with that world that Percy is a part of. I am not sure.

- — - — - — - — - (Back To Colton's POV) - — - — - — - — -

The next morning dawned with cloudy skies, which was bit of an omen honestly. But still, waking up with the most beautiful girl in the whole world to you (next to the Goddess Of Love herself of course) still asleep, nuzzled snugly up against you and snuggling you in the cutest possible manner, words fail to describe it. They really do fail to describe this, if I'm being honest right now.

I mean, it would have been cute if it had been just the two of us. Unfortunately, a shuffle of feet near me made me turn my head and just get really annoyed. The door to the room was open, and a mixture of my siblings combined with campers from the other cabins were either crowding in the doorway trying to get a view of me and Kayla or on either side of our side of the doorway, grinning like idiots.

I let out a low growl, causing Kayla to wake up, and then blush profusely once she noticed everyone standing there.

"You people really don't know the meaning of the term 'privacy', do you?" I asked the unwanted observers. Clarisse, who was at the front of the group, snickered.

"I mean.." she said. "It was cute watching the two of you snuggle like that for the past fifteen minutes."

Cue my free hand lunging for the nearest object to throw at them, causing everyone to start running, while Kayla just sighed.

- — - — - — - — -

After that train wreck of waking up as boyfriend and girlfriend for the first time, pretty sure the sight of Kayla and I holding hands as we walked into the dining pavilion for breakfast that morning brought out reactions from everyone, and why wouldn't it?

Though, not all of it was friendly. Travis was holding an ice pack to his forehead after I had chucked an alarm clock at everyone watching me and Kayla snuggle earlier this morning, which just so happened to clock him in the forehead by chance while he was trying to get out. He definitely was a little annoyed by it. Katie kept looking at him concerned as well.

Percy and Annabeth were already gone by this time, since I didn't see either of them around, so at least I didn't have to deal with them in the aftermath of what had happened. Chiron, however, had put me on kitchen cleaning duty again after he heard what happened - which in my defense, compared to last time, it was deserved this time around.

Anyway, the sight of me.. the taller five feet and eleven inch tall boy holding hands with the shorter five feet and five inch tall beauty known as Kayla Knowles generally caused looks of adoration and support to arise from almost everyone present, especially the Aphrodite Cabin. Silena couldn't stop giving us thumbs up.

I didn't look where I was going, so I bumped into someone when I wasn't looking. I started to apologize, but then got a little bit concerned with the sight in front of me. Standing right in front of me was Lee, Michael, Victoria, Matthias, and Aruna. Michael had a look of reluctance on his face.

I knew everyone except Matthias. He had been an Apollo kid that had left college just a year before Percy came to camp, and had only just come back after hearing about the situation from Lee personally, from what Michael had told me. Even so, the fact that they all had gone from happy faces to looking like I had done something that annoyed them greatly was really conceding, if I were to be very and completely honest.

"My dear younger sister.." Lee calmly began, in a manner that sounded a bit creepy as well. "..would you mind your older siblings having some time alone with your boyfriend for a bit? We need to have a chat."

I sighed.

I knew what this was.

The talk.

It was well known throughout camp that Apollo's kids reacted to the news of any of their siblings dating someone in much the same matter that their father himself swore he would to anyone who dated Artemis after Orion broke her heart. Keep in mind, this was prior to the goddess swearing off men and forming the hunt. And by much the same matter, I mean take those dads who threaten to hunt you down if you broke their daughter's heart and crank it up to eleven. It was that bad.

Austin, the former head counselor of my cabin, found this out the hard way. After he started dating Caeli, a daughter of Apollo, about five months after I arrived at camp.. he was jumped by Matthias, Lee, and Michael.. and per Austin' own words, even though he was a son of Ares, the fact that they came at him with Michael having an arrow drawn and pointed at his head and Matthias with a sword in his hand while they gave him the talk made him feel like he was going to die. No joke, he actually pissed his pants too. He and Caeli are still dating as of now, as he still sends Clarisse letters every now and then.

So yeah.. you might as well be praying that you don't have to go through this if you start dating an Apollo kid. Unfortunately for me, I was about to be the next victim. My eyes looked left, and noticed that Clarisse and my siblings looked concerned and worried. I looked at Kayla to my right, and believe me, I just wanted her to say no. I really did.

She nodded, instead.. and then let go of my hand, walking over to her table, a little bit concerned from the way she moved. I turned to Lee, and believe me, the grin on his face made me sweat at probably one of the hardest levels I've ever sweated at. It was downright psychotic.

Out of the frying pan and into the fryer.

- — - — - — - — -

Michael still had the look of reluctance on his face a couple minutes later, as he held an arrow drawn and pointed at my head from behind Lee, who was holding me up by the shirt collar while he held a damn knife to my throat. Aruna just looked on, flashing another psychotic smile, while Matthias held a sword near Lee and Victoria kept watch to see if anyone was coming.

This was all taking place at the armory, where they had told me to come with them, by the way.

"Lee.. look man.. you all need to chill.." I pleaded. I'll be honest, if I had a sword, the MG42, or my Whitworth, this situation would be different, but I was without a weapon, and therefore at their mercy. I definitely knew how Austin felt now.

"Colton.." Lee said, glaring. "I would tell you to stay away from her now that you all are dating but.."

"You all weren't doing much to stop me from falling for her!" I countered, and Matthias raised his sword before Lee stopped him with a wave of his hand. "True.." Lee replied. "..but since you make her happy, I'm going to allow this. But know this.. and I gave the same promise to Austin.. you ever break her heart, you're dead."

I gulped, and nodded. "Understood."

They all left, leaving me standing there a little unnerved by it all. It took me a while before I shook it off though.

- — - — - — - — -

A few hours later, I was walking through the streets of NYC with Kayla and Michael in tow, headed for the Empire State Building. We had already spent a couple hours gathering materials for camp. Percy had been able to secure magical weapons from Hephaestus for camp, even though he hadn't gotten the task to do so, meaning that in a way, he completed the task I failed to do because of him.

Our current task though? Camp needed celestial bronze, and given that the labyrinth was unsafe as it was, there was only one location where we could potentially find it. Under Mount Olympus, which potentially meant under the Empire State Building. I didn't know if that was true or not, but Chiron and camp needed the celestial bronze, so with my girlfriend and my MG assistant in tow, we were going to find out.

Strangely, while we had encountered monsters on our way to where we currently were, heading down Madison Avenue towards West Thirty Third Street and currently in between Fortieth and Thirty Ninth Streets, all of them had kept a safe distance from us for some reason as soon as they had noticed the three of us. None of us knew why, but then again, it made our lives easier.

Either way, it meant that we could approach Olympus without having to worry much about monsters along the way. Kayla was to my left, holding my hand in hers, and Michael was right behind us. Just as we were about to pass this store called Rico Bagel just before Thirty Seventh Street, someone tapped my shoulder before a very familiar voice spoke.

"Are you looking for something, kid?"

I stopped and turned. Black jeans, combat boots, black leather duster, bulletproof vest, the total biker look.. there was no mistaking the taller man that stood leaning up against the wall next to us. It was my father Ares.

"Yeah.." I replied. "We do happen to be looking for something."

"And I might be willing to provide you with what you need, my son.." Ares replied. "But I would like to speak with you first.. inside."

He walked into the shop/restaurant, and the three of us followed him inside. I had no idea how in the world Ares knew that we needed celestial bronze, but I guess he could sense it. Maybe.

- — - — - — - — -

Soon enough, me and Ares were in the family restroom, alone. Ares had locked the door behind him, so it was just the two of us. Kayla and Michael just waited at a table just a few yards from the restrooms, not ordering anything.

"Look.. Colton.." he started, the god's voice more apologetic, which was unexpected. "I know that the ancient laws - and Zeus - forbid us from helping demigods with quests and missions and what not, but for once, I say f*ck that. f*ck him. f*ck the fates."

He kept his voice down so people wouldn't hear us. To be honest, this was surprising and in of itself. "I heard what Typhon did.. and it will not surprise you at all that Zeus has issues about your loyalty now. So, I'm here to offer you a deal on the following conditions. Apollo may or may not have let it slip during a private conversation between me and him that Clarisse, in addition to Apollo's own kids, might be in grave danger during the upcoming battle. So my deal is this. I'll give you enough celestial bronze that you and the others are able to defend Camp Half Blood and enough bullets that you'll be able to prevent such an event from happening - it'll be down to you - and try to convince Zeus that we Olympians need to take a part in this war and stop neglecting our kids if you promise to both defend Clarisse, your girlfriend, and her siblings no matter what it takes" he told me, and I gulped.

It was a tall order, to be honest. It was going to come down to me to make sure my elder sister - my dad's favorite child - as well as Apollo's kids - including my beloved girlfriend Kayla - and Michael all lived to see another day. Talk about a hold at all costs kind of order.

But on the other hand, we needed all the celestial bronze we could get our hands on, plus the gods actually not being lazy asses and helping us and actually caring would be nice too. Knowing my fatal flaw, I don't think that it was ever a contest inside of me as to what my choice would be.

"Deal. I'll do it" I said, without hesitation. "f*ck Zeus. f*ck the ancient laws. f*ck the fates. If we want to write our own destiny here, let's do it."

"That's the spirit, kid.." he said, patting me on the back. "I'll see you next time."

He disappeared, leaving two large sacks with spikes poking against the very durable and flexible material the sacks were made out of. I'm guessing that these were both loaded with Celestial Bronze, which meant he probably dropped off the bullets at the edge of camp. Still though.. this is definitely going to help a lot.

I unlocked the door, opened it, and then made a beckoning motion to Michael with my hand. He was sitting at the table him and Kayla were at on the side where he could see me. He got up, and walked over to me, Kayla behind him.

I let both of them inside, and shut the door, locking it behind me. "So.. what's in the bags? And what did Ares want with you?" Michael asked. Kayla looked interested as well.

I sighed. "He offered me a deal.." I told them. "Apparently, Zeus is suspicious of my loyalties because.. and before I say this, Michael.. I swear to god.. don't tell anyone at all.. Typhon crowned me Monster King.."

Both Kayla and Michael gasped in shock, and I think Michael was in disbelief. "..and apparently, your dad let it slip that your lives and that of my sister Clarisse are in danger during the upcoming fight.. and I don't mean danger in the obvious sense, I mean mortal danger.. he offered me the celestial bronze which are in both of these sacks and enough bullets to help us out in defending camp and try to convince Zeus to get the Olympians to join our efforts in stopping Kronos.. in exchange for me defending you two and the entire Apollo cabin as well as Clarisse no matter what it takes."

They were both shocked. "Yeah, I know.. it's a very tall order.." I explained. "No.. let's get these sacks back to camp. We don't have time to waste. Michael, you get one. I'll get the other one."

Michael complied, and we lugged one of the sacks over our shoulders, and with Kayla walking out after opening the bathroom door after unlocking it first, we made our way out of the Bagel Shop. I do think we might have looked suspicious to the mortals, but I doubt that any of them would really do something about it. Just as we had gotten out of there though, a familiar voice called out behind the three of us when we turned to walk back up Madison Avenue towards 60th Street.

"Colton? Michael? Is that you both?"

The three of us turned around, to come face to face with a pair of very familiar faces. Kayla didn't know them, but to me and Michael, they were faces that we'd thought we wouldn't see in a long time.

"Austin? Caeli?"

(A/N: Matthias and Caeli are OC demigod children of Apollo created by Laurellins, though in her fanfic "Tales Of Camp Half Blood" they are younger siblings of Lee rather than older siblings here.

And also, meet Austin Maxwell, former head counselor of the Ares Cabin. You'll be seeing more of him down the road.)

Chapter 30: XXIII. The Last Moments Of Peace

Chapter Text

Alternate Chapter Title: Chaos' Eve

(A/N: Let's get one thing straight: while the past two chapters were long.. those aren't actually the longest chapters I have ever written.

One chapter in my Clone Wars / Freezing crossover clocked in at 7,452 words long.

My longest is a chapter in my Clone Wars / Attack On Titan crossover fanfic clocking in at 7,860 words long (including author's notes). So yeah, you think these chapters of up to or over 2,000 to 3,000 or more words are long.. this is normal for me.)

Surprise, surprise, it was Austin and Caeli. Also, to be completely honest with you, both of their jaws dropped after noticing me holding hands with Kayla.

"We can talk about me and her later.." I said to them. "What are you two doing here?"

"Chiron called.." Austin explained. "Told us about Luke and that any demigod willing to help defend camp would be greatly appreciated. Truth be told, we're still trying to process it all."

"Well.. we just happened to come up on a supply mission.." Michael replied. "..so as much as it a surprise to see you two here, it's great to have you both back. And Caeli, meet one of your younger siblings, Kayla Knowles. Kayla, meet Caeli."

When it came to this couple, there was only one thing to know about these two: these two could kick ass in more ways than one. Caeli may have been the blonde haired beauty at five foot five inches tall with dark blue eyes, but believe me when I say, she was lethal. She was a really good healer and a darn good archer.

She once killed three hellhounds at the same time with a well aimed arrow, a rare feat.

Austin, with his messy black hair, multiple body scars, a good six foot and two inches tall, green eyes, and muscular build, was no less of an intimidating sight on the battlefield, and a darn good tactician too. He preferred throwing knives as his primary weapon of choice, and as a secondary, a good sized sword. He had been on only two quests during his time at camp.. one had been on Luke's failed quest that ended in a fight with Ladon. The other.. with the help of Caeli, as well as a former Athena camper named Albert, managed to defeat the forces of the Titan Pallas when he, with a small army, attempted to destroy an incredibly important temple of Apollo located in Louisville, KY. Pallas himself was nearly killed by Austin in the fight, though the Titan managed to escape.

So yeah, these two were very lethal.

Caeli didn't speak, she was in shock. Kayla did the talking for them. "Yeah, I know. The famous Kayla Knowles is a daughter of Apollo. Shocker, right?" she said, and I smiled. Gods, I love that girl.

"It's.. definitely a shocker.. are you and him.." Caeli said, still looking at the two of us. "..dating?"

The minute I nodded, Austin moaned. "Don't tell me.." he said. "..her siblings gave you the talk."

"Unfortunately.. yeah they did.." I said back to him. "As to we got to this point, it's a long story."

Kayla nodded. "What matters though.. is that I love him, with all of my heart."

Caeli cooed in adoration, while Austin just looked at me in amazement. "I gotta admit Colton, I don't think in a million years would I have expected you to be the one that hooked up with Kayla Knowles" he said, before he walked over and gave me a good hug.

"I.. missed you so much.." he cried, before steeling his nerves and looking real angry. "..but I guess now is not the time for feelings. Not when that bastard Luke is out there."

"You can say that again.." Michael added. "Let's get back to camp, shall we?"

And so, the five of us once again left for camp, all of us unaware of the two figures up on a nearby rooftop watching us - one of them being the same figure from last night and the other being their daughter.

- — - — - — - — -

Just like the trip into NYC, the monsters again kept their distance from the five of us as we headed back to camp. We could visibly see them, but for some reason, they did not attack us.

"Why are they just visibly standing there?" Austin asked, looking at a hellhound who just glared at us from some trees at the edge of the woods as we cleared the suburbs of Brooklyn. "They smell you all, why don't they attack us?"

Caeli flashed nervous looks around the area, her head moving left then right and then left again, seemingly unnerved by the situation.

"I have no idea.." Michael replied, still carrying the sack of celestial bronze I had assigned him to carry. "It's just so weird."

Austin decided to shift the subject. "So.. you and Kayla, huh.." he said to me, as we all walked down the side of the road. "..gotta admit, you must have had some balls to be able to win the heart of a girl like that. And all that time I was at camp when you were around, you didn't even show any interest in finding someone. What changed?"

I looked at him. "Would you think I was crazy if I told you that I got a prophecy while cleaning the attic that promised we'd end up together?" I asked. Austin thought about it for a good while. "Yeah I would think you are crazy.." he said, drinking some Gatorade.

"Good. Because that's exactly what happened first.." I said, and he spat the Gatorade out, with Caeli gasping. "Shut the front door! Holy sh*t!" Austin spat out. "When the hell did this happen?"

I proceeded him to tell about what had happened, and by the end of it, both he and Caeli were dumbfounded. "So when did you and Kayla meet up?" he asked.

"Last summer, while Thalia's tree was poisoned.. right at the end of a Colchis Bull attack.. Clarisse killed one.. I got a headshot on the other at point blank range and almost was trampled by it, diving out of the way at almost the last second.. that was when we first saw each other. I decided to pass out for some reason soon afterwards, and it wasn't until a few hours later that we actually met."

Kayla nuzzled into my side suddenly, tears in her eyes and shaking with worry. She was most likely having flashbacks of the summer that almost broke her light, if it hadn't been for me. Caeli and Austin looked on with worry. "She okay?" Austin asked.

I nodded. "Poor girl got hit pretty hard.. nearly broke during those days.. pretty sure it was safe to say I was the one that helped her through it. Between Tantalus, the Stymphalian Birds, and a snake day.. she really clung to me as a lifeline.." I said, and Caeli looked so appalled.

"My god.. poor thing.. I feel awful for not being there.. I could have helped.." she said, and Austin took his girlfriend's hand in his. "Yeah.. that sounds rough.. how bad did it get?" he asked.

"To the point that when the birds attacked, I'm sitting up in my sniper's perch loading and firing my Whitworth like a man possessed, using the monster cluster rounds, almost straight down into the amphitheater area while birds are trying to chew their way through to me, protecting everyone else while Tantalus is sitting off to the side like a useless idiot.. and Clarisse is stuck attempting to win a chariot race.." I said. "..not to mention when I dueled Tantalus to save everyone."

Austin gets in front of me, and just stops, eyes wide. "Hold up.." he said, probably never even believing what I had just said. "..he brought chariot races back? And you dueled him?"

"First of all.. yes, he did and secondly, yes.. because that mf turned out to be an agent of Kronos.. held Mr.D at sword point.. I won though.." I told him. "Just earlier this month, I got sent into the labyrinth looking for weapons.. ended up spending nearly two weeks on Calypso's Island thanks to Percy Jackson.. and once I got back, that's when me and Kayla hooked up."

Caeli and Austin just stood there, both stunned. "That's one hell of a story, that's for sure.." Austin said. I nodded.

"Indeed.. now come on. Let's get back to camp.." I said, and we all started walking once more, once again missing the duo from earlier still watching us, this time from the cover of one of the houses behind us.

- — - — - — - — -

We found the stash of supplies Ares had promised after we got back inside camp, sitting right on the driveway of the big house with the sign "For Colton".

There was a steel helmet among the boxes of ammo for both my Whitworth and MG42 that we found when we got back to camp, plus a manual on the emplacement of German MGs, conveniently translated to Ancient Greek. There was also a shovel, some sandbags, and a few dozen spare barrels for the MG42 in their containers.

I smirked. "Well.. well.. this is nice.." I muttered. Austin and Caeli looked confused. "Is all this ammo for your Whitworth, Colton?" Austin asked.

I turned back to look at him. "Nope, it's for the MG42 we now also have.." I said. "Michael, Kayla, please get Sherman, Clarisse, and Lee."

The two nodded and ran off to find them, leaving me with the two now flabbergasted college demigods. "HOLD UP!" Austin shouted, recognition evident on his face. "MG42?! When did this happen?"

"Somebody dumped it and some other stuff in the lot opposite Yankee Stadium in Queens. Travis found out via one of the Gray Ladies, who pointed it out to him. Gave it to me as a birthday present on my birthday in January of this year.." I explained, and Austin just had the biggest grin of excitement light up on his face that I had ever seen this far in my life.

"This.. this is good.. really good.." he said, knowing full well the massive increase in firepower we had with an MG42 in the camp's arsenal. That's when Kayla and Michael returned, with Lee, Clarisse, and Sherman close behind. Needless to say, all three behind my girlfriend and Michael were as equally surprised between the massive pile and the appearance of two familiar campers.

"Austin? Is that you?" Clarisse called out.

"In the flesh, La Rue.." he called back. "Me and Caeli are here to help."

- — - — - — - — -

By nightfall, with the assistance of Beckendorf and Jake from the Hephaestus Cabin, I along with Michael, Lee, Sherman, and Austin, had completed digging in a light machine gun position according to the manual. It was located along the far side of the valley leading up to Zeus' fist and the labyrinth entrance, on a spur of the ridge that led to Half Blood Hill in the tree-line. Although it was a couple meters higher, the position offered a perfect spot to rake any enemies advancing out of the labyrinth with a deadly lash of MG fire.

Although the manual called for a slightly curved, 1.4-1.6 m trench with two short trenches on the sides pointing towards the rear, and also recommended to be 60-80 cm wide at the top and 40 cm at the bottom, for ease of movement.. since we added in an alternate MG position a good 25 yards down to the left of this position when facing Zeus' fist, we had it about close to 90 cm wide at the top and about 70 cm wide at the bottom. One of the armor protection trenches - the short trenches curving back towards the rear - jutted out towards the cabins, so we made it a firing point for an archer or two, while the other one, which we dug straight to the rear after using what was supposed to be the other curved part to connect the two MG positions, led to a staircase made out of dirt that led up to ground level. It was about a good 10 yards long down the straight path to the staircase, and the trench itself for the position was about a good 12 yards long, with shelves cut into the dirt behind the firing positions on the back wall to store the ammo, spare barrels, and arrows for the two archers with me.

Unsurprisingly, Kayla decided to be one of those archers, while Caeli took up being the other. With his girlfriend in here, Austin set himself up in this position as well, being the one who would fend off any monsters that got into the position. I was the MG guy, with the MG42 set on the two legged bipod on a half circular platform about 20 cm deep and at least a yard across, with the alternate position have a similar dug platform.

The manual did call for the use of camouflage, but since you know we're Greeks, we didn't think too much about it. Instead, for protection we piled up the dug dirt and the sandbags as a parapet on the front side of the position facing Zeus' fist with gaps for both archers and both MG positions set up. For further protection, we placed a couple of tall wooden planks on either side of our firing positions and then used some special kind of glue - I forgot what it was - to fix portion of tree logs on top and sort of on the front of the planks, in such a way that we were protected mostly from any return fire, such as arrows or spears. We also had a loophole set up to allow me to be able to fire my Whitworth too.

The other campers had set up traps and other machines down in the valley to our right, although with the help of Chris, the Stolls, and Austin, I had set up some barbed wire as well in front of the labyrinth entrance as a further obstacle.

It was a good position, but now, all we could do was simply wait and wait... and wait. I feel asleep with Kayla that night thinking.. I hope to the Gods that me and her both survive this.

- — - — - — - — -

The next day, the 30th of June, came and went with great anxiety. Kayla, Me, Austin, Michael, and Caeli all waited at our posts the whole day, though me and Austin took part of the day to emplace some spare coils of barbed wire directly in front of our position. Nothing much happened though, much to both our relief and again our anxiety.. since that meant they wouldn't be here today. We also had yet to hear anything from Percy and Annabeth since they were still down there in the labyrinth with that Rachel girl.

I worried about them a bit, I'll admit. Because hey, as much as I view Percy as a rival when it comes to who is the strongest in camp, I still cared about him. I also worried about everyone else, even Kayla.

She may have come a long way from those dark days she had in her first two weeks at camp, but this would be much, much different. I honestly hoped that she wouldn't crack under the stress and pressure of real war.

Even so, I still felt like it was going to come soon. In fact, I had a gut feeling that tomorrow would be the day we all were dreading. Michael and Austin felt the same way. So that night, much to the annoyance of our partners' who wanted to sleep with us and keep their nerves at ease, the three of us slept out in our positions that whole night. Given the situation, the Harpies didn't show up at all.

- — - — - — - — -

The morning of July the 1st dawned bright, much like it probably would have in July 1863. Having slept well the night before, the three of us took our positions and kept a close watch after helping ourselves to some poptarts. We were joined by Kayla and Caeli after breakfast, with Jake going over to assist his siblings.

The Stolls had gone into the woods near the labyrinth entrance about an hour later, looking for some last minute supplies for us to improve our defenses. I think Chiron told them to just look for anything that might help. I'm not sure.

Anyway, not long after they went into the woods, a couple of shouts from behind had us turning our heads and seeing familiar faces rejoining us. Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson. I didn't see Grover, but I had to assume he was off doing something else. Either way, a loud cheer went up from the campers, but the sound of snapping branches and feet running like crazy turned us back to Zeus' fist.

Travis and Connor came running out of the woods, panting and out of breath, looking like they just heard death coming for them. They barreled past Clarisse and took up their positions with their siblings, fear present on their faces.

I was just about to shout a question as to what had happened when I heard it.

A rumbling noise started in the distance, at first quiet, but then gradually getting louder and louder. The sandbags started to shake a little, then the parapet, small clumps of dirt knocking themselves loose from it and falling into the trench. My eyes widened when I realized what it was. I hopped forward, grabbed the MG, and co*cked the handle.. then stood waiting. Waiting for what was coming.

Because the sound was unmistakable.. the monsters were coming all right.

Clarisse noticed and she quickly realized what it meant. "Lock Shields!" she shouted, and before anyone started to protest, the ground started shaking all around. The noises were now audible for all to hear.

This is it. The moment all of us have been dreading is finally upon us. Luke's army is coming.

In the last moments before battle, I think of Kayla. I know she's with her siblings, but it's down to me to protect them and Clarisse. I have a sh*t load of rounds next to me, plus plenty of spare barrels, so I'm not too worried.

The ground explodes, and they rush out of the labyrinth like a damn mob. A rich mass (or blob) of targets, too good to pass up. I don't need to be told to fire. I pull the trigger, and the carnage begins.

The silence of the valley, if it hadn't already been shattered by the rumbling, the noises, and the cacophony of shrieks, yells, howls, and other noises of the monsters, was now permanently shattered by the rattle and ripping cloth sound of the MG42 as the Battle Of The Labyrinth kicked off.

Seems like the next part of my prophecy was here. Hope I survive.

Chapter 31: XXIV. Defending Everything I Hold Dear (Like A Madman)

Chapter Text

Alternative Chapter Title: How I Became The Beast Of Camp Half Blood

(A/N: Three more chapters after this one, including a Kayla POV, until we get to the final part. I hope you've been paying attention to the stuff I have included in the past few chapters, from the whole Typhon crowning Colton the Monster King, to the mysterious figures watching him and Kayla (+ Michael, Caeli, and Austin) in the last chapter. It will all make sense during Part III.

Also, a shout-out to multiple people, including first up -JASONSGRACE for two reasons. One is of course, Belle is in here and the second is that this version of the fight is primarily an amalgamation of my own words and several other versions of the fight, mixed into one narrative. Other versions include Askinar-The-Dark's version from "Demigod?", Annabeth's perspective in Morro11 's version, A03 user Grumpylia's version, and both versions of the fight that Imaginebooks has written. So yeah, definitely a lot of stuff going on.

Also, this chapter is inspired by the legend of Heinrich Severloh, a German Soldier in WWII who became known as the "Beast Of Omaha" who fired on American troops at Omaha Beach with an MG42, claiming to have fired 13,500 rounds in nine hours of combat along with 400 rounds from two Karabiner 98k rifles. While some parts of his account, published in 2000, are considered skeptical or unreliable by historians, the fact that he survived D-Day and lived to tell the tale is remarkable in and of itself, especially since he had been posted in a strongpoint on the
beach where the toughest and fiercest fighting on D-Day was fought.)

There's a mixture of monsters pouring out of the labyrinth - various types. Dracanae, Laistrygonian Giants, Hellhounds, Cyclopes.. you name it. All of them - or whatever portion of the group were not hit by projectiles from other campers - were torn to shreds by rattles of gunfire from the MG42. But they keep pouring out of the labyrinth, straight into the carefully thought out kill-zone. So, what did me and Michael do?

We kept pouring fire down into them, at least until the barrel became hot and we had to change it. With the use of the special asbestos cloth that came with the gun barrels - because keep in mind that after you fire upwards to 250-300 rounds, not at the same time in one go mind you, the barrel of the MG42 is really, really hot due to being air-cooled - we changed out the barrels in as little as ten seconds. A well trained crew could do it in as little as four to seven seconds, but we weren't at that level yet.

We had set up a large bucket on my right to catch the spent round casings, and it did the job quiet well. Michael was on my left, making sure the cartridge belts flowed into where the feed went without any problems, while I simply just nuzzled the butt of the gun into my right shoulder - which on this occasion was protected by some rubber padding wrapped around it by Beckendorf to protect my shoulder from the kick of the gun, because due to the rapid rate of fire, you couldn't really aim this gun at a target for longer than 5 rounds fired - and just kept mowing down monsters left and right.

Apollo had gifted his cabin with explosive arrows recently, and both Caeli and Kayla nearby were definitely putting the bulk of those arrows to good use. Austin had somehow managed to acquire a bolt action M1 Garand during his travels to college with Caeli with plenty of ammo, which had arrived via transport from the air from a friendly monster loyal to the Olympians, and so he was firing on the left of us at the alternate MG position, pouring rounds into the monsters.

To our right, Beckendorf and Jake along with their siblings were having a field day with their catapults, traps, and other devices. With the help of Clarisse and the Stolls, they had also emplaced a few mines in front of the labyrinth entrance, so as a result, when the first wave had exited the labyrinth, some of them had stepped on the mines, resulting in explosions and screams to echo across the valley. Before they had any chance to recover from the shock, I had opened fire into them.

Enemy demigods emerged with the next wave after we had literally mowed down the first. Some of them also stepped on some of the remaining mines, and as a result, we all had to bear witness to some pretty nasty sights that I will not discuss further here. Some of them got entangled on the wire and became sitting ducks for me and Michael to pick off with the MG42. Others fell to Austin's Garand.

By this point, I had lost track of how many rounds we had fired off. I do know we had gone through four to five barrels by this point, so that should give you a reasonable estimate as to how many rounds we had fired off by now. Some of our opponents veered off to the left (their facing of left), intending to find a way around the combination of lethal explosive arrows as well as bullet fire raining down from above on them, only to collide with the rest of those of Apollo's cabin on the front line, plus that of my cabin and the other cabins, including Percy and Annabeth. I did see Grover and his girlfriend, Juniper down in there too. Belle was fighting alongside Percy and Annabeth, and I could see Katie nearby too.

Soon, a forest fire started, which was bad news since it just so happened since it was right near the tree that Juniper drew her life force from. I swung the gun to the right about 20 degrees, surprising Michael who stumbled to the left a little before he recovered, and turned the power of the gun on the monsters attempting to get close to Katie, Percy, Annabeth, Belle, Grover, and Juniper. Travis came rushing in to help them, but with the monsters approaching them still well within range of the MG42, I was able to keep them at bay long enough for Percy to summon a wall of water out of nowhere that flowed across the valley in front of our position and took out the flames, drenching everyone down there. Needless to say, while Grover and Travis were sort of amused, Belle, Annabeth, Katie, and Juniper were not.

Of course, Percy was able to stay dry, no surprise there. But it didn't matter. The crisis - at least around Juniper's tree had passed - and I swung the gun back towards the labyrinth entrance, resuming the action of mowing down monsters and enemy demigods alike. A few explosions went off as some of them stepped on the locations of where the few mines that were left were, and paid the price.. some not immediately though.

The monsters kept coming, no matter how many we cut down. Some of them were caught in the spikes and barbed wire and became just more sitting ducks for archers, Austin's Garand, and the MG42. The Whitworth sat propped up against the wall near the loophole between me and Michael's position and where Austin was, loaded and capped but still at half co*ck. Others hit a trip wire here or there, and were incinerated by Greek fire. We were all exposed to scenes of death and suffering that probably still haunt us even after this and everything else that happened down the road, but we couldn't stop killing. It was kill or be killed.

The sight of a dozen undead warriors colliding with some of the monsters caught me by surprise, but in the brief moment I turned my head towards it, I knew I didn't have to fire on them. Right behind them was none other than the son of Hades, Nico Di Angelo. He got forward a few steps and then crumpled to his knees, which was concerning. Nevertheless, his undead warriors fought on, tearing monsters apart. Then, I could see Clarisse come into view, taking apart a group of Dracanaes when a few hellhounds leapt out of the labyrinth and went straight for her. I swung the gun again, determined to protect her and everyone else, and unloaded into the hellhounds, killing all seven in a matter of seconds.

One of our demigods, a kid by the name of Zac, was killed by an arrow from an enemy demigod, in the woods. I saw it happen, only moments after I had killed the hellhounds, so I fired on his killer in the woods, and ripped him to pieces before turning back to the monsters and enemy demigods, which still poured forth from Zeus' Fist.

At this point, I'm pretty sure me and Michael had gone through close to 20 barrels by now, but we still had plenty of rounds and spare barrels. The battle had been raging for gods know how long - I had lost track - but we were winning. I could see Castor and Lee helping wounded off of the field together in the woods, and for the most part, we seemed to be holding them pretty well dandy.

But just moments later, that all changed when a haunting, horrible, ear-splitting, inhuman, bone-chilling kind of shriek echoed across the valley, emitting from the labyrinth. Michael hadn't said anything much about how I looked so far during the fight, but since by now my vision was red, I could tell that I had slipped back into that rage mode I had when I fought Tantalus. Why did this matter?

Simple. When I heard that shriek, I didn't freeze up with fear like lots of other people nearby, including Caeli, Kayla, Michael, Austin, Percy, Annabeth - and virtually everyone else on our side, or have a look of horror creep onto their faces. Deep down inside though, I had a gut feeling that the hardest part of this fight was about to begin. Here we go, I thought to himself, knowing full well that given that inhuman screech, whatever was coming through the labyrinth was dangerous.

You could feel the aura of this creature in the air, as it got closer and closer. I, meanwhile, just kept mowing down monsters. Michael and I had just completed another barrel change and we were about ready to resume firing when this creature erupted from the labyrinth.

With a half human body like that of a centaur, but with reptilian skin and gigantic claws on the half that was from a dragon; dark reptilian wings and a huge venom dripping scorpion tale; human head with snakes for hair, as well as morphing, mutating skin at her waist projecting ferocious animal heads that constantly changed shape, as it leapt up into the air and landed on top of Zeus' Fist, there was no doubt in my mind as to their identity.

It was Kampê.

I will admit, while I had felt that facing the fearsome jailer in a battle would be a one in a lifetime opportunity, I don't think I'd imagined that I would get that chance - something which I was not looking for, mind you - in circ*mstances like this. Even so, she was a fearsome sight. She popped Ariadne's string - signaling to me that Percy and Annabeth had failed to get it from Daedalus - into a lion's mouth at her waist, using it as like a pocket so to speak.. which I thought was a bit cool.

I was expecting to see a whip, per the myths and legends, but instead she drew out two scimitars that glowed green with poison. I will admit, I definitely wondered who had trained her in swords for her to be able to use such weapons. But the thought passed as things got chaotic in the valley. Some of the campers screamed while others turned around in panic and ran full tilt in terror to the rear, among them being Caeli, Kayla, and Austin.. which caused the monsters and enemy demigods to surge forward, the only thing holding them back from advancing at full speed being me and Michael cutting them down like grain with the MG42. Travis, Katie, Belle, Juniper, and others also fled in terror - leaving Grover, Percy, and Annabeth down there in the woods.

Even so, something had to be done about Kampê. Her presence was undermining everything we were doing. She had to be dealt with. After firing another burst, I gave the gun to him. "I'll take care of Kampê.." I hollered, rushing for the Whitworth. "Keep them back!"

Michael nodded, and continued firing into them much the same way I had all of this time. I grabbed the Whitworth and hauled ass to the alternate MG position. Fully co*cking the piece, I arrived just to see Kampê leap into the air off of Zeus' Fist. Something in my mind said that she was aiming for the command tent. That was where some of Athena's kids were, Annabeth's siblings. I could not allow her to get there.

I aimed the rifle up in the air at her, knowing that I had one shot and I had to make it count otherwise, people would die. One second passed between me leveling it at Kampê and what happened next, but that single second might as well have felt like an entirety because for that brief moment, time passed at a rate which was like time had almost stopped completely.

I fired.

BLAM!

I was dead-on. The bullet hit Kampê's head from diagonally below in the middle of the left side of her head, passed up through her brain, and exited out of the middle of the top right side of her head. A clean through and through headshot. The jailer had no chance, she was dead before she even hit the ground. Killed instantly by a single shot from me. In mid-air no less.

Michael had grabbed Caeli's bow and was firing explosive arrows in an attempt to keep the monsters and enemy demigods away, so I put down the Whitworth, ran back to the MG42, co*cked it and continued pouring rounds into the mass of targets in front of me.

At this point, Quintus and what seemed to be Briares fought their way out of the labyrinth, and attacked some of the monsters from behind. Even so, the fight still raged. A Laistrygonian Giant gave Chiron a blow to the back legs, and he fell. The remaining giants let out a cry of joy and surged forward. I swung the gun to the right and emptied what was left of the current belt of ammo I had into them, killing all six of them. I was in the process of hastily fitting another 250 round belt into the gun when Michael called out, "WATCH OUT!"

I didn't have enough time to turn before something hard whacked me in the back, and I fell unconscious just as I saw fire rushing along the floor of the trench towards me.

- — - — - — - — -

When I opened my eyes again, I wasn't dead. I was in the infirmary, sort of a familiar situation given my past bouts. But not like this. While I did have bandages along my chest and back, and my legs, as well as my arms and hands, from what I could see, when I moved my limbs in the hospital bed, nothing seemed to be broken honestly. Just some bruised limbs.

I heard a voice from the right say, "It's a miracle you made it out alive.. given the burns you received." I turned to my right, and there was Chiron, sitting in a wheelchair. His legs were in casts, indicating that the blow he suffered had broken them.

"Clarisse and the Apollo kids are still alive, right?" I asked, and he nodded. Deep down inside, I felt relieved. I had upheld my end of the deal I made with Ares. My sister and my girlfriend and her siblings were all still alive.

"How long was I out?" I asked him. "A few hours.." he replied. "We won. Grover let out a sound of pure fear that caused what was left from them to turn tail and run. Quintus turned out to be Daedalus and sacrificed himself to destroy the labyrinth."

I was surprised by the revelation of who Quintus really was, but the fact that the labyrinth was gone now.. put a smile on my face. "Guess we really owe it to Grover for helping us win, do we?" I asked.

He shrugged his head no.

I was confused.

"We all owe it to you.. and Michael.." he said, just as the door to the infirmary burst open, and in rushed the girl that I loved, tears in her eyes.

Her heart must have leapt for joy upon seeing me, because as soon as I got out of bed, she ran up, hugged me - gently since I had received burns, and after I gently put one hand behind her to cup the back of her beautiful head, and the other to hold one of her hands which had released itself from my back, we kissed. Right there in front of Chiron, which to be honest, I didn't really care if he was looking at all.

I had survived the odds once, and I still had Kayla. But I had one more hurdle to clear before the two of us were done with this prophecy.

Beware, Monster King. Porphyrion is coming.

Chapter 32: Kayla’s POV - The Aftermath

Chapter Text

Alternative Chapter Title: Kayla's POV - My Boyfriend Calls Out The Queen Of The Gods To Her Face

(A/N: Some things about canon that have changed because of Colton and Michael's defiant stand with the MG42. One, Lee and Castor aren't dead.. so they are still alive. Two, Camp Half Blood suffers fewer casualties than canonically. And three.. we will get to the third part later on down the road. As to why I'm mentioning Porphyrion now, well.. this is mostly canon for a reason.

Also, more Belle in here as well.)

If I had to describe the way camp viewed my boyfriend after the "Battle Of The Labyrinth" as it became known, I would use two words: shock and awe. I don't think any of us, not even me, expected him to quite literally kill Kampê with a headshot while she was in mid air. If anything, I fell in love with Colton even harder. Sure, I was in tears when I found out he had been hit in the back by a club from a giant and then suffered burns from flames set by an enemy demigod, which thankfully, Percy managed to put out with water before they could ignite all the ammo we had there. Michael killed the offender just as Grover caused the army to panic and flee.

Even so, it had been a close call - not just for himself, but for camp multiple times during that fight. Without him and Michael, things could have been a whole lot worse.

Bodies, mostly those of Luke's army, littered the clearing and in the nearby woods. Some had been killed by Percy, some by Clarisse, some by other campers, some by me and Caeli, some by Austin.. but the lion's share of the kills had gone to Michael and Colton. So many bodies lay riddled with bullets. It was a ghastly sight, even for a beauty and fashion queen like me.

I think I puked after a few minutes of being out in that clearing, surrounded by the stench of so much death. It was horrific. We did recover Ariadne's string from Kampê's corpse though.

I don't think many campers could stand to be out there in that valley of death. The only ones that even did so were Percy, Annabeth, and Clarisse, who spent a few hours after the battle was over, counting up how many victims Colton and Michael had killed. The grim tally was amazing.. of all the casualties Luke's army had suffered in attacking our home, 63% were attributed to Colton and Michael. They had killed basically the majority of the enemy casualties. It's no wonder then that some of the other campers started calling my boyfriend "The Beast Of Camp Half Blood".

- — - — - — - — -

Lee was the one who told me that Colton was awake. I had been waiting nervously and anxiously outside the infirmary for an hour after helping my siblings gather the dead and patch up the rest of the wounded. He didn't mix words, simply just said, "He's up", and that only had me bounding out of the chair and running to the door, tears of joy in my eyes.

If there were any words that could describe how much I was in love with Colton Reynolds by now, I think the word would be "madly". As soon as I opened the door and saw him, even with bandages on his forehead, parts of his face, his arms, neck, legs, and stomach, my heart skipped a beat. His hair may have been a little bit burnt, but that didn't matter. He was still my hero, always and forever.

I didn't say anything. As soon as he got out of bed, I just ran to him. I felt like I had a dress on - ball gown maybe even though I was only wearing my normal camp clothes - as I ran to him for some reason, but I didn't care at all. I wrapped my arms around him gently behind his back, and even though he hissed a little, it didn't stop him from putting one of his hands gently on the back of my head, and interlacing the fingers of his other hand with mine after I simply felt like hugging him with one arm was enough and took the other arm off of his back.

Then, we kissed. I swear to you, if kissing him the last time had felt like a fairytale, this kiss felt like a dream come true. We kissed for at least ten seconds before Chiron muttered, "Ahem."

The two of us pulled away from each other, a bit embarrassed. "You two are a handful, that much is for sure.." Chiron told us. "Even so.. I think you all deserve some alone time. Both of you are free to do whatever you want for a week, just make sure you follow camp rules. You two deserve it."

Then, he strolled out of the infirmary in his wheelchair. I turned to Colton in disbelief and shock, and he had the same look on his face. There was no way.

There was no way in the world that Chiron had basically given us a free pass for a week, all because Colton had fought - along with Michael - like a madman again to protect me, my siblings, and Clarisse from danger during the battle. I could still kinda hear the screams, noises, and cries from the fight before I got to see him, but around him, they all just melted away from my hearing. He meant the world to me, and he felt the same way.

"Guess I'll have to take it easy for a while then?" he asked, and I nodded. "Well good.. because all I want is you." I beamed brighter than my godly father.

- — - — - — - — - Switch to Colton's POV - — - — - — - — -

An emergency meeting of the Council Of Cloven Elders was held the next day at noon. Before then, me and Kayla had taken it easy like she said back in the infirmary. Simply talking, chatting, making out with each other from time to time.. doing normal boyfriend and girlfriend things after fighting for our lives. She did have a nightmare during the night about the fight and felt too scared to come out of her cabin, so I had to go over into her cabin and sleep with her in her own bed, much to the adoration of her siblings. Her teddy bear was still in good condition, and let me just say, I will kill you if you ever talk sh*t about an archery queen and fashion goddess sleeping with a teddy bear.

Anyways, at noon, Kayla dragged me - not actually dragged, more like convinced me that I had to come even though I had been unconscious and burned a bit at the time of Grover's scream - to the emergency meeting of the Council Of Cloven Elders. I stood with her, Percy, Annabeth, Belle, Katie, Travis, Connor, and Juniper at Grover's side.

The three senior satyrs were there, as were also hundreds of anxious dryads, satyrs, and naiads that wanted to hear what Grover had to say. This one dude, Silenus, wanted to exile Grover on the spot, which pissed me off. I haven't said this about how I came to Camp Half Blood, but Grover was the one who found me after the Lydian Drakon had killed my mother and stepfather and brought me to camp.. saved me from being its next victim.

I owed a lot to him. Being by his side at this meeting was probably the least I could do. Chiron argued that he wanted to hear evidence, so Annabeth, Percy, Grover took turns telling everyone what had happened.

Apparently, my hunch to Clarisse had been correct after all. Pan had been down there in the labyrinth all along, in a crystal cavern apparently. He had faded away, which was sad to say the least, but his power had flowed into everyone who had been there with him, with Grover receiving more of it than others.

Several dryads, naiads, and satyrs - plus Kayla, Juniper, Belle, both of the Stolls, plus Annabeth and Percy - described the weird sound Grover had made which drove Luke's army back into the labyrinth.

"It was panic" Juniper said insistently. "Grover summoned the power of the wild god." I had to admit, even I felt impressed by that, because if there was anyone badass enough to summon that kind of power, I would say it had to be Grover - and sue me for being biased.

"Panic?" Percy asked, confused, which resulted in Chiron giving a brief explanation as to what Grover had done. Silenus, meanwhile, was having none of it, much to my frustration.

"Preposterous!" he called out. "Sacrilege! Perhaps the wild god favored us with a blessing. Or perhaps Grover's music was so bad that it scared the enemy away!"

Grover was about to speak, but I had a few choice words. "What have you even done to even deserve Pan's blessing? Nothing!" I shouted. "I may have been unconscious when he screamed, but I swear on the River Styx that Grover has probably done more than most satyrs have ever done to receive Pan's power. He may not be a god, but goddamn it, is this satyr close to one! He brought Percy here, he brought me here, hell.. there's probably at least a few other kids here with similar stories about Grover! So don't talk sh*t about him, you lazy pathetic excuse of a satyr!"

Kayla simply just hugged my arm, which calmed me down, but everyone was a bit shocked at my outburst.

Grover probably felt inspired, given how he said his next words. "That wasn't it, sir.." he said, sounding awfully calm and in control for someone who had just been insulted to his face. "He let his spirit pass into all of us. We must act. Each of us must act to renew the wild, to protect what's left of it. We must spread the word. Pan is dead. There is no one but us."

"After two thousand years of searching, this is what you would have us believe?" Silenus screamed. "Never! We must continue the search. Exile the traitor."

Stupidity runs deep for this old fool, I thought to myself as I rolled my eyes. Some of the older satyrs muttered in agreement, making me let out a barely audible growl. Kayla simply rubbed my hand gently, which helped keep me calm.

"A vote!" Silenus demanded. "Who would even believe this ridiculous young satyr, anyway?"

"I would.." said a familiar voice before a couple even more familiar voices spoke up too.

"I would also believe him."

"That's right."

"What they said."

"I'd believe Grover any day."

Me, Percy, Kayla, Annabeth, the Stolls, Katie, Grover, and Juniper turned around. Coming up towards the meeting was Mr. D, followed by Clarisse, Chris, Lee, Michael, and the rest of camp.

As Mr. D approached, all of the satyrs stood respectively and bowed. The director waved his hand and a throne made out of grapevines - golden ones at that - grew out of the ground next to Silenus' chair. He sat down on it and crossed his chair.

I turned from the sight to Clarisse, who simply just nodded for seemingly no reason. "Like I'd said, I'd believe Grover any day.." she said. "After all he's done for the camp alongside Prissy and Annabeth, he's earned the trust of all of us."

I turned back to Mr.D, who looked around at the crowd. "Miss me?"

The satyrs bowed and nodded. "Oh yes, very much, sire!"

"Well, I do not miss this place!" Mr.D bellowed. "I bring bad news, my friends. Evil news. The minor gods are changing sides. Morpheus has gone over to the enemy. Hecate, Janus, and Nemesis, as well. Zeus knows how many more."

Gasps and cries of shock were prevalent behind me, and I felt pissed off. But in a sense, given that there had been kids that had been claimed by Hecate and Nemesis that had disappeared prior to now, it did give me some relief. Seems like at least the minor gods care for their kids, I thought to myself.

Thunder rumbled in the distance, signaling that Zeus was definitely not happy.

"Strike that. Even Zeus doesn't know. Now, I want to hear Grover's story. Again, from the top" Mr.D said, much to Silenus' consternation.

"But, my lord.." he said. "..it's just nonsense!"

Mr.D's eyes lit up with purple fire, and I swear to you, I had no idea he could do that until now. So I was in amazement. "My two sons were in the fight yesterday, Silenus. Either one of them or both could have dead if not for the brave man in bandages.." he said, pointing to me, before he then pointed to Michael a few seconds later. "..and the son of Apollo fighting like dogs to keep the attackers at bay. I am not in a good mood because of how close I was to losing a child of mine. You would do well to humor me."

I felt honored. I had been recognized, alongside Michael, by a god for our valor. It definitely made everyone behind us excited too.

Silenus gulped. He waved at Grover to start again, and Grover obliged, recounting the entire thing once more.

Mr.D nodded once Grover had finished. "Truth be told, it sounds just the sort of thing Pan would do. Grover is right. The search is tiresome. You must start thinking for yourselves."

"We must exile the traitor!" Silenus argued.

"I say no.." countered Mr.D. "That is my vote."

"I vote no as well.." Chiron said, indicating that he agreed as well.

"All in favor of the exile?" Silenus asked, and he and the other two old satyrs raised their hands. All the campers, besides me, were worried now, as were Juniper and Grover, and I was about ready to launch into another outburst.

"Three to two.." Silenus said, smugly. Oh how I hated him.

"Ah yes.." Mr.D replied, rather calmly. "But unfortunately for you, a god's vote counts twice. And as I voted against, we are tied."

I breathed a sigh of relief as the other campers cheered. Good old Mr.D.

Silenus stood up angrily. "This is an outrage! The council cannot stand at an impasse."

Before Mr.D could speak again, I snapped once more.

"Take your outrage and stick it up your ass.." I said angrily. "Two thousand years have passed. Times have changed. Adapt, idiot."

Silenus wanted to scold me - the anger in his eyes told me as much - but Mr.D stopped him. "The boy has a point.." he said calmly. "Times have indeed changed. We must adapt and change our thinking. If this council is at an impasse, then let it be dissolved. I don't care."

Silenus and the two old satyrs bowed stiffly and left the grove with twenty other satyrs, snarling in disgust as they did. I glared at them until they were out of sight.

Grover looked on in optimism. "Don't worry.." he assured the rest of the worried satyrs. "We don't need a council to tell us what to do. We can figure it out ourselves."

What followed - that being Grover dividing up the remaining satyrs into groups as part of the plan he explained about how to defend the wild - definitely justified Annabeth's later words about the fact that Grover seemed to be growing up.

- — - — - — - — - Switch Back To Kayla's POV - — - — - — - — -

Colton and I met up with Belle, Percy and Annabeth the next day on Half Blood Hill. Annabeth was apparently going to be going back to San Francisco, where her father lived, once Chiron's leg had fully healed. Percy would be heading back to NYC at the end of the summer camp season to school, as would I.. though by this time, I had gotten my dad to accept my demand that I would come back if Colton was allowed to be by my side.

"There's a private school out there that'll be going to. I'll probably hate it, but..." Annabeth said, trailing off. She seemed to be sad over something.

"Yeah, well.. call me, okay?" Percy asked.

"Sure. I'll keep my eyes open for.." Annabeth trailed off again. I could sense that she was hiding something, thanks to me having part of my dad's powers for truth. I didn't know who it was, but judging from the expressions of Percy, Colton, and Belle.. who all looked like they knew, I could definitely tell that they knew full well exactly who it was she couldn't bring herself to say the name of.

"Clarisse and I were right.." Colton muttered, causing all of us to look at him. "You were hiding something. What was the last line in the prophecy, Annabeth?"

Annabeth took a while, then in tears and with Percy at her side, she spoke. "And.. lose a.. love.. to.. worse.. than death.." she sobbed, and Colton's eyes went wide in shock and horror.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, knowing that I probably would not like the answer. When Colton spoke again, I was right. I didn't like it at all. "Kronos and Luke are now one and the same, right? The time lord is back and having Luke as a host, correct?" he asked and Annabeth tearfully nodded as Percy hugged her.

I felt a mixture of emotions. But seriously, poor Annabeth.. to lose the guy that was there for you when her father wasn't - I had heard what of her tale Percy had told her from Percy himself - I couldn't imagine what that was like. I hugged Colton, trying not to cry, and he hugged me back.

"So Luke.." Percy started, but Annabeth interrupted him.

"Percy, I didn't know who the prophecy was talking about. I - I didn't know if.." Annabeth faltered there for a moment. "Luke and I.. for years, he was the only one who really cared about me. I thought. . ."

She wanted to say more, but then someone else spoke after a sparkle of light appeared next to the five of us. "You have nothing to apologize for, dear."

Colton knew exactly who it was before I even turned, and before Annabeth could even speak, Colton said the name himself. "Hera."

We all turned, and sure enough, there a couple of yards away from us, stood the Queen of the Gods herself.

"Nice to see you again too, Colton Reynolds.." Hera said, acknowledging his existence. "Congratulations on winning the heart of Kayla Knowles."

I wanted to feel happy that the Queen of the Gods was congratulating me on my relationship upgrade with Colton, but I couldn't.

Hera turned to Annabeth. "You found the answers.." Hera said. "..as I knew you would. Your quest was a success."

I was stunned, trying and failing to piece together how in any logical sense this whole thing was a success for Annabeth. I just couldn't see how.

"A success?" Annabeth asked incredulously. "Luke is gone. Daedalus is dead. Pan is dead. How could-?"

"Our family is safe.." Hera insisted. "Those others are better gone, my dear. I am proud of you."

I will admit, she only partially made sense. Thanks to Pan's sad death, which shouldn't have happened at all in the first place, Grover had manned up and become a leader. With Daedalus gone, camp was now much safer now that the labyrinth had been destroyed.

But with Luke, that was where it stopped making sense. At least for me to be honest. Colton looked the same way.

Belle blinked in shock. She felt the same way too.

Percy clenched his fists. "You're the one who paid Geryon to let us through the ranch, didn't you?" he asked.

Hera shrugged, her dress shimmering in rainbow colors. "I wanted to speed you on your way."

"But you didn't care about Nico.." Percy continued. "You were happy to see him turned over to the Titans."

Colton clenched his fists in anger.

"Oh, please.." Hera said, waving her hand dismissively, which pissed me off now. How dare she. "The son of Hades said it himself. No one wants him around. He does not belong."

Belle was about to speak, but Colton spoke first. "Are you insane?!" he called out. "A child of the big three on the side of the Titans would be absolutely devastating to us in the long term.. especially since Nico has the power to raise the dead. Percy on their side would bad enough, but Nico would most likely be far worse. Plus, for how little I've known him, I kinda like the guy. So saying that is just wrong, Hera. It is downright stupid and wrong. You're the Queen Of The Gods, act like it."

Everyone was shocked. There was no way that Colton Reynolds had just called out the Queen Of The Gods to her face. But to be fair, it made me love him even more.

Belle spoke up next. "Are you serious..?" she asked. "I want him around, Queen Hera. It doesn't matter that I'm a daughter of Demeter and he's the son of Hades. It doesn't matter that Colton is the son of Ares and Kayla is the daughter of Apollo. If they want him here, I want him here too. Children of the gods can form friendships and even fall in love with each other, regardless of whether or not there are rivalries between our godly parents. Percy and Annabeth, as well as Colton and Kayla, are living proof of that. And I don't know if you noticed, but the Olympians aren't perfect like you think they are."

Colton and I blushed at the mention of us, but I knew that Belle spoke the truth. Hera glared at Belle. "You're one to talk, Belle Adair.." she said as she glowered down at the daughter of Demeter.

"I'm more than you probably think that I am. I'm more of a warrior than you realize. Kayla's more of a warrior than you think she is. Colton's made sure of that.." Belle snapped back.

"Belle, Colton, Hephaestus, Annabeth.. they were all right.. you don't care. You only care about your perfect family, not real people.." Percy added in.

Hera's eyes brightened in a dangerous fashion. "Watch yourselves, son of Ares, daughter of Demeter, and son of Poseidon.." she spoke, referring to Colton, Belle, and Percy each in turn. "I guided Percy more than the other three know in the maze." She referred to Annabeth as the third person. "I was at your side when you faced Geryon. I let your arrow fly straight. I sent both you and Colton to Calypso's island. I opened the way to the Titans' mountain. Annabeth, my dear, surely you see how I've helped. I would welcome a sacrifice for my efforts."

Annabeth stood still as a statue for a while, but before she could speak, someone else spoke for her, a very familiar voice. "Yeah right.. you only helped to turn the girl that led my cabin into a sobbing wreck, Hera."

I turned and I was shocked to see Malcolm, Lee, Clarisse, all of camp standing about 20 yards away from us. Katie, Travis, Connor, Michael, Sherman, Aruna, Aurora, Victoria, Tyson, Miranda, Charles, Silena.. they were all there. Lee stepped forward. "You turned her into a nervous wreck by leading her to see Luke, Hera. You turned my sister and Annabeth into a nervous, sobbing wreck a few days ago by not letting us know that Percy and Colton survived.." he said angrily. "You helped, sure.. but you've also hurt people too. For you to talk about sacrifices for your efforts, that is rich.. considering that Colton nearly died saving all of us. Some of us wouldn't be here after the battle we all went through.. while you sat at Olympus.. if it hadn't been for him and Michael."

The other campers nodded in agreement with my elder brother, sharing the same sentiment. I turned back to Annabeth. She had clenched her jaw stubbornly, and was very mad. She turned her back on the goddess. "Colton, Percy, Belle, and Lee are right.." she said at last. "..you're the one that doesn't belong, Queen Hera. So thanks, but no thanks."

Hera's sneer at this was nasty, beyond all description. Her form began to glow. "You will regret that insult, Annabeth. You will regret that very much."

We all averted our eyes as Hera transformed into her true divine form and disappeared in a blaze of light, meaning that Half Blood Hill was peaceful once more.

There was a long silence that followed, before Colton decided to break it. "That woman can rot for all I care.." he said audibly, causing everyone to look at him in shock. "What? I said it. Deal with it."

"That's my brother.." Clarisse said happily, and everyone was cheering and smiling at the two of us, me and Colton, as we all walked back down the hill into camp.

Despite everything that my boyfriend had gone through in the battle, it didn't stop him from beating Sherman's ass in a sword fight literally an hour after he had called out Hera.

And that was after he found out from Michael that Sherman was talking about that time he found me and Colton cuddling in the tub last summer to a couple other people about 50 minutes after he called out Hera.

- — - — - — - — - ?'s POV - — - — - — - — -

A pair of figures had watched the entire conversation unfold, while hidden in the tree line. There were both humans, but if you knew Greek Mythology (or Percy Jackson lore for that matter), you could say that these two looked familiar.

The taller man had green hair the same color as summer leaves, braided in long locks and decorated with minsters versions of weapons. His eyes were blue, but the whiteness of the parts of his eyes outside of that blue looked more like polished marble. The slightly shorter woman meanwhile had blue-green eyes, but had long brown braided hair as well.

"Surprised you didn't reveal yourself to them, father.." the female spoke. "You're getting better at controlling yourself."

"I still feel the urges Cupid's arrow gave me all those millennia ago.." the man said. "..so I put the advice those people gave us to good use. Even so, the one who holds the title that should be mine is a very interesting one, to say the least."

"Indeed.." said the woman. "..a very interesting one indeed. Mother is still a fool though for not preventing Typhon from crowning the boy the Monster King. Revenge against her, against the Olympians, and against the one that stole your title.. will be sweet when it comes."

"Indeed, Periboia.." the man said. "It will be interesting indeed. Soon, the world will come to tremble at the feet of Porphyrion, King Of The Giants and eventually the Monster King as well."

Then, the two figures disappeared into thin air, not realizing that they had been overheard by a very familiar empousai, who felt more conflicted than ever about where her loyalties truly lay.

(A/N: Guess you didn't see that coming, did you?)

Chapter 33: XXV. Awakening To Their New Reality

Chapter Text

(A/N: This part.. oh boy. Is it ever a gut-wrencher because trauma and PTSD, ladies and gentlemen. You have been warned. Plus, references to another PJO fanfic this time by raspberryfanfics called "Aspen", centered around good old Sherman Yang. There are references to some A03 fanfics, which will be credited at the bottom of the chapter for you to view.)

I don't speak much about my childhood growing up, but in retrospect, I'm glad that my parents conditioned me to not be as emotional when it came to death, funerals, and such, because to be fair, I don't think it would help Kayla if her boyfriend was just broken as she could be.

Even though we all showed solidarity and unity during Grover's time at the emergency meeting of the council of Cloven Elders and during Annabeth's chat with that bitch Hera, deep down inside, everyone around me was suffering. It simply manifested itself in different ways.

That much was true. Everyone seemed a bit different after the battle. The only one who seemingly hadn't changed, despite the anxiety I would get from the what-ifs, was me. I didn't know how, I didn't know why, but somehow among those who had been awakened to their new reality, I was the one who was the most stable.

Out of all the cabins, I think it was safe to say that the Demeter and Aphrodite Cabins got hit the hardest with the PTSD. Silena and her sibling who Michael and I had saved from the two hellhounds that day back in January had always been a little unstable since then.. after the Battle Of The Labyrinth, they were definitely.. very unstable, to say the least. It wasn't even the middle of the first night after the battle before familiar screams from the Demeter and Aphrodite cabins had Beckendorf, Sherman, Travis, and a couple other campers, including Travis' brother Connor, barreling out the front door of their cabins and over to the two affected ones to calm the others down, harpies be damned.

I will admit, I was surprised that Sherman was even able to move that f*cking fast. Then again, he was a member of a very dangerous mafia back in NYC before coming to Camp Half Blood, so I guess given that he had mentioned running from cops and what not, I guess he had built up the ability to do so.

Either way, by this point, roughly 5 days after the battle, it can safely be said that him and Miranda were even closer than before, since by now, she couldn't even sleep without him without having nightmares, much the same as Kayla being unable to sleep without me last summer. So he slept with her.. in his bed.. in the Ares Cabin. Clarisse and I, who slept with Chris and Kayla respectively, didn't even call him out on it at all. Travis and Katie were doing the same by now, with Katie sleeping in Travis' bed. Silena was sleeping in Beckendorf's bed by now, and Jake was sleeping in Michael's bed.

So yeah.. a lot of people, whether they were already in a relationship, were trekking down the same route as that of me and Kayla. Hopefully, a trip to Ogygia was not in their futures. Like seriously, I definitely hoped it wasn't what the Fates had in mind for them.

Percy and I, despite our differences, had established a bit of a friendship after the battle. The rivalry between the two of us, one-sided as it was, remained but in a diminished state to be honest.

After the battle, I think everyone was going through the process of a rude awakening and a final shattering of any hopes that they had of things going back to normal. Thanks to Luke, that would not be the case at all. Thanks to that traitor, war was now a reality. There hadn't been a war that concerned the world of the gods since WWII, and now here in the early 2000s, war had returned to the world of the gods. Only this time, it was a rematch between the Titans and the Gods.

With the knowledge that Kelli had given me, I shuddered at the prospects of the future should we win. Because if we win, given the knowledge that Gaea had monsters loyal to her attempting to raise her, and one of the giants alive and well in Alaska, it was almost certain to me at least that she would try to raise the rest of them soon, thus bringing on a second war between the gods and giants. Still, the rest of them were all down in Tartarus for now, at least that's what I thought. Just the bane of Hades alive in Alaska, there was no way that any of the others could be alive in our world with any other reason for their return other than wanting to avenge the defeat of the Titans should they once again lose to the Olympians, right?

Looking back on it from the future, I think it was safe to say that Typhon deciding to crown me Monster King jinxed me.

- — - — - — - — -

When Chiron did the funeral service for the fallen on the second night, we were joined by an unexpected guest. My father as well as the father of my siblings Ares himself, who sat down with me and my siblings + Kayla as we watched in silence and mostly doom and gloom sadness.

Kayla had tears running down her cheeks, even as she clung to me in a hug, even as I hugged her back and kissed her forehead, a couple of tears in my eyes. The Apollo Cabin had been fortunate to escape with zero losses, thanks to me, but those that had died still left a mark on everyone else. Quintus aka Daedalus, Zac from the Hermes Cabin, Liam from the Demeter Cabin, Shelby also from the Demeter Cabin, Hector from my cabin - his death hurt sure, but not enough to reduce me to tears since I was tougher than that - they all left a mark on everyone. Beckendorf's cabin had lost 4 of their number in the fight, highest of them all, while the Aphrodite Cabin had lost 3.

We had lost about 15-20 fellow campers, siblings, friends, and loved ones in that fight, a painful price to pay for the ignorance and stupidity of the Gods. Luke aka Kronos was the face of what the consequences for that were now.

Annabeth took the loss of Luke to Kronos hardest of all. She had always been convinced that he could be turned back, but now, it seemed like that was no longer an option. Luke / Kronos would have to die in order for Olympus to be saved. Despite their arguments, Percy was the one who helped calmed her down from the nightmares, the pain, and the meltdowns that came from the loss of Luke to the Time Lord.

As for Kayla, she was coping. Despite everything, we stayed together. I would be lying if I said I wasn't feeling like the King of Olympus every time we kissed, every time we slept with each other, every time we held hands. Just like last summer, I was the one who kept her stable and happy. The difference being that I was finally her boyfriend, and believe me, the thought was both terrifying and downright exciting.

Terrifying because you have to remember, she's the child of a celebrity, not to mention also the child of a god that might as well be celebrity-sexual a lot of the time. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if Apollo had a kid with like.. Taylor Swift one day. As soon as we left for NYC at the end of the summer, cameras and paparazzi were probably going to be all over the two of us, wanting to know more about the guy that did what so many before had tried and failed to do up until I came along: winning the heart of hard-to-get Kayla Knowles.

I knew full well that as soon as I stepped into that world, I was going to have to defend my girlfriend's heart from guys who probably wished that I was out of the way so they could take her for themselves. I mean, she did that she did have a bodyguard who was a servant of her godly father, but honestly I was not going to take any chances. I had spent a goddamned year clawing my way into her heart through nothing but being there for her when she needed someone to save her, for crying out loud. I hadn't duked it out with a flock of Stymphalian Birds that one time to save her only to let some rich, entitled asshole rip the girl of my dreams away from me. f*ck no.

She was mine, all mine.

I will admit, the battle had turned me to be a good bit more possessive of her than before it. Not that it was a bad thing to be honest.

But I will admit, the thought of defying the odds one more time - the final part of my prophecy - for her, I had become all the more willing to do. If it meant saving her and the others, then god damn it to Hades on a stick, I'll do it.

Even if it meant that in the event of us winning this war against Luke / Kronos, we had to then fight another war against Gaea and the Giants, I didn't care. I was addicted to Kayla, with my heart beating and burning like a massive inferno for her, my girl. If anything, she would be the reason that I would kill all that stood between me, and both victory for the Gods and being with her if that's what I had to do to secure our future with each other.

I had a feeling that whatever Typhon had granted me with the whole "Monster King" title (if it came with any powers to speak of) would probably help out in this mission of mine, but the problem I faced was simply.. how the hell do I even tap into them, if they're even there at all? I would find the answer during next summer, but for now, I was stumped.

But back to the whole Kayla thing. The thought of being with her, as her boyfriend now, was also exciting because gods.. her beauty.. every time I look at her, I feel like I'm looking at Aphrodite's heiress. And yeah, I still hadn't gotten over her being as blessed in looks as the daughter of Aphrodite. Hey, maybe Aphrodite somehow put her blessing into Apollo's daughter before she was born. That would explain it, I don't know what else would.

I really don't know for a fact what else would.

I would like to call her more beautiful than Aphrodite herself out loud, but I'm certain if I even did that, I would get cursed by the goddess and I don't want that honestly. So I'll just keep that to myself.

My life felt like a song when I was with her, if I had to be totally and perfectly honest.

The two of us.. we were made for love.

But back to the funerals. Pretty sure I have gone on too long with this whole monologue of mine, okay?

Anyways.. it was generally doom and gloom throughout the whole funeral service. The moment Chiron mentioned that he was also going to burn shrouds for the enemy fallen, some people had outrage.

Michael had stood up. "Oh hell no.." he said, and then proceeded to storm out of the amphitheater angrily, with Jake hot on his heels out of shock mostly. Most of the rest of the crowd left in a similar fashion, including many of the younger siblings of me, Clarisse, and Sherman. I didn't blame them, I felt similarly. Staying for the burning of their shrouds was the proper thing to do to show respect for the fallen though. I knew that full well.

Kayla stayed because I stayed.

I looked around. Aside from Ares, me, Kayla, Clarisse, and Sherman, a few others had stayed. Most of Kayla's siblings minus Michael and a few others, Silena, Beckendorf, Belle, Katie and Miranda, the Stolls, Chris, as well as Percy and Annabeth remained behind. Some of Beckendorf's siblings remained too.

Chris and Miranda moved over and sat down with us, Chris with Clarisse and Miranda with Sherman respectively.

"See How many more of us are going to have suffer from this?" Miranda hissed.

"I wish I could answer, but I don't know at all the answer Mira.." Sherman replied. "I just don't know at all."

It was a solemn silence that hung over those that remained, punctuated by the crackling of the flames are the shrouds were burned. Kayla nuzzled into me, and I just kept hugging her because I felt bad. I had killed most of those bodies from the enemy side having their shrouds being burnt to honor them - me and Michael had, I'll correct myself here.

Even so, they were kids and teens who had joined the Titan Army - Luke / Kronos' cause - in the misguided belief that the Titans would give them something better for them. But war is a tragedy all of its very own.

Ares left when it was over after hugging all of us still there with him and then telling me how proud he was for upholding my end of the deal we had made, albeit he said that quietly so no one would hear us and then I would subsequently have to reveal the new secret I was keeping hidden from the others.

And with that, we all trotted back to our cabins that night.

- — - — - — - — -

Lee decided to step down as head counselor of the Apollo Cabin on the third day after the battle, handing the position over to Michael. Needless to say, Kayla and I - as well as the rest of my girlfriend's siblings - were all shocked by the rather unexpected move. Lee felt that since he would eventually be gone to university by the fall of next year, it was time to turn the reins over to someone else. Aurora and Aruna both would be in a similar situation by next fall as well, so they had passed on the idea, as had Victoria. So much to Michael's chagrin, he was made the new head counselor.

The change of leadership in the Apollo Cabin, was to put it bluntly, the capstone of just how much our reality had changed because of Luke / Kronos. From now on until the very end, camp was now no more a summer camp. It was a place where warriors prepared for battle, a place that had firmly been robbed of its innocence if there was even a shred of innocence left in this place at all.

(A/N: Aside from -JASONSGRACE and Imaginebooks being mentioned here, the two AO3 fanfics referenced in this part are "hold on to the memories (they will hold on to you)" by grumpylia and "Keep Your Face Always Towards The Sun" by TheTimeTraveler24. Even though Lee doesn't die in the battle, the part about him stepping down as head counselor of the Apollo Cabin was added so that this remains mostly canon. In effect, the more things change, the more they stay together. Lee Fletcher may have survived the Battle Of The Labyrinth, but Michael Yew still becomes the new head counselor of the Apollo Cabin regardless of that.)

Chapter 34: XXVI. The Sweetest (And Hottest) Moments With A Goddess Like Demigod

Chapter Text

Alternate Chapter Title: My Cabin (and Chris) Are So Based

(A/N: The first of three chapters where it's just no monsters, no distractions, just pure and sweet Colton and Kayla love. Rated between T and M because of a little bit of spicy, suggestive language and stuff. Probably a long chapter too, so let's get started here. Plus, a little something extra.. snippets of something from Book Two:

... Summer 2009 ...

Nightmares .. Demigods ... .

Dancer ... ... King ... Queen..

... ... evade ... fear ... ... ... .

You might already know at least one of the people this is referring to.. but can you guess the other two?)

6 days after the Battle Of The Labyrinth..

Once my injuries had healed up and we could take the bandages off, I think it was safe to say that the training wheels on our relationship as boyfriend and girlfriend had really been taken off.

Despite the doom and gloom that pervaded camp in the days, and then weeks after the battle, there seemed to be a bright spot for everyone, something that at least made them feel like not everything about their future was so dark and unknown. That bright spot was Kayla and I since for all of our shared history, with each other, there exuded a happiness that couldn't really be brought down for very long. I still had yet to be given the other awkward talk from my girlfriend's parents - which to be honest, after being interrogated by her siblings I was not looking forward to that - but for now, I didn't really care much, because to the rest of camp, we were two souls in love, bounded together by drama and trauma that the rest of camp had witnessed too. They knew full well that much of the story between me and Kayla had occurred at the same time as they were living their lives.

Either way, with a camp like this, privacy with your girlfriend is definitely hard to come by. There's only so many places you can be when the camp pretty much knows exactly where you frequent on a twenty four hour basis. Thankfully, since, you know.. we were still on break from doing anything worthwhile on orders from Chiron, we still had a good amount of free time on our hands.. so on this morning, Kayla decided to invite me down to the lake for some fun in the water. Knowing that Percy was by now gone back to New York City, having left early this morning.. we didn't have to worry about any water shenanigans, which was nice because knowing Percy.. he was likely to mess with me in some way.

So with all of that mind, I knew I was going to have a good time with Kayla, but I don't think even I realized what I was about to experience or the fact that Clarisse and Chris deciding on their own to go out a couple days ago and come back with a bunch of sleeping bags, since they wanted to do something nice and let my other siblings have the luxury of being able to sleep out underneath the stars for once, since by now the Harpies had started to pick off any monsters that dared get too close to Camp Half Blood at night time, including snakes and spiders.. would turn out to be one of the most unintentionally based moves those two have ever made.

- — - — - — - — -

I woke up on July 7th to the sound of silence as per usual. I was still waking up at the butt crack of dawn as I usually did, but on this morning instead of taking my gear and going on patrol, I got out the pair of swim trunks Clarisse had gotten me for my thirteenth birthday and put those and only those on instead, putting on a pair of gray and black flip flops instead. Taking a large towel out of the closet and closing the door quietly, I crept through the cabin full of my still sleeping siblings - and Chris - and got out the front door quietly and closed it quietly, only to come face to face with Lee and Aruna as soon as I turned around.

I gulped, and started sweating, since both of them had psychotic looks on their faces. "Do you really want me to yell for my siblings this early in the morning and have them chase you around camp while angry as hornets?" I asked them after a few moments when I had calmed down.

They paled.

I grinned. "Good.. now if you two will excuse me.. I'm off to be with my girlfriend now.." I said, thinking I was in the clear as I walked past them before Lee grabbed my arm. Crap.

"I swear to the gods on the River Styx, Colton.. that if I find out you did you know what with her.." he said menacingly, and I gulped, knowing full well what he was talking about, and what I probably was not going to do for probably the next couple dozen years after today. You're not going to have sex with her, not as long as Lee Fletcher still lives dude.

Truth be told, I wasn't even planning on going that far with Kayla at all to be quite completely honest here. I really don't think I wanted to do so.

Besides, I was raised better than that to be honest.

"Warning taken seriously.." I replied, and then just headed off to the lake, only wearing the swim trunks. I will admit, the fact that I got wolf whistled at by Aruna, Aurora, and Victoria before I had even got out of the cabin area was a testament to the fact that out of all the guys at camp, seeing me shirtless was like extremely rare. Really, really f*cking rare.

"Have fun!" Victoria called out from the Apollo Cabin, albeit in a more quieter tone so as to not wake people up, but given that she said it in an excited tone, I think that was my first hint of what lay in store for me today with my Kayla.

I got up to the crest of the rise between the cabins and the lake, looked down at the dock, and I stopped dead in my tracks. Because words could hardly describe the sight that awaited me. Like no seriously, I'm not kidding, words outright failed me to describe how I thought about what I was actually seeing right now.

Holy f*ck.

She was simply laying on her back on a beach towel on the dock, sunbathing with her hands behind her head and resting her head on both her hands and a pillow she had brought out here. She was only wearing a two piece bikini, but f*ck - was there any outfit that Kayla Knowles couldn't appear like a goddess in?

Her body fit perfectly in the black and orange bikini, which definitely looked like it was made out of the highest quality materials.. but her curves, her size, everything about her.. I had to admit, this girl was truly a goddess. She was completely perfect in every conceivable way on gods. And the fact that she was all mine.. like, yum. Yummy indeed.. because seriously.. the moment I saw her like that, that's when I knew for a total and utter fact.. I was in over my head.

As soon as I saw her, I blushed really hard. Quite possibly harder than I ever have prior to now. I must have been staring at her a little too long, because she turned on her side, saw me, and flashed me the cutest smile she could even give me. I wanted to melt into butter right then and there, or at least disappear off the face of the earth with Kayla right then and there, because god damn it, if my siblings saw this, they would never let me even have the slightest chance of even living this down.

She beckoned me over with her finger, and I felt my body move almost as if I was being drawn down to the lake by a siren or something similar. For all I know, she could have been charm-speaking me - she couldn't do so though - and I wouldn't have given that much of a f*ck about it at all. Because right now, I wanted her pure and bloody simple.

As soon as I got down there, and placed down the beach towel I had brought as she got up, I swear to god - it was outright hard just to find the right words to even say to my girlfriend. I felt like a massive cat had taken ahold of my tongue and wasn't letting go of it at all. After a few awkward moments of both of us blushing at each other - I don't think she even had the slightest clue of what I would look like in nothing but swim trunks honestly - I finally found the right words.

"I-I uhm.." I stuttered, and she giggled while blushing. "..gods.. you are perfect as can be possibly imagined, Kayla Knowles."

She looked away, totally flustered at the remark, before turning back to me after a few moments. "I.." she started. "I'm glad you think so about me, Colton Reynolds. Words cannot describe how much I want you right now too."

That's when I noticed the two pairs of diving flippers and scuba masks laying next to her. She notices where I'm looking and turns to look at them too, and turns back to me. "I called my father before I went to bed with you two days after the battle to ask him if he or someone could bring these here.. because I kinda wanted to explore the lake" she explained to me, still blushing as she did so.

I nodded, trying not let the lust I was feeling take over. I don't know if Aphrodite was messing with me or something, but god damn it, did Kayla make me feel hungry for her in more of a romantic way than you know what. It honestly felt really weird.

You know you want her as your queen, Typhon said in my head out of nowhere, catching me by surprise. I didn't say anything back to him, I was just shocked mentally by it. To be fair, I didn't really think being the Monster King came with actually having a Queen. Like, what the f*ck was even up with people?

Like, god damn.

Still though, it really did not stop from putting on the diving flippers and scuba mask meant for me while Kayla did the same, and then once we were ready, I jumped into the lake first. Resurfacing, I looked up at Kayla, who seemed hesitant. "I'll be here for you, love.." I told her. "Trust me."

She still seemed hesitant, but then she smiled, and a couple seconds later, she jumped into the lake, splashing water into my face as she came down almost right on top of me, but I caught her in my arms. As soon as she surfaced, I blushed again. Her below shoulder length hair was wet now sure, but even so, she was still downright beautiful to be completely and utterly honest. Like really, really beautiful indeed.

I stared into her eyes and she stared back into mine, as I had my arms wrapped around her back, while hers were wrapped around both my back and the back of my neck. We just stayed there for a bit, heads floating above the water and our diving flippers flapping to keep us afloat.

Neither of us said a word, it was just purely charged tension of a hot kind between the two of us in the lake. Then, I decided to break it.

I leaned in and kissed her.. sweetly yet full of desire and lust. She was a little bit shocked but kissed me back with the same intensity, her nails digging a little bit into my skin. Not that I minded.

I deepened the kiss with her after a couple moments, sliding my tongue into her mouth and she sent her tongue out to meet mine. Our tongues danced, even as one of my hands slid upwards to gently cup the back of her head while the other hand gently gave her back a massage. She let out a low moan while we were making out, and dug her nails in a little bit deeper. I moaned a little too as we kissed each other for a few moments before we both pulled away, gasping for breath. Both of us were blushing - I could feel that I was while her blush was very visible.

Her face was a little concerned, since she had been digging into my skin. "Does it hurt?" she asked softly. I shrugged my head no.

"That's a relief.." she muttered, before we kissed again.

- — - — - — - — -

Life. Was. Sweet.

Those were the three words I was feeling as me and Kayla explored the lake from the surface, swimming next to each other, hand in hand. She and I would be leaving camp in early August, but for now, it was our month. We swam all around the lake for gods know how long, for I lost track of time. Once we were done, we got out of the lake and stood on the sandy shore close to the dock (A/N: using movie version of the camp lake here) and while still wet, we kissed each other again. This time, I kissed her neck a little bit, causing her to let out an audible moan.

She really blushed furiously.

After that little make out session, we both dried off, though Kayla wanted to keep sunbathing for about another hour. I obliged, and as much as the temptations kept telling me to do naughty things with her, I absolutely refused to do so because right now, f*ck those damn urges. f*ck them.

I'm her boyfriend, I'm not some weird pervert. I need to act like her boyfriend god damn it.

I was really busy with my thoughts as I walked back towards the Ares cabin to at least get a shirt to wear as well as a couple of books and a chair, so much so that I didn't really pay much attention to how the other girls in the Apollo Cabin were outright feeling flustered over the sight of me in nothing but swim trunks and flip flops, as were many of the other girls in camp, minus Clarisse since I didn't see her in my vision.

"Holy sh*t!"

"Colton looks so hot!"

"Kayla's one lucky girl!"

I can imagine that if Kayla heard that, she be feeling pretty jealous, and rightfully so. I was her boyfriend, that's it. The other girls at camp could all flirt and go crazy over me for all I cared - which was not one cent at all - but honestly, joke's on them for not even doing enough to catch my eye before I got that prophecy. The joke is on all of them.

After I got the shirt, books, and chair, I just sat next to the dock while Kayla sunbathed, enjoying the history books I was reading and life as a whole.

Luke was still out there, planning whatever he and Kronos were plotting to do next. But for now, life was perfect. Compared to next summer, this summer was easy.

- End Of Part II -

Chapter 35: Part Three - The Last Olympian

Chapter Text

In which Colton cements his place as one of the original heroes of Olympus (of his and Percy's time) and fulfills his prophecy, only to find out that the next great prophecy has already begun. Plus, Kelli makes a choice that changes the course of her life.

Or Kronos finds out the hard way that even with a spy in the ranks of the demigods, the weight of numbers, and Typhon distracting the Gods, there was one thing he was not counting on. Well, two things actually - but they are both related. He has no idea that Typhon has crowned a new Monster King - Colton Reynolds.

Nor were the Fates expecting him to alter the course of events as we knew it.. or even expecting the collision between Colton and two other entities interested in the power of the Monster King that occurred after the Battle Of Manhattan.

Chapter 36: Interlude - Two Souls In Love

Chapter Text

(A/N: Here we are! The Last Olympian! Now I just wanted to say, I didn't plan on this being more or less a "chapter partly based on someone else's request", but squirrelmonkey123 had an idea that they commented about in Chapter XXV that I am going to run with in this a bit. Either way, this will be just more KAYTON themed moments. Probably will be pretty long as well, so please enjoy. Plus references to other fandoms in this as well. Plus shoutouts to -JASONSGRACE and Imaginebooks as well.)

Alternate Chapter Title: The Interlude That's Made Up Of One-shots

- — - — - — - — -
August 19th, 2007

When he leaves camp for the third time in his whole existence there, he was not expecting that her father would send a f*cking limo up to get both of them. Like no, seriously.

An actual limo.

Needless to say, it threw him for a loop. Kayla could only giggle in amusem*nt as her boyfriend quite literally acted like a kid stunned at seeing something he had never seen before. It didn't stop him from making out with her in the open space of the passenger part of the limo though.

By this point, they couldn't even go an hour with each other without feeling the need to kiss. It was so bad that Clarisse had to shout, "DO YOU TWO REALLY NEED TO SHOW YOUR AFFECTION FOR EACH OTHER TO THE REST OF US EVERY FIVE f*ckING MINUTES?!" to the two of them at one point in time since they hooked up.

With the two of them alone in the passenger area of the limo, it isn't long before they stop making out with each other, and Colton's anxiety about having to meet one of her parents shows itself. He's sweating, really sweating.. because even for a son of Ares, he can't help but be a bit intimidated that he might not measure up to whatever standards Darren Knowles had in mind for his daughter's boyfriend.

But she calms his concerns, telling him that he's going to be fine, and that he'll be okay. The fact that her words, plus her taking his hand in hers, calms him down speaks a lot to how close the two of them are.

- — - — -
Later..

He feels weird having to wear formal, fashionable clothes for the first time in his life. He isn't used to them, and so they feel awkward to wear. But he knows he has to, given the occasion that Darren has decided to hold as soon as the two of them had arrived at his residence in Toronto.

The trip there was really uneventful, the two of them having been guarded from monsters most of the way there through the assistance of the Hunters Of Artemis, who had just so happened to be trekking northwards along part of the route that the limo took. So some of the hunters, including Artemis, Thalia Grace, Phoebe, and Hunter, catch a ride on their way up to Toronto.

Needless to say, while a lot of the hunters looked on in annoyance that a girl that could have been a hunter due to be very good with a bow had fallen in love with a boy, in contrast Thalia, Phoebe, and Hunter couldn't help but express congratulations to both him and Kayla on their relationship upgrade. Artemis herself even joined in, if only kind of reluctantly.

As for what event Darren had decided to host on that day, it was really simple actually. A good old fashioned party of celebrities, with plenty of protection offered by the gods - at Apollo's insistence.

Colton doesn't know what to really think when he comes out of the second bathroom in the incredibly spacious master bedroom, one of two in Darren's mansion, that Kayla's father let him and Kayla be in.. only to find his girlfriend's bodyguard, Asterios, standing on the other side of the door.

He was an upgraded version of the Minotaur that had ran away from its inventor Daedalus and out of the labyrinth, encountered Apollo and Darren while they were out on a stroll through NYC a few months prior to Kayla's birth, and since they met, the bald, tall, intimidating human version of this monster had become a servant of Apollo, and a very important employee on Darren's payroll, which just so happens to be staffed almost exclusively with a mixture of monsters loyal to the Olympians and clear sighted mortals.

In a way, Kayla's father's servant was like a second (or third in this case) father to her, since Apollo was mostly stuck on Olympus or siring more demigod children. Thus, it's only natural that moment occurring between him and Colton is even happening at all, much to the anxiety and nervousness of the demigod standing in front of him. (A/N: The Minotaur's Greek name is also called Asterios, so for this, I'm changing it to Asterius to prevent confusion. More on Asterios at the end of the chapter.)

"So.." Asterios states, eyeing Colton up and down to get a good look at the boyfriend of his employers' daughter. "..this is the Colton Reynolds I've heard Kayla speak so much of.. I must admit, for someone she spoke a lot of, I expected you to be a little bit.. older. The name's Alexander Hartwell, kid.. but my true name is Asterios. I'm a monster in the employment of both Kayla's biological father and her godly parent."

Colton hesitantly shakes his hand, not sure what to make of Asterios. "Relax.. kid.." Alexander says calmly. "I'm not here to hurt you.. but just so you know, you break her heart.. I will not hesitate to hunt you down. Understand?"

Colton gulps and nods, shaking quite a bit. Even for a son of Ares, right now, he's about as scared as he was when Lee, Matthias, Aruna, Victoria, and Michael gave him the talk the day after Colton came back from Ogygia.

Alexander leaves, figuring that the boy understands loud and clear which is correct, leaving Colton there to stabilize himself. He's a bit shaken, but his love for Kayla is what keeps him from breaking down right then and there. Even so, he's still a little wary of Asterios every time he sees the bodyguard of his girlfriend after that.

Kayla comes into the room a few moments later, and the instant Colton sees her, his heart is practically shooting out of his chest at the sight of her beauty.

She had received a bit of a makeover by some of the people her father had on his payroll to do her hair, makeup, and so forth whenever she was at events with him, and right now, the fashion / archery queen was looking especially glamorous right now, even more so since per her godly father's powers, she was glowing a bit too. Her hair looked very shiny, voluminous, deep conditioned and totally glamorous - even the patches where her hair was dyed green - as her hair swayed graciously from side to side as she walked towards him. That black dress was totally form fitting - comfortably fitting to the outline of her curves and somehow placing emphasis on them at the same time - and the manner in which she licked her lips, really wanting him right now.. he was definitely thankful that his father Ares or his siblings - hell, even the rest of camp - were not around to see him feel like he wanted to act like a simp for the girl.

Words once again failed him.

It took him a few moments before he found what he wanted to actually say.

"Kayla.. I..uh.. you.. look.. fabulous.." he stuttered again, causing Kayla to giggle. She hugs him, and even in the stylish dress clothes he's wearing, he still feels like he's wearing his camp uniform when he gets hugged by her.

She looks up at him and smiles. "Hearing you call me beautiful is the best thing that I love to hear from you, darling.." she says playfully, giggling more as Colton's blush gets more crimson with every word out of her mouth.

- — - — -

The first thing Colton sees the minute he steps out of the front door to where the party is, holding Kayla's hand in his, is a fist that smacks right into his face.

Kayla shouts in pure shock and concern as Colton goes down to the floor, somehow not hitting the back of his head in the process, but whoever punched him in the face - he didn't see the attacker's face - doesn't get much further because the next thing Colton sees is Asterios walking past him, and lifting the blonde haired dude, dressed in more sleazy clothes, up by the shirt collar.

"What.. is.. the.. big.. idea, pal?" the tall, bald bodyguard snarls in the face of the offender, who glares angrily at Colton as Kayla walks over and kneels down by him concerned.

"Hey, Kayla! Don't stand over there by that loser! Tell your guard dog to unhand me!" the blonde screams, and Kayla stops, turns around, and glares at the blonde with fury on her face.

"Byron.." Kayla says angrily. "I told you before.. and I will tell you again.. I'm not your girlfriend, fiancée, whatever you want to call me. I'm with Colton, and that's that."

"Shut up! You're with me Kayla.. that's.." Byron shouts, before he gets interrupted.

"Alexander, mind explaining what is going on here?" asks a voice behind Colton and Kayla. Colton turns, and starts sweating. Standing right behind him is a tall man with red hair in very fashionable party clothes, and he's definitely recognizable. It's Kayla's father, Darren Knowles. "And why is this.. despicable boy back on my property?"

Alexander covers Byron's mouth with his hand, much to the teen's frustration, and turns his head to the side. "I don't know why he's back on the premises, sir.." Alexander says. "But from the looks of it.. he was waiting for the two of them to come out.. and then he punched Colton in the face in the hopes of getting Kayla away from him."

Byron tore his mouth away from Alexander's hand. "It's his fault!" he screams. "Kayla's mine! He stole my girl away from me!"

Everyone at the party by now has stopped what they were doing on the front lawn of Darren's mansion and just watched the scene with a mixture of emotions and reactions, some of them filming videos of the whole thing.

Colton gets up on his feet, and he growls at Byron. He's mad.. very, very mad. Kayla hugs him to calm him down, and out of concern for her own safety and his, and he hugs her back.. while Kayla's father turns to a nearby maid just inside the mansion.

"Mrs. Dale.." Darren says calmly. "I would like you to please get to a phone and dial the police.. I wish to press charges against Kyle Sanders' son."

The brown haired maid with glasses nods and goes to a phone, and the look on Byron's face turns to one of pure horror, and Colton can't help but smile at the sight of it.

"No! NO!" Byron screams. "Don't call the cops on me please!"

"Alexander.. please escort this.. filthy sleaze-ball down the driveway to the street and wait for the cops to arrive.. if you would so kindly please.." Darren says, still being calm about the whole situation. Alexander obliges, turning to the left and dragging Byron off towards the bottom of the driveway and the long hill leading up to the mansion, with Byron flailing, kicking, and screaming as Alexander did so.

Darren turns towards his daughter and her boyfriend. "My dear Colton.. I greatly apologize for all of that.. Byron has proven to be a very difficult person to deal with.. tonight was the last straw of my patience with him.." he says before chuckling to himself. "I must say.. you look every bit the man that my daughter has described."

Colton can't help but just nod in reply, words failing him yet again right now. Eventually, as always, it returns. "Thanks.. Mr. Knowles.." Colton says nervously.

"Call me Darren, buddy.." Kayla's father says back to Colton. "And honestly, I do approve of you dating my daughter. You have nothing to fear."

Darren then leaves as the cops are showing up to arrest Byron, but Kayla and Colton just stand there.. Colton more so in shock than Kayla.

"D..Did..I.. just..?" he stammers, before Kayla wraps her arms around the back of his own neck. She's got a seductive look on her face that makes him blush a deep crimson.

"I think my dad definitely likes you.." she says back before she kisses him right in front of all the party guests. He doesn't hesitate to make out with her right there for a little bit, meaning that for the next couple of weeks, the two of them are in the spotlight of every social media app and news outlet in both Canada and the U.S., with some other news outlets in various countries reporting on the video of the whole incident.

- — - — - — - — -

October 5th, 2007

She's up at a fashion show in Las Vegas, Nevada, on this day. Even as she's "rocking it out" - in Colton's words - the series of sexy hot dresses she wears on the runway, she can't help but smile and blow a kiss at him every time she sees him in the crowd. She is very surprised when she runs into Aphrodite prior to the show starting however, having not expected to run into the goddess here.

The two exchange some words and do their thing, and can't help but be shocked afterwards when Colton gets into a brawl with multiple other teenaged boys his age that are jealous over him, a nobody that came out of nowhere in their own words, being Kayla's boyfriend.

She can't help but hug him in the outfit she's currently wearing, tears in her eyes and both tears and mascara running down her cheeks, in relief that he's okay as he leans there, propped up against the wall after the brawl. His shirt has been torn in two parts with most of the left side missing, and his pants have multiple rips and tears in them. He's bruised a bit, with a black eye, but he hugs her back, telling her that he's okay. Even though Darren gives him some ambrosia to heal while in the car after the fight, which occurred after the shoot, to heal.. Colton can smirk in glory and feel like Ares is proud of him. He did win the fight after all.

Kayla on the other hand is actually not really amused. "That was stupid.. you moron.." she tells him, as he sits laying in their bed back in the hotel they are staying at, Kayla laying on top of him gently. "So?" Colton responds. "They were telling me that I must have bought your love, which pissed me off a lot. So.. tempers flared, and next thing I knew, it's on."

"You do realize that a lot of those kids' parents are not going to be amused at you for beating their kids up that bad?" she asks him, concern visible in her eyes as she nuzzles into his neck.

He smirks. "I already told Darren what had happened before he got you.. so news channels, thanks to his presser he's holding in the lobby as we speak, should be running with his words.." he says back, making Kayla giggle in joy.

Colton's right. It's not long before all the attention and attempts from snobbish celebrities, rich brats, crazed fans, and so on to win Kayla's heart from him cease. In fact, it basically stops two days after the fight in Vegas.

From Camp Half Blood, Clarisse can't help but smile at the news when it reaches them via Iris Message. The fact that Colton won the fight while only using his bare hands.. makes it even more impressive in her opinion.

That night, though.. the two of them cuddle and snuggle under the bedsheets, watching episodes of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, a crime TV show that takes place in Vegas. Much to their surprise, one part of the latest episode released on this day shows CSI Greg Sanders reacting in shock to a video clip of the fight between Colton and the other guys - unrelated to the case he's working on.

Both laugh.

"No way.. no way.." Colton says to her in shock.

"It's real, alright.." she replies back, enjoying being able to rest her head on his chest. She loves it totally.

- — - — - — - — -

October 23rd, 2007

Being home-schooled, he knows far more than the other kids at her school, in her grade for that matter. He doesn't use it to make the other kids hate them though. If anything, he simply uses it to change things up at her school since long story short, he's stuck attending there. Not that he minds.

Being in a public school is something new for him, so being the loving girlfriend she is, Kayla is more than happy to show him the ropes. The fact that he has the exact same schedule as hers means that he's never without her.

He loves and enjoys that greatly.

She is very jealous when the queen bee of her grade, Violet, tries to get really close to her boyfriend. Despite her best efforts, Violet is unable to take Colton away from Kayla, since despite drama and such, he's unshakeable.

When he finds out that Violet only tried to break them apart so that the quarterback of their school's freshman football team, Dawson, can hook up with Kayla, he agrees to help her get revenge on the jock by exposing that he was cheating on his girlfriend with the head freshman cheerleader - and some other dark secrets.

Needless to say, Dawson ends up getting expelled and despite their past issues, Violet ends up becoming good friends with Colton and Kayla.

Even so, when their school's freshman football team loses five football games in a row after Dawson's expulsion and loses their chance to compete in post-season games that semester, some of the freshmen tell Colton to his face that he should have just let Violet tear him and Kayla apart and none of their losses would ever have happened.

Colton responds by typing up a lengthy letter that's sent to the superintendent of the school district that eventually means those freshmen end up like Dawson, much to the joy of the entire school and Kayla.

- — - — - — - — -

November 13th, 2007

Plunk.

Plunk.

Plunk.

He lifts his head up from the history book about the Battle Of Spotsylvania Courthouse, sitting in the chair he's on outside the indoor archery range in Darren's mansion, in the basem*nt level.. staring up at the clock and sighs. Kayla's been in the archery range for two hours straight.

Eventually however, she comes out of the room, wearing just an exercise bra and shorts. She stares at her boyfriend, sweat dripping off her forehead. "Surprised you waited out here the whole time this time around.." she says to him, huffing. He puts the book down, and gets up from the chair before he places his hands on her shoulders, and places a gentle kiss right on her sweating forehead.

She blushes.

"I mean.. it's better than having to wait for you back up in our room.." he replies sweetly. She smiles and hugs him, wrapping her arms around his back. After a while, her hand gently touches his cheek.

"You are the sweetest thing I could have ever asked for in my whole life.." she replies sweetly in return. "..plus a fantastic dance partner, even if that was your first time."

He blushes.

After Byron punched him in the face back in August, Colton had ended up dancing with Kayla on the dance floor on her father's front lawn during the party back then, and safe to say, he was a natural at it despite having never danced in his life before.

She kisses his cheek, and just smiles as he wraps his arms around her behind her back. Gods, he thinks to himself. She's all mine.

- — - — - — - — -

November 22nd, 2007

It was Thanksgiving, and eating with her family went better than he thought it would, much to his relief. Generally, her relatives thought very kindly of him.

Her cousins were a bit of a handful, but generally very friendly and very supportive of the relationship between him and Kayla, which was nice compared to the psychotic crazy ones that were her siblings in the Apollo Cabin. It was extremely nice, to say the least.

"I think my cousins like you a lot.." Kayla said to him as the two sat on the staircase leading up to the second floor, watching her family talk and interact with each other.

"Yeah.. I can tell. Definitely better than your siblings back in the Apollo Cabin.." he replied.

Kayla looked concerned at that comment, before frowning. "They gave you the talk, didn't they?" she asked him.

He nodded, and she huffed in frustration.

"Pulled me over to the armory and gave it to me there.." Colton went on. "Now I know how Austin felt about it."

"Austin? You mean that former head counselor of your cabin?" she asked, surprised.

"Yep.. your siblings gave him one when he started dating Caeli.." he replied, holding her hand in his own. "..and he pissed his pants from it."

"Ew!" she told him. "Did not need to hear that."

"Apologies.." he replied, gently sliding her over to him and into his lap, causing her to blush a deep crimson. Before they could go any further, one of her cousins called out, "Awwweee.. they are so cute together!"

Long story short.. after some talking and movement later, she was once again in his lap, but this time while they were sitting in the rocking chair in the bedroom that the two slept in.

She traced her finger along one of his visible scars from that time in Hephaestus' forge, and he flinched slightly.

She noticed.

"Still hurts a little, darling?" she asked softly. He nodded in reply.

"Good to know.. I won't touch you there.." she said, as he gently kissed her forehead. A few tears started flowing from her eyes.

"Miss the others..?" he asked, as she hugged him tightly. The whimper she gave told him all he needed to know.

"Yeah.. I do too.." he told her.

Before long, the two of them were snuggling in the large king size bed. "I love you so much.." she told him.

"I love you too.." he replied back, and she sighed in happiness as they fell asleep in each other's arms that night.

- — - — - — - — -

December 16th, 2007

Their next trip takes them to the small community of Oakridge, Oregon where Colton takes a good interest in watching long, heavy Union Pacific manifest trains start their climb to the top of the grade once they enter what railroaders call the Cascade Subdivision. Part of the line between Eugene, Oregon and Roseville, California which has the famous Shasta Route as a part of the line, Kayla can't help but notice how interested her boyfriend is in watching big GE locomotives dig in as they climb a 1.8% grade for 40 railroad miles to Cascade Summit. (A/N: This is actually a real railroad line in the USA, and I do include this in here due to actually being a railfan in real life myself.)

"You enjoying yourself?" she asks, as she takes a break from taking photographs with the photographer and lets the other fashion models take their turn. "Indeed, I am.. my love.. honestly these big trains fascinate me.." he says.

He had seen a few trains in Toronto, but never really had the chance to be able to watch a train line for a day.. until now. The photo shoot may have been for fashionable winter clothes, but it definitely was worth coming along with Kayla - because for one, he outright loves Kayla deeply and two, this rail line is definitely outright interesting to watch.

The rumblings of another train, slowly getting louder, alerts the two to the approaching southbound heading their way. Kayla is called back for more photos, but he stays at his spot near the tracks, watching as UP 5307, a brand new GEVO, comes around the curve and out of the cover of the trees with another manifest bound for Roseville. This southbound is especially long, considering that in addition to the six locomotives on the head end, three more engines are required as DPUs in the middle of what he counts as an one hundred twenty nine car manifest train, with two GEs tacked on the rear as end DPUs to shove this monster heavy train up the hill.

He is filming this train, which he later finds out was an abnormality - since unusual circ*mstances had led to this train being sent over the hill, and the fact that this heavy southbound makes it over the hill despite being too long for any siding is amazing.

"Long sucker.." Kayla remarks when she gets back over to him just after he finishes filming, the rear engines of the southbound howling in the distance as it claws upgrade.

"Yep.." he replies, and the two kiss, even as snowflakes begin to fall around them.

- — - — - — - — -

December 24th, 2007

They kiss under the mistletoe despite their reluctance in front of her entire family, including even her siblings in the Apollo Cabin (+ his siblings in the Ares Cabin who happen to join them) who are watching via an Iris Message.

Everyone goes berserk.

"This is so adorably cute.." Belle says, hopping into the pile watching the Iris Message.

Everyone watching this from camp has to honestly agree, as does Kayla's family not in camp. Aruna and Aurora both give thumbs-up to this scene.

Even as snow falls around outside the mansion that night, Kayla sleeps with a smile on her face, comfortably snug in Colton's arms with her head resting on his chest.

She's been through a lot, but she sleeps on this Christmas happier than even before, and she's okay with it. She can't wait for tomorrow to even come.

- — - — - — - — -

December 25th, 2007

The minute she wakes up, she's not in Colton's grasp anymore. She doesn't notice at first, because she can hear a lot of grunting out in the hallway for some reason which distracts her, then she realizes her head is on a pillow and not his chest and that's when she realizes her boyfriend isn't in bed with her. She's sleeping by herself in the bed, and she notices that the door to the room is wide open.

That's when Colton walks back in.. dragging a sled full of all of the Christmas presents for both him and Kayla. Kayla has the bulk of the presents, but he is okay with that.

Kayla puts her hands on her face, shocked at what her boyfriend has done. Out in the hallway, her parents stare in shock too. "What?" he says. "Why not bring the presents up to your girlfriend?"

Kayla blushes, then jumps out of bed in the nightgown she has on, and with tears of joy, runs to Colton and hugs him, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the floor, which only knocks the wind out of him temporarily. Kayla has a beaming smile on her face and glows brightly, happy as could be with her boyfriend.

"Colton.." she starts. "..you didn't really have to do this."

He gently cups her cheek. "For you.." he says back. "..that's the best reason to even do it at all."

And to the chagrin of her parents who are ready to video them opening gifts, they have to wait another twenty minutes because their daughter makes out with her boyfriend then and there.

- — - — - — - — -

January 15th, 2008

Colton's birthday was today.

Kayla was ecstatic about her fourteen year old boyfriend turning fifteen today. It might not have been her birthday, but she definitely felt like she was the birthday queen today.

Darren decided to celebrate the occasion by throwing another party. Even with Byron in jail though, that didn't stop from Colton and Kayla from having the shock of the year when they spotted none other than Luke Castellan in the crowd. How the host of Kronos even found the time to ditch the Titan Army, let alone know that Colton and Kayla would be here, was beyond them.

"What is he even doing here?" Kayla hissed at him once they had retreated back upstairs. Colton was really pissed off right now, and it showed, for his fists were clenched tightly.

"I don't f*cking know.." Colton says back to her confused. He's not sure whether he should go down there and clobber Luke, or stay here and keep Kayla completely safe. He's leaning more towards the latter option than the former.

But, they both know one thing. Luke, aka Kronos, knows where they currently are. Toronto is no longer safe now.

The minute Darren hears about this, he notifies Chiron immediately. By the next morning, Kayla and Colton are on their way back to Camp Half Blood, returning back to home.

- — - — - — - — -

January 16th, 2008

Clarisse, understandably, is furious when she finds out that the traitor Luke was at Colton's birthday party. She has to be restrained by Lee and several kids from her own cabin, including Sherman and Austin, before she goes and hurts someone without meaning to do so intentionally. Her freak-out is that bad, seriously. It's that bad.

In the months that have passed since the Battle Of The Labyrinth, not much has changed at camp. You'd think.

In actuality, with all the trauma and suffering that happened, a lot has changed at camp. You can tell immediately.

Colton can see it in the way that Lee, much like Colton himself did a couple summers ago, now does a border patrol on his own now, even with the Golden Fleece and the dragon by the tree guarding camp now. He can see it in the way that Sherman can't go an entire day now without feeling the need for himself to make sure Miranda is okay and safe. He can see it in the way that Beckendorf has worked his ass off overtime, much to Silena's dismay, making a sh*t ton of ammo for Colton's Whitworth, the MG42, plus various types of arrows for the Apollo kids, as well as other types of weapons for what may come.

He can read the trauma, the pain, the suffering, the misery, the frustration, all the emotions they are feeling from just one look at their eyes. He doesn't when he became so good at reading emotions, and at this point, he really doesn't give much of a sh*t to care when this had even happened at this f*cking point now.

By this point, his moniker of being "The Beast Of Camp Half Blood" has really sunk in among everyone, all except the kids that arrive younger and younger every week. Colton doesn't mind the nickname, he just finds it annoying that everyone other than Clarisse, Lee, Sherman, Kayla, Michael, Austin, Caeli, Annabeth, Travis, Katie, Connor, Beckendorf, Castor, Pollux, Silena and Miranda gives him a wide berth every time he appears. Fortunately, Kayla feels the same way as him and snaps.

"What is your problem with my boyfriend?" she tells her own brother Will, who outright refuses to even touch Colton when he walks into the infirmary after taking a slash in the arm by a hellhound saving the life of a scared 6 year old running like hell into camp that was later claimed by the Hephaestus Cabin.

"I don't wanna to touch him.. he scares me.." Will says, and Kayla slaps her brother in the face, much to Colton's own disbelief and shock as well as that of Michael who was in the room with them.

"Grow the f*ck up, Will!" she shouts at him. "He's a demigod like you and me! I don't give a sh*t if he comes from the moon or not! He's our family!"

After that outburst of his girlfriend, the campers slowly open up again to Colton, which makes him fall in love with his girlfriend even more.

- — - — - — - — -

August 1st, 2008

He knows it.

He knows that the final clash is coming.

He received a letter from Kelli on the Fourth Of July that he had kept hidden from everyone else, including Kayla.. for one simple reason. He knows now that Porphyrion and Periboia are back, and that they are after his awarded title.

What Porphyrion wants with his title of Monster King, Colton has no idea. He's no where closer to figuring out how to tap into the power that it might have than when he started. But, he keeps the letter hidden from everyone for a couple of other reasons.

Kelli's on the run. Luke, aka Kronos, found out about the letter and as she was completing it as the letter states, she had been attacked and forced to flee the Princess Andromeda. Colton didn't know if Kelli was alive or dead, and that worried him. But the final reason he kept the letter secret was what Kelli wrote at the bottom.

Typhon has escaped.

Kronos is bringing his forces to New York soon.

Colton, be careful. The final battle is here.

Chapter 37: XXVII. The Agony Of The Shocked

Chapter Text

(A/N: After all that interlude, now to get into the bread and the butter of this part of the story - the Last Olympian itself. Once we get to the Battle Of Manhattan, the only thing I can say about it is going to be - the fates are going to have as much control over what happens here as Zeus has over Percy, which should be a bit of an omen - in case hearing that the fates might not have an easy time predicting who dies in the fight correctly isn't enough for you all to hear now. Some of this is taken from Askinar-The-Dark's fanfic "Demigod?", so shout-out to them here by the way.)

August 13th

Things have been heating up since the Fourth Of July after I got that letter from Kelli. Believe me, not knowing if she was dead or alive hurt me a lot, even if being with Kayla more than made up for it. I still hadn't told her about the letter though, because I don't know how she would take it if she found out that Gaea was reviving her children or that two of them had a vendetta against me over my title of Monster King.

Typhon must have thought I would do great things or had great potential for some reason for him to crown me Monster King. Or maybe it was to prevent Porphyrion from getting his hands on it. I couldn't tell.

It didn't really help me at all that in recent nights, I have been plagued by dreams of me, Michael, and a girl with pink hair in armor up in some mountains in what seemed like California in the middle of nowhere, our only reference point being this railroad running through the mountains through tunnels and such as it climbed higher and higher. (A/N: In case you are wondering, they are no where near San Francisco or Camp Jupiter for that matter in that particular dream, just to clarify.) I was also having dreams of what seemed like that traitor Luke facing off against one of the Giants - though I'm not sure which of them had blue hair - in what seemed like Nashville, TN and for some odd reason, dreamy images of my hometown.

Louisville, Kentucky.

Yeah.. I'm from Kentucky. A son of Ares is from Kentucky. Deal with it.

Either way, I was stressed a good bit. It wasn't just me, or Kayla either to be honest.

Anyways, camp was tense. Percy and Beckendorf went out on a mission last night. Something about blowing up the Princess Andromeda, that cruise ship belonging to that traitor Luke filled with monsters and enemy demigods. We were expecting them to be back soon.

Personally, I thought good.. they blow that thing up, the less monsters and baddies that we'd have to face when Kronos moves on NYC and Olympus. Like seriously, that would be a very good thing to be honest. The less I have to face off against in order to fulfill the final part of my prophecy, the better. The only thing I didn't know was what exactly the last line meant.

A single kiss will bless them fair.

It.. was.. odd to say the least. What exactly would Kayla's kiss bless us with? I had literally no clue.

Did it have something to do with the Monster King? Or did it not? I had so many questions here.. and unfortunately, I had very few answers to those questions. It was nerve-wracking to say the least.

Those thoughts were pushed aside this morning during breakfast, when one of the Hermes kids - I forget which one - shouts, "THERE THEY ARE!"

Kayla, me, Chris, Sherman, Clarisse and the rest of my cabin turn our heads from our table, and I think from what we saw, we all instantly knew that Beckendorf did not make it back alive. Up came Percy, Annabeth, and Chiron.. without any sign of Beckendorf.

Clarisse sighed, and tried not to get emotional. "Silena's going to be devastated.." she whimpered. Kayla sniffled a little, and I just pulled her close to me and hugged her, letting her whimper and cry tears onto my shirt and chest. I felt bad too, for Beckendorf was a good man. He would be very dearly missed by us all.

Then I heard Silena's voice, and believe me, I felt bad even more than before. Curse this war, curse that traitor Luke.. curse Zeus for being a f*cking idiot and making the Gods seem like heartless people, I thought angrily.

"Where's Charlie?!" she asked, anxiously.

Percy looked down at the ground in what I knew was shame. He couldn't bring himself to tell Silena the awful truth about what happened. For better or for worse, Chiron did it for him.

"Silena, my dear. Why don't we take this to the Big Ho.." he started, and that's when she got the hint. That her boyfriend was dead, and gone for good. She let out a guttural moan of pain and sadness. "No. NO!"

Her legs gave out from underneath her, and she fell to the ground sobbing. Nobody said a word, and for a while, there was a good long silence, punctuated only by the sobs of the Aphrodite girl who had lost her boyfriend to a war that shouldn't have happened at all. Luke was correct in what he believed - before Kronos came along, but it never - and would never - justify any of this at all, no way in hell.

In a way, the unspoken words were deafening if I had to be honest. We - I mean camp for this matter - had been a rather shaky mess since the Battle Of The Labyrinth last summer. The ones that didn't really suffer from it to the extent of others were me, Beckendorf, and both Austin and Caeli. The couple was supposed to go back to college at the end of the summer - but after the fight, the two dropped out of college to help out with camp in the fight against Kronos and brought in some fellow demigods that they knew to help out, which was nice to say the least.

More importantly though, Beckendorf was the guy who could fix just about anything - and I don't mean anything that fell under the realm of Hephaestus' domains. Camp morale, friendships, relationships.. you name it. But now, he was gone.. and with his passing, a good bit of the fire inside of us that drove us to keep going was gone too.

I was too busy with my own thoughts apparently because out of nowhere..

"COLTON! KAYLA!"

Everything went black.

- — - — - — - — -

When I awoke, I was standing in a place that was unfamiliar to me. It looked like a throne room, but unlike the one in Olympus or even the one I'm told Kronos had on Mount Othrys. The room had Greek pillars holding up the ceiling on either side of the room, rising high up.. very high. Roman arches dotted the ceiling, spawning off of the pillars to hold it up. The room was colored in shades of red, black, and grey.. with shiny gems dotting the walls at intervals. Torches hung on the pillars illuminated the room, especially around the throne itself.. upon which Typhon sat.

They say that to those of the world of the gods who saw him, Typhon was a shadowy figure composed of dark clouds. Believe me, even with a human-like figure, he definitely lived up to that description right now. It was hard to look at him for even a few moments before you had to turn your eyes away so you wouldn't go insane.

I felt a tug on my arm to my left. I turned, and right next to me, looking at me with scared, pleading eyes, was Kayla. I pulled her into a hug, and then turned my head back towards Typhon. "What do you want?" I hissed. "Where are we?"

"We are merely inside a dream space, my chosen one.." Typhon said calmly, his voice sounding like a eerie, awful screech that for some reason you could just slightly tolerate somehow. "And as to what I want.. I would like to talk with both of you. Both my chosen one and you, Kayla Knowles, daughter of Apollo."

He wanted to talk with both of us?

I will admit, I was not expecting Typhon to want to talk with Kayla.

"I believe it that's time that Kayla here was made aware of something that my chosen one hasn't told her.." he said, and I paled. Kayla pushed herself out of my grip and glared at me.

"Are you keeping something that I shouldn't know about from me?" she said, annoyed. "What are you hiding Colton?"

I couldn't bring myself to say what I knew, so Typhon had to do it for me. "If you're worried about his loyalty to you.. fear not, young one.." Typhon said to her. "My chosen one's loyalties are to you and you alone. However, there is the matter of the one who seeks to take the title your boyfriend bears for himself. Porphyrion, king of the Giants, has risen recently.. right around the time my chosen one ended up on Ogygia."

Kayla and I took a brief look at Typhon, and then at each other in shock, Kayla more so than I. "What?" she asked, terrified now. "Did you have anything to do with this, Colton?"

"No.. I didn't.." I told her, and decided to come clean. "..I met a monster in the labyrinth before I got to Hephaestus' forge, one who wasn't looking to kill me. An empousai named Kelli, who was an agent of Gaea serving in Kronos' army. She told me that Gaea is trying to rise soon as well.. and that she is bringing the Giants with her.. one has already risen in Alaska. She's conflicted about her loyalties, feeling like neither Kronos or Gaea offer anything good to anyone else.. and on the Fourth Of July this year.. I got a letter from her.."

My voice cracked. "S..She's on the run.. Kronos found out about her divided loyalty.. but now.. two more Giants are out there. Porphyrion and Periboia. Both of them after what I possess from Typhon."

Kayla just hugged me tightly, concern and fear in her eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?" she asked me. "I didn't know how you would take it.." I replied, my brown eyes gazing into her blue ones. "Bottom line is.. even if we win this war, there's a good chance we'll get thrown into another one."

She started crying, and it took me a while to calm her down. "IT'S NOT FAIR!" she hollered. "WHY DO WE HAVE TO SUFFER LIKE THIS?!"

I wish I could tell her something that would explain it, but the truth was.. nothing could. That's the thing when it comes to us demigods.

We are born to suffer.

Kayla calmed down, and she tentatively held my hand in hers. I loved her beyond anything that could measure love. If there was anything that was going to motivate me to see this through to the end, it was going to be my mad, utterly heads over heels love for Kayla Knowles. That alone gave me the motivation to stare down Typhon in the face for the rest of the conversation and not go insane from looking at him.

"So why.." I asked him, while Kayla clinged to me, her arms wrapped around one of mine now even as I held her hand in mine. "..why go to this trouble if you're free?"

Kayla gasped, and I felt stupid. I hadn't told her that either. Dumb moment for me.

"Simple.." Typhon muttered. "..to help you two overcome the final part of your prophecy.. and usher in the rewards fate has promised, as my master has foreseen."

I looked at Kayla, confused. Typhon was working for someone else? What the f*ck?

She had the exact same look of confusion that I had on her face. Neither of us could understand.

Typhon stood up from his throne, and in the dream throne room that had lava falls flowing down outside on either side, he shrunk himself down to our size. I felt the crown he had put my on my head make itself known again, and another black crown - this one a bit more grey and shaped like that a Queen wore - appeared in his right hand, while another necklace like the one still around my neck appeared in his other hand.

I gasped. There was no way. Kayla Knowles was about to be crowned Queen.. my Queen. I blushed at the thought.

He walked up to us and stopped, and Kayla just seemed to shrink in fear. "There's no need to fear me, child.." Typhon told her, his words having a strange calming effect now on the two of us. "..for I am here to make you both my honorary children and to crown my chosen one's queen."

Kayla blushed a deep shade of crimson and looked in my direction, smiling cutely.. adorably. "You know.." she said shyly. "..I always loved to be made a Queen or Princess.. but I never imagined that I would become royalty like this." To be fair, neither had I imagined becoming royalty like this either. I guess.. sometimes the fates had weird ways of granting you wishes you thought would never come true or something. I don't know.

Kayla, with renewed confidence now and a smile on her tear-stained face, recovering from the negative emotions, stepped forward with all the glamour, grace, and elegance she had shown in her fashion shows. Typhon placed the crown on her head, and put the necklace on her too. As it happened, I once again could feel a surge of energy flow through me.. so powerful it was.

I could tell from the way Kayla shook a bit that she was feeling it. Like before, it eventually stopped, and then the area around us glowed. We both looked up. A bright grey claw symbol flashed over both of us.. and if I had to guess, I was willing to bet that this was the symbol of Typhon. I felt more powerful now, way more powerful for some reason. I have no idea why that could be right now. Then, Typhon spoke in a manner that would have made you think he was doing an impression of Chiron.

"Hail Kayla Knowles and Colton Reynolds, honorary children of Typhon, the father of Monsters."

Both me and Kayla shuddered, because to be fair, the thought of being a child of the dude who all monsters come from, even if honorary, was a little unnerving to be completely honest here with you all. Kayla reached out with her hand towards me, and I took her in mine. No matter what we were, boyfriend and girlfriend, king and queen.. we would face down what life threw our way together.

Typhon was about to say something else when everything went black again.

- — - — - — - — -

When both of us came to, we were on beds in the infirmary. Everyone was watching us with worried eyes. I turned my head to Kayla, and she looked at me.

You okay? I heard her voice in my head, which surprised me. What the f*ck?

Why can I hear your voice in my head now? I said mentally, hoping she could hear me.

And you in mine? I heard her speak back, confirming that she did hear me.

We'll figure this out later, everyone's worried sick right now. Don't say anything about what happened with Typhon, okay?

Fair enough. We'll talk more later.

"Thank the gods you both are okay.." Chiron's voice sounded. "You had us all worried."

"Yeah.." I said back. "I don't know what exactly happened."

"Neither do I.." Kayla added. "It's like that came out of nowhere."

I was half expecting her to screw this all up and reveal everything, since Apollo kids are terrible liars since one of Apollo's domains was truth, but it amazed me that she didn't.

"Definitely sudden.. that's for sure.." I heard Michael speak up.

"Either way, we're fine.." I told them. "..No need to get yourselves worked up over us." I was hoping that they would take the bait. They did.

Everyone filed out of the infirmary, leaving just me and Kayla along with Michael in there. "What is it with you and passing out?" Michael asked me, looking annoyed. "Don't f*cking blame me, dude.. it's not my fault.." I told him. "Whatever.. just don't do that again.. or I'll kick your ass hand in hand with your sister for scaring the sh*t out of me. I'm serious. I'm willing to drop what rivalry Clarisse and I have going on between us to kick your ass if you do it again, Colton."

I gulped. Michael was a scary kid, despite being shorter. I couldn't do anything but nod.

Michael left, huffing as he did so. "The things I put up.." he grumbled as he got further and further away from us. Kayla and I looked at each other with uncertainty. Typhon's crowning of Kayla as Queen and claiming both of us as his honorary kids changed everything now. We both didn't know how, but we knew that it did.

Things were never going to be the same for either of us, if they ever were. We were stepping into a world of secrets, that much both of us knew full well now. I was about to open my mouth to say something to her when..

Smack!

Something had hit me in the face. I pulled it off of me, and noticed what it was. It was writing on a piece of papyrus, like that they used in Ancient Rome. From the way it was shaped like, it seemed like it was a page from a book. Except the writing on this was Ancient Greek, which I could understand, almost as if this was translated from another language.

Three shall go south to the desert
To seek the treasure of times lost
Monster King and Light clear the path
for Dance to see herself bright at last
In the mountains of T they dig
And one shall ascend to begin

I paled. Kayla looked at it and she also paled. Another prophecy involving me and possibly her.. great. What was written at the bottom didn't help matters at all.

See you next summer. Keep this secret and close to you at all times, Monster King. Someone else has a copy.
- A

A? Who even was that?

I didn't know, but that did not matter. I looked around, and saw that one of the windows to the infirmary, which had been closed earlier, was now open. Kayla noticed, and looked worried.

"Ghosts?" she asked me. I could do nothing but shrug. In the world of the gods, you had no idea why things happened sometimes. That's just how the fates worked.

Both of us left, not noticing the pair of pure white eyes menacingly staring at and watching us from inside the dark part of the woods outside the big house on the other side of the barrier.

Kayla and I had much to discuss, after all.

(A/N: Seems like things are now heating up lots! Probably a good amount of stuff for you all to unpack here in this chapter. And just so you know, in regards to Book Two, this "A" figure is not Alcyoneus, the bane of Hades/Pluto. Just to be clear here. Hope you enjoy!)

Chapter 38: XXVIII. My Sister Can Be Very Dumb Sometimes

Chapter Text

(A/N: Seven chapters left till Chapter 36! As to why I'm hyped about getting to write Chapter 36, well.. you'll see.. when we get there..

Also, a little bit of information in the tidbit of preview for Book Two I left for Chapter 26.. that also was a prophecy meant to happen to Book Two.. and it is connected to the prophecy from last chapter, Colton's dreams, and Typhon crowning Kayla the Monster Queen.

In the meantime though, Clarisse becomes an idiot! And shout-out to -JASONSGRACE due to some of this involving Belle.)

Kayla and I found a quiet spot up in the trees in one of the sniper perches, where we sat down and just stared at the piece of paper that had hit my face. "How are you holding up?" she asked me.

I looked at her, but I was pretty sure.. even though I was trying to remain calm, my face had anger written all over it right now. "Doing fine.." I muttered before I told how I really felt. "..honestly pissed off that there's another prophecy involving me in addition to the one we're on the last leg of at the moment right now" I added seconds later. Kayla just nodded.

I wanted to scream loudly.

"Today's been one hell of a day, huh?" I say to her, and she nods before blushing. "So we're now king and queen.." she mutters, and I remember that part and I start to blush too.

"I..I.. mean.. to be fair.." I stutter. "..you're a perfect queen, even if we do rule over monsters."

Kayla slid herself over to me and we shared a passionate kiss up there, with her hands wrapped around the back of my head gently. We gently pulled away after a bit of making out with each other, and stared into each other's eyes lovingly.

"So.. what's with the whole talking in each other's heads thing then?" she asked me, and I had to think a good long while about it. "I think.. it's uh.. telepathy or something.. like those empathy links satyrs or fauns can do with other people.." I explained. "Which is.. weird.. since neither of us are a satyr or a faun."

"Indeed.." Kayla replied, looking now inquisitive and deep in thought. "So how in the world do we have this link if we're both demigods?"

"I have no idea.." I replied, and I wasn't even kidding. I had purely not even the slightest idea as to how all this even worked. "This is so weird honestly.." I continued. "Wonder if our dads know that we are.." I paused that thought for good reason. They would absolutely flip if they found out - not to mention Zeus, who let's be clear.. thought about killing me when I found out I became the Monster King. Who knows what he would do if he found that not only had Kayla become the Monster Queen, but the two of us were now also honorary children of the father of monsters. "..on second thought, I am not going to finish that statement.." I finished, and Kayla just nodded. She knew full well what I meant 100% percent.

We were literally in very uncharted waters no doubt there. It was to put it bluntly, like all of camp not thinking much of me when I first arrived here only to find out the hard way that just because a kid of Ares doesn't fit into the typical mold of an Ares kid at camp does not make him any less lethal. The traitor Luke was present for that, he would know from seeing that incident with his own two eyes. Like, he was the only one not involved in it that was actually present when that incident happened.

Anyways, the point here was that we were walking into the unknown with this whole thing from Typhon. Both of us could definitely feel that we were more powerful now. How powerful exactly definitely remained to be seen for real.

"Why us though? Why the two of us to be Monster King and Queen? Why choose us?" Kayla asked bluntly. She was about as confused as me over the question of exactly why Typhon would choose us, kids of Olympians.. kids of people that he hates with a passion. What was so special about both of us that he chooses us, out of all people, to be King and Queen of the Monsters? Like, what even is the logic there?

We had bigger issues to deal with though, so we couldn't afford to waste time debating that - me and Kayla didn't have the luxury to do so. Kronos was coming to New York City any day now.. the only question of course would be when.

Typhon had been going on a rather weird ass course to be perfectly honest. Although pulled by his hatred towards Olympus in the end, he had at first veered west, then northeast, southeast, then back to the west again. It was really, really confusing honestly. Although by now, he had returned to where he had started and was now advancing east towards Olympus. Either way, it was a mess of a situation we were in.

Not to mention the daunting task we as demigods were going to face when Kronos brought his forces to New York City, to Olympus. Manhattan, as you can probably imagine, has the advantage of being an island, but that advantage doesn't mean much when you have first off, multiple points of entry. Secondly, little to no prepared defenses since it is a mortal city. And third, we were low on manpower. Sure, we could get outside help, but not much. Either way.. I had a feeling that we were going to win. The prophecy sent by whoever this 'A' person was definitely gave me that much of a feeling to be honest. Then again, anything could happen in the pending battle. Whatever happened over there, I was going to make sure Kayla and I survived this thing or we die trying. I couldn't imagine living without her in my life.

- — - — - — - — -

Kelli sighs as she approaches the outskirts of New York City, her heart heavy. She had been chased by monsters across the United States for over a month now. Along the way, she had done plenty of things in the areas she made her two brief stops in. Most impressive was saving two young Greek demigods from recruitment into Kronos' army by one Alabaster C. Torrington, leader of the demigod part of Luke/Kronos' army, before then killing a group of monsters by herself - including multiple giants - to be able to get the two young demigods to a Satyr so they could be taken to Camp Half Blood. Although she doesn't know it yet, these two demigods will appear in her story again and again going forward.

As to the names of those two demigods she saved, their names were Damien White and Butch Walker.

She breathes a sigh of relief upon seeing Olympus still up in the skies above Manhattan. Good, I'm not too late, she thinks to herself. Not too late to hopefully light the way to change. Hope Colton got my letter.

- — - — - — - — - (Change back to Colton's POV) - — - — - — - — -

August 14th

For some reason the next day, when Chiron called an emergency camp counselor meeting, he requested to Michael, Clarisse, and Katie respectively to bring me and Kayla and Belle along. I had no clue why, but I hope it wasn't for what I thought the reason was. We spoke to no one about what had happened while we were unconscious. No one had questioned why a necklace had suddenly appeared on Kayla's body while we were left alone in the infirmary. No one had.

Still, I was a bit paranoid to be very honest. Zeus being suspicious of me because I had become the Monster King, for whatever reason existed in that head of his, is bad enough.. but for word to get out that Kayla was now my queen, I would hate to be right on saying that knowing that, plus the fact that Typhon had made us honorary kids of his now in addition to our current claims by Ares and Apollo (the godly parents for me and Kayla respectively), would probably send the King Of The Gods over the edge, no doubt about that.

There would come a time when we would tell everyone these secrets. Now was just not the time, not the time at all, no buts about it.

Anyways, we both filed into the rec room of the Big House, which was also used as a meeting room. Why we held our meetings in here, I didn't know. Either way, we stood by the table, in between Michael and Clarisse, holding each other's hands, with Kayla's head resting on my shoulder.

Michael and Clarisse were screaming at each other already, however.

"It's our loot!" Michael shouted, walking around the two of us and getting right up in Clarisse's face. "If you don't like it, you can kiss my quiver!"

"Stop it!" Percy yelled, as he, Belle who had apparently been invited to the meeting too, Annabeth, and Chiron walked in. "What are you guys doing?"

Clarisse glared at him. "Telling Michael not to be a selfish jerk."

"That's perfectly rich, coming from you.." Michael snapped back. I just sighed.

"The only reason I'm here is to support Silena!" Clarisse said. "Otherwise I'd be back in my cabin right now."

"What are you talking about?" Percy asked, clearly confused.

Pollux looked at Percy and responded for all of us. "Clarisse.." he began. "..has refused to speak to any of us, until her.. um.. issue is resolved. She hasn't spoken to any of us aside from Kayla for three days."

In case you're wondering, when it comes to the Apollo Cabin, despite her rivalry with Michael, my sister had opened up a lot to Kayla. So much so that she really trusted her by now. Generally, my siblings really thought of my girlfriend as an honorary sister by now, even if it wasn't official.

"It's been wonderful.." Travis added.

"Travis.." Belle scolded.

"What issue?" Percy asked, still confused.

Clarisse turned to Chiron. "You're in charge right? Does my cabin get what we want or not?"

In case you're wondering what this whole business between Clarisse and Michael was about, recently we had executed a raid on a base of Kronos' forces, located near Bear Mountain along the Hudson River. Defenses were light since - spoiler alert thanks to Kelli's letter - Kronos was concentrating his forces at multiple locations along a broad arc with a radius of about 25 miles from NYC - or Manhattan specifically. One of these happened to be along the Hudson, so the small, under manned garrison stood basically no chance when the full force of both the Ares and Apollo cabins hit them 4 days ago.

Or, to be more accurate about the whole thing, Kayla and I did the heavy lifting - the two of us practically wiping out the entire garrison in a long range engagement before Clarisse and Michael moved in with the others to mop up the survivors. Anyways, among the items (and people) we captured in their base - weapons, arrows, armor, a couple of prisoners of war - both of them enemy demigods, was this flying chariot.

Clarisse had led the raid, sure.. but it was Michael's cabin who had captured the flying chariot. To be fair, we had no clue that the chariot was even in there at all.. Michael had come across it by chance.

Clarisse, naturally, claimed that the Ares Cabin was where the chariot belonged. The Apollo Cabin disagreed, and cursed my siblings so that they could only talk in rhymes. Believe me, I did want to pulverize them when I found out.. since somehow, probably thanks to my relationship with Michael and Kayla, I was spared along with Clarisse.

That's the story of why Michael and Clarisse were even having this argument right now.

Chiron shifted his hooves nervously. I knew what was coming. "My dear, as I've already explained, Michael was correct. Apollo's cabin has the best claim. Besides, we have more important matters-.." he said, before Clarisse interrupted.

"Sure.." she snapped. "Always more important matters than what Ares needs. We're just supposed to show up and fight when you need us, and not complain! WHY, WHY?!"

I felt conflicted and judging from how concerned Kayla was as she tilted her head to look up at my worried face, she felt the same way. On the one hand, Chiron was right. Both Kayla and I knew full well that we had bigger issues to deal with right now, and that simply being petty over a damn chariot was a waste of time.

But on the other hand, I couldn't help but be sympathetic towards my sister. Ever since Percy came along, our cabin had really been diminished in status. Prior to Jackson, prophecies involving kids of Ares were quite common believe it or not. After Jackson, like many of the other cabins, we were only lucky if fate - or clever tactics like me and my sister had employed on that bastard Tantalus over two years ago - threw a child of Ares into the mix on a quest. Right now, Clarisse's quest for the Golden Fleece, the chariot business my sister had with Phobos, Deimos, and Jackson; the prophecy involving me and Kayla, those had been the only quests and prophecies that the Ares Cabin had gotten since Percy Jackson came to camp. Everything seemed to revolve around Percy nowadays, even the Fates seemed to be very.. very f*cking generous with how many quests and prophecies they gave this guy.. to be fair, three of the four major quests/prophecies this guy has been on - he's already been on multiple smaller quests by this point - were given to other people, but that didn't stop the man from basically being the main reason those quests even succeeded at all.

He had an insane track record by this point, with possibly the lowest loss quest member rate of anyone at camp right now. So of course, it's no wonder that the Poseidon Cabin was in the limelight right now while the Ares Cabin slipped into the background.

"That would be nice" Connor muttered.

"Connor, come on.." Belle said.

Clarisse tightly gripped her knife. "Maybe I should ask Mr.D.."

Chiron interrupted, but I already knew what he was likely to say. "As you know, our director, Dionysus, is busy with the war.." he says. "He can't be bothered with this."

"I see.." Clarisse said. "And the senior counselors? Are any of you going to side with me?"

I could have been a foreigner visiting camp and with the information I already knew about this whole dispute, still have not been even surprised about what happened next.

No one spoke. None of them met Clarisse's eyes.

"Fine.." Clarisse said dejectedly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get into this when you've just lost.. anyway, I apologize. To you. Nobody else."

Oh, right. The only other person Clarisse even spoke to now was Silena. The two of them had always been really close friends, if I were to be honest here. She was like the closest friend my sister had.

However, my sisters' lack of friends was definitely an issue that if corrected, could have prevented what my sister did next. Clarisse threw her knife angrily at the ping pong table, and then said this. "All of you can fight this war without Ares. Until I get satisfaction, no one in my cabin is lifting a finger to help. Have fun dying."

Clarisse then turned to leave in the silence of everyone else, but something inside of me snapped. Remember when this book said my fatal flaw had been caring too much for others? Right now, it was kicking in and I was seeing red, as I let Kayla's hand go. I walked over, grabbed my sister by the back of her shirt, turned her around, grasped her by the shirt collar, and then effortlessly hoisted her up and slammed her roughly against the wall, drawing cries of shock from everyone.

"C..C..Colton.." my sister sputtered. "What the hell?!"

"MY GIRLFRIEND IS IN THE APOLLO CABIN, dear SISTER.." I snarled in her face, sarcasm dripping as I said the words "dear sister" to her. "IF SHE'S GOING TO THE FIGHT, THEN I'M GOING TOO! I'M STILL IN THAT STINKING PROPHECY FROM THREE SUMMERS AGO WITH HER YOU KNOW! LIKE, ARE YOU INSANE?!"

"I'm saying this as a head counselor, Colton.." she barks back at me, flailing just a few inches off of the ground, which believe me.. is not normal for me. I can lift some stuff sure, but I wasn't yet strong enough to be able to lift my sister a few inches off of the ground.. and not feel sore or tired in my arms from holding her up like that for a while. "..no one in Ares is allowed to go. That's an order."

"Oh sure.." I mocked. "..you think you're doing this for the glory of the Ares Cabin to be restored. How the f*ck do you think people are going to view our cabin, and not just our fellow campers - our own father for f*ck's sake.." I was really pissed off now. Kayla wasn't tugging on my shoulder just yet, so either she was shocked like the others or I was really, really pissed off this time around. "..when we win and this cabin did nothing to contribute to victory? ALL BECAUSE OF A DISPUTE OVER WHO GETS A CHARIOT!"

She shoved me back with all of her might, causing me to let go of her. She was really mad now. "This is my decision. No ifs, buts about it. You're staying here Colton. We're done here.." Clarisse said. She grabbed my hand, trying to drag me away. I yanked it back.

She looked at me, flabbergasted. "What are you doing?" she asked. I simply walked back to Kayla and held her hand in mine, glaring at my sister. "I'm an Ares kid.. yes.. but I love Kayla Knowles with all of my heart.. so come hell or high water, I'm going to the battle that's to come and doing everything possible to make sure the love of my life doesn't die, whatever it takes. Whatever it costs."

Kayla looked at me in adoration and happiness, and some of the other girls looked at me with similar expressions. Silena even gave us a thumbs-up, much to Clarisse's frustration. "Ugh.. fine.." she relented. "But it's only going to be you.. the rest of the cabin will side with me." And with that, she left.

There was a long silence for a while before Michael broke it. "Good riddance.." he said, and Kayla had to hug me tightly to keep me from lunging over the ping pong table at her brother for that remark.

"Come on.." Belle protested. "If one cabin backs out of the war, that's so many less campers on our side."

"She's right.." Kayla agreed. "Manhattan is a large place.. we need all the manpower we can get."

"She can't be serious.." Travis said in denial. "Is she?"

Chiron sighed, but we could all tell from his next set of words that even he wasn't convinced of what he was saying. "Her pride has been wounded. She'll calm down eventually."

Percy just looked at Belle and Annabeth curiously, probably still confused about what had just happened. Belle seemed to mouth something to him.

"Now, if you please.. counselors.. and Belle, Kayla and Colton.." Chiron said. "Percy has brought something I think you should hear. Percy - the Great Prophecy."

Percy unfurled a parchment as Annabeth squeezed his hand before letting go, the Athena counselor letting Belle hug her. "A half blood of the eldest dogs.."

"Gods.." corrected Annabeth and Belle at the same time.

"Oh, right." Percy definitely was frustrated at the moment, and I don't think any of us could even blame him right now. Then he read the thing in full.. somehow.

"A half blood of the eldest gods.. shall reach sixteen against all odds. And see the world in endless sleep, the hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap. A single choice shall end his days. Olympus to preserve or raze."

Nobody even said anything again. The reality sunk in.. for better or for worse, the first of two battles to save the world - I hoped somehow no one found out about the second one.. much less have to hear me and Kayla tell them the truth - was upon us now.

Chiron closed his eyes momentarily. "You see now Percy, why we thought it best not to tell you the whole Prophecy. You've had enough on your shoulders-.."

"Without realizing I was going to die in the end?" Percy questioned. "Yeah, I get it." Somehow, I had a gut feeling that Percy might not be the one to die here in this prophecy. I don't know why, I just did for some unknown reason that I can't explain.

Chiron looked at him sadly. Then Belle decided to set up and offer words of reassurance. "Hey, don't say that.." she says to Percy, and Annabeth chimed in. "Prophecies always have double meanings, Seaweed Brain.." Annabeth added. "We don't know if it means you die."

"Sure, Belle. Sure, Annabeth.." Percy replied. "A single choice shall end his days. That has a ton of meanings, right?"

There's a gift for you near your cabin that might help with this, Typhon's voice said in my head, and I fought hard not to make any noise. The f*ck was that about?

I turned to Kayla. One look in her eyes and I knew that she had heard it too.

"Maybe we can stop it.." Jake suggested. "The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap. Maybe we could find this cursed blade and destroy it. Sounds like Kronos' scythe, right?"

Something about that particular line of the prophecy sounded off, like it was being said wrong. Again, it was a gut feeling that I don't know how I was having them, they were just there.

"Perhaps we should let Percy think about these lines" Chiron suggested. "He needs time..-"

"No." Percy folded up the prophecy and shoved it into his pocket in anger. "I don't need time. If I die, I die. I can't worry about that, right?"

Belle and Annabeth's hands were shaking. Neither of them could look Percy in the eyes right now. Personally, I wanted to smash his face in with a fist for having such a lack of.. oh, I don't know.. concern about the effect his death would have on others? Like, did this man even think about things ever?

"Let's move on.." Percy stated. "We got other problems. A spy."

This got everyone's attention, including mine. Percy then went on to explain what had happened on the Princess Andromeda when he and Beckendorf went to blow up the boat. Kronos had known both of them were coming, but it couldn't have been Tantalus that told him. He had been sent back down to the fields of punishment, everyone had seen it.

Silena began to cry again after Percy talked about the silver scythe charm Luke/Kronos was using to communicate with someone at camp. Annabeth put her an arm around her shoulders.

"Well.." Connor began nervously. "We've suspected that there might be a spy for years, right? Somebody kept passing information to Luke - like the location of the Golden Fleece. It must be somebody who knew him well."

As much as I wanted to punch Connor for looking at Annabeth the next second, since she had known Luke better than anyone, I knew better. For one, her tears up on Half Blood Hill after the battle last year proved more than enough that she was not the spy. "Um.." Connor continued. "It could be anybody."

"We have to examine every possibility.." Belle said. "..this spy could be literally anyone.." At least I could take comfort in the knowledge that it wasn't me or Kayla. "..it could be someone we least expect, or maybe someone from the Hermes Cabin.."

"Belle.." I started, but it was too late. The damage was already done.

"Woah.. what are you trying to say Belle?" Travis said, annoyed.

Belle's eyes widened and she shook her head furiously. "No, no, no, no.." she clarified. "..I'm not accusing you or Connor. I know neither of you would ever do that."

Connor raised an eyebrow, and that's when he went too far. "You've been acting a little guarded lately.." he said to Belle. "Maybe you're the spy and the seashell pendant actually has a little scythe charm behind it. You wanna show us your necklace, Princess?"

Belle's jaw dropped and for the second time this meeting, my hand left Kayla's as I took a step forward. "WHAT THE ABSOLUTE f*ck IS THE MATTER WITH YOU TWO?! We're all stressed and this spy definitely could be anyone, but that doesn't mean you two can go around pointing damn fingers without evidence!" I shouted at him, before taking Kayla's hand once more. "Morons."

That shut both of them up.

"He's right.." Pollux agreed. "Accusing each other does not help. We need to keep our eyes open for a silver scythe charm on a necklace. If Kronos has one, the spy probably does too."

Michael grunted. "We need to find this spy before our next operation. Blowing up the boat won't stop Kronos forever."

"No.." said Chiron. "It won't."

Kayla and I already knew why. Typhon.

Percy apparently had no idea of this at all, so apparently Belle, Annabeth, and Chiron who also knew - I was not aware of this until now.. showed him Typhon's escape and the Gods fighting him through an Iris Message. Even so, you can tell he was definitely going slower than normal, almost as if he was trying to drag it out for some unknown reason.

"How long until he gets there?" Percy asked, and something hit me. Something I needed to tell Kayla.

Son of a bitch. Typhon is the distraction, I told her telepathically.

Wait what? She said confused. What do you mean?

He's there to lure the gods away from Olympus. Kronos is going to attack soon.. in all likelihood.. the prophecy is about to begin, I told her and she gasped in horror in her mind.

Then that means.. the final battle is about to begin.. she said back to me horrified.

Indeed.. but whatever happens, we're going to make it through this. Together or not at all, Kay.. you mean the world to me. I can't bear living life without you.. you can also blush when we're in bed later.. I said her.

Aww, okay.. she said, a bit disappointed. But I love you too.

"We have to defend Olympus.." Percy insisted. "Kronos has another attack planned."

"He did.." Travis said. "But you sunk his ship."

Him and Beckendorf sunk the ship.

"Maybe you're right.." Percy said, and I wanted to believe him, but I couldn't. They were all completely wrong. Kayla and I knew a lot - Kayla since I told her the rest of what was in that letter privately last night - because of Kelli. We didn't want to panic everyone though. So we kept our mouths shut because of that.

"Well.." Chiron said. "I think that's enough for one night." He waved his hand and the Iris message showing Typhon and the gods fighting him faded.

"That's an understatement.." Percy muttered as the meeting adjourned, and he was right. I had one more gut feeling as me and Kayla headed out though.

The next three days were going to be unbelievable.

And believe me, looking back on this from the future, I still find myself conflicted on how I felt when that proved itself to be all too true.

(A/N: Remember what I said about the fates being wrong? Seems like it's starting to manifest. Will be fun to write, but either way, all hell will break loose soon. And believe me, it will be one hell of a time. But until next time my friends..

Until next time indeed.

Enjoy, and can't wait to see you again!)

Chapter 39: XXIX. I Get An Early Christmas Present

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(A/N: Hell about to be unleashed soon, only question is who'll have the higher body count by the end: Percy or Colton?)

Walking back to the cabin, down from the Big House.. hand in hand with Kayla that night, I will admit felt like we had truly arrived at the precipice of fate now. From here on, our fate would be in the hands of the fates.. though I had to suspect that given the prophecy I received yesterday meant that we would likely win this fight. I didn't know how we were going to win this, again it was only just a gut feeling which was all good in theory, but the reality was that anything could happen.

Speaking of the future, I had another set of dreams the night before.. this time the first one showed me, Percy, the traitor Luke, and Michael walking into a camp of some sort with a teenage boy that looked Chinese with a large stocky build and a babyish face with a bow and quiver of arrows on one side of us, and a girl in armor that had shoulder-length curly cinnamon brown hair and gold eyes holding a sword in her hand on the other. It was weird, since it seemed like this camp was like Camp Half Blood, but more militaristic, more war-like. It had a more Roman like feel to it.

The second dream was of four figures - two of them being sons of my father, Phobos and Deimos respectively.. what looked like the Goddess of Nightmares Melinoe, and the monster Arachne in a cave.. and they stood menacingly in front of a giant spider web up against the wall in which Thalia, Kayla, Percy, Annabeth, the traitor Luke, Katie, Miranda, both the Stolls, Clarisse, Chris, Sherman, Belle, Pollux and Castor, Lee, Michael, Will, Victoria, Aruna, Aurora, Silena, Charles, Austin, Caeli, Nico, Bianca, Jake, Zoe, as well as quite a few other people that I had never seen before were all struggling helplessly in it, entangled in the web and unable to get free, eyes wide with fear - Annabeth was seriously having a complete panic attack - while the monsters talked about what a delicious meal they would have. A monstrously hideous growl caused them to turn around and then one look at their faces would tell you that they were terrified now.

I couldn't exactly make out what it was they were terrified of, since it was blurry, but it was big. At least fifty feet tall.. maybe more. It was very muscular yet also possessed a slim frame too, looking more like a cross between multiple monsters at the same time with maybe a human head on top. And I think I could just about make out some sort of crown on the top of its head. Beyond that, I couldn't tell you more as it let out an unearthly sounding roar before the dreams changed again.

The next scene simply featured Porphyrion and Periboia - in their giant forms - standing in front of a massive tower that looked similar to the Empire State Building above which sat Olympus. But looking the sign placed next to it - a primitive wooden sign, but a sign nevertheless - in the stormy dark weather surrounding the place with no other buildings near here, a flash of lightning enabled me to see the sign said "Tower Of The Giants" on it.

"At last.." Porphyrion stated in a very deep voice that felt eerily similar to the voice of Darth Vader. "The tower of the giants is complete. From here, we can use this to revive our siblings for our final chance to conquer everything once Gaea and her replacements for me, you, and Enceladus have been taken care of."

Before Periboia could even reply, the dream changed again, but in that brief piece of communication from Porphyrion, I learned something. Enceladus, the bane of Athena, had joined them and gone basically rogue.. and Gaea with the help of Tartarus had - or would sire Giants to replace them, evidentially showing that Gaea was displeased with three of her giants going rogue like this. But still, it didn't explain why Porphyrion wanted the power of the Monster King inside me, if it even existed, so badly. It made zero sense at all honestly.

The third one was simply that of a single image. It was that of me standing in front of a snake in human form with a sword in its hand.. in what looked like Tartarus. It wasn't a Scythian Dracanae, no.. like I said, it was an actual snake but in completely human form, no joke. It was unnerving and weird to say the least about this particular dream, but something told me that this image wouldn't be the last time I encountered whoever stood before me.

The final one was probably the most puzzling of them all. A single giant man, looking a hard 30 years old with a haggard face, distended belly, weak chin, curly hair extended into a wrap-around neck beard, larger than Typhon in the sky laughing as Olympus burned. I didn't know who this man was, but I felt rage. Pure, unfiltered, maxed out rage, malice and hatred for this totally unknown man.

They were all very weird, troubling images to say the least. They could be visions of the future, but I didn't know. Visions of the future could happen in any demigod's dreams, but they could also be visions of the past or something, and more often than not, it's Apollo's kids, including Kayla, that have such visions.. though on occasion kids from other cabins can also receive such visions in their dreams.

Either way, it definitely was very troubling to me.

I tried not to focus on that right now as Kayla and I approached the Ares cabin, looking for the gift Typhon left us that would help with the prophecy. What it was, he hadn't said so we had no clue what exactly we were even looking for. We were just about to give up, looking around the grounds near the cabin, when we found it. It was what looked like a sword, wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper complete with ribbons and a bow on top to keep it together, propped upright against a tree in the woods near Cabin Five with a sticky note with the words: 'To Colton. From Typhon' on it. How no one else saw this, I still have no idea to even this very day.

Kayla and I ran over, reaching the tree in moments. "Looks like this is it.." she said to me nervously. We glanced left and right, noticing no one outside any of the cabins at least for now. Clarisse had already gone back into the cabin with Chris, and there was already arguing coming from inside Cabin Five. It probably would not stay that way for long, so I turned to Kayla. "I'm going to tell Clarisse that I would like to spend some time with you by the lake, and I'll be back to the cabins a bit later. You tell Michael the same. Once done, we take the gift and head down to the beach to open it.. be easier to hide the evidence down there.." I told her, and she nodded. The Harpies were still attacking monsters at the border at night time these days, so it was a perfect opportunity. So, we both took it right there.

- — - — - — - — -

Kayla had set up a single torch on the beach when I arrived a few minutes after she had, due to the argument in Cabin Five, carrying Typhon's gift in my hands. It felt rather light to carry, despite being a sword for some odd reason. I had no clue why. At this point though, all I cared about was how would this sword affect the great prophecy in what way. The sword itself was an unknown factor, that much we knew as of right this very moment. No joke.

Kayla and I just stared at Typhon's gift with apprehension. The gift wrapping was a very odd touch, especially since it was about to be the middle of August, a bit too early for Christmas. Then again, given the situation, we really could use all the help - and gifts that we demigods were able to get our hands on now. Like, we really needed it right now to be honest.

So, with the flames from the torch flickering as the 8 foot tall pole stood up in the sand, the flames gently pushed around by the gentle calm wind.. the proverbial calm before the storm in a seemingly literal sense right now if you may, I tore at the wrapping, tearing it off and revealing what lay within. Kayla had brought a garbage bag from the Big House, and despite her father's domain of truth, had surprisingly been able to lie to Mr. D and Chiron about what she was using the bag for. Why this was shocking at all was because since one of their father's domains was truth.. as much as Apollo's kids were literal lie detectors, they were also completely terrible at keeping secrets or telling lies themselves so anytime someone wanted to know something that an Apollo kid wasn't allowed to tell them, all they could do was simply keep their mouths shut.

I am not kidding. So the fact that Kayla managed to lie was pretty shocking in and of itself, but I had no time to be distracted by it right now, as me and her gazed at what had been inside the wrapping paper. As could have probably have been expected, there was definitely a sword in there, but there was also a folded piece of notebook paper laying on top of the sword, with the words 'Read Me!' written in pencil on the top of the triple folded paper. I took the note and unfolded it and took a deep breath before I read what was on the other side of the paper.

This sword is one of the avenues of access to the power of the Monster King , granted by me to those that I bestow the title to throughout the centuries. You can access it without using the sword, but I will explain at a later date. Without the power and authority of the Monster King transferred to the wielder of the sword, one cannot use either method to access the power I have entrusted to you. As to when to use this weapon, you will know the moment when you feel the rage at the foot of the gateway to Olympus. Trust your gut and instinct when that time comes, for if timed right, it will set you on a path beyond anyone's comprehension.

As to you, Monster Queen, your gift from me, bestowed to the few that I have had the honor to crown Monster Queen since most holders of the title rarely are in relationships with others, will come soon. Very soon.

There was a long silence between me and Kayla after I read that note aloud to her. She looked about as confused as I did when it came to what it meant. We were both baffled as to its true meaning. The paper crinkled as it held it in my hands. It was very mysterious all the same to us.

"So this sword will give me at least an avenue to access the power that the father of monsters has granted me.." I muttered after a few minutes of silence as the two of us stood there in the dark of the beach, illuminated only by the torch nearby. We both gazed at the sword, and believe me, it was a very interesting thing to even look at unquestionably so.

The hilt of this weapon had a mostly Norman design to it, with the pommel - or the rounded knob on the end of the handle - being that of a nut. The cross guard was also of Norman design, being longer than any of the Greek swords we had in camp, which was weird since the Normans came later than the Greeks, so design elements from their time shouldn't be appearing in a sword gifted down by a Greek mythological figure. Then again, it was quite possible that since the location of Olympus had changed from Mount Olympus in Greece to the Roman Empire and then to England prior to the time of the Normans around maybe 850 C.E., according to the history I was able to learn, the design elements included in this sword from the Normans and other groups - as you shall soon see - could have been the result of the various holders of the Monster King title incorporating elements that they liked into the design as they saw fit.

The grip in between the Norman designed pommel and cross-guard was that found on a Curtana, which was a ceremonial sword used at the coronation of British Kings and Queens. However, while it had the definite shape of the grip of a Curtana, it was longer than the one found on those examples, as much as approx. 7 inches long - I was estimating - and also not made out of wood bound with wire. The hilt on this sword was made out of forged steel, unlike anything I had ever seen before. I was definitely sure that the material wasn't even Celestial Bronze. It was bizarre, adding even more interest in the unusual design of this particular sword that was connected to the whole Monster King business that me and Kayla were a part of now.

If the grip was made out of a different material, then the same could be said for the rest of the sword as a whole, especially the blade. It had a similar, yet longer, shape to it that looked like the same design found on that traitor Luke's sword Backbiter, which if you'll recall, I saw it get reforged into Kronos' scythe last summer, but the edges looked sharper than on that sword, as if this sword was made to cut through anything. Even the tip had an unique appearance that gave the impression that it was meant to do plenty of damage. All in all here to be honest, it was an extremely unique sword, colored in black, red, grey, and a slight tint of orange that flickered like lava and with quite a few jewels molded into the metals used to make this blade. It had an overall refined, yet still slightly unfinished appearance to it, even though all the parts for a sword were there. It was completely weird, but the name.. oh that gave us chills.

Engraved along the blade, on both sides of it, was the words Αποκαλυπτική οργή. In ancient Greek, that stood for Apocalyptic Wrath. So yeah.. if you are getting chills from the name, believe me, I don't even blame you at all for feeling like that.

Not at all.

I looked at Kayla, and Kayla looked back at me. It was then I noticed that there was an open sword case right next to us that hadn't been there before, open and the shape of the sword that was supposed to fit into it remarkably fit the exact shape of the sword in my hands. Kayla looked where I was looking and saw it too.

"So we'll put this thing in there?" she asked me. I nodded, picked up the case, put the sword in there, and zipped the zipper shut. It then proceeded to morph itself into merely a combination padlock. Yes, a combination padlock like the kind you can buy from places like Staples or Lowe's.. I forget which. There were no numbers on it though. Kayla stood there as I turned it to the right. With one simple click, it morphed back into the sword, but without the case. This time, the padlock was attached to the pommel at the bottom of it. I turned the knob and with another click, it morphed back into just the padlock.

Kayla and I looked at each other, filled with more questions than answers now, as I placed the padlock in my pocket, and we trekked off the beach, first to dump the bag of wrapping paper into the garbage bin behind the Big House, and second to get back to my cabin and get some sleep. We would need it, for tomorrow.. I had a bad feeling about what tomorrow would bring honestly.

For some reason, as we tried to go to sleep - we eventually did - while back in my cabin, we did hear the chime of a church bell off in the distance from the direction of New York City. The thing was, despite its distance, it sounded like it was coming from a church inside Manhattan, which was weird. I checked the time as Kayla fell asleep next to me.

12:00 am.

I fell asleep not long after, my stomach filled with dread at what was to come.

- — - — - — - — -

Meanwhile, unknown to anyone, six figures decked in Greek armor, each set of armor either made out of water, fire, earth, wind, darkness, and light, trekked towards NYC through the woods along I-95 in New Jersey, appearing to mortals as a bunch of ghosts that they thought they saw, but couldn't prove. Although they seemed to be heading in the same direction as groups of demigods and monsters in ships and on land on either side of them that belonged to Kronos' army, these six were not members of Kronos' army, nor did the army know of their existence.

Unknown to Kronos or anyone else except the father of monsters himself, other forces were converging on NYC, their movements concealed by magic that obscured their presence to even the Fates. Their purpose was not to destroy Olympus, though if their leader demanded it, they would.

For their ruler was a king.

The king of monsters.

For better or worse, the followers of the Monster King were awakening from over a century of slumber all over the Earth. While Gaea could sense their presence, the magic obscuring them prevented the primordial for understanding their true loyalty. The mythological world, across all pantheons, was unprepared for what was about to go down in NYC over three days.

Chapter 40: XXX. I Observe A Morning Full Of Dread

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I had more dreams that night, and each of them were every bit as weird to me as the dreams that had come prior to them. Believe me when I say, you couldn't possibly come up with the sh*t I was seeing after passing out after getting drunk from twelve straight beers or some sh*t.. I don't know at all.

You want to hear it, well.. you're in the right place to hear this, so I'll just explain it away.

There was another moment in.. I think the same cave the spiderweb one was from.. a brief snippet of what happened maybe after that.. I'm not sure the time of this moment in the dream.. there was a statue of Athena, and these cobwebs from a large central hole in the floor threatened to pull it over. Everyone else from that dream was there when Annabeth shouted, "Secure It!".

There was a rumbling sound after those words had came out of her mouth.. and then I felt the floor beneath me give way. The cobwebs from whatever had been tugging on the cobweb had caused the floor to cave in, and I fell a long drop. I just managed to make out someone preventing Annabeth from falling over the edge, before she and multiple other people fell to their knees at the edge of the now massively expanded hole, tears in their eyes, screaming.. I couldn't make out what they were saying as I fell. The dream changed not too long after that.

The next image was of Manhattan, or to be specific, 5th Avenue looking from the block of the Empire State Building up the long slope in the distance towards Central Park. The thing was, 5th Avenue was a war zone. Dead demigods and monsters, piled up on top of each other up to 6 deep in some places, littered the street and the sidewalks on both sides of it. At the top of the slope by Central Park, howling at the top of its lungs, I could just about make out the same creature I had seen at the end of the spider web dream, only this time it was wielding a giant version of what looked like the sword Typhon had given me, and the sword was also coated in blood. And a lot of it. It also looked a whole lot shorter - roughly around 20 feet tall, and that wasn't because of distance either now. He may have been that far away, but there wasn't any doubt about this from what I could see here.

And yeah.. I could definitely tell that this.. thing.. whatever it was.. it definitely was a guy.

But still, it was a gruesome sight.. with blood, body parts, and guts all over the place. The figure then swung my sword and instantly decapitated the head of one of the Titans - how else would I classify a being that's ten feet tall - cleanly off, before howling even louder than before.

The scene changed again.. and this time, I was confronted with the scene of the traitor Luke, wielding two swords this time around, battling it out with two bulky dudes in armor and a third guy.. who seemingly reeked of being able to draw hatred out of me. The third guy was tall, skinny, about eighteen years old.. with black hair like Luke's, crazed blue eyes, and skin as pale as that on the body of one Nico Di Angelo. He had what appeared to be a toga on over a baggy purple shirt with some sort of logo on it - I couldn't tell what it was - and jeans or cargo pants on his lower half. Even so, even with Annabeth, Katie, Thalia, Kayla, Miranda, a lot of other girls that I knew, and some I didn't know behind him, despite being outnumbered 3 to 1, Luke was holding his own in the fight.

The scene changed yet again now, this time to what appeared to be some sort of dimension in between Earth (Underworld in this case) and Tartarus. There was a woman there, standing at an altar who was wearing a cloak made of black dirt that churned and shifted, as well as a veil made of dust. Even so, you could tell she had curly black hair, and eyes that swirled in green and black as deep as the crust of the earth and gave this woman the impression of herself being all-seeing. There was a dreamy smile on her lips that made her seem "cold and distant", which was creepy to say the least.

This woman, however, paled in comparison in every conceivable way to the absolute brute of - I'm not even sure if you call this guy a Titan or a Giant - a dude standing nearby with her at the altar.

This guy stood at immense height, probably at least 100 feet tall and easily dwarfing the woman that stood next to him, with purple glistening flesh that rippled with muscle. His fingers were tipped with razor-sharp black talons, which looked as if they could slice you to pieces with just one touch. His face was the stuff of nightmares, like my gods - in place of a normal face for this dude was a swirling whirlpool and inward spiral of darkness. His black Stygian iron boots were each the size of a coffin, maybe even larger - I couldn't tell, and his hands were as large as crane scoops. His breastplate had the faces of gorgons, monsters, cyclopes and drakons all pressing against his armor as if trying to escape. All in all, this dude was three things at once: humongous, very dangerous, and terrifying.

Then he spoke, and I swear to you, how this guy's voice did not give me chills, I don't know. His voice sounded like it was being drawn back inward rather than projecting outward. "Porphyrion, Periboia, and Enceladus were fools for abandoning you and their purpose in life.. to destroy those that they were born to oppose.." he said to the woman. "No matter.. with our new children, the Giants will be even stronger than previously envisaged!"

It hit me then and there as to the identity of these two. The woman was Gaea, and the freakish dude in armor with her.. was Tartarus.

"Yes.. my dear.." Gaea said sweetly. "Kronis will make a perfect replacement as King Of The Giants.. with Areti as his advisor and Valena to replace Periboia. Plus, they have no idea about our new kids.. born to oppose Hera, Demeter, and Hestia."

What the f*ck? I thought to myself as this scene played out in my dreams. They had more kids now?

So not only had three of the giants split off to form basically a third faction in the war that probably occur after the final battle that would start today most likely - as far as I knew - but Gaea and Tartarus recently had six more kids.. three of them born to replace the Giants that had left, and three new ones that weren't even at all involved in the original war. Things were getting very, very serious now that much is for sure.

Yet again, the scene changed again, this time to show six kids on a school bus in what looked like Arizona. A sign that read off 'Welcome to the Grand Canyon!' passed by in the window as the view turned to give me a good look at the seven kids. Three of them were boys, and three of them were girls.

Out of the three guys, one of them definitely stood out more than the other two, and not because of skin tone. The white guy had the regal features of a statue that definitely was not in any way Greek, electric blue eyes, and close cropped blonde hair. He also had a small scar on the corner of his lip, and was about as tall as Percy if not a little bit more. That being said, the other two were no less distinctive from each other.

One of them looked to be Latino, like a Latino version of an elf working for Santa Claus, except without all the Christmas elf clothes. He had curly black hair, dark brown eyes, pointy ears, a cheerful, elf-like face, and looked to be fairly short with a diminutive stature with a slim and relatively scrawny build. The other guy was black, looking to be in between the blonde and the Latino in terms of height, and he had close cropped black hair, a good bit of muscle, and brown eyes. Generally, he could possibly be mistaken for a younger version of Tartarus to some degree.

As for the girls, one of them had short black hair, brown eyes, and looked to be more Asian in terms of how their face looked - not stereotyping people or anything here, but that's kinda how it looked - and like the blonde and black dudes, had what seemed to be a tattoo of some kind with the letters "SPQR" on it. The same tattoo was also on the blonde haired girl next to her, who was a little bit shorter than the black haired girl. Aside from her also short blonde hair, she had blue eyes and a fiery aura that felt similar to those emitted by my siblings, yet somewhat different at the same time.

I don't know why that was, but believe me, as beautiful as those two girls were, they could not possibly compare to the looker that was the last girl that this particular dream of mine focused in on.

Believe me, Kayla has the beauty of a goddess, no question about it.. but this girl, she comes pretty doggone closing to matching it. She looked to be of Native American descent - that much I could tell, though I couldn't get much more specific than that - with chocolate-brown hair that was cut choppy and unevenly, and had thin strands braided down on the sides. Her eyes seemed to change color at will like a kaleidoscope, going from brown to blue to green every so often that you could possibly be hypnotized from looking at her eyes and how they changed color too long. Despite not wearing any makeup like the other two girls for the most part, and having facial imperfections, she was still so beautiful that she could probably draw attention to herself without even trying to at all. Like, she could do it with zero effort and people's heads could be turning at her, which to me, made it highly likely that I could be looking at a daughter of Aphrodite that had yet to be claimed or brought here, since I did not recognize her.

One more dream came after this one.

This time, it was back to the tower that Porphyrion and Periboia had been standing in front of the other time, though this time the rain had stopped.. and it was just Periboia standing in front of it, with a bunch of monsters patrolling around the building. "Mother Earth has done my father a favor.." she said wickedly, giving me the feeling that she knew something that I didn't know about. "Thanks to her, bringing the Greeks, Romans, those.. Egyptians, that girl from Ogygia for interacting with that son of Hephaestus, and the Monster King here will be easier than we imagined once she meets her fate. The poor fools have no idea of the fate that is about to befall them."

She then launched into a creepy, spine-tingling bout of malevolent cackling that was absolutely fear-inducing to even listen to. I didn't hear much more of that for long, though.. because soon after a few moments of hearing that kind of evil laughter.. I woke up.

- — - — - — - — -
August 15th, 2009

There was a sense of dread that hung over the entire camp that morning, that to be honest, not even I could escape from feeling affected by it honestly. Everyone couldn't help but seemingly have that look in their eyes that things were about to get even more desperate. It made all the more certain of that the fight of our lives was about to begin today. It was just a matter of time, and we all knew it.

The fact that apparently Percy was missing from camp this morning did not f*cking help matters at all to be honest with you.

Then again, he had been absent from dinner and campfires last night, but we all thought that he was out doing something with Grover to be completely honest here.. since goat-boy had been absent from camp for a few days now. So I guess we were all wrong about that part it seemed now.

Annabeth had noticed, unfortunately, since she was walking around asking people if anyone had seen Percy. None of us had, since Beckendorf's funeral last night - me and Kayla skipped that though, since I couldn't really bear to be at it.. even though I probably should have to support my sister.

Either way, none of that even mattered anymore after breakfast. It was time to prepare, for the final fight before us. Even if it was just me from the Ares Cabin contributing to the defense of Olympus, believe me when I say that we were going to fight to the end.

Looking back on the whole of what would happen next from where we stood now in the future, I personally do not think that any of us at all could have even been prepared in a million years for the collective amount of stuff that went down in Manhattan over the next three days. I don't think anyone could have been prepared at all for any part of it.

Chapter 41: XXXI. We See The World In Endless Sleep

Chapter Text

(A/N: Final Chapter of relative calm here.. chaos is about to break loose next time after this!
As for some of what I showed you in Chapter Twenty Nine, in this chapter, and in chapter afterwards.. some of this was inspired by a certain season of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003, Season 5: The Lost Episodes. The elemental figures in Greek Armor is actually a reference to this series in and of itself, particularly to five evil elemental brothers called the Mystic Ninjas. If you don't know what this season is all about, I suggest you get to YouTube and start searching up and watching all twelve episodes right now if you are reading this chapter right now, because believe me, it will help you understand the references certain parts of this and upcoming chapters will make.

Also, I imagine the Strawberry Buses as actual buses here.. just extra long ones.

This chapter does contain references to Morro11 's fanfic "Annabeth Chase and the Last Olympian", as well as to TMNT 2003 Season 5 Episodes 5 and 11.

Plus the usual shoutouts to -JASONSGRACE and Imaginebooks as usual here, plus TheTimeTraveler24 and TsarinaTorment.)

Anyways, enjoy!)

August 15th, 2009

Much of the time spent after breakfast before we departed.. I spent with Michael. Doing what, you might ask? Well.. helping Austin and Sherman - who both decided to ditch Clarisse and join the campers going to Manhattan today - load boxes upon boxes of ammo into the back of one of the strawberry buses. I mean, lots and lots of ammo. Pretty sure we loaded enough ammo to keep me supplied for the better part of three days, possibly four. I have no clue, but I think we loaded about every round Beckendorf has ever made for me from after the Battle Of The Labyrinth to when he died. The fact that Travis and Connor had recently stolen a spare school bus on one of their recent outings this summer that hadn't brought cops up our way definitely helped, since by the time the three of us were done, the back half of the Strawberry Bus we were loading was essentially filled to the brim with ammo.

There were still enough seats on the bus that as Lee got into the driver's seat - he had recently gotten his driver's license a few months ago - the entirety of both the Apollo and Demeter Cabins, plus me, Travis (who had ditched Connor on the other bus for some reason) and Sherman could still sit on the bus.

I sat down with Kayla next to me on one side and Belle on the other, which to be honest.. felt less weird than it had been during that war game with Quintus aka Daedalus last summer.

Travis sat with Katie, and the two just held hands, not really saying a word to each other. Simply, it just was Travis being there for her, which was kinda sweet.

Sherman and Miranda sat with each other too in a separate seat, as did Austin and Caeli. We were fortunate that the Aphrodite Cabin was on a different bus, but still.. tensions were definitely high among everyone.. since one of us was likely a spy. Believe me.. the tension was so thick.

Annabeth suddenly decided to hop on this van too at the last moment, surprising Lee and the rest of us. "Did you guys really have to stuff the back full of ammo?" she asked, looking squarely at me, Sherman, Austin, and Michael respectively from the way her eyes flicked between the four of us, seemingly a little annoyed by it.

"I mean.. I'm going to need every round I can get my hands on.. if you know what I mean.." I said back, albeit a little weakly because when Annabeth gets annoyed, she can be very scary to be honest.

We all felt fear there, that much was certain enough. We didn't know if we were going to live or die.. I at least had probably a good hint about how this fight was going to go, based on my visions and Kelli's info. But even then, I wasn't sure if I was going to live enough to see it. So it was that we set out like that. "This is not how I wanted to end my summer.." Belle said anxiously next to me and Kayla.

"Neither did we want it to end like this.. but hey.. Kronos has other ideas. It's up to us to make sure that he doesn't succeed.." I replied grimly, knowing that there was really no way to make her feel better. I felt bad about it, I really did.

"Come on.." Annabeth said. "Let's go defend Olympus."

- — - — - — - — -

The drive into the city was very long, to be honest with you all. The silence was also unbearable, too. Everyone was anxious and worried, and practically all their eyes were trained on me and Michael.

For better or worse, me and the Apollo Head Counselor shouldering the brunt of the effort during the Battle Of The Labyrinth last summer placed high expectations on both of us. The only problem was, it was going to be a very tall order to expect two guys to do the same kind of square stand-up fighting, not giving an inch, against a force that likely numbered in the tens of thousands if not in the high single digit thousands. Did I feel the pressure from it? Most certainly yes, if I had to be honest with you right now. No doubt about it.

Still, Kayla holding my hand was what kept the pressure from getting to me, and believe me when I say, this was no time to be cracking under the pressure right now. The final battle - or at least the first final battle, what we had trained for all these years was upon us now. Thanks to my sister's idiocy, we were going in a bit under strength, and that would be a big problem, because again.. massive force coming!

Percy called Annabeth during the ride and judging from the conservation, she was about to throw the phone out of the window. But she held herself back from doing so.

We had to make a stop at a hotel that housed clear sighted mortals loyal to Olympus, and was also a property under Zeus' mortal name. There, everyone else in the bus, including Kayla, could only wait anxiously as me, Travis, Austin, Sherman, Michael, and Lee hustled on the double to get all of the ammo unloaded and inside without wasting too much time in doing so. Needless to say, we all did it very quickly in relative comparison to the time it took me, Austin, Sherman, Michael to load all of that.

After that, it was on to Olympus, and the bus dropped us off at the Empire State Building. I had the MG42 and the Whitworth stowed away in a special case designed by Beckendorf to fit both of them that looked like a tuba case to mortals, slung over my back. It took me a bit to get it out of the bus, that's for sure. Other than that, I also had three swords sheathed on my back and full gear load out, so you could basically say I was fully loaded. Kayla had armor on too, with her bow in one hand, three arrow quivers on her back - don't ask me how she managed this - and an anxious yet determined look on her face. I felt the same way. She and I would get through this - whatever it took.

As lovers.

As soulmates - since half of camp saw us as that by now.

As king and queen.

- — - — - — - — -

Percy and Grover were there at the Empire State Building when we all arrived, and we marched into the building, and there was only one security guard there, sitting behind his desk, completely invested in his copy of New Moon. His attention changed to us, however, when he heard our armor clanking against our weapons.

"School group? We're about to close up."

"No.." Percy replied. "Six-hundredth floor."

Judging by the way this guy looked at us, he was definitely a clear-sighted mortal.

"There's no six hundredth floor, kid.." the security guard replied. "Move along."

Percy simply leaned across the desk. "Fifty to sixty demigods attracts an awful lot of monsters. Do you really want us hanging out in your lobby?"

That did the trick, as the guard thought about it for a moment before hitting the buzzer and the security gate swung open. "Make it quick."

"You don't want us going through the metal detectors."

"Um, no. Elevator on the right. I guess you know the way."

Guess this guy was new on the job. Poor him, given what was about to engulf Manhattan soon. Poor security guard.

Grover headed out of the building, intending to link up with other satyrs. The rest of us split up into two groups to head to the elevator, and somehow me, Belle, Jake, Michael and Kayla ended up in the first group along with Percy and Annabeth.

- — - — - — - — -

Let me just say, if you thought a serial killer with a bloody knife coming out of an elevator was scary, you probably would have pissed your pants upon seeing twenty four heavily armed demigods, including a dude with a MG42 and a civil war era sniper rifle slung across his back - I had opened the case in the lobby while Percy was talking to the guard - come out of the elevator, even if the song "Stayin' Alive" by the band Bee Jees was playing. Don't act like you wouldn't, you most likely would, let's be real here.

Anyways, when the elevator door opened, Olympus was there for us all to see. Words cannot describe the marvel that lay out before us. Kayla was awestruck by it. While I had seen Olympus once, she had never. Until now.

"It's... beautiful.." she muttered, amazed by the sight.

"Just like you.. goddess.." I teased her, and she giggled cutely.

Apart from that brief bright moment, there was no doubt about the fact that everything was.. deserted, in a sense. As we walked along the path towards it, the sense that Typhon was the distraction for Kronos became ever more evident. The streets we walked along were empty, devoid of life.. the shops were bare, some even boarded up.. and it was completely silent.. leaving the place with nothing but its physical beauty.

"Where.. is.. everyone..?" Michael gulped.

"Either gone to Typhon or hiding.." I answered, making everyone look at me. I didn't pay attention to them, and just kept on walking hand in hand with Kayla.

Then, Pollux cried out, "Look! What is that?"

I looked up, having been too busy looking at things for a while. There, streaking across the evening sky to Olympus, were what seemed to be blue lights leaving trails behind them like comets. They came from all directions, but when they neared the city, they fizzled out and dissolved into nothing. None seemed to make any impact at all.

"Like infrared scopes.." Michael muttered. "We're being targeted."

"Let's get to the palace.." Percy decided, causing all of us to pick up the pace. No one met us as we went on into the palace, but just as we were about to reach the throne room, Kayla yanked me aside down another hallway.

"Hey Kayla.. what are you.." I asked, flabbergasted. She shut me up with a kiss on the lips, and she started to have tears in her eyes. "Promise me Colton.. promise me that you won't die. I'm going to try my hardest not to.. since I can't bear the thought of you living without me. So do the same. Swear it on the River Styx."

It took me a moment, but I complied with what she was asking me. "I'm not going to die.. I swear it on the River Styx.." I said to her, and she smiled, just as things went black.

When I opened my eyes again, I was standing in the middle of Fifth Avenue with Kayla. She looked around left and right after opening her eyes, indicating that she had also blacked out. It was dark.. the whole place was deserted - no cars, no people, nothing except the stuff on the sidewalks and the buildings around us - and there were.. unusual hanging street lights illuminating the streets. It was really weird.

I was about to speak to Kayla, to tell her that I had no clue what was happening now, when we heard what sounded like hell incarnate behind us, chilling us both to the bone.

I turned to look at her. "Please tell me that wasn't you who made that noise.." she told me. I shrugged my head no. Then we both turned to look behind us, and Kayla screamed in horror.

There, barreling down on us, was the blurry figure from my visions - with the crown and everything - riding on a horse that.. definitely.. was unlike anything that I had ever seen. It was skeletal yes.. but with armor plates, a black fur outline, a face that looked almost demonic, armor from the Middle Ages on it making it very armored, and a tail made out of a Stygian iron chain with sharp spikes sticking out of it. The blurry figure held the same sword Typhon gave me once again, but this time, the blade was literally on fire.

The blurry figure cackled malevolently in what seemed like a distorted version of a very familiar voice to me - I couldn't tell whose voice it was though - as it bore down on us, but just as the figure on the horse was about to reach us, we woke up with a shock.

Both our heads whipped left and right quickly. We were still in Olympus, and I hugged Kayla to calm her down, and she was shaking, unnerved by that vision. I have no clue exactly what the hell was that horse.. and I didn't want to find out. Either way, I had managed to calm Kayla down just as Connor Stoll ran past the intersection with the way to the throne room.

"You need to see this.." Connor said as he ran into the throne room. "Now."

Percy, Belle and Annabeth followed Connor back out and the two of us followed them, both of us worried about what exactly Connor had seen prior to this.

- — - — - — - — -

The first thing that told me something was wrong the minute we all stepped out of the throne room and over to the small park that the other campers had gathered by on the edge of Olympus was the absolute silence from below. Manhattan, as you all know, normally is a very busy city. Usually, even if you are up on Olympus, you probably would be able to hear the sounds of cars honking and millions of people going about their daily lives, to quote what Annabeth would have probably said about this.

"I don't.. hear anything.." Annabeth said hesitantly, gazing down through one of the pairs of civilian binoculars that was at the edge of the park through which one could get a good view of Manhattan below. Kayla looked at me worried, as I was running through all of the possibilities in my head, trying to figure it out.

"What did they do?" Percy demanded a bit angrily, pushing Michael out of the way so he could get to one of the binoculars. Michael was a little annoyed by what Percy did to be honest, judging from the expression on his face. "What did they do to my city?"

Katie took a step back from one of the binoculars, fear present on her face, much to Travis' concern, who gave her a hug. As much as I wanted to enjoy the fact that she didn't push him away and merely clung to him for support, I couldn't really.

I took a step forward, looked over the edge, and was stunned. It seemed like the entire city below us had gone still.

"Are they dead?" Silena asked, anxiously.

I took another look, and then it hit me. The cold, hard dreadful truth.

And see the world in endless sleep.

Morpheus.

He put Manhattan to sleep.

It was just as I had feared. We were about to start living out the Great Prophecy now. I turned to look at Percy, and from the way he looked.. eyes wide and fist clenched, there was no doubt about it now.. he knew.

"Not dead.." Percy replied, slowly yet ominously. The next words out of his mouth confirmed what everyone else had dreaded, but I had suspected would happen this day. "Morpheus has put the entire island to sleep. The invasion has started."

We should have been gazing upward, because at that moment, according to some of the guardians who protected Olympus from air assault, the sky morphed into the upper half of the Monster King. They got a very good look at what his upper half looked like, as lightning flashed around it - somehow from above the clouds just like the image they saw - but don't worry. You'll get the description of what he actually looked like.. very, very soon. Promise you.

- — - — - — - — - ?'s POV - — - — - — - — -

Far below Olympus, near a fountain in New York's Chinatown southeast of the Empire State Building, the six figures wearing elemental suits of Greek armor stood in six different spots around it, having just materialized out of nowhere around it. This fountain may have been in Chinatown, but due to the Monster King's influence throughout multiple pantheons, they could gather in areas belonging to most current day religions, regardless of where they were for the most part.

The one in fire spoke up first, "Do you sense it as well, brothers? Kronos' army all gather around this island, the one our king is on too. He, the Queen, and their fellow.. 'campers'.." He was struggling to adjust to the fact that the ones who would be their next King and Queen had grown up among other people as equals, instead of other people being their subjects. "..are not strong enough to be able to defend the island without suffering significant pain and trauma. This is very concerning, particularly since we know from our visions of him that our king does not wish for his friends to suffer."

"We awoke for a reason!" shouted the one in water. "We awoke to assist our king. After just over half a century, a Monster King will finally return to restore order to the Monsters of this world. It was written in the Sibylline Books all those centuries ago.. that the six will preserve through the Lord Of Time's assault on the island of that which the mortals call "Manhattan" and help bring back the King to the world."

A chorus of agreement arose from the other four, as they all stood there, tridents made of their particular element in their elemental hands.

"We stand here and fight, for our king! For a better world for the ones he calls family! For a world where the Gods aren't this stupid!" the one in water continued. "The forces of the Monster King's army are continuing to gather here in the areas of East Village to Kip Bay, Lincoln Square to Manhattanville, Yorkville, Chelsea to Noho and Tribeca.. as well as pockets here in Chinatown and elsewhere around this part of NYC. So tell me, brother.." The one in water leveled his trident at the one in fire in anger. "Are you our leader or are you our enemy?"

The one in fire conceded. "I am your leader, brothers.." he responded. "..I concede that it was foolish of me to speak in such a non-distinctive manner." The tone of the fire one then grew more serious. "So.. with our forces still gathering.. we prepare for action."

The one in darkness decided to speak up. "That may not be enough to ensure that our king survives until the time the prophecy in the Sibylline Books foretold he would rise once more.." he said. "We may need some extra firepower to succeed in our goals."

The one in fire nodded, and then glanced down at the fountain for a while before he spoke on their next course of action.

"Then.. let us awaken the wardens."

Chapter 42: XXXII. Something Wicked This Way Comes

Chapter Text

Alternative Chapter Title: Saving Private Yew, Part One

(A/N: Pardon the "Saving Private Ryan" reference in the alternative chapter title, but yeah. Here we are, the Williamsburg Bridge scene. For those of you expecting to see Michael's death in this two-parter, let's just say our mysterious Allies in the last chapter have other ideas, much to the shock of just about everyone involved in this. It's all normal Last Olympian until you know.. things beyond logic start happening everywhere.

Confused?

Just read the chapter!

As always, shoutouts to -JASONSGRACE and Imaginebooks since I am using their OCs in this chapter, as well as Morro11 and TsarinaTorment and TheTimeTraveler24 since I'm using some of their writing for this as well.

Also, this chapter does contain references drawn from TMNT 2003 Episodes 4 "More Worlds Than One" and 1 "Lap Of The Gods".)

- — - — - — - — -

Although no one noticed as everyone else other than Colton felt a sense of dread and horror creep over them at the revelation that the final battle was here, the flicker from brown to blood red and then back to brown in his eyes was an indication that the chain of events that would result in the Monster King returning once more to the mythological world - shaking up the lives of all the pantheons in the process - was finally underway now. All of this, of course, was unknown to Colton and the other demigods as they walked out of the Empire State Building at that particular moment, though others unknown to the demigods could read it in the skies at that moment.

Percy explained to Argus what had happened on Olympus and how the Gods wouldn't help them, and convinced Argus that he needed to return back to camp and guard it as best as he could. Argus nodded, before turning to Belle and Annabeth and drawing a circle in the air with his finger. Belle sighed while Annabeth nodded in response.

"Yes, I think it's time.." Annabeth stated, and Percy predictably was confused.

"For what?" he asked.

Argus looked around in the back of the van he had driven for a moment, and then brought out a bronze shield that looked like one of those they used for Capture The Flag, and passed it to Annabeth. When Annabeth set the shield on the ground, the reflection on the polished metal rippled and changed from the buildings of Manhattan to the Statue Of Liberty, which was no where close to them.

"Whoa.." Percy said, amazed. "A video shield, nice."

"One of Daedalus' ideas" Annabeth replied. "Belle and I had Beckendorf make this before-.." She trailed off and paused, glancing at Silena in guilt for a second before continuing. "Um, anyway, the shield bends sunlight or moonlight from anywhere in the world to create a reflection. You can literally see any target under the sun or moon, as long as natural light is touching it. Look."

All of the demigods, sans Colton and Kayla who simply looked up at the ominous storm slowly closing in from the distance - this storm was not Typhon, but they could tell it signaled something equally eventful, what it was they could not tell.. crowded around Annabeth as she concentrated. The image spun before it zoomed to the Central Park Zoo, then past Bloomingdale's on East Sixtieth, then onto Third Avenue.

Annabeth then waved her hand in front of the shield. Another scene of FDR Drive looking across the river at Lighthouse Park appeared in the reflection. "This will let us see what's going on across the city.." Annabeth said to Argus. "Thank you, Argus. Hopefully, we'll see you back at camp.. someday."

Argus and two of the Harpies got into the three Strawberry Vans and drove off, leaving the School Bus nearby just as thunder rumbled from lighting flashes in the distance. Needless to say, all of the demigods sans Colton and Kayla were caught by surprise.

A good few blocks away, Kelli observed the storm with unease and fear, knowing exactly what it was. "They said the Monster King would return in a storm.." she murmured.

Back with the demigods, confusion and bedlam reigned momentarily.

"What the hell?" Malcolm shouted. "Typhon isn't supposed to be anywhere close to here for another few days!"

"It isn't Typhon.." Colton shouted next, causing everyone except Kayla to turn to him. "It's something different.. what it is, I have no idea."

Percy then turned and whistled, and seconds later, Ms. O'Leary came bounding over with hog dog water all over her face since she had been snacking on the hot dogs at a hot dog stand a few moments ago.

"Hey, girl.." Percy said to the hellhound. "You remember Grover, right? The satyr we met in the park?"

"WOOF!"

"I need you to find him. Make sure he's still awake. We're going to need him. You got that? Find Grover!"

The hellhound licked Percy sloppily before bounding off to the north without a care in the world for the most part, considering that it caused a mortal who was sitting down to go to lying down on their back when Mrs. O'Leary brushed them.

Pollux, meanwhile, crouched down next to a sleeping Policeman as his twin brother looked on. "I don't get it. Why didn't we fall asleep too?" he asked. "Why just the mortals?"

Silena was the first to speak up. "This is a huge spell.." she replied. "The bigger the spell, the easier it is to resist. If you want to put millions of people to sleep, you've got to cast a very thin layer of magic. Putting demigods to sleep is much harder."

Percy and some of the other demigods looked at Silena in shock. "When did you learn so much about magic?" Percy asked in disbelief.

"I don't spend all my time on my wardrobe.." Silena replied.

"Percy, Belle.." Annabeth called. "You both better see this."

Colton felt his blood boiling when he saw what Annabeth was seeing.

The image was showing the Long Island Sound near La Guardia. A fleet of twelve speedboats was racing through the water towards the island of Manhattan, followed by two larger vessels. Every single boat was filled with demigods wearing full Greek armor, and the two larger ones hosting a mixture of demigods and monsters. The lead boat had a purple banner with a black scythe painted across it. The battle flag of Kronos.

"Scan the perimeter of the island.." Percy ordered. "..quick."

Annabeth nodded, and shifted the scene to south of the Long Island Sound. A Staten Island ferry racing through the waves near Ellis Island was packed with dracaenas and hellhounds. Swimming in front of the huge ship was a pod of telekhines, which made Colton growl in anger. They were the ones who had caused Percy to blow up last summer and get both him and Colton stranded on Calypso's Island for two weeks. Needless to say, Colton was definitely looking for payback.

The scene shifted a couple more times, showing enemy concentrations gathering on both the east and west sides of Manhattan on land, before arriving on the Jersey Shore right at the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel. About a hundred different monsters were marching past the stopped traffic. There were Giants, Cyclopes, fire spitting dragons, and a Sherman tank from WWII pushing cars out of the way as it made its way through the tunnel.

"What's happening with the mortals outside Manhattan?" Percy asked. "Is the whole state asleep?"

Annabeth frowned. "I don't think so.." she replied. "..but it's strange. Manhattan is totally asleep. Then there's like a fifty mile radius around the island where time is running really, really slow. The closer you get to Manhattan, the slower it is."

She showed another scene now. It was a highway in New Jersey, with traffic being not as bad as it normally would have been since it was a Saturday evening. Unlike in Manhattan, the drivers were completely awake, but the cars were only going at about one mile per hour. Birds flew overhead in slow motion.

"Kronos.." Percy realized. "He's slowing time."

Katie noticed something and spoke up, even as she held Travis' hand. "Hecate might be helping.." she spoke. "Look at how all the cars are veering away from the Manhattan exits, like they're getting a subconscious message to turn back."

"Maybe. I don't know how.." Annabeth said, her frustration rising. "..but somehow they've surrounded Manhattan in layers of magic. The outside world might not even realize that something is wrong. Any mortals coming to Manhattan will slow do so much they won't know what's happening."

"Like flies in amber.." Jake added.

Annabeth nodded. "We shouldn't expect any help coming in.." she added, not even aware of the truckloads of reinforcements already present in and around Manhattan.

Both Annabeth and Colton could sense the growing fear and panic among the other gathered demigods, as could Percy. All three of them knew that it was only just them - oh how naive they all were - against an army of more than 300 monsters with lots of enemy demigods.. and probably thousands more having already gathered or enroute to Manhattan - complete with some Titans and minor Gods thrown into the mix as well. None of their training could have ever encompassed anything like this, and they knew it.. though Colton's came pretty close thanks to his unique style.

However, when it came to the fear and panic, Percy and Colton both did not get the memo, Percy especially since he was a native of this island. He faced the others, a look of determination on his face. "All right.." he told them. "We're going to hold Manhattan."

The others, except Colton who was at this point begging for the fight to start already - his Ares side becoming ever more present, looked at Percy with a mixture of disbelief, fear, shock, confusion, and skepticism. Some of them looked at Percy like he had grown a second head and some of them looked like they wanted to walk away now.

"Um.. Percy.." Silena said awkwardly. "Manhattan is huge."

"So? We are going to hold it" Percy replied. "We have to."

"He's right.." Annabeth agreed and Percy flashed her a relieved smile, glad that at least he had one person on his side. Kayla and Colton couldn't help, well Colton more than Kayla, but agree as well. "The gods of the wind should keep Kronos' forces away from Olympus by air, so he's trying a ground assault. We have to cut off the entrances to the island."

"They have boats.." Michael pointed out, but before Percy could respond, Colton stepped over to him with Kayla's hand in his, speaking as he went.

"True.. but Percy is the son of Poseidon.. I'm sure he can do something to seal off both rivers and prevent the enemy from using them.. besides.. there is only one other entrance to Olympus and it is in the Empire State Building right behind us.." Colton told Michael, and Michael when he was confronted with that logic, couldn't help but agree too.

"Indeed.." Percy added. "I'll think of something. We just need to guard the bridges and tunnels. Let's assume they'll try a midtown or downtown assault, at least on their first try. That would be the most direct way to the Empire State Building."

Percy then began issuing orders. "Michael, take the Apollo Cabin - and Colton as well as Austin - to the Williamsburg Bridge. Katie, Demeter's Cabin - plus Sherman and Travis - takes the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. Grow thorn bushes and poison ivy in the tunnel. Sherman and Travis, support them in any way you can. Do whatever you have to do but - keep them out of there! Connor, take half of Hermes Cabin and cover the Manhattan Bridge. Clayton.." He was referring to the third eldest member of the Hermes Cabin here, since Chris much to his chagrin, was prevented from coming along by Clarisse. "..take the other half of Hermes Cabin, plus Castor and Pollux, and cover the Brooklyn Bridge and no stopping for looting or pillaging!"

"Awww!" the entire Hermes Cabin yelled, though Travis was grinning like an idiot and the best part.. Katie didn't mind at all, probably more because of the situation than anything else. Travis didn't notice at all.

"Silena.." Percy continued. "Take the Aphrodite crew to the Queens - Midtown tunnel."

"You can count on us Percy.." Silena replied sweetly, much to Annabeth's disgust. Percy turned his eyes to Jake. "The Holland Tunnel.. Jake - take Hephaestus Cabin there. Use Greek fire, set traps. Whatever you've got."

Jake grinned. "Gladly. We've got a score to settle. For Beckendorf!" His whole cabin roared in approval, hoisting their swords and hammers in the air.

Annabeth turned to Malcolm and opened her mouth before Percy could say anything else. "Hey Malcolm, take my siblings to the 59th Street Bridge and activate Plan Twenty Three along the way, just like I showed you. Hold that position."

Malcolm nodded, knowing full well what he had to do. "You got it!"

"I'll go with Percy, since Belle is probably most likely going to be with her siblings.." Annabeth stated, and Belle simply nodded. "Then we'll join you - or we'll go wherever we're needed."

Jake then remembered something. "That just leaves the Lincoln Tunnel though."

Percy cursed under his breath. Son of a bitch, he thought to himself. I forgot all about that one. Lincoln Tunnel was the most dangerous of them all, with over a hundred monsters and a tank rolling through it now. And no one could be spared to cover it. Until, a familiar voice rang out.

"How about you leave that one to us?"

Most of the demigods felt happy recognizing exactly who that voice belonged. They all turned to see none other than Thalia Grace and the Hunters Of Artemis. Needless to say, Colton was happy to see Thalia, Phoebe, and Hunter again as much as anyone else there, especially Kayla too.

"Thalia!" Annabeth cried, happy to see Thalia again after so long. The daughter of Zeus simply grinned.

"The Hunters Of Artemis, reporting for duty" Thalia simply replied, a grin on her face. Her eyes shifted to Colton. "Nice to see you too, Mr. Beast Of Camp Half Blood."

Colton just simply did a good old Michael Jordan shrug, even with a Whitworth in one hand and the MG42 in the other, surprising even the hunters themselves on him doing that.

Thalia came over to hug the campers, while Colton and Kayla simply walked up to Phoebe and Hunter, who came over to them and gave both of them hugs. The other hunters just watched, occasionally baring their teeth at any of the male campers if they got too close. Thalia did eventually also hug Colton and Kayla though.

"Where have you been the last year?" Percy asked as he pulled away from his hug with Thalia. "You've got, like, twice as many hunters now!"

Thalia just laughed. "Long, long story. I bet my adventures were more dangerous than yours, Jackson."

"Complete lie."

"We'll see.." Thalia said. "After this is over, you, Annabeth and me: cheeseburgers and fries at that hotel on West Fifty Sixth."

"Le Parker Meridien.." Percy stated. "You're on. And Thalia - thanks."

"Those monsters won't know what hit them.." Thalia commented. "Oh, and Colton.. keep Kayla safe please. Wouldn't want a possible candidate for a Hunter to die here."

Colton snorted. "In your f*cking dreams, Grace.." he said back. "Like she's ever going to join the Hunters." Little did he realize that Kayla was kinda torn between him and the Hunters. She honestly kinda wanted both, but knew full well that she could only choose one or the other. Well, fate does have a way of changing things though.. and giving someone what they want.. but more on that down the road.

Thalia chuckled before shouting, "Hunters, move out!" She slapped her silver bracelet and Aegis, her shield with the golden head of Medusa inset sprung into full form. While Annabeth shuddered and several of the other campers backed away in fear, Colton and Kayla simply admired it. "Gods.. that is so cool.." Colton muttered as the Hunters left. Silently, he also added in his mind, Phoebe.. Hunter.. be careful.

"Thank the gods.." Annabeth said. "But if we don't blockade the rivers from those boats, guarding the bridges and tunnels will be pointless."

"You're right.." Percy replied, and Annabeth did her best to ignore the thrill those two words gave her.

Percy turned to face the rest of the camp, his shoulders squared in determination. "You are all the greatest heroes of this millennium.." he said, igniting fires of courage and bravery in many. "It doesn't matter how many monsters come at you. Fight bravely, and we will win." He raised his sword Riptide defiantly in the air and bellowed, "FOR OLYMPUS."

The other campers, including Colton, all raised their weapons in the air as well and repeated it.

"FOR OLYMPUS!"

And with that, the campers of Camp Half Blood scattered, heading for their particular locations to defend, while Percy headed for the rivers.

Unknown to them or the Hunters, the entire conversation had been heard by a figure standing by an open window in one of the upper floors of the nearby buildings. It was the figure in darkness elemental themed greek armor, his red eyes observing everything observantly. A patter of footsteps behind him caused the figure to turn. Stepping through the door into the apartment, the sleeping mortals too asleep to even notice at all, was one of his brothers, the Earth themed figure.

"All is ready. They are heading to defend the bridges and tunnels. Inform the others that the king and queen will be at the Williamsburg Bridge, as the Sibylline Books have foretold.." the dark one said to his brother. His brother nodded and left, as the dark one vanished into thin air like he was never there in the apartment at all.

- — - — - — - — -

The Apollo Cabin, with Colton and Austin in tow, had set off towards the Williamsburg Bridge, heading along East Thirty Fourth Street before turning south along Park Avenue. Just as they reached Union Square, a figure stepped out. It was a pretty African American girl with curly hair like Medusa's, one that was very familiar to Michael.

"Monster!" he called out, and the Apollo campers and Austin all leveled their weapons at her, except Colton who had both hands full. But before they could fire, Colton and the girl's eyes met and believe me, he definitely recognized her.

"Colton?" the girl called out, leaving Michael and the rest of the Apollo Cabin as well as Austin confused. What the f*ck? Michael thought to himself. How does this monster know Colton?

He was shocked even more with Colton said next, as that man decided.. well no use hiding sh*t from them anymore, might as well tell the rest of Kayla's siblings and camp eventually about her and what she knows.

"Kelli?" Colton said back. "Is that you?"

Kelli's hair simply caught on fire briefly, as did her skin turning white also briefly, just to confirm that it was her. Colton and Kayla both sighed in relief, much to the confusion of everyone around them. "Colton.." Michael asked, a bit suspicious. "..how do you know this.. empousai?"

"Yeah Colton.." Lee added. "When the f*ck did this happen?"

"Language!" shouted Austin Lake.

Colton decided to come clean - if only a bit. "Long story.. I'll explain later.." he told them, moving on up to Kelli. Surprisingly for the other Apollo kids as well as Austin, when he did get up close, Kelli did not attack him at all. "Just know for now.. she spared my life when we first met in the labyrinth last year.. and she's on our side now. Now, let's get to the Williamsburg Bridge, y'all."

He took off once more, this time down Fourth Avenue headed towards Third Avenue, with Kayla and Kelli following along behind him. Austin and the rest of the Apollo Cabin exchanged nervous glances before reluctantly accepting that Kelli was on their side and once more started towards the Williamsburg Bridge.

- — - — - — - — -

Surprisingly, they had a few moments to set themselves up on the Williamsburg Bridge before enemy monsters and demigods appeared on the approaches to the bridge and eventually on the bridge itself. They set up halfway between Manhattan and the middle of the bridge, a vehicular collision that had occurred when the mortals were put to sleep - with a few definite fatalities much to the shock and horror of the group assigned to defend the bridge - provided a perfect place for Colton to set up the MG42.

Austin, Will, and Michael had set up a few boxes of ammo next and a couple dozen barrels next to him, giving Colton enough MG42 ammo and barrels to be able to fire for a few hours at most.

Kelli was the assistant MG42 operator with Colton this time around, after Colton gave her a basic crash course at being an assistant MG operator in the few moments the group had.. while Austin M., who had the Garand slung over his back and a few clips of ammo in a bag slung on his back too and had been taught how to use the Whitworth, acted as the sniper.

The rest of the Apollo kids, including Kayla and Caeli who as before kept close to their boyfriends, took up positions on either side of the makeshift MG position, which conveniently happened to be in the middle of the road. Then, they waited.. which was only two minutes before monsters and enemy demigods appeared, Colton started blazing away with the MG42 as Austin M. fired the Whitworth, and the Apollo kids started fighting the enemy too, and the fight was on. Aruna and Aurora fought side by side, both of them along with Michael, Kayla and Caeli using their bows to deadly effect.

"Since when did you become a machine gunner?" Kelli asked loudly as the roar of battle filled the air.

"January of last year. You should have seen me when Luke's army came out of the labyrinth in July.." Colton shouted back as he was having a field day out on the bridge, cutting down monsters and demigods alike. The sun had set by the time the clash had opened, due to a few hours passing between the time the campers had entered Manhattan to now, so as flames lit the gathering darkness around the city while the storm that wasn't Typhon slowly began to hang over the city, the sounds of battle in multiple sectors echoed all around, to everyone except the mortals near or in the city, affected as they were by the layers of magic in place on the embattled city.

Alice, Victoria, Lee, and a few of the other demigods stayed a little bit in front of the range slaughtering group in the middle on the flanks, using swords and other weapons to deal with those demigods and monsters that got too close on either end.

Welcome to hell, Will's mine says inside him as the carnage continues. It seems like everything is saying that to him, even though they aren't. From the hellhounds that howl as they charge forward, only to be cut to pieces by arrows and bullets that make up for the fact that there is way more monsters than they can fire arrows at alone since there are not enough archers and almost no one to defend them so they have to defend themselves there; the dracaenae that seemingly scream out loud demanding blood; the enemy demigods that wail, scream, cry and beg for their mothers as they lay there dying.. some of Will's cabin mates get wounded too, though thankfully.. their wounds are minor for the most part.

For a while, it seemed that the Apollo campers with the assistance of Colton, Austin, and Kelli were getting the upper hand as lots of bodies began to pile up near the crest of the road on the Williamsburg Bridge, but everything now changes as a loud roar echoes through the buildings on the Brooklyn side of the bridge just a few moments after the first wave survivors break off their attack and fall back over the rise and down the opposite side, leaving wounded to scream in agony as they die and the defenders to momentarily gaze around at the carnage as Williamsburg Bridge now looks like a war zone.

"Gearing up for another assault, it seems.." Colton said grimly, not doubt convinced of it by the ominous roar from the other side. He was right.

Moments later, a fresh wave led by none other than Minotaur himself, came over the rise. It wasn't the Minotaur itself that was the problem, it was the fact that a few Telekhines also came over the rise, having been prevented from making landfall on Manhattan thanks to Percy Jackson bribing the Hudson River Spirit and the East River Spirits to block off both rivers.

Michael called Annabeth on a phone he swiped from one of the mortals nearby, and frantically requested assistance. Annabeth told him to hold on and that she was coming with Percy. Meanwhile, Colton essentially riddled the Minotaur with bullets from the MG42, the big guy finally having had enough and toppling over dead, much to the shock of virtually everyone there. Colton himself was more shocked than others. He personally had blinked twice upon delivering the kill shot to Kampê summer, and here, he had just shot the Minotaur dead with bullets. Un-f*cking-believable dude, he thought to himself as the fight continued.

The telekhines resisted the bullets fiercely, so Colton instead switched to cutting down the dracaenae shield wall locked with spears bristling over the top and the rest of the second wave marching casually behind them. They were still holding for now, but with weight of numbers, and these Telekhines pressing down on them, inevitably the Apollo group would eventually have to fall back.

Just then, one of the more imposing Telekhines noticed something behind the Apollo Camp. It picked up a nearby limousine with its bare hands and chucked it into the air.

"Blackjack, dive!" shouted the familiar voice of Percy, giving renewed hope to the defenders. Annabeth and Percy had arrived to the fight. Blackjack dropped off Percy and Annabeth behind the Apollo group and soared off again as soon as the feet of those two had touched the ground, stating just out of reach of the hurling abilities of the Telekhines.

Michael ran up to them, leaving the group momentarily. "Glad you could join us.." he told them, even as the clattering of Colton's MG42 rang above the roar of combat. While he didn't look too great due to soot covering his face and one of his arms sporting a heavy bandage done by Will in the heat of combat, the 4' 6" tall Apollo camper sported a massive smile on his face, like seeing the duo of Percy and Annabeth had made his day. "Where are the other reinforcements?"

"For now, we're it.." Percy said grimly.

The smile slipped from Michael's face. "Then we're dead.." he said to them. "..thanks to those Telekhines coming at us."

Percy nodded and said, "Don't worry. I'll take care of them. You still have your flying chariot?"

Michael shrugged his head. "Nah. We left it back at camp.." he replied. "I told Clarisse she could have it. Whatever, you know? Not worth fighting over it any more now. But she said it was too late. We'd insulted her honor for the last time or some stupid thing along those lines."

"At least you tried.." Percy said back. Annabeth gazed at the fight, the Telekhines being stunned for the moment by Austin M. taking potshots at them with the Whitworth and killing some of them left and right. Michael simply shrugged.

"Yeah, well.." he said. "..I called her some names when she still wouldn't fight. I doubt that helped. But help us deal with those Telekhines, because here come the uglies!"

And with that, Michael ran back towards the fight, drawing an arrow and shooting it towards the enemy, barely seeming to aim. Percy and Annabeth ran up too. Percy raised his hand and the East River erupted to the right of the Bridge, with a fist shaped stream of water rising up out of the river, smacking into all of the Telekhines at once and sending them off over the other side of the bridge down into the East River, where they shortly thereafter met their fates at the hands of the East River Spirits.

Colton looked back at Percy and flashed a smile. That definitely helped in his opinion, though he had to stop firing momentarily as Percy came up, intending to kill Kelli when he recognized her.

"WHOA.. WHOA.. PERCY, chill!" Colton shouted, putting his hand in front of Kelli as she kinda of cowered in fright.

"What. Is. She. Doing. Here?" Percy growled, understandably upset after seeing the Empousai that tried to kill him last summer at Goode here in Manhattan once more.

"Long story.." Colton said to him. "..we'll explain after this is over. Just know that she's on our side now." Even as the roar raged around, Colton did not let down his hand. Percy looked at Kelli skeptically for a couple of moments and then relented. "Fine.." he said reluctantly, before jogging further forward into the fight on the right side of the bridge. Colton and Kelli then returned to firing.

"You think they're going to take it well when we tell them about what I know?" Kelli asked worriedly.

"I honestly have no thoughts of wishful thinking when I think about it.." Colton grimly replied, filling Kelli's heart with dread that was momentarily alleviated by Percy himself. He had definitely been given something while he was gone, Colton noticed, because Percy tore through the monsters and demigods in front of them like they were butter being cut by a knife, as if the man was on steroids. Javelins and arrows thrown or shot at him simply bounced off of him like a steel wall if he didn't deflect them. He was moving so fast that Colton had to carefully aim the MG42 at targets before he fired to avoid hitting Percy. It was then that it hit him as to what had happened.

Son of a bitch, he thought to himself. Percy must gotten the curse of Achilles from the River Styx. Only question is, where's his weak spot?

For now, that answer eluded him because for the second time, the attacking monsters and demigods decided that enough was enough and fell back over the crest of the rise, but unlike last time, they were back even quicker than last time, led by a group of thirty to forty demigods in battle armor sitting astride skeletal horses, with one of them holding the battle flag of Kronos.

The lead horseman, however, caused a sense of fear to creep over all of the demigods and Kelli who opposed this latest wave on the Williamsburg Bridge. Because they all - for the most part - would have recognized this figure anywhere. When the figure pulled off his helmet, revealing his glowing gold eyes, it confirmed everyone's fears.

Staring down at them was Luke Castellan, with Kronos currently in control of Luke's body. The demigods, with Percy and Annabeth out in front of them, faltered where they stood, having not moved an inch at all. Unease raised among them, and then the enemy demigods drew their swords and charged. Colton shook off the shock first, and opened fire, downing several riders in a matter of seconds. But the skeletal horses were fearless, charging even as Percy twirled his sword at them.

Annabeth charged into the melee, with Michael doing the same.. both of them reaching Percy just as the horsem*n crashed upon them, Kronos remaining behind even as the close quarters fight unfolded. Percy, Michael, and Annabeth fought fiercely, destroying demigods and horses left and right while trying not to kill the demigods, aided by fire from the archers of the Apollo Cabin as well as Colton and Austin M., both of whom picked off riders left and right if they strayed out too far. After the three slashed the legs of several of the horses causing them to disintegrate, the demigods decided to dismount and fight them on foot. Annabeth used her shield to smash some of their helmets in, knocking some of them unconscious, while Percy was kicking them over so they could trip the demigods coming in behind them. Michael was in the back, dealing with any that got past the duo in front of him to prevent the enemy demigods from getting anywhere close to his siblings. Blackjack and another pegasi even returned to swoop in and distract the attackers and keep them off balance. Everything was going fine..

.

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..until one of the enemy demigods, a boy of Japanese descent about sixteen or seventeen years old with a thin build, glossy black hair, and a black eye patch over his left eye.. stabbed Annabeth in the shoulder with a knife that Colton went wide eyed at, as did Kelli. Both of them could tell that it was poisoned. Screams of shock and horror went up from the other Apollo campers, including Kayla.

"ANNABETH!"

Pain shot through Annabeth's body and she screamed, as it felt like fire was coursing through her veins. She felt herself getting weaker by the second. Percy yelled her name, but to Annabeth, it felt like he was saying it from very far away. She fell to the ground, clutching her arm, with pain nearly overwhelming her senses.. black spots dancing in front of her eyes as she also had the urge to vomit.

Percy stepped over her, and the demigod who stabbed Annabeth fell flat on his back after Percy angrily slammed his sword hilt into his face in rage.

"GET BACK!" Percy yelled, fear crackling in his voice. Annabeth wondered why he was so scared. All the while, more monsters and demigods poured over the rise, the sounds of battle echoing all around once more. "NO ONE TOUCHES HER!"

"Interesting.." Kronos said, as he rode up to them, still on his skeletal horse in an impressive set of golden armor, scythe in hand. Annabeth tried to focus her gaze on him, but it felt like she was looking through a red haze, the pain rippling through her body and causing her eyes to waver. But she could still see Percy slashing at enemies as Kronos approached them. A smug smile lay on the lips of Kronos, a very smug smile indeed lay there.

"Bravely fought, Percy Jackson.." Kronos said smugly. "But it's time to surrender, or the girl dies."

Colton wanted to help, but the monsters and demigods kept coming. So there he stayed, blazing away with the MG42 with Kelli helping as the assistant MG while Austin sniped away with the Whitworth and Michael, Kayla, Caeli and the rest of the Apollo Cabin kept fighting.

"Percy, don't" Annabeth groaned. She could feel her senses leaving her as pain swarmed her brain. Even so, she could still focus enough to know that Percy could not surrender. There was no way she was going to let him give up because of her.

Percy looked down at Annabeth, fear present on his face. Then he reached down and grabbed her, propping her up even as she gritted her teeth against the pain. He was about to call for Blackjack.. but..

HHHHHRRRRRROOOOOOOGGGGGGGGGGAAA!

(A/N: I don't know what noise a Cyclopes makes when it roars, but it don't matter much.)

A hideous sounding roar echoed through the area, causing all combatants on the Williamsburg Bridge to freeze in fear.

"Uh.. what was that?" the Japanese looking dude who stabbed Annabeth asked nervously. Everyone looked around, ceasing the fight for now as they tried to find the source.

The sound of rumbling could be heard as Kronos muttered in disbelief, "I sense.. a very familiar presence.."

Suddenly, one of the demigods on the bridge shouted, "Look!" and everyone's eyes turned towards the north side of the bridge, just in time to see a tall, 22 ft wide series of earthen towers, one behind the other starting right at the edge of the bridge with flat tops rise up out of the East River, one after another as the Williamsburg Bridge shook a bit. A large, 2 ft outline of a box rose at the end of the series, just big enough to house one more tower, and then that tower came up.. and as it did, a malevolent laugh filled the air, making even Kronos tremble.

Percy spared a glance at Luke/Kronos, and even he could see the fear in his eyes. But when Annabeth and Kayla - as well as somehow every other female on the bridge, including Kelli, screamed in absolute terror, Percy's eyes turned back - and he could understood why they all screamed. About 2 football fields away from the bridge on top of the last tower to rise out of the East River..

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..was a twelve foot tall Cyclopes that was literally on fire, or to be accurate, the monster's whole body was made of fire for the most part, with Stygian armor on top of it, and a three toed symbol in the middle through both the fire and the armor, revealing its heart to be actual lava.

"Hahahaahaha.. fools.." the monster cackled. "..they foretold the return of the Monster King and Queen.. and now they think they can stop it?! The Monster King and Queen cannot be stopped.."

It growled and breathed a long stick of fire out of its mouth, which its fiery hands then gripped the lower end of it as if it was a sword. Colton was scared, confused, and didn't know what to think. All he could think was, what the f*ck is happening here? Why is this thing talking about me and Kayla?

"All who would stand in their way.. WILL PERISH!"

The fiery stick then molded and shaped itself into what it really was. It appeared to be an even larger version of the Seven Branched Sword that was a ceremonial sword of the Japanese during the Yamato era in the past, except this sword featured Greek hilt and Greek sword characteristics on downward from where the blade met the hilt, and with 8 branch-like protrusions instead of six protruding out from the central blade, all of them sharpened to extremely sharpened edges. The blade had also been sharpened incredibly sharp too, and while the hilt on down was made out of celestial bronze, the material for the blade was the same material used for the blade of Kronos' scythe. Colton's eyes went absolutely wide at the sight of it, as did Percy and Kronos too.

As if all this wasn't enough, screams from others on the nearby bridges and other areas of Manhattan both north and south of the Williamsburg Bridge made it very clear that similar things were happening at other points across Manhattan, with campers, monsters, and enemy demigods alike stunned and terrified at the various creatures appearing nearby.

(A/N: This is a replica of the Seven Branched Sword in Seoul, South Korea. Not my picture, but included it here to show what this sword looks like in reality so you can get an idea of how an enlarged version.. in the hands of a flaming Cyclopes, mind you.. might look.)

The flaming, massive sword wielding Cyclopes approached the bridge on the earthen walkway that had risen out of the water, and as if this was an animated episode, it growled as it approached before breathing fire and the entire screen in front of you getting covered in flames before turning black.

To be continued..

(A/N: A very long chapter, I know. Stay tuned!)

Chapter 43: XXXIII. We Get Trapped In Manhattan With Kronos' Army

Chapter Text

Alternative Chapter Title: Saving Private Yew, Part Two

(A/N: The more things change, the more they stay the same. In addition to the continuation of references from TMNT 2003 Season 5 Episode 1 "Lap Of The Gods", this is also partially inspired by a small bit of New Super Mario Bros U/Luigi U/Deluxe. This chapter contains some stuff that will tie in with another explanatory chapter on "Monster King Explained" that I plan to publish once this arc of the story is over.

As always, shout-outs to TheTimeTraveler24, -JASONSGRACE , Imaginebooks , Morro11 , and TsarinaTorment for being both inspirations and because I use some of their characters. Now, on to the chapter!)

Previously on "Heart Pierced":

"All who would stand in their way.. WILL PERISH !"

The flaming, massive sword wielding Cyclopes approached the bridge on the earthen walkway that had risen out of the water, and as if this was an animated episode, it growled as it approached before breathing fire and the entire screen in front of you getting covered in flames before turning black.

Kronos was absolutely shook. Even as Luke, he couldn't shake off the fact that he knew full well, even in power, how minuscule he was to the twelve foot flaming cyclops that came towards the bridge in slow motion for now while he thought about things.

And before you say anything, if he knew full well how minuscule he was to the Cyclops coming at them, he knew full well what exactly that monster was.. because it was no ordinary or special Cyclopes.

This was Αζαμόθ, Ancient Greek for the name "Azamoth", one of the twelve wardens created to serve the six elemental heralds.. the main enforcers of the Monster King. In case you were wondering who these enforcers were, they were the six figures in Greek elemental armor that had been trekking up to Manhattan the night before. Azamoth was one of two wardens created by Typhon, the original and first Monster King - though his mother Gaea had not originally intended her youngest son with Tartarus to have the power this title held, to serve Χάρις, or Cháris, the fire herald. Since both Heralds and Wardens had been created by Typhon himself, while almost as nearly as powerful as the Giants, they could easily make short work of a Titan if they so wished to on the orders of their King, for Typhon had created them for one thing - to be loyal to who held the power of the Monster King, no matter who it was.

No, Kronos thought in his head, stricken for once by fear. This is impossible! Koios would have told me something about this beforehand! There hasn't been a Monster King in the world for the past 64 years! The Monster King's army wouldn't be awakening now unless..

Fear morphed into realization, and then anger, and then rage, even though Kronos himself despite all his abilities was merely powerless to do anything against a Warden. It all made sense now to him, why Typhon awoke a month earlier than he was supposed to.. had gone on the weird ass course that ended right back where he started, his slower than normal pace towards Olympus, and why even now.. he had taken a detour north through southern to central Illinois, before turning east once more. THAT TREASONOUS WALKING ASSHOLE, he shouted angrily in his head. He crowned a new Monster King among the children of Olympus and is buying time for his king to arise!

By this time, despite the slow motion, Azamoth stepped onto the Williamsburg Bridge, having already caused most of the combatants on both sides to flee. Percy had already called for Blackjack, and he flew off with Annabeth just as Azamoth reached the bridge. Many of the Apollo kids as well as Austin and Kelli had grabbed the MG42, ammo boxes, barrels, and scattered down the Manhattan side of the bridge back towards the city, all of them scared out of their minds and except for Kelli, who knew as well as Kronos and many of the monsters who scattered on the Titan Army's side of the bridge, not knowing what the hell the monster who had entered the battle was, or what was even going on. Most of the demigods on the other side of the fight had fled in terror too, leaving only Kronos, Percy, Michael, Ethan, Alabaster, Theo from Apollo and Alexander from Hermes - both Titan Army demigods, Kayla, and Colton on the bridge as Azamoth stepped onto it, the flaming Cyclopes melting support beams and other metal parts of the section of the bridge they all were at like they were simply paper. The bridge rumbled and shook, and they could hear cracking sounds and splashes coming from underneath them.

Kronos snapped back to reality, and decided to act then and there. "RETREAT, YOU FOOLS!" He shouted at Theo, Alexander, Ethan, and Alabaster as he turned his Mount and after nearly avoiding a slash from Azamoth that sliced through the roadbed cleanly, causing bits and pieces of the bridge - slowly at first - to start falling into the East River, galloped like hell for the Brooklyn Side. The four Titan Army demigods followed their leader, screaming their heads off and running like hell was on their heels as more and more pieces of the bridge started falling into the East River.

At the sound of Azamoth slicing through the Williamsburg Bridge cleanly with its sword, the four Olympian demigods had turned tail and ran, and not a moment too soon, for as soon as both parties had gotten at least 20 yards away from the slash in the Williamsburg Bridge, the bridge began collapsing rapidly behind both parties. They all ran as fast as their legs - or mount - would allow as Azamoth, satisfied with what it had done, cackled triumphantly as the bridge collapsed more and more, plunging cars and mortals alike to a watery grave in the East River, just more victims of the enhanced death toll the Battle Of Manhattan would bring in this timeline. It would seem cruel to the families of those who died from all of this, but for the actions of those who change events as we know them, there must always be a price.

The flaming Cyclopes turned towards the fleeing group of Titan Army personnel, ceasing its laughter as its spoke once more. "You have been warned not to interfere with what has been foretold for centuries, the end of the period without a Monster King.." Azamoth said menacingly, mainly towards Kronos. "Persist in your efforts to destroy Olympus, and your evil will be the end of you!"

Kronos, his temper up, had no such intention of obeying that warning - he wanted to crush the Gods and he would do so. As such, even though he heard the warning, he was plotting his next moves as Azamoth jumped off of the piece of the Williamsburg Bridge he was standing on which has somehow magically not fallen into the East River, into the air, and to the shock of many, disappeared into thin air.. as did the other seven Wardens - though they all had caused about little to no damage to the other tunnels or bridges prior to that, their mere presence combined with their elemental powers spooking both sides enough to cause them to flee to their respective sides in terror, including even the Hunters Of Artemis. Oh, their lady would never let them let it down if she found out. After Azamoth disappeared, the piece he had been standing on finally fell into the East River.

Michael had almost fallen into the river, too. He had tripped and dazed, he almost spent too long as the cracks from falling pieces of the bridge raced up towards the Apollo head counselor. At the last second however, hands had grabbed him, picked him up and hoisted him over someone's shoulder, and like thunder, that person had outran the cracks speeding along behind them until they had made it back into Manhattan. Not until Michael was put gently down on a bench and the dazed effect wore off, did he find out that the person who saved him..

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

..was Colton Reynolds.

But, as the earthen towers crumbled into the East River as well, and both sides gazed in horror at the now completely destroyed for the most part Williamsburg Bridge, the sounds of more thunder - and the pained screams of their mother Hecate in Kelli's, Lou Ellen's, and Alabaster's ears all around them had both sides looking around in different directions.. only to see in the distance, a swirling mass of dense, dark clouds going around and around in what a very odd shape, getting closer and closer to each other the higher one looked up as it rose up into the clouds, past the height of Olympus and beyond like a funnel.

Running along the state border of New York and New Jersey across the Sandy Hook Channel to Raritan Bay and on land to the Garden State Parkway, before turning north and following the Parkway all the way up west of Newark before it turned east at where it met I-87 and I-287.. across the Hudson River and along I-287 to Port Chester and then following the New York and Connecticut state border before turning southeast just west of Fishers Island and curving around in an arc at 30 miles radius out from Montauk Point, the eastern tip of Long Island before moving southwest close to the coastline before completing the odd shaped swirling mass back at Sandy Hook Channel, this had once been the second storm that was approaching Manhattan earlier. It seemed harmless enough, so much so that no one had really paid much attention to it. Once it got in that particular shape though, without warning.. a dramatic change erupted out of nowhere as the Heralds suddenly hijacked control of Hypnos' and Hecate's magic in and around Manhattan, not only maintaining it.. but also preventing both minor gods and Kronos from regaining control of that area, pushing Kronos' and Hecate's magic even further out while also paralyzing Hypnos and Hecate with horrible pain - so much so that they couldn't do anything more than maintain what they had currently cast as they writhed in agony.

It had been so sudden, so instant that Clarisse herself was shocked when she blinked once and suddenly, a clear night sky had been suddenly replaced by the visible swirling mass of clouds. She was confused and weirded out, unsure of what was going on from where she was at Camp Half Blood. Little did she realize that wasn't the only effect this storm had. Typhon was also helping in it, which is why it had taken that detour northwards to delay his approach one final time.. and his power strengthened it to where almost no Titans, gods or other creatures or demigods unless they had the power to shadow travel through such a powerful ring of magic could enter or exit.. practically speaking, the Olympian forces and the Titan Army were now trapped inside this mass of magic and clouds swirling around all of them, cut off from reinforcements from the Gods or other sources of assistance from the outside from both land, sea, and air for the Titan Army. Typhon would allow the magic to weaken enough at a couple of points in the future, but for now.. he simply went even slower than before, completely confusing the Gods that fought him. Only when Hermes called out that he couldn't communicate with the demigods inside Manhattan anymore, did the Gods realize that something was wrong, at which point Typhon broke his hold over the attraction to Olympus that drove him and proceeded to explain a few things to the Olympians. (A/N: Might make that a deleted scene part later on in a deleted scenes fanfic, since while this is centered on Colton, do think it would be good typing it out later. For now though, continue.)

For now though, the Olympian forces (minus the Ares Cabin) and the Titan Army - shaken, scared, terrified, confused, worried, and more, broke off the action for the night. Neither side was willing to go at the other across the bridges and tunnels for now - even the forces in Queens and northwest of Manhattan on the New Jersey side of the Hudson, joined by Hyperion, Pallas, Koios, and Perses, were afraid to cross into Manhattan and possibly get attacked by one of the Wardens. Therefore, both sides spent the night preparing for the next day and tried to get a sense at what the hell was going on around them.

- — - — - — - — - switch to Colton's POV - — - — - — - — -

We all met back up at the hotel. The satyrs under Grover, the demigods from all the cabins except that of the bulk of my sister, Sherman, Austin, and I's cabin, as well as the Hunters Of Artemis. Asterios had somehow joined up in the fight as well, as he walked in alongside the Hunters Of Artemis, the Hunters eying him less warily than they might as well would have due to.. you know what. For the most part, we have lost very few of our number. A couple had died and others wounded, but that was it.

We still had probably close to 90-92% of our forces still in the fight. For now though, none of us wanted to go back out and engage the monsters for now. We all stood there in the lobby, in awkward silence with Kayla's hand in mind, the very presence of Kelli there with us not even causing so much as an angry outburst at all. All of us were bewildered and frightened at what had just happened, at the unbelievable that had occurred.

It then hit me that if the same thing had happened to the others, it most likely would also have them wondering exactly who is the Monster King and Queen.

You really think they know about us now yet? Kayla asked in my head worriedly.

Nope, but let's not say a word.. the Gods know.. so we will let them reveal it.. and we'll explain the rest.. hopefully Michael keeps his mouth shut.. I said back to her telepathically, and looked at her. She nodded, and just wrapped her other arm around my waist, trying to stay calm. We all were trying.. for our worlds, as much as I had tried to avoid any potential leak about the secret of Kayla and I getting out to anyone other than those who knew which was now probably going to be pointless, had pretty much been turned upside down after what had happened out there earlier tonight.

It was a while before the silence was eventually broken.

"Okay.." Travis said finally, still wide eyed and hyperventilating a little. "..anyone want to explain what the absolute f*ck just happened out there? And why the Williamsburg Bridge got absolutely demolished?"

"Believe me when I say, Travis.." Annabeth said a bit weakly, lying on a nearby couch, healing from the poisoned knife. She was somehow healing faster than normal, even with Will's help, something which bedeviled the whole Apollo Cabin. "I have absolutely no idea at all.. what just happened. Or how the Williamsburg Bridge was destroyed." She was also shaking quite a bit, because she still feared Cyclopes a bit.

"That thing.." Percy stated. "..it sliced through the bridge with its sword.. we booked it and the bridge began collapsing not too long after. Michael would have been a goner if Colton hadn't been there." He did a swipe almost exactly like the flaming Cyclopes back on the bridge had done when it swung its sword and cut through the bridge like it was paper.

"Yep.. I owe him my life.." Michael said. "But still.. who or what the f*ck was that flaming Cyclopes?"

Katie's brow perked up. "You all.. got attacked.. by a flaming Cyclopes with a large sword?" she asked in disbelief. "A giant hound - not a hellhound, that's for sure - with five heads showed up out of a dark area that appeared out of nowhere in the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel where we were." (A/N: Before you say anything, no this is not Cerberus. Different dog here.)

"You should have seen what came out of the water for us.." Connor remarked. "This massive skeleton warrior with what looked like a pitchfork in its hands, made out of water rose up out of the water next to us on the Manhattan Bridge."

The other stories were similar. A monster have come out of nowhere that defied all the expectations we had of monsters. A large, hulking beast with massive teeth, two horns growing out of its head, and a third eye in the center of its forehead.. wearing a loincloth of tiger pelt, with what looked like a spiked club in its hand, and made out of light - no, seriously.. literal light - had hopped out of a small light source - and yes, a small light source - in the Queens - Midtown Tunnel and spooked the complete sh*t out of the Aphrodite Cabin. Silena looked scared out of her mind. (A/N: I'm just going to leave this here, this one was a Japanese Oni made out of light. Some of these Wardens will be monsters from other cultures just to emphasize how much the Monster King is interlinked with other Pantheons.)

The crew at the Brooklyn Bridge had an encounter with a large Yeti made out of Earth with a massive steel club that had soared into the air out from the cover of the buildings on the Brooklyn side of the Bridge.

The Athena kids on the 59th Street Bridge had a large, tall dude dressed in ancient Chinese clothing with its arms outstretched that looked like a stiff yet somehow living corpse appear out of the shadows on the Bridge suddenly without any warning. Killed quite a few monsters and enemy demigods over there by apparently absorbing something from them before it had disappeared, from what I had heard. (A/N: This one is supposed to be a Chinese Jiangshi, a type of reanimated corpse in Chinese Folklore also known as a Chinese hopping vampire.)

A large Drakon - well it was the body of a monster that is - with the head of an alligator and literally most of a worm for a tail - had burrowed out of the Earth in the Holland Tunnel.. right in the middle of the enemy lines, killing some mortals unfortunately.

And as for the Hunters in the Lincoln Tunnel, apparently Asterios had appeared as a larger version of the Minotaur (A/N: yes, I am referring to the description I gave him in "Started From The Bottom" for his appearance in actual monster form) out of an actual ball of fire. Evidently, the ceiling of the tunnel had magically stretched up a few feet somehow right before he appeared, only to revert to normal at the end. Once he turned back into his human form - the only one to do so out of all of them, he had refused to tell the Hunters anything and repeatedly said that he was here to help. Needless to say, even Kayla was shocked at that one. (A/N: If you've been counting, you'll realize that is only eight. You'll see the other four eventually in the series.)

Either way, all experiences - with the sole exception of Asterios at the end of what happened in the Lincoln Tunnel - was basically the same. Out of nowhere, a monster unlike anything we had ever seen before shows up, sends both sides fleeing and then disappears into thin air right in front of our eyes. It was, for a lack of a better word, downright insane.

"So.. we all got attacked by.. some random monster we had no clue existed up until now?" Miranda asked, fear present on her face.

"Yep.. it would seem so.." Thalia added. "Plus, this freaking storm.. or whatever this thing is.. has like cut off all communication. You can't even Iris Message the Gods now."

"It's definitely magic.." Silena said, shaking off her fear long enough to speak. "..way more powerful stuff than anything I've ever heard of."

"You should have seen Kronos' face.." Percy added. "You could tell, he definitely knew what the thing that attacked and destroyed the Williamsburg Bridge was.. the fear in his eyes was just.. something shocking to behold."

"Kronos? Being scared of a monster? That's a first.." Travis tried to joke, but Percy just shrugged his head.

"Fear wouldn't be the right word.." Percy added. "More like he was downright terrified."

"Why would he be terrified?" Annabeth asked. "He's King of the Titans."

"Unless he knows something we don't know.." Malcolm chimed in, and Colton couldn't help but agree. Kronos definitely knows something, that's for sure.

Cecil from the Hermes Cabin joined in. "Probably whoever this Monster King and Queen are, these monsters probably work for them.. they did say something about them returning.." he said, and everyone stared at him.

"The one at the Williamsburg Bridge went further.." Percy relayed to the others. "Said something to Kronos about considering this as a warning not to interfere into what had been foretold for centuries apparently, the end of a period without a Monster King."

"What would he be interfering with?" Katie asked. "Who or what the hell is the Monster King? And why are we only learning of this now?"

"I don't know.. we can ask the Gods when all of this is over.." Percy said anxiously. He was definitely unnerved by the whole event that had played out at the Williamsburg Bridge and I didn't blame him. I was trying - and failing - to figure this out myself. Why me? What the hell kind of secrets is Typhon keeping from me and Kayla?

I wanted answers.

"Hey.. uh.. not to make everyone uneasy.. but if we can't communicate with the gods.. what are the odds that Kronos' army is having the same issues?" Hunter said nervously, her eyes darting back and forth. Everyone looked uneasy regardless after that remark, including me.

"So.. are we.. trapped inside.. whatever this is.. with them?" Katie said fearfully.

"Possibly.." Malcolm said with more terror than confidence in his voice.

"That's not helping at all, Malcolm.." Katie said back, shaking quite a bit. Travis put his arms around her to hug her and she didn't call him out or anything. She simply clung to him for comfort.

"I'm sorry, Katie.." Malcolm replied, tears in his eyes. "I.. just don't know at all."

"Let's all get some sleep.. patrol duty should be established though. Thalia, Annabeth, I'll leave that to you two.." Percy said, sounding kinda like Chiron as he did so. "We'll need all the rest we can get for tomorrow. This whole Monster King business is likely not going to stop Kronos from continuing to try to destroy Olympus. He'll likely continue the assault tomorrow."

"You got it Percy.." Thalia said back, then she and Annabeth plus the Hunters as well as Sherman and Austin left. I turned to Kayla as everyone else went to find a place to sleep while Michael sent Lee along with the Stolls to raid a drug store for supplies.

How do you think everyone is going to react when they found out the truth? She asked me worriedly in my head once more.

Personally, I don't want to think about that.. let's just get some sleep, my Queen, I replied back and she just walked with me down the hall, both of us looking to find a spare room to sleep in. We swiped a key card from the front desk before we did though.

Kelli, Aurora, and Belle somehow managing to get along was the last thing I remember seeing in the lobby that first night. It was weird.. but hey better than nothing.

- — - — - — - — - Back To 3rd Person POV - — - — - — - — -

The dark elemental herald was busy that night, as next to no one under the storm in and around Manhattan (excluding Camp Half Blood) slept a long while without having a terrifying vision involving the same stuff on Fifth Avenue that Kayla and Colton had seen on Olympus.

What was different about their visions though was that instead of a sword, the figure on the horse was holding a trident with the bladed end on fire. Also, the horse and rider weren't standing there in the light before they saw them. Their was a loud hideous sound of the horse calling out, then a long malicious laugh in their air that chilled the vision's recipients before the horse and rider burst out of the darkness out of nowhere, trident aimed right for the recipient's head right before they woke up screaming.

Kayla, meanwhile, had a pleasant sleep. Colton.. however..

If anything, what he got definitely left him with more questions than answers come morning.

(A/N: And there you have it folks! Michael Yew will indeed live on into the Second Book! Hope you enjoy and keep yourselves tuned for more crazy stuff next time around. And yeah.. a lot more civilian death here than in canon, but that's the price you have to pay sometimes.. Azamoth, I will say, definitely in his head is probably the wildest out of all the Wardens.)

Chapter 44: XXXIV. Never Tell Me The Odds (Or That You Can Predict What Will Happen)

Chapter Text

(A/N: And yeah.. the conditions the rest of the Battle Of Manhattan will be taking place under have been set. I was not kidding when I said that this was going to be more painful for the Titan Army than in canon. Hope you enjoyed the entrances of many of the Wardens in the last chapter, and the identity of at least one of our mysterious heralds! You'll be meeting the rest.. soon enough.

Also, Star Wars reference in the title to Episode V "The Empire Strikes Back" where Han Solo tells C-3PO "Never tell me the odds". In addition, references to TMNT Season 5 Episode 5 "Beginning Of The End" in the opening to this chapter.. plus a scenery reference to cartoon lighting of the show in storm and night scenes in general. Plus, another shout-out to Morro11 , -JASONSGRACE , and Imaginebooks plus TsarinaTorment, TheTimeTraveler24, Askinar-The-Dark and others for characters that I included in here plus inspiration for chapters. Your works are all totally amazing indeed.

Plus, I am using the Last Olympian Graphic Novel for part of this chapter. Plus three chapters left until the climactic climax of this arc, can't wait!)

Once again, I had visions that night - though much like Kayla, I basically had a good night's rest. As to the visions themselves, unlike past nights where it was like three, four, five, and maybe sometimes up to seven visions in one night, this time.. there was just two.

The first one started off with a date.

No, an actual date in right in front of my face just after I fell asleep.

August 13th, 2009 (what he sees in front of his face)

So I knew that this was at least two days ago.

The date disappeared and it was dark for a moment again before the scene opened to reveal what seemed to be evening in what could arguably be described as something similar to where Typhon had met me and Kayla after we had blacked out the other time. It was also different too.

The sky was red, as were the clouds which moved across the sky in an almost cartoonish fashion. The moon seemed to be colored in a more orange to yellow kind of light, as a shadow started to creep over and cover the side of the moon I could see. The scene shifted over to a mountain covered at the top in what seemed like the ruins of an ancient fortress, similar in a couple of ways to Mount Othrys, the fortress of the Titans - from what Percy had described - yet again also different as well.

Then, an unfamiliar voice spoke up as lightning flashed in the sky, followed by a rather volume-limited as if this was on TV boom of thunder. "It is written in both the skies and the books.." said an ominous, yet strangely and somehow familiar voice.. which was weird, since I had never heard this voice in my life.

Also.. books? What books? This was already confusing and those words made it even more so. Another voice chimed in now as if like a camera, the screen zoomed in from a distance at the ancient ruins.

"The six shall bring forth the dawn of a new age and set forth the heroes of the modern age on their journey to their birthright."

Standing on six elevated circles slightly taller than the rest of what they were on, all in a circle made of stone in the ruins, were six figures all in Greek armor. The thing about these six figures were wearing a set of armor each made out of a different element. Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Darkness, and Light.

The creepy part about them was that.. their eyes were all blood red - literally their whole eye - both of them - was just blood red. It was unnerving for me to observe honestly.

"We are the six.. as we have been since our creation by Typhon, the first Monster King all those centuries ago.." the Earth themed one spoke. I definitely was having a lot of questions from what I was hearing. So wait.. Typhon was the first Monster King?

I mean, given that he passed down the title to me, it would obviously kind of make sense. That didn't answer my second and third questions. Who are these guys? And why hasn't Typhon told me about any of this?

"And we will end the dark time without a Monster King, brothers.." the wind one said loudly. "For we are the Mystic Heralds that served our king for centuries."

Mystic Heralds? What? The f*ck even was this?

"Atmos.. what news do you bring of the Titan Army's movements?" the fire one asked to one of the others. The dark themed one spoke, and this I found to be the owner of that ominous voice from earlier.

"Their final elements are approaching the city the Mortals call 'New York City' as we speak. Kronos is with them.." 'Atmos' replied. "..the fool has no idea that we have awakened, Cháris, or that soon we will awaken the Wardens.. and set them loose where the Olympians' children are to protect them in the coming battle."

Wait a minute.. like, hold the f*cking phone.. those monsters that had scared the sh*t out of us had been awakened by these guys to protect.. us? WHAT THE ABSOLUTE f*ck IS GOING ON HERE?!

"Indeed.." 'Cháris', the fire one, replied. "We shall give him no warning of our return until the time is right. Enki, what is the status of our army?"

Wait.. did I hear that just right? Army? These guys have control of an army?!

The earth one spoke this time, evidently being Enki. "Most of our army is already gathering in Manhattan as ordered. We are still awaiting some scattered elements delayed in departing from assembly locations in West Africa and lower Spain" he said. "But other than that, the majority of our troops have arrived. We can roughly call on a force of about 3,000 veteran monsters to assist our new king and queen."

3,000 monsters?! Are you f*cking kidding me?!

"Excellent.." Cháris spoke with satisfaction. "Seems like you Pontus, herald of wind.. Zenith, herald of Light.. and Tonith, herald of water.. have all done your jobs in rallying forces to assist the Olympians. The fool Kronos has no idea of what is about to befall him."

Cháris, Pontus, Zenith, Enki, Atmos, and Tonith.. interesting set of names.

Before I could hear more from them, the scene changed away from them.

The second dream was of two locations, one of which was Camp Half Blood - particularly the area around the lake facing northeast from above and the other - also from above - was of -.. was something I had never seen before. It was of a camp, to say the least.. but it was more.. Roman like than anything I had ever seen before, way up in the hills of somewhere in California. It had a lake like Camp Half Blood from which flowed a river, but this place had a coliseum, a Roman aqueduct, a large Roman barracks, and a hill with Roman temples. There were other Roman buildings over near where the coliseum was to on the north side of the lake, almost as if it was a city.

It somewhat reminded me of how Daedalus' name while at camp last summer had also sounded more Roman than Greek. Clearly, this must be a sign of something more out there than just us Greeks.. at least that was what I was thinking.

Then, almost as if by magic, part of one of the hills lining the walking trail around the edge of the lake at Camp Half Blood eroded on itself, creating a cutout area of about 10 yards in length, 5 yards deep and about 10 to 12 yards in height with now.. where what once had been the slope of a hill, a portal with a bluish glow in the center shimmering part, lined with a black, purple, blood red, and brown frame about 4 yards long and 7 to 8 ft tall lay in the hillside at where the cut-out ended in an earthen wall, the portal literally embedded in the wall. Both camps disappeared as the part of the vision showing this in camp went through the portal.

On the other side.. was what looked like a mountainous area in the distance, like the Himalayas.. but we weren't on Earth anymore. Not when the sky and clouds are again f*cking red and the moon is hanging with a shadow over it in daytime again like the other vision, mind you.

Still, it was a different location than in the other vision, that much was for sure.. because we were a lot lower than in the last one.. and I say we for all of these because like this is probably what anyone else would have seen if they had this vision.. looking at what looked like a giant ellipse of a lake, with murky brown water that seem to sizzle and bubble like lava. And I mean, this was giant. I can't give you exact numbers, but from what I was looking at.. given that even though we were a lot lower down.. I'm still looking at this from above.. but I think this was around twenty four and a quarter miles long by about thirteen and a half miles wide shaped like an ellipse, surrounded by a good half mile radius area of grassy plains perforated by ravines close to the edge of the lake, from what I could see, that led into long jungles leading towards the mountains.

Then, a mass of land, a circle seventeen miles long in diameter rose up in the middle of the next part of the lake, with a large stone bridge magically appearing as a walkway between where I was and this new island, with this bridge being more of a walkway rising upward by about a good gradual slope up to at least 5 yards higher than the water level on the island side of the bridge, which was only a few feet beneath the base of the bridge on the side of camp. This bridge had a more Roman design to it as well.

That wasn't all that magically appeared in this vision, however.

Then, a castle - yes a castle, I don't really know how else to describe this sh*t - appeared on the island, constructed out of a mixture of very strong and durable materials, especially on the walls which were made out of materials that could only be found in Tartarus which was absolutely mind-boggling as to how f*cking reinforced concrete walls also reinforced with materials from Tartarus in quantities so massive that it would take probably the estimated lifetimes of at least TWENTY generations of demigods to even amass in my own opinion. This sh*t was so crazy, it was like I was in an alternate universe - in my own head.

For a castle that covered the better part of an about two hundred and twenty seven square mile island (or about 588 square kilometers in metric measurements) - I don't know how I'm getting these measurements, they are just appearing in my head - this place looked like something straight out of.. wait no.. that's not the right words to describe this. I don't think anything involving castles could even begin to describe how incredibly complex and intimidating this beast of a castle was. This castle was hexagonal in shape, 5 miles long at its widest with sides up to 2.5 miles long in length, making this thing 16.238 square miles in area. Again, I have no idea how I'm getting these measurements.

I couldn't see all of the place, walls and blurriness of the image in front of me playing a major role, but what I could see - and what my brain supplied me - was that there were two major rings of castle fortifications, the outer one making up the edge of the hexagon at the 2.5 mile side length mentioned earlier, with a second smaller one about one and a half miles back inside it, the smaller hexagon being close to 5.85 square miles with 1.5 mile side lengths. This was also where the main keep of this castle was. Both sets of walls - with their towers - seemed to make the durability and thickness of the supports on Olympus look like mere child's play with their size. The outer set of walls, with a good quarter mile wide moat surrounding it and a drawbridge gatehouse right in front of it, was a good 70 feet tall and 19 meters thick, with towers barely protruding from the perimeter that were at least 90 feet tall and 20 meters in diameter. Not much more I could see of this island apart from this because the vision ended soon after.

I definitely had many more questions than answers now, that much was for sure. But there was no time for thinking about that now. Not when Kronos' army was probably planning for its next assault, most likely taking the factor that is this weird ass storm into account.

- — - — - — - — -

August 16th, 2009
Day Two Of The Battle Of Manhattan

From what I could out the window of the hotel room that me and Kayla had slept in, the storm was still there, meaning that while there was definitely visible light enough outside to confirm that it was daytime, it was still impossible to see the sun - at all - because of the storm. So at the very best, NYC looked like night but with early 2000s cartoon lighting. It still wasn't raining, though the way the storm looked, it looked like it might sometime. I couldn't tell really.

I looked at the time.

3:30 am.

Wait.. what? How? That is not possible. There's no way that's right. I looked at the other clock in the room, and it was accurate. I had no clue how. (A/N: Seems like the heralds like everyone to be up early, just for the sake of the plot.)

Kayla's body stirred beside me - for I had woken up first and was simply gazing out the window while she lay cuddled into my side facing me. She definitely looked well-rested. "Morning.." she said to me. "Storm still there?"

"Yep.." I replied back. "..it's still there. Slept okay?"

"Like a rock.. just perfect sleep.." she said a bit happily. "You, my dear..?"

"More visions that somehow leave me with more questions than answers to what the hell is going on.. although at least in due time, I can provide the others with answers to exactly what the hell had attacked us and Kronos' army yesterday and destroyed the Williamsburg Bridge.." I told her, and a few moments later, the door to the room busted open. Michael was there, panting. "Get out to the lobby quick. You two are not going to believe this!"

Kayla and I hustled to get ready - for we had stripped down to just our camp clothes before going to bed - and then left the room, a look of concern and worry on our faces.

I'm not sure what I had expected when Michael had to told us to come out to the lobby to see when he woke up.. but everyone standing outside it, including Grover as well, near Annabeth, who was sitting next to the video shield from yesterday.. she had fully recovered (A/N: Yes, fully recovered.. not affected at all by the poison like she probably was in canon) amazingly enough - gave us cause for concern. So me and Kayla came out to them, and of all the things I had expected to see when I looked over everyone's shoulders..

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..I'm pretty sure the sight of the Williamsburg Bridge completely repaired, with all the cars that had fallen into the river, plus mortals on the sidewalk back up like nothing had ever happened yesterday was not one of those things. I had to do a double take.

"What the f*ck..?" I muttered. "How? HOW?!"

"I have no idea.." Thalia muttered. "None of the Hunters posted on patrol noticed anything all night. We pulled back the patrol there come morning, and then we saw this on here."

"Either way.. just means that we have to defend it once more.." Percy added, no doubt displeased by this turn of events. I looked at Kelli, and even she could only shrug her arms in confusion back at me, indicating that even she didn't have an answer as to how this was even possible.

Before any of us could even say anything more, Phoebe's voice sounded out from a distance, "Hey Lieutenant!" she called out. "Someone's here to see Percy.. under a flag of truce."

All of us turned. Standing on or near the fountain in the Heckscher Playground was Phoebe, a couple other hunters, and a group that obviously looked like they came from the Titan Army. One of them was the Japanese dude who had stabbed Annabeth last night, currently shocked to see her healed and back at full health so quickly.

Another was a ten meter tall giant with pure blue, icy looking skin and gray hair holding up a large white flag on one side of the fountain, while an equally tall Laistrygonian giant was on the other side of the fountain, both giants being behind the fountain.

The last dude was a seven foot tall dude dressed in a tuxedo with his hair in a ponytail and multiple deep scars on his face, with a pair of red tinted eyeglasses on his face. (Note: I am using the Last Olympian graphic novel depiction of this character here.)

I knew exactly who this was, and before anyone else spoke, I did.

"Prometheus.." I said with a scowl. Prometheus turned towards me, and believe me in armor, gear, and both three swords sheathed on my back, plus an MG42 and a Whitworth in my hands.. I looked very distinctive even if I was in the back of the crowd along with Kayla. Everyone simply parted either direction, leaving me, Kayla, Percy, Annabeth, Thalia, and Grover to face the Titan.

"And you are..?" he remarked towards me.

"Colton Reynolds, son of Ares.." I told back, and Prometheus' face didn't look any bit at all surprised by this. Kronos' spy must told Kronos that me, Austin, and Sherman came along, I thought to myself.

"Ah yes.." Prometheus said smugly. "The Beast Of Camp Half Blood himself.. believe me when I say, despite your only three appearances in this war against the forces of Kronos.. you are about as famous among the monsters of the Titan Army as Mr. Jackson here is. They are well aware of just how deadly you are."

"Nice to see I'm about as famous as this dense pile of seaweed over here.." I said, making a jab at Jackson, who couldn't help but look annoyed at that remark. "HEY!" Percy shot back, before Prometheus simply clapped once, keeping everyone's attention on him. Lightning flashed and crackled in the storm sky in the distance.

"With introductions out of the way, I believe we can get down to business, shall we?" Prometheus offered, and Percy simply nodded albeit staring down the Titan as well with a very suspicious glance.

"What do you want?" Percy asked.

"I am simply here to parley, Percy Jackson.." Prometheus replied. "Know this.. I have only come to do this since due to Hercules, I have developed a soft spot for heroes. Some of them can be quite civilized. That's why I have to come to help end the bloodshed. Percy, your position is weak. You know you can't stop another assault."

He looked all confident, but with the way he seemingly fidgeted his hands in a rather nervous fashion which probably everyone else around here could simply chalk it up to being wanted to succeed in making whatever bullsh*t deal he was about to offer, even though I didn't say anything, I knew the true reason.

He knows just well as Kronos that he's been outplayed, I thought to myself. He knows full well that the fact that the Heralds and the Wardens are back means that the Monster King - me - will return and potentially ruin their plans. He's simply here to try to bluff us into surrendering.

"We know our forces outnumber you twenty to one.. even with this storm preventing us from getting many more reinforcements, but our numbers still grow.. even if slowly.." Prometheus continued, providing me and the others with good pieces of information. The storm was also causing difficulties for Kronos' army as well, preventing them from getting many more reinforcements.. but some were still getting through regardless (A/N: These monsters are like coming at like ones and twos, mainly hellhounds. Nothing serious enough to affect the plot.)

"..we will attack again.. soon.. given the advantage this unexpected storm has given us.." he continued, and I had to admit, he was right about that part - to everyone else but me. He was bluffing, and I knew it.

"..you will eventually retreat to the Empire State Building.. where you will be destroyed.. I've seen this. It will happen, for I am the Titan of Forethought" Prometheus finished, obviously trying to demoralize everyone there. Percy wavered a little, as was Grover. "He's also the Titan of crafty counsel. Emphasis on crafty.." Grover whispered.

I stepped forward, a grin appearing on my face. "Bold words.. for a man who's obviously bluffing.." I said, causing Prometheus to take a step back, flustered and shocked for a bit, but then a little angry.

Even Thalia was a little taken aback by this. "Bluffing? Colton, what do you mean.." she said, but I kept going.

"You know full well that this storm and whatever those creatures that attacked both of our forces last night mean that there are other forces here at work who currently favor the Olympians, don't you..?" I continued, and Prometheus looked even more angry.

"Of course!" Annabeth said next to me. "The Monster King.. the monsters.. it would make sense."

"Fine.. you got me there.. but know this.." Prometheus said back. "..the gods probably know what is to come.. your defeat despite the interference of these forces.. and yet they do nothing, not even for their children. Did Hermes ever warn Luke about his future? Not even with May Castellan's gift that became a curse. How long did it take for them to tell you your prophecy, Percy Jackson? Kronos offers you a better deal. Surrender now, and no harm will come to this city. Besides, the only harm that has been done so far was by the same outside forces that come to your aid. Kronos wants Olympus, and nothing more."

Percy was angry now, fired up. "Yeah?" he said back defiantly. "I'll give you a deal: tell Kronos to call off his attack, leave Luke's body, and return to the pit of Tartarus. Then maybe I won't have to destroy him."

"Your obstinance is regrettable.." Prometheus remarked. "However, should you change your mind.."

He held out his hands in a certain way and a very familiar item from legend appeared in his hands. "..I have a gift for you. This once belonged to my sister-in-law."

Yes. Prometheus was giving us Pandora's f*cking box. No joke. This sh*t could not write itself.

"As in.. Pandora's box?" Percy asked, shocked.. and to my annoyance.

"No.. you seaweed head.. " I told him. "It wasn't a box to begin with. It was a Pithos - a storage jar."

"The son of Ares is correct, Percy Jackson.." Prometheus said in confirmation. "I do not know how the box business got started, but the son of Ares is right. It was a storage jar. But yes, she did open the jar, which contain most of the demons that haunt mankind to this day. Only one spirit stayed in the jar. Fear, death, hunger, sickness. However, only one spirit remained inside."

"Hope" Percy stated.

"Very good, Percy.." Prometheus stated. "Elpis, the spirit of Hope, would not abandon humanity. Hope does not leave without being given permission.." I scowled. He was trying to get Percy to give up. "..she can only be released by a child of man. I give you this as a reminder of what the gods are like. Keep Elpis, if you wish. But if you decide that you have seen enough destruction - enough futile suffering - then open the jar. Let Elpis go. Give up hope, and I will know that you are surrendering. I promise Kronos will be lenient. He will spare the survivors."

"Yeah.. like the King Of The Titans will be f*cking lenient to the kids of the Gods that opposed him all this time.." I spat back. "You can come at us with whatever f*cking monsters you all want, but we'll fight you to our very last breath. Never tell me the odds or that you can predict what will happen, Prometheus. Because the forces aiding us have made sure you can't, and Kronos knows that. Why else would you be sent here to begin with?"

Lightning flashed and thunder crackled more rapidly in the distance as I was now fired up. Prometheus glared at me angrily as Percy recovered from his wavering. "He's right.. he's heard and seen what I've done for four years.." he told Prometheus. "..and if there is one thing he knows, it's that I will never give up. Not as long as I have things to fight for. Sorry Prometheus, but even with this gift, I'm not going to surrender."

Prometheus looked saddened. "Unfortunate.. and here I thought all heroes could be reasoned with. No matter. We will soon see you again, Percy Jackson.. and you too, Colton Reynolds.." He said my name with way more malice than normal, even for Prometheus' standards. "..one way or another."

Then, he and his party left.. and Percy simply picked up the jar and headed off. "Wait!" Annabeth cried. "Where are you going?"

"To Olympus.." he said. "I know someone better to give this too, since you all will likely need me."

He was right, and so we stayed there as he rounded the corner and disappeared, off to do whatever at Olympus with Pandora's jar. I suddenly felt that we were being watched, so I looked around, trying not to look suspicious. I saw no one however. Still, I had my suspicions that one of the heralds was currently watching us, no doubt probably going to relay the news of what their king had said to the others soon.

With their assistance, even though everyone else including Kayla was in doubt.. a fact made evident as she whimpered in fear while clinging to my arm, deep down inside.. I was more confident than ever that the Olympians would prevail in future fighting here.

Chapter 45: XXXV. All Hades Breaks Loose

Chapter Text

Alternative Chapter Titles: The Grand Warden (+ 2 other Wardens) Rampages Through Manhattan, Part One; The Return Of Rachel Elizabeth Dare

(A/N: Yes, the alternative title isn't lying. Grand Warden time.. just to show you how much of a threat these guys are to almost anything weaker than a primordial, if the Wardens' first appearance hadn't made that clear enough. Some things in this remain the same, while others change, especially when it comes to a certain future Oracle, as you will see below.

As per usual, shout-outs to TsarinaTorment, TheTimeTraveler24, for their stories and OCs that I include in this. Also this chapter will contain probably the only Scooby Doo reference that you will ever encounter in this series, unless I decide to add another one. Also references to TMNT 2003 Season 5 Episode 5 "Beginning Of The End", plus Demon (Tengu) Shredder's demon horse, as well as a reference to TMNT Season 4 Episode 20 "Return Of Savanti, Part One" here too.

I will be compressing the 17th of August (for the most part) into a single chapter - 37 - just to give you a heads-up as much of this and the next chapter, despite the storm, is taking place mostly in the daytime. This will be because of the Monster King arc and the nightmares that both sides ( - those at Camp Half Blood) are having.

So, with that out of the way, let's get on with the next two - parter, shall we?)

August 16th, 2009
Just after the events of last chapter

Asterios had slipped away in the darkness of last night out of the Hunters' grasp somehow from what Thalia had told us after Prometheus had left, but compared to the information Prometheus had given us, there was no time to rest. Another assault was coming and soon. Kronos definitely wasn't going to let this new host of forces stop him from completing his revenge against the Gods, even if he knew exactly how powerful these forces really were. In the middle of this was us demigods, the ones defending Olympus and Manhattan from Kronos' army. Still, comparatively to what we might have been if not for these unknown new allies, we were doing pretty good so far. Still, I wasn't getting co*cky at all.

Things could just as easily change in a moment's notice.

I mean, this is war for gods' sake. Nothing is ever guaranteed to be set in stone when it comes to war, especially war in the world of the Gods for that matter. I mean.. some things might, but fate is never one of those things. Even so, we had to hold out until this army that the heralds of the Monster King - me - could bring to bare on Kronos' army.

Speaking of old time-head, did I mention that he's planning to launch another assault? Have I? Good, then. I can keep going.

A lot of us milled about out by the playground for now. A lot of conversations occurred in the group, but the main one that kept repeating - and the one that chilled me and Kayla's blood cold - was the one about a nightmare literally everyone who had even gotten sleep last night had. It was the exact same vision me and Kayla had on Olympus, only slightly different.. and it only left me even more confused about exactly what would happen on Fifth Avenue. Everyone still looked a bit scared today because of it, because it had shaken up many of those still trying to grip on themselves after what happened yesterday. Even the Hunters and Kelli were talking about the terrifying vision. Since Percy had gone to Olympus, I had no idea if he had it too, but I sure knew that Kayla hadn't had it last night. That's for sure.

Speaking of that seaweed brain, Percy returned about 45 minutes later, without the jar in his hands. However, he brought with him a very familiar redhead. One who I've heard of from Percy, Annabeth, and Grover over the months between the Battle Of The Labyrinth and now, but never gotten the chance to actually meet until now. Rachel Elizabeth Dare.

Long story made short, after he had apparently given the jar to the Goddess Hestia, Percy had happened upon her in a heliocopter with an asleep mortal pilot, who had somehow gotten past both the magic layers set by Kronos, Hecate, and Hypnos as well as through the storm before falling asleep. He had saved both through the assistance of Blackjack. Needless to say, Annabeth was definitely surprised to see her here.

"Rachel.." she said once Percy had told her the full story. "..What are you doing here, Dare? Don't you know better than to fly into a war zone?"

"I-" Rachel started before glancing over at Percy for a moment, and then back to Annabeth. "I had to be here. I knew Percy was in trouble. Just.. where the hell did this freaking weird storm covering the city from view come from?"

"I wish I could tell you.. but we don't really have much of an explanation for it.. or the other weird things that happened, like the Williamsburg Bridge being completely destroyed and then being completely repaired overnight.." Annabeth said, before she was interrupted by Rachel.

"Whoa.. whoa.. the Williamsburg Bridge was destroyed and then instantly repaired overnight? How the hell did that happen?" Rachel said, shocked.

"Percy, me, Colton, the Apollo Cabin, and Kelli.. the Empousai you encountered with Percy at Goode who switched sides to ours.." Annabeth started, causing Rachel to finally notice Kelli standing in the crowd, the lady having shifted over to me and Kayla and gasp in shock. "..were battling Kronos' forces on the bridge, before Kronos himself appeared and I got stabbed with a poisoned knife.. and then out of nowhere, this earthen walkway next to the bridge appears.. and then.." Annabeth started shaking. "..both sides were attacked by a twelve foot cyclopes with a sword that was literally on fire."

"Wait.. wait.. what did she just say?" Rachel asked in disbelief. Percy now took over for Annabeth. "Literally what Wise Girl just said, Red-Headed Nightmare.." he stated, and a lot of us including me couldn't help but chuckle at the nickname. "..we were attacked by a twelve foot fiery cyclopes with a sword. Dude slashed right through the bridge and we all ran for it as it collapsed. Believe me when I say, I don't think I have ever seen Kronos scared out of his mind until now.. and no joke, he was that terrified of what attacked us. Right after the Williamsburg Bridge collapsed, that's when this weird storm appeared out of nowhere.. it had been storm clouds prior to this, but still. Like out of nowhere right after the collapse of the bridge, these swirling walls of cloud appeared instantly. Come morning however, the bridge was repaired like nothing had ever happened. And as crazy as that sounds, there's more than that.."

"More? As in like it wasn't just the Williamsburg Bridge that suffered a monster attack by something that you never told me about..?" Rachel asked, still in disbelief. I couldn't blame her at all honestly. I don't think any of us, except me now, could believe that we saw what we saw last night.

"First off, I didn't tell you this until now.. because I had no idea that this even existed.." Percy started. "And second, yes.. unfortunately yes. Every other group, except most of the Ares Cabin back at camp due to Clarisse being well.. Clarisse.. was attacked by a monster we had no idea existed. Both sides were sent fleeing in terror, even the Hunters." Thalia looked away in shame, as did the other hunters.

"Do you have any idea why this is occurring now? Why a third party would seemingly show up out of nowhere looking to take out both sides?" Rachel sputtered, desperately trying to process what she had just heard, her green eyes glancing back and forth between the rest of us and Percy.

"That's the thing about it.." Percy said calmly. "We thought that they were attacking both sides.. but they seem just to be mainly after Kronos' army, since they seem to be on our side.. we aren't exactly sure, but it seems to be the case.. mainly because of this whole Monster King business.. I don't know-"

Rachel interrupted him there. "Wait.. hold on.. did you just say 'Monster King'?" she said, catching all of us off-guard, especially me. Wait.. hold on.. how the f*ck does she even about this? How in the f*ck does Rachel Elizabeth Dare even know about the Monster King?

"Yeah.. why do you ask?" Percy asked, confused. I wanted to know too.

"There's.." Rachel started. "..there's this set of words that has been bothering me all the way from just before you and Annabeth came to me wanting me to be a guide through the labyrinth last summer. It's been stuck in my head ever since and I've gone crazy trying to figure out exactly what it means. It goes something like this.."

And then she proceeded to read off what to many of us, felt like something spoken by the oracle that was all too familiar. Needless to say, many of us felt chills for certain there.

Blessed be honorary,

Multiple times god,

Multiple times titan,

Monster King.

(A/N: Seems like Colton has a lot of prophecies surrounding him, doesn't he?)

After Rachel finished, we all looked at her in shock. Well.. for me, it was a mixture of shock and annoyance. Are you f*cking kidding me? I thought to myself.

I looked at Kayla. The look on her face told me that she couldn't really believe it either.

"What? What did I say from saying that?" she asked, confused. There was a long silence...

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..before Annabeth filled in the blanks for her.

"Rachel.. that's.. that's a prophecy.." she said, as shocked as the rest of us were, and for good reason. Prophecies were supposed to given through the oracle, not to a 15 year old girl. "How in the world did you get this?"

"I.. I don't know.. at all.." Rachel responded, honestly. "It just came into my head out of nowhere and never left. Was I supposed to be able to get this information or..?"

"No, you're not supposed to.. but the fact that you did.. is beyond belief.. even I can't explain this.." Annabeth said back to her, her mind seemingly racing right in front of us. Percy put his hands on her shoulders. "Wise Girl.." he said softly. "..now is not the time. Not when Kronos is out on the other side of the rivers, planning his next assault."

Annabeth took a deep breath, calmed down, and turned to face Percy. Her face looked serious now. "Yeah Percy.. you're right.. there's no time to turn my brain into mush over this.. we can figure this out when this is over.." she said, causing him to smile. "That's the spirit.." he replied, before turning to Thalia. "Keep up with those patrols, people!"

And with that, we all scattered, some of us to keep lookout over the bridges and tunnels, while others stayed around the hotel and playground to do.. whatever I guess. I don't really know, since me and Kayla went towards the repaired Williamsburg Bridge, with Kelli and Michael hot on our heels. Michael had told Lee to manage their siblings while we were gone.

As we left, we could hear the chime of clocks striking 5 am. Damn, this storm was really messing with us on how much sleep we got.

- — - — - — - — -

Noon

By 12 pm on this day, not much had really happened, to be honest. The fear from last night had meant that for the most part, action on every front was very quiet. A few skirmishes and probes here and there, but for the most part, it would seem that Kronos' forces were very reluctant, at least for now, to launch another assault on Manhattan. Quite predicatively, many of those around us started to fall into a sense of false security, thinking that Prometheus had been bluffing about the next assault. Me, Kayla, Kelli, Michael, Percy, Annabeth, Lee, and the other cabin heads plus Austin and Caeli, had no such sense of false security however. We all knew full well that Kronos wasn't going to stop that easily with his all-out assault on Olympus.

So far though, as mentioned, there was skirmishes and probes made towards our positions, mainly with very light forces, most often 10 - 15 monsters each which even a little difficulty, we all could easily fend off with light forces. As a result, the rest of the morning had passed without much incident apart from those light engagements mentioned. At 10 am, after nearly five hours of keeping watch over the repaired Williamsburg Bridge where the four of us repulsed 6 separate probes towards Manhattan with the largest being the last of these at about 50 monsters strong, we handed watch over to Lee, Austin, Caeli, Matthias, and Victoria.

Many of the others were still chilling around the hotel when we got back. And so, we chilled too.. which to be fair, I probably should not have. At least until Thalia came bursting into view out of the trees of Central Park into the lobby, panting.

"Whoa, whoa.. Thalia!" Percy said, jumping up. "Where's the fire?"

Thalia just pointed north with a silver arrow. "They're coming.." she said, and instantly everyone in the lobby snapped to full attention, grabbing weapons and ammo. "..one of my scouts reported that they just crossed the Harlem River. There was no way to hold them back. The army.. it's huge."

Something about the word "huge" didn't sit well with me in this instance. But either way, it made sense. We barely had anyone in Northern Manhattan, and thanks to the spy, Kronos now was confirmed to know that.. full well. I sighed.

"We'll hold them at the park" Percy ordered, and he turned to Grover. "You ready, G-man?"

Grover simply nodded, while I looked at Kayla and she just stepped up on her tip-toes to give me a kiss on the cheek, with worry in her eyes. "As ready as we'll ever be.." Grover replied. "If my nature spirits can stop them anywhere, Central Park is the place."

One of the satyrs nearby shouted "yes, we will!" full of enthusiasm, but I really wasn't paying attention and neither was Kayla.

It figures Kronos' next assault would come from the north, Kayla said telepathically in my head.

Yep, I replied. It does. The spy must have told him about it.

Do you even have any idea now of who the spy is? Kayla asked nervously.

No, I said back. I don't. Let's just focused on winning despite the intelligence advantage he has on us currently.

Okay sure, she replied back. I love you Colton Reynolds.

And I love you too, Kayla Knowles, I replied before we both turned back to the lobby.

A couple of people had already left, most likely to tell the others. Percy looked like he was about to laugh at something the satyr from earlier had said, but Annabeth simply nudged his side with her elbow and he managed to keep a straight face about him. "Um.. yeah.." Percy said, albeit a bit awkwardly. "Grover, you won't be alone. Belle, Annabeth, and the Athena Cabin will make our stand in the park. Just for safe measure, Colton, Kayla.." he shouted in our direction. "You two, K..Kelli.." He still was trying to get over her fighting on our side, and at least he was giving effort in trying. "..and Michael, you four are with them. And me, and... Thalia?"

Thalia simply patted Percy's shoulder, while I just looked at Kelli and Michael and just sighed. Guess we're once again getting put in the thick of the action. "The hunters are ready.." Thalia told him.

Percy nodded, and then looked at the other counselors plus Lee, since with Michael off in Central Park, he basically was acting head counselor of the Apollo Cabin, which was kinda ironic since he had left the position because of a battle. Now here, he was once more head of the cabin because of a battle. "That leaves the rest of you with a job just as important. You have to guard the other entrances to Manhattan. You know how tricky Kronos is. He hopes to distract us with this big army and sneak another force in somewhere else. It's up to you to make sure that doesn't happen. Has each Cabin chosen a bridge or tunnel?"

The others, including Lee, nodded grimly. Most likely, as I realized now, the absent members were sent out to inform the ones on patrol about where their cabin will be.

"Then let's do it!" Percy shouted. "Good hunting, everybody!"

And with that, the combined mass of demigods, satyrs, monster (because Kelli), and hunters exited the building, heading to their assigned positions. Even though they were still far off, we could hear the sound of lots of footsteps getting closer like a distant rumble slowly getting louder.

- — - — - — - — - Switch To Third Person POV - — - — - — - — -

Percy's group reached the southern edge of the Central Park Reservoir, around the fountain just east of the NYPD Police Department and the eastern edge of the Great Lawn. Colton, Kayla, Michael, and Kelli all let out muffled curses under their breaths upon noticing the state of what they would be fighting in. Central Park was literally almost the complete opposite of what the Williamsburg Bridge had been. Nevertheless, they would still try to make themselves useful. Judging from the sounds of the Titan Army's footsteps, they had initially decided to set up along the eastern edge of the Great Lawn in the treeline, but upon hearing the sounds of the army shift to the right side of Central Park if you were facing towards the north or northeast, they proceeded to shift themselves a little bit to the southeast into what was a hasty position near the Obelisk along East Drive, from where they could pour rounds into the flank of the oncoming host.

The sounds of the army grew louder and louder as they closed in on their foes, with fighting already breaking out to the west of their position. Still, despite the roars of battle over there, the amount of footsteps coming towards them made it clear to the 4 of them that this would be the main weight of the attack. Colton was in the MG gunner position, with Kelli once again assisting as the assistant MG. This time, Kayla was the one with the Whitworth while Michael, Hunter, and another hunter who Colton didn't know the name of provided covering fire and assistance. Kayla kissed Colton's cheek one more time, and the boy blushed, just as Kronos' forces burst into view through the treeline. A mixture of enemy demigods, a pack of Laistrygonian Giants carrying huge bronze axes, and lots of other assorted monsters appeared through the trees, well within range of the MG-42.

Colton didn't hesitate, opening rapid and sustained flanking fire into the monster horde. The monsters howled and screeched in shock, demigods screamed in pain, and the entire side of the attack faltered as the other half, from the noise over by the fountain crashed into the other part of Percy's force. Once again, the Beast Of Camp Half Blood was wrecking their attack, doing vital work and helping Percy stay alive.

That changed when Colton hear a loud shriek from above and spotted a huge pig with wings diving out of the sky towards them.

"Duck!" he shouted and all of them ducked, Colton turning the MG over on its side - he had been firing using its bipod mount - to avoid being hit or snagged and dragged by what had dived towards them and then soared back up into the air after passing them. Looking back at it, Colton knew exactly what it was. The Clazmonian Sow, a beast from Greek Mythology that no hero had ever defeated. In the moment of weakness, a bunch of monsters had split off from the pack and bore down on Colton's group. Just as they were about to reach them though.. with Colton desperately turning the MG back upright on the bipod and about to tear them into them once more..

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..a insanely loud, fear inducing roar ripped through the area, causing everyone to pause and look around in confusion and fear, unable to move, just as the trees to the south, west, and northwest of the Great Lawn magically grew insanely tall somehow and the trees around the southern edge of the reservoir in the battle zone - up to the Obelisk - all vanished. Colton could now see what else was going on, including the sight of Hyperion, Lord of the East, approaching the fountain area having just crossed the reservoir and Perses, the Titan of Destruction, coming up to join him. While that was not good, both of them were as equally as frozen in fear right now. Even the Clazmonian Sow descended to the ground next to them, worry evident on its face.

From a hotel room nearby, Rachel could only watch all of this unfold, wondering what in the world was even happening.

Hunter was especially shaking, her knees trembling. "Not.. again.." she said, terrified.

"Again?" asked one of the Laistrygonian giants in front of them, right before..

BOOM!

A loud footstep shook the ground, causing hunters, demigods, and monsters alike to fall over - well, a lot of them. Some, like Colton, Kayla, Percy, Thalia, and others, remained upright. But of the two Titans, Perses was the one who fell over. Soon after, another Titan came running up, Menoetius who was the Titan of Anger. He and Lelantos, the Titan of Air, had only joined up with the contingent of Kronos' Army on the New Jersey side of the battlefield right before the Storm had formed, and Menoetius had only joined up with Hyperion and Perses' force two hours ago. But even the Titan of Anger froze up in fear when another loud footstep shook the ground, followed by more, coming through the now 30 feet tall woods to the southwest of their position.

Colton glanced back at the woods behind them as the footsteps continued. Some more footsteps could be heard a little bit further to his left, signaling that whatever was coming was not alone.

"Whatever it is.. it's big.." Michael muttered, as the footsteps came closer, and trees snapped and fell over, as two massive dark shadows crept closer and closer to the field. To the Hunters and Belle, the outlines of both shadows as they got closer and closer made them look.. frighteningly familiar.

When the two shadows emerged from the treeline, Belle and the Hunters screamed in terror and for good reason, as did Rachel.. for she had never seen anything like what came out of the woods.

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What had come up behind them was none other than two of the Wardens, Asterios and the 5 headed mutt from the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel respectively. Yet, everyone noticed there was something different about Asterios this time around. He was much taller than before, standing at around 21 feet tall, with the drakon body of the drakon from the beast that had appeared in the Holland Tunnel as well as its worm tail on him, and held a massive, odd-looking machete in its hand.

That's when a sudden burst of water drew everyone's attention - except the two Wardens - to the reservoir, only to watch out of a geyser of water in the middle of the reservoir appear a giant eagle-like bird with yellow eyes, three separate beaks on its face, white and tan feathers, and very long wings that mounted what looked like specially designed machine guns full of the sharp feathers Stymphalian Birds used to launch at targets. It hovered in the air, gazing down menacingly at the Titan Army units below it, making even the Clazmonian Sow cower in fear.

"What the Hades are those..?" Michael said, in confusion.

Kayla whimpered and clutched Colton's side in fear. She was scared, really scared right now honestly.

Despite knowing what these things were, Colton still was so confused as to what the hell was going on right now here, but then he heard a very familiar voice that to everyone else, might as well have been unknown to them all.

"Mega-Asterios, the Grand Warden.." spoke the voice of Cháris, the fire herald. Colton and everyone else turned behind them. There, hovering 20 feet in the air near what was apparently Mega-Asterios and the five headed dog from the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, were the six heralds.. all gazing with a smug smirk on their faces at the units of the Titan Army below them.

"..Baku, devour-er of hopes.. and Abyssling, son of the Wakumi.." Cháris continued. "..heed the wish of your king. Leave nothing of this part of Kronos' army breathing!" The fire herald pointed directly at the Titan Army.

Both Mega-Asterios and Baku let out earth shattering, fear intensifying roars and both took a few monstrous steps forward, crushing the earth beneath them to make intense and intimidating footprints in the ground just as Abyssling let out a shriek and dove straight down into the fray. What followed, none of the Olympian forces who fought there - not even Percy Jackson - were even the same after this day was over.

To be continued..

Chapter 46: XXXVI. The Final Pieces Fall Into Place

Chapter Text

Alternative Chapter Title: The Grand Warden (+ 2 other Wardens) Rampages Through Manhattan, Part Two

(A/N: One chapter left before the part you've all been waiting for - Chapter 38! Words cannot express how much I can't wait to be writing that chapter. Like, I really can't wait. But yeah.. I still got a day and a half of content to write prior to getting into the events of August 18th, so enjoy the rest of the 16th of August.

Also, I think I lied when I said that there was only going to be one reference to Scooby Doo. Enjoy one more here too, thanks. Plus once again references to Master Splinter's nightmare involving the Tengu Shredder and his hellish horse from TMNT 2003 Season Five - specific reference to TMNT Season Five Episode 11 "Past and Present" at the very end of this chapter by the way.

As always, mentions to -JASONSGRACE , Imaginebooks , TheTimeTraveler24, TsarinaTorment, and other users for helping inspire me to write some of these chapters through their own fanfics.

Special shout-out here to AO3 user phoenix_flying, from who I use their OC Theo, a child of Apollo, for his final appearance in the story. Yes, he'll meet his fate here. Don't feel too sorry for this demigod though, because in their fanfic "A Different Vessel" in which Jason not Luke hosts Kronos and Luke's demigod crew decides to switch sides and help the Olympians, Theo stays with Kronos simply because inside, the dude is a psychopath who is both a manipulator and a hidden bloodthirsty maniac who despite being the nicest person on the outside, wanted his siblings dead and joined the Titans literally to only kill people. So while his death may seem brutal (minor spoilers here), it's justified. Totally justified.

Also another shout-out here to another AO3 user Kianlon for their one-shot fanfic "They Will Stop Degrading Us", centered around how the Ares Cabin responds to Clarisse not wanting to take part in the Battle Of Manhattan.

Plus, as to what Abyssling is, this warden of air is based off of the Wakumi, a bird monster that appeared in the Season Two episode "New Mexico, Old Monster" from What's New Scooby Doo and is itself based of a similar monster from legend. Like I said, there will be a couple more references here.. because it helps add the layer that this isn't just Greek monsters that responded to the Heralds' call to action.

Plus, at the bottom is probably at least a hint as to the reaction of what's eventually going to go down. Anyways, enjoy!)

Previously On Heart Pierced:

"Mega-Asterios, the Grand Warden.." spoke the voice of Cháris, the fire herald. Colton and everyone else turned behind them. There, hovering 20 feet in the air near what was apparently Mega-Asterios and the five headed dog from the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, were the six heralds.. all gazing with a smug smirk on their faces at the units of the Titan Army below them.

"..Baku, devour-er of hopes.. and Abyssling, son of the Wakumi.." Cháris continued. "..heed the wish of your king. Leave nothing of this part of Kronos' army breathing!" The fire herald pointed directly at the Titan Army.

Both Mega-Asterios and Baku let out earth shattering, fear intensifying roars and both took a few monstrous steps forward, crushing the earth beneath them to make intense and intimidating footprints in the ground just as Abyssling let out a shriek and dove straight down into the fray. What followed, none of the Olympian forces who fought there - not even Percy Jackson - were even the same after this day was over.

Starting from where the end of last chapter left off..

- — - — - — - — - Colton's POV - — - — - — - — -
Nightfall
August 16th, 2009

As the title of last chapter mentioned, all hades broke loose.. and I mean it one hundred and twenty percent. It was.. I mean, to say it was scary was putting what happened in Central Park and across Manhattan lightly. And I mean.. really, really, really lightly.

- — - — - — - — - Switch To Third Person POV - — - — - — - — -
Flashback
August 16th, 2009 (less than 12 hours earlier)

The minute the two Wardens and Grand-Warden lunged or dived onto the Titan Army, chaos erupted as elsewhere around Manhattan, most of the other Wardens emerged once again to exact a grim harvest from the Titan Army, who had not heeded Azamoth's warning the day prior. Thus, the Wardens - and Grand Warden - had been given free reign by the heralds to whatever they wanted, as long as they took great pains to avoid unnecessary casualties to mortals and Olympian forces and to not accidentally kill the Monster King and Queen as well. Needless to say, after being scolded by the heralds for Azamoth's and the other warden's antics that killed mortals the day before, the wardens and Grand-Warden were very eager to make up for their disappointing performance yesterday.

Colton grabbed the MG42 and jerked Kayla out of the way as Mega-Asterios closed in on the monsters in front of them. Michael and Kelli rapidly grabbed ammo and spare barrels and did the same thing, both of them just barely getting out of the way. Hunter also just barely dragged her screaming fellow hunter out of the way before the foot of Mega-Asterios stomped on the spot both hunters of Artemis had been just a couple of moments before.

Against a twenty-one foot tall basically enhanced Asterios, the monsters that had nearly gotten to them before being frozen in place by fear had no chance of being able to resist what fell upon them. Sleeping mortal bodies were magically moved aside and out of the way in the path of the two land-based monstrosities, as the five headed dog from the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel galloped past Percy's group straight into the group of Titans and bit Perses' head clean off with its middle head, scattering the essence of the Titan Of Destruction.. instantly. And yes.. you heard that correctly.

Against these things, the consequences for those who could even reform or respawn in Tartarus were deadly, as poor Perses just showed. He was dead before he had even a chance to try to defend himself. Hyperion and Menoetius backed away from their fallen brother as his body literally exploded into particles right before their eyes.

The Clazmonian Sow now shrieked repeatedly in terror as Abyssling's talons gripped firmly into the winged monster and carried it off into the skies. This caused many of the other monsters to also start screaming in terror and turn and flee, the demigods of the Titan Army feeling terror replace whatever motivations they had to attack. Just at that moment, everyone heard a series of deep, guttural growls echo from the streets to the east of Central Park. Percy shuddered at the noises. "Come on.." he muttered in a fearful tone. "..more of them are coming to join?"

Cháris looked on in amazement towards where the noises were coming from, and sighed.. not in annoyance, but in surprise.

"Seems like some late contingents from the globe are joining the fray.." Cháris murmured, before turning to his brother Atmos. "Communicate with our newest forces.. tell the monsters under Khan, Lord of Lesser-Known Legends, to join in the attacks of the Wardens and Grand-Warden across the city." Atmos simply nodded and stayed behind as the other five heralds vanished. The sound of roars, growls, and footsteps got rapidly closer and closer, as some were now also coming from the streets west of Central Park too. Despite the panic and terror of the Titan Army in Central Park as many, including the remaining Titans, tried to put up a defense of the ground that they had mostly won with minimal resistance from the defenders, those fleeing the field didn't catch sight of the approaching new fighters to the field of battle until they quite literally made their presence felt with a vengeance.

Alexander from Hermes was fleeing with a group of other assorted monsters from the fight, not wanting to have anything to do with the unstoppable Grand-Warden and two other Wardens shoving the Titan Army step by bloody step with some difficulty back to the north, when the sudden scream of one of the Telekhines in front caused the rest of the group to halt in its tracks. There, at the intersection of Madison Ave and 124th Street along the northern edge of Marcus Garvey Park, the Telekhine flailed and squirmed frantically and helplessly, as a large hand with large claws and purple fur clenched around its throat. Then, its head was torn cleanly off by a swipe from another hand before the headless monster was flung eastward along 124th Street through the air, and a ten foot behemoth rounded out of the shadows of the corner to face the fleeing elements of the Titan Army.

Those large hands with huge claws and purple fur belonged to a massive beast at the aforementioned ten feet in height that resembled a large gorilla-like beast with an upright posture, large feet, sharp fangs, and glowing cat-like green eyes to boot. Some of the monsters gulped upon recognizing who this was. This was one of the most famous of the followers of Khan, lord of lesser-known legends concerning myths and legends that weren't affiliated to any known pantheon.. and its name was El Chupacabra. El Chupacabra roared fiercely before it began to tear into the other fleeing elements of the Titan Army with its claws, scattering the essences of everyone it killed.

Alexander screamed and ran to the northwest, hoping to find safety. While he did succeed in getting back across the Harlem to friendly territory as the storm clouds flashed down bolts of lightning to the city streets every now and then, hundreds of others monsters and demigods alike from the Titan Army.. were not so lucky. In the ensuing pandemonium in Central Park, much of the Athena Cabin took shelter in the nearby buildings along the south edge of the Reservoir while Baku, the five headed dog, ripped apart monsters and demigods alike, turning bodies into mangled piles of body parts. Percy was trying to fight Hyperion with Grover's, Annabeth's, and Belle's assistance, while Thalia and a few of the hunters mopped up straggling monsters that had dodged the wrath of either Mega-Asterios, Baku, or Abyssling.

Menoetius by now had also met his fate, scattered after being slashed into pieces by the machete held by Mega-Asterios. Abyssling had killed the Clazmonian Sow and was returning to the fight, slashing monsters and demigods alike from above and carrying off some, much to the horror of their comrades in the Titan Army, to feast on them. No mercy was shown by the Wardens towards the Titan Army. Those who survived were indeed lucky to have escaped with their lives, as the Wardens, Grand-Warden, and the contingent of Khan's forces that had arrived - for reinforcements to the Herald's army were being allowed through the storm more easily than anyone else - tore through the city of Manhattan on their murderous rampages, being careful not to destroy the city in the process.

Even so, the demigods, satyrs, hunters, and Kelli were witness to savage, brutal scenes playing out all around them. Amidst the battle taking place between what was left of Hyperion's group and Mega-Asterios assisted by most of Percy's group, Theo from Apollo slipped past the carnage and headed straight for Colton and Kayla. Needless to say, despite Kayla's pleas for Theo to recognize that he was in the wrong and needed to come back to the light, Theo ended up dead at the hands of both Colton and Kayla, after which Kayla began to have an emotional meltdown in the middle of the field of battle and bawl her tears out into Colton's chest.

Theo had taken four arrows to his body after already taking two slashes to his legs from one of Colton's normal swords (and not the sword Typhon had gifted him), before Colton simply slit his throat and then stabbed him in the heart to put Theo out of his misery. As hard as killing one of his girlfriends' siblings was for him, Colton knew that this was war, so it was kill or be killed. No doubt that Austin likely would probably have to face something similar, he thought to himself as the carnage continued.

All around Manhattan, the body count continued to rise spectacularly in terms of damage to the Titan Army. Out of a force approximately ten to fifteen thousand strong, he had attacked with at least five thousand monsters over many different fronts. Yet, with the assistance of the forces of the Heralds and Khan, Kronos' forces were taking a very brutal, bloody beating and being ripped to shreds, in some cases.. literally. Kelli could only watch in horror, frozen in fear, as all of this played out right in front of her face.

By now, Hyperion was going down as after Belle had stabbed her sword, Sunflower, into the ground.. ivy, grass, tree roots, thorns, and leaves were all sprouting from the ground, wrapping themselves around Hyperion until he couldn't even more. He was trapped. Belle could feel that it was working, but she was getting more and more drained.

"Give Belle some help, Grover.." Annabeth hissed, causing the satyr to snap out of the shock. He raised his reed pipes to his lips and began to play. Leneus and the other satyrs soon took up the song, all of them playing an eerie melody that helped the plants Belle had summoned grow much, much faster.

"What is this?" bellowed Hyperion as he attempted to shake off the plants, but still was weak after Percy had hit him with a hurricane earlier in the fight, being abandoned now after Lelantos had been scattered when Mega-Asterios' machete had lobbed the Titan's head cleanly off of his neck. Belle sunk her sword lower into the ground until only the hilt was visible and she got down on one knee to make it easier. She continued growing the plants, even as her gut pulled deeply, sweat gathered on her, and her back ached, but she didn't back down now.

"Stop this!" Hyperion shouted. "Your woodland magic is no match for a Titan!"

"Bold words, Hyperion.." Atmos said as he descended towards the Titan from behind, the rest of Percy's group minus Belle staring in amazement at the floating figure in a dark suit of Greek armor while Hyperion looked terrified. "Your allies have deserted you and left you to die. Make peace with your impending death and our punishment upon you may be lighter than we might give for undertaking such foolish action in an attempt to stop the return of our king."

Hyperion struggled desperately, flailing helplessly as he tried to free himself. "You lie!" Hyperion shouted back at Atmos, though more out of terror than anything else. However, the more he struggled, the faster the plants grew. Roots were curling around his body, thickening and hardening and causing Hyperion's golden armor to melt into the wood and become part of a tree trunk. He stretched his arms out in one last ditch effort to escape, but they merely grew into branches that sprouted smaller branches and leaves. At this time, as the tree grew taller and thicker, Hyperion submitted to his fate. Things got extremely easier for Belle as Hyperion seemed to fade away as the rest of the tree grew over what was left of his body.

"Is he.. gone?" Percy asked nervously.

"No.." Atmos said, turning the other direction. "Merely sent back to Tartarus, where he will soon be dealt with."

Then, the dark herald vanished from thin air before the demigods and hunters could ask him anything more.

"Okay.." said Thalia, as the battle began to finally die down around Central Park after the death of Hyperion. "..who exactly was that?"

Percy and Annabeth looked uncertain. "I don't know.." Annabeth said. "..but I be willing to bet that he definitely knows a lot of the answers about this whole Monster King business."

Just as the crisis seemed over, a chorus of cries erupted from further south near the the south end of the island, alerting the Hunters, the demigods, and Kelli that the fight was far from over. Mega-Asterios, Baku, and Abyssling immediately turned south as evidently, Kronos' forces had managed to cause their brethren to use up their energy reserves and have to temporarily retire from the field. As the three giant monsters swept past them while Khan's forces continued pursing the remnants of Hyperion's forces back to the Harlem where they would remain watching over the river for the rest of the day, Percy called up Blackjack and Annabeth called up her stead and they flew off towards the south, leaving the rest to make it there on foot. Shaking off the shock and tears from earlier, Kayla recovered, put on a grim face and alongside her boyfriend, set off for the southern sector.

- — - — - — - — -

Evidently, while the stronger monsters were rampaging through Hyperion's forces to the north, robbing Kronos of three of his generals in one fall swoop, thanks to the information provided by his spy, Kronos had decided to shift his focus into pushing through the southern routes to Olympus. Accordingly, he threw in a good sized chunk of his army, enough so that most of the Wardens in the southern sector used up their energy reserves, battling back monsters that just seemed to keep coming - for the Titan Army had managed to find a weak spot in the storm that allowed reinforcements to pour in (still won't have much effect on the story though) in much greater numbers than before - and eventually, through sheer weight of numbers, had forced the Hermes, Apollo, and Hephaestus Cabins to fall back from their positions. Thanks to the assistance of the Wardens however, casualties had been low which meant that most of the cabins were still holding a line that was slowly being forced back towards Olympus when the three stronger wardens (and Grand-Warden) plus Percy's group reinforced the line.

However, despite the tenacity of the defenders, Baku eventually used up its energy reserves and had to retire and Mega-Asterios downgraded into just Asterios after its energy reserves were used up, yet the bodyguard of Kayla Knowles continued to fight and defend the lady he had been hired to protect, suffering multiple injuries in the process that although not terrible, slowly starting to limit his power until he too was forced to temporarily withdraw from the field. That left Abyssling, who thanks to being an Air Warden capable of flight, had infinite reserves of energy and used it to great effect, summoning wind tunnels, great bursts of wind, and more to push Titan Army forces back.

Even so, the weight of the burden in defending Olympus fell on the group of demigods, satyrs, hunters, and Kelli that fought on the ground. The main asset of the defense was once again, none other than the group of four that contained Michael Yew, Kelli, Kayla Knowles, and Colton Reynolds. As before, the Beast Of Camp Half Blood fought fiercely, fighting with such a raw ferocity that even the Hunters fighting alongside him sensed that it was someone different that was manning the MG42 by himself - Kelli was running back and forth between the hotel and the front line as required, delivering spare ammunition and barrels as required at times. Even so, thanks to Khan's forces being distracted on the Harlem thanks to Koios' forces conducting an elaborate deception campaign that fooled them into thinking that the Titan Army would maybe cross the Harlem River again and the sheer weight of numbers mentioned earlier, the Titan Army's southern assault pressed doggedly towards Olympus, slowly but surely as the sheer weight of forces caused other sectors to pull back towards Olympus.

As the afternoon wore on and the fighting came closer and closer to the Empire State Building, some of Khan's forces realized the threat and shifted south, preventing the Titan Army from forcing the 59th Street Bridge or the Lincoln Tunnel. But soon, it didn't matter as Kronos' assault split the Olympian defenders from their unexpected allies and pretty soon the only way Kelli could keep Colton resupplied was through air drop thanks to Abyssling, who continued to assist the defenders.

Eventually, night began to take over, just as the army of Camp Half Blood had been pushed back into a perimeter with only a block in their possession before the Empire State Building. Colton looked more worse for wear than the rest of the defenders, with so many nicks, cuts, scratch marks, slashes and claw marks all over his body it was a wonder that he continued to fight at all. His body was on fire, yet he didn't stop loading and firing the MG42 despite the pain. Seriously, he honestly on the surface looked even worse than he did when he landed on Ogygia last summer.

Bodies literally littered every step of the way up 5th Avenue towards Olympus. Yet Kronos' army continued to march. Colton and Kayla were with Kelli, Michael, Percy, Belle, Annabeth.. plus Austin, Caeli, Sherman and a mixture of campers from the Apollo and Demeter Cabins in and around the intersection of 5th Avenue and 32nd Street. Despite the assistance at times of Grover, Thalia, and then Ms. O'Leary who flung Laistrygonian Giants like frisbees, they were on the verge of defeat. For all the bluff, Prometheus' prediction about today seemed to be grimly accurate.

"Hold your lines!" Katie yelled to the north. Belle, with horrible clarity however, knew the grim truth. Even with Colton stacking up bodies like it was a shooting gallery and Kelli helping out with the assistance of the winged bird monster in the air, there was still no way to keep them away from Olympus forever. There wasn't enough of them to hold anything at the moment. Sure, almost everyone were still alive, but casualties had still been suffered. Too many of their friends were wounded, Colton especially. The only thing guarding the entrance to Olympus was a ring of brave demigods, hunters, nature spirits, plus Kelli and the aforementioned bird monster in the air. Not to mention Belle was getting more and more tired the longer this dragged on.

A bright light suddenly begun to shine to the south. "Oh f*ck off.." Colton muttered, as a lot of the others turned their eyes away from the light. When the light faded a few moments later and they turned back towards it, a chill ran up everyone there, except Colton. They knew full well why he had said it.

Coming up 5th Avenue towards the Empire State Building from the south towards them was Kronos, riding in a golden chariot pulled by two skeleton horses and even with one hand on the reins, he still was able to hold his scythe in his other hand. About a dozen Laistrygonian giants were in front of the Titan and his chariot bearing torches in their hands. Two Hyperborean giants carried his black and purple battle flags, and the whole group advanced at a leisurely pace towards the group on the intersection of 5th Avenue and 32nd Street. Kronos looked to be fresh and rested, his powers now at full strength and his gold eyes shining brighter than ever before.

Annabeth shimmered into existence by the group. "We have to fall back to the doorway.." she yelled. "Hold it at all costs!"

Colton felt an urge to draw the sword Typhon had given him then and there. But before he could do so, and before Percy could sound a retreat, a hunting horn was sounded, making everyone stop what they were doing. Belle hesitantly lowered Sunflower down while looking around. Kayla hugged Colton in fear, unsure of what was going to happen to them. Colton just hugged her back, despite the pain he felt.

A chorus of horns answered the first one soon after, with all of them echoing off buildings. Percy looked to Thalia, who had just joined them, curiously.

Thalia frowned. "Not the hunters.." she said. "We're all here."

"Then who?" Percy asked, as the horns got louder and even louder. It sounded like an entire army was approaching. Belle thought it was more enemies coming, but looking at Kronos' army dispelled that possibility. They were as just confused as she was.

Kronos' monsters looked around, uneasy. Then, a hundred of them cried out at once. Before long, they were all crying out.. in terror. A new blast of horns rang through the night. The air shimmered, and an entire host of reinforcements appeared through the storm.. just as the rest of the Wardens materialized once more, fully recharged and ready to deal more damage to Kronos' army now.

"Yeah, baby!" shouted someone from above. "PARTY WITH THESE GIANT MONSTER FREAKS! THEY SURE LOOK LIKE THEY WANT TO PARTY!"

A whole volley of arrows came down from the skies and vaporized hundreds of enemies, as the Wardens went to work, killing many that stood in their way. An army of centaurs came down from the skies and began pelting Kronos' forces with arrows.

"Centaurs!" Annabeth cried out.

"What?" Belle asked, confused. To be fair, so were mostly everyone else, including Colton and Kayla, who simply stared at the scene in awe, the young couple amazed by the sight unfolding in front of them.

"The Party Ponies.." Percy breathed out in amazement.

"Party Ponies? The f*ck do you mean Jackson?" Colton asked him, as he and Kayla turned to him.

Belle's eyes widened. "Oh, so those are the Party Ponies?" she asked. "The ones that saved you, Annabeth, and Grover from the Princess Andromeda?"

Percy simply nodded in response. "Percy!" shouted the familiar voice of Chiron, who galloped up to them. The sight was emotionally uplifting to many of the demigods there. Belle almost sobbed in relief at the sight of him. Chiron was dressed in armor from the waist up, and he had a grin of satisfaction spread across his face.

"Sorry we're late!" he said to them.

"Dude!" shouted another Centaur. "Talk later. Waste Monsters now!"

However, Chiron grew concerned once he noticed the condition of Colton. He sighed. "Why is that every time something big happens, you end up in the infirmary?" Chiron asked, and Colton couldn't really answer, because at that precise moment, he fainted from the pain, causing Kayla to scream in horror.

Even so, with the assistance of Khan's forces and the Wardens, the Party Ponies effortlessly swept the Titan Army back out of Manhattan once more, and as before, both sides stopped fighting once the bridges and tunnels had been cleared, both sides once more leaving the tunnels and bridges as a no man's zone.

Even so, as Sherman and Travis hauled Colton's body back to the hotel, a highly concerned Kayla watching on worryingly, just like Annabeth the night before, Colton was rapidly healing. Soon enough, he would be back awake, ready for more come tomorrow, and boy would tomorrow be eventful.

- — - — - — - — -

Clarisse looked cautiously from one side to the other, nervously. She was really, really starting to regret her decision to not take part in the fighting. She had no idea if the weird storm was a part of what was going on over in Manhattan, but if she had to guess, it could very well be possible.

The storm, however, wasn't why she was beginning to regret her decision. No.. the rest of her cabin, plus her boyfriend Chris, had done most of that to be honest. Despite her own expectations, even her own cabin and her boyfriend felt that her call was a downright, very stupid idea.

The next couple of days up till tonight, to put it bluntly, could otherwise be considered hell for Clarisse. Her own siblings had refused to sleep in the same cabin as her - despite still thinking favorably of Chris - and slept in the Apollo Cabin, likely out of support for the twin couples of Austin and Caeli as well as Colton and Kayla, and would only reconcile with their head counselor if she would admit she was wrong and the rest of the Ares Cabin would head to Manhattan in order to defend Olympus.

Clarisse proved mostly stubborn, but Chris had learned quite a bit about being a manipulator from Kronos aka Luke during his stay in the Titan Army, and so.. he decided to put his new found talents to good use now. By this night, thanks to his new-found skills, Clarisse was regretting her choice.

Clarisse's head sank realizing that she was in the wrong and Colton had been in the right the whole time. That she hadn't listened to the one who helped her out through so much.. the Fleece, reversing Chris' madness.. it hurt a lot. She knew he was basically fighting for his life over there right now, along with Sherman and Austin. To be here while they were fighting and maybe dying..

She stopped that thought there. No, no.. don't think of them as dead, she thought. Deep down inside now, she knew what she had to now. She had to admit to her siblings that she was wrong, admit to Chris that she had been wrong, and then lead the Ares Cabin to Manhattan. Colton had given his all - and nearly his life - for camp more times than once, it was only natural for once she return the favor.. for him. Her brother.

She turned and walked away from where she had been standing on the beach of Camp Half Blood, not noticing Atmos, the dark herald, standing further down the beach line observing her. The dark herald gathered a grin on his face as he understood what the look of regret, motivation, and courage in Clarisse's eyes meant.

The final pieces for the return of the Monster King were falling into place. All Colton had to do was alter a person's fate, survive one more day, and for Kronos to try to delay fate one more time. The time when Clarisse said to her siblings that she was wrong and that they would go to Olympus was 11:54 pm. Little did Clarisse realize what she had just set in motion.

She would find out soon enough.

- — - — - — - — - switch to Colton's POV - — - — - — - — -

I felt like I was waking up with a massive hangover when I came to. I was back in my hotel bed that me and Kayla had slept in last night, just in my camp clothes and barefoot too. Just perfect honestly.

A pair of arms wrapped around me as soon as I had opened my eyes and blinked once. I didn't hesitate to wrap my arms around Kayla and pull her close to me.

"Promise me.. please.. that we're going to make it through this, okay.." Kayla says to me worriedly, and I can't blame her honestly. I mean, I nearly died out there.. probably maybe from overwhelming pain - the wounds that drew blood clotted unexpectedly rapidly - and somehow I'm still alive. I look over myself.. and I am shocked to find all the wounds healed. My jaw hangs open in awe.

So I simply nod. "I promise that we're going to make it out of this alive, I swear it on the River Styx.." I say back to her, and despite her tears, she smiles happily upon hearing those words.

"You healed very quick.. as fast as Annabeth did last night.." Kayla said to me, eyeing me up and down in more of an observant way. "..I don't know how to explain it.. it's like some outside force is assisting in your healing.. and the Fleece is still back at camp."

"Well.." I say back to her. "Let's not run ourselves ragged trying to figure this out. Besides, it's late.. and we need some sleep."

She nods, and soon enough, both of us are out like a light. When I checked the clock before I closed my eyes after turning off the lights and pulling the covers over as Kayla snuggled in my arms, the time was 11:50 pm.

- — - — - — - — - switch back to Third Person POV - — - — - — - — -

That night, both sides are once more haunted by the dream from last night of the mysterious figure on the unnatural horse - they still don't know that the blurry figure that they are looking at is the Monster King yet - but it isn't just them that are affected by the dream this night or does the dream remain the same as last night. In fact, both more people are affected by it this night and there are more details that present themselves.

For instant, it isn't just the Olympian Forces and Titan Army this night that suffer the same nightmare. This night, the Gods as they camp outside the storm, Poseidon in his palace, the mortal parents of the demigods - including Percy's mother and Paul Blofis, Rachel Dare, Chiron and the Party Ponies; Hades, Persephone and Nico plus the rest of Camp Half Blood all suffer the same nightmare. It isn't just them to suffer this nightmare. Even Bianca down in the underworld, Zoe Nightshade up in the stars, and a few other certain demigods - only one of whom gets a clear look at what the Monster King looks like - get it too. As with last night, only Colton and Kayla get a pass on this.

What nobody in Manhattan knows however is that all these people have been having this nightmare since the start of August.

Much like the increased number of people who have this nightmare - from the fear - inducing hoof beats to the end with the flaming trident coming straight for their heads, the number of details - at least about the horse - increase too. While the horse is still skeletal with armor plates, a black fur outline, a face that looked almost demonic, armor from the Middle Ages on it making it very armored, and a tail made out of a Stygian iron chain with sharp spikes sticking out of it, there are also new details on the horse this time that weren't there before, that make the horse even more terrifying.

Red hair now appears on top of the horse's poll and crest as well as at the end of its tail, while it also now has red eyes. Sharp curved fins project outward and towards the rear of the horse on either side of its head with three for each side, while a three inch tall curved and sharp fin projects upward from its muzzle in the middle of its head. Sharp, curved fins also project behind and upward from the back of the horse's knees, just above that point on its body. Its hoofs are surrounded in an ominous black and red kind of magic, which it also projects from its mouth full of sharp teeth - and lots of it that wasn't there before - every time it opens it.

All told, it's an even more scarier horse that confronts those who suffer the nightmare this night, unaware of what awaits them tomorrow night at the climax of battle.

Meanwhile, three days later..

August 19th, 2009
Camp Jupiter

Jason Grace was simply sitting alone by himself in the Field Of Mars. He didn't know why he had to, but he just felt like doing so today, even as Praetor of New Rome. His blonde hair leaned back and forth in the slightly windy weather as he sat out there, listening to the calm sounds of nature.

However, a voice from behind him a few moments later shattered the calm of the moment.

"Jason!"

Jason turned around. Running up towards was a girl dressed in armor except on the head that he knew very, very well. With piercing black eyes, glossy black hair worn in a single braid, brown skin, and regal and gorgeously beautiful appearance of Puerto Rican descent, Jason wouldn't be able to not instantly recognize her. This was his co-praetor of Camp Jupiter and New Rome, Reyna Ramírez-Arellano. However, something's off about her today as Jason quickly notices.

His fellow praetor runs up to him, worried out of his mind. She is also panting, almost out of breath, which instantly makes Jason concerned. Reyna is never like this, which means if she is.. something big has come up. He feels a sense of worry creep over him.

"Where's the fire, Reyna?" He asks as calm as he can possibly be.

Reyna takes a few moments to catch her breath, then proceeds to utter two short sentences that make Jason Grace's blood..

.

.

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.

..run very ice cold, for a very, very good reason.

"Octavian brings dire news. The Monster King has returned."

At the bottom of the Central Park Reservoir untouched by the day's fighting on the night of August 16th, two slabs slid back along the floor to reveal an Ancient Greek clock using pendulum clock technology set to count down 24 hours from a set time. In the middle of the clock is a phrase written in Ancient Greek that reads "Αντίστροφη μέτρηση για την επιστροφή του βασιλιά των τεράτων" ("Countdown To The Return Of The Monster King"). At 11:55 pm that night, as the first people that night start having the nightmare about the figure on the horse, the clock starts ticking. As it does so, like a cartoon and unknown to the heroes, as the screen stares at the clock, a familiar ominous and blurry figure from those nightmares appears standing upright in the middle of the clock, and lets a long, ominous and malevolent laugh as a slow rendition of the last part of a certain villain theme plays in the background.

Tick, Tock.

Tick, Tock.

Tick..

Tock.

To Be Continued..

(A/N: This two parter may be over, but the overall arc within an arc is far from over!)

Chapter 47: XXXVII. I Am Officially A Walking Cheat Code (With The Help Of Kelli)

Chapter Text

Alternative Chapter Title: Kronos Delays The Inevitable One Final Time

(A/N: Before we start off, if you hadn't already guessed, the ending scene of the last chapter was set three days later on the 19th of August. This is after the Battle of Manhattan is over. So.. you might be wondering, what exactly happens on the Greek side in between now and then? Well.. starting with this chapter.. you are about to find out. You might already have a good glimpse into what happens if you read the books, though of course.. given how crazy I've taken the story in the recent chapters.. it's safe to say that nothing is certain in regards as how this plays out.. sure the Olympians will win, but the question is.. how, given that so much is changing.

Remember when I wrote in this all the way back in Part One that Colton's parents were killed by a Lydian Drakon? Well, we're about to come full circle back to the trauma that started it all for him. Let's just say, for those that control Typhon that you still have a long time to find out about, his parents' deaths and him meeting Kelli were all part of the story that leads to what happens starting in the next chapter. Or in short, this was all fated to happen from the start.

Let's just say.. that changing things - or Kronos pulling the smart move considering the fate of this particular Drakon - may prove smart in the short-term, but doesn't really help him out in the long-run. He'll learn that the hard way soon enough though. As to what smart move Kronos pulls here with the Drakon, here's a hint: what do you get when you combine a son of Hecate, a Drakon, and a cloning spell?

Check out later on in the chapter to see if you guessed right.

Shout-outs to all the usual suspects as well, including -JASONSGRACE .

Also, I know you have all seen climaxes of increasing power in the last two arcs - "Sea Of Monsters" and "Battle Of The Labyrinth" - but trust me, the climax of this book next chapter will absolutely dwarf all of that. Just a hint at what will come next chapter for you all right here. Anyways, enjoy this!)

- — - — - — - — -
August 17th
Day Three Of The Battle Of Manhattan

Compared to yesterday, morning came as normal for the forces in Manhattan, though once more because of the storm, it was hard to tell whether it was daylight or still nighttime. Nevertheless, the action of the day started almost immediately as soon as the demigods had woken up as a chorus of shrieks, hisses and screams from the north informed them that action had already flared up along the Harlem River.

Unlike the fighting for the bridges of the past two days, the fights taking place along the many bridges in Northern Manhattan was purely monster vs monster, with demigods this time coming from Kronos' army. Still, Alexander from Hermes could only watch in horror as his friends were either crushed by boulders, ripped apart by beasts, or had their heads taken off by swords or what else. Although damage to the bridges and casualties to mortals was limited again, the fact that Kronos' army was making no progress at all, despite multiple, determined charges on the bridges, was a testament to just how much Khan's forces, despite heavy casualties, were putting up a savage and fierce fight for Northern Manhattan.

It definitely caused the demigods, satyrs, party ponies (centaurs), and hunters in the building to pick up the pace, that was for sure.

- — - — - — - — - Switch To Colton's POV - — - — - — - — -

If anyone among our number were expecting a quiet morning similar to yesterday, the sounds of battle to the north the minute someone opened the doors of the lobby clearly gave us a rude awakening. If anything however, it got me more energized than ever to be honest. Nothing like combat to energize a son of Ares in the morning, nothing like that at all.. honestly.

"What the hell?" Travis muttered. "No break for us this morning?"

"Travis, don't.." Percy said. "Looks like our work has started earlier than we expected. Remember everyone. Defend the bridges and tunnels, just like yesterday. Colton, Kelli.." He was rapidly getting over whatever dislike he had for Kelli now, which was good. Speaking of Kelli, she had a look of foreboding on her face today. I don't know why or how, but she just did.

"...Kayla, and Michael.. you all are with me, Belle and Annabeth once again.." Percy continued. So I was once more with the dude who thought that he was going to die.. when I had doubts about it being him that would be the one in the prophecy to actually die from this battle. It was likely not going to be him, I was really very certain about that. Great.. just my luck, I thought to myself. At least I have Kayla fighting alongside me today once more. God, I love and cherish that girl totally.

No time to be sappy, I had to tell myself mentally. You're literally fighting in the battle of your life dude. Get a f*cking grip on yourself. Are you dumb?

Dumb, I was not. I could not afford to be so right now. Not when Kronos was once more trying to reach Olympus. Not when the life of myself, my friends, my girlfriend, and everyone's futures quite literally hung in the balance here. No one could afford to be so. We had literally trained our whole time at camp for this exact thing more or less. Sure, it had not been one hundred percent what we expected, but then again, it definitely had gone better for us than we expected as well. That was for sure definitely in my opinion.

We could not fail here. Not when literally the fate of the f*cking world hung squarely on our shoulders. Percy's more than anyone else.

Percy kept going. "...so everyone, stay alive. Do your best. And good hunting to all of you.." he finished, right before Rachel pulled him off to the side. I had to admit, he definitely was good with giving words of encouragement if I had to be honest here. He was really, really good.

Even so, believe me when I say I was definitely anxious about today what might bring. Everyone looked a bit worse this morning than they did yesterday. I be willing to bet that they got.. that nightmare again. I hated this honestly. Why does it have to be me that terrifies the sh*t out of everyone in their dreams?

I had my bets that the mysterious blurry figure they saw in their dreams was the Monster King, because their descriptions of the blurry figure were too eerily similar to the figure that had appeared in my dreams and then in that vision to me and Kayla. It was honestly the only figure I could even think of that would match. Even so, it was very troubling.

As the last demigods, satyrs, party ponies (centaurs), and hunters left the hotel, I overheard something Rachel said to Percy, something that left me wondering if Rachel Elizabeth Dare was just a clear-sighted teenage girl. Because call me crazy, with this, I had a funny feeling that Rachel Dare could be the next Oracle, no joke about it at all.

"Something will happen later today Percy.. I don't know what, but something will happen.." she said cryptically.

Like, was this girl born with an actual gift for prophecy or what? I haven't seen anything like it.

- — - — - — - — - Switch To Third Person POV - — - — - — - — -

Unknown to everyone involved in this, by now in the middle of the day, Tyson and the forces of Poseidon.. plus the Satyrs under Grover, as well as those related to the Titans and Gods that weren't demigods or monsters had also suffered the same nightmare everyone else except Colton and Kayla had suffered the night before too. In broad daylight too at that. By this point, the clock under the surface of the water in the Central Park Reservoir was now at just under twelve hours of time to count down.

Typhon by this point had turned east and entered the Atlantic Ocean, only to be taken down by Poseidon, Tyson, and an army of Cyclopes and sent back to Tartarus. Even so, as his defeat released lots of storm spirits, Typhon had cackled loudly, telling the Olympians that he had served his purpose perfectly.. dropped a bombshell on them that only one other person knew about now. Kronos.

Simply put, things about the Great Prophecy were not what they seemed now. But, more on that later. For now, the Gods, Tyson, and the other Cyclopes could only wonder what exactly Typhon had meant in saying what he had said there.

- — - — - — - — - Switch To Colton's POV - — - — - — - — -

The words from Rachel's lips still rang in my head nearly three hours later.

"Something will happen later today Percy.. I don't know what, but something will happen."

What the f*ck did she even mean by that? It confused me so much. Still though, I couldn't really afford much to do things like that right now - that is, waste time trying to decipher what Rachel meant. I mean.. we were already deep into the fight right now. No use trying to figure stuff out in a literal life or death situation. I wasn't that f*cking stupid.

As to what exactly I'm doing right now that requires me not to waste time thinking? Oh, it's very simple. Basically, it's once more firing an MG42 like a madman at monsters pouring in from the southern zones of Manhattan because surprise surprise, Kronos still had plenty of troops concentrated in Brooklyn. Like yesterday, we had been pushed back from the bridges and tunnels in the south, but with the assistance of both the party ponies and the Wardens, plus some monsters sent south from the group to the north of us, we were able to give up ground at a far less rate than before, which meant that we still had breathing room to spare before things could be considered desperate.

Generally speaking, as of this moment, this assault was starting to ebb and wane right now, thanks to the fact that the line had stabilized due to ferocious resistance, although the Party Ponies were really taking a beating right now. Kelli and Annabeth had left to get more ammo for me, since the MG as always was going through ammo like a very lethal disease ripping through an unprotected population. I mean, what do you expect from a gun that can fire 1,200 rounds per minute, though with different bolts can fire as much as an insane 1500 rounds per minute? It's like an inferno as it fires off ammo that f*cking fast. So of course, the requests from more ammo were frequent. Luckily for me, Kelli didn't go slow which was very nice to be honest. Like, that woman knew how to haul ass.

It definitely was showing benefits here as I piled up more and more kills on the approaches to Olympus. I already had so many kills from this alone that I had lost track rapidly of where my kill count stood at. All I could tell that I definitely was competing with Jackson on who had the highest kill count right now.

Anyways, eventually the monsters had enough and broke off the assault, just as Annabeth and Kelli came back. "Percy!" Annabeth called out in a nervous tone, which immediately caught my attention, as it did Belle's attention too.

"What's up, Wise Girl?" he asked her.

"Rachel wished to speak with you.." she said a little bit filled with jealousy, though as per usual, he seemed oblivious to it. He simply nodded and called for us - Michael, Kayla, Kelli, Belle, and I to come along. So we did, following the two back up to the hotel.

Personally, I wondered exactly what Rachel had wanted to speak to Percy about. Hopefully, it was something that would clear up what she had cryptically said earlier. One could hope.

- — - — - — - — -

It turned out that I wouldn't get to hear what was being said by Rachel to Percy. An emergency had arisen in the Midtown Tunnel sector. Kronos' forces had secured a permanent toehold around the United Nations building. Michael, Kelli and I, much to the consternation and worry of Kayla, were sent in by Percy at Annabeth's insistence to help shore up the defenses and prevent his forces from making an end run on Olympus.

The initial wave that had established this beachhead at the United Nations had forced back the Hephaestus Cabin out of the Midtown Tunnel before heading for the building, meaning that no monsters were there to prevent Michael and I from taking up an excellent position in the building at the corner of Second Avenue and East Thirty Sixth street, overlooking the entrance and exit on the Manhattan Side of the Midtown Tunnel. Kelli once again took ammo trip duty.

Needless to say, the next wave to come out of the tunnel were shocked to be riddled with lead from our perfect spot. They fell back into the cover of the tunnel, pinned down by the exits under a rain of fire by the MG42. Every move they made to try to force their way out of the tunnel, we could see it and we just ripped them to shreds at every attempt. This in turn rallied nearby forces, including the shaken Hephaestus Cabin, to rally and help prevent any further progress on this front for now.

Let's just say.. these monsters were shocked to be under fire from the veteran duo that had without a doubt carried the Battle Of The Labyrinth for camp last summer. They were not expecting this at all, if I had to be perfectly honest with you. We mowed them down like grain from a scythe.

I had to admit, by this point, I think Michael and I were best friends at this point, which was remarkable really. Two summers ago, we had basically been enemies for the most part. Now, because of Kayla, here we were, fighting side by side like dogs in the fight that truly mattered. Austin, Sherman, and I would probably make our dad proud, I don't really doubt that to be honest here.

Back to the here and now though. Stopping all of them was too easy. Really too easy, which eventually, started to worry me lots.

"Something's up.." I told Michael. "This is suspiciously too easy." The monsters were simply holding up in the tunnel now, as if biding for time. Michael instantly understood.

"You're right. It is.. and I got a bad feeling about what this even means.." he said back to me, just as Kelli busted open to the room we were in, ammo boxes and the Whitworth in her hands.

"Kronos just sent in a Lydian Drakon.." she said and I was instantly seeing red. That son of a bitch had killed my parents all those years ago.. and now, here in this fight, was a chance for payback. I got up from being on my knees, took the Whitworth from Kelli's hand and simply growled.

"That f*cker's going to get what is coming to him. Where is he..?" I said viciously, and Kelli couldn't help but gulp and back away in fear.

"At.. At the hotel.." she said hesitantly, and that was all I needed to hear before I was moving at breakneck speed with Michael close behind, both out of rage and monumental concern as well, because the hotel.. that's where Kayla was at along with Belle, Percy, and Annabeth. The last thing I was going to let happen now today was history repeating itself and that f*cking Drakon taking away the one person that meant the world to me. Not if I could f*cking help it, on gods. I would make sure of that.

- — - — - — - — -

Kelli filled me and Michael in on the situation as the three of us made a mad dash back towards the hotel. Apparently, right before the thing that had killed my parents had appeared, Rachel had told Percy something further about what would happen. It was something that went simply like this.

"A trick that ends in postponing the inevitable, a life saved, and a monster redeemed."

It was confusing, to say the least. Believe me, it was really confusing. But just like before, I had no time to dwell on it much. Not when Kayla's life was in danger. That alone had me picking up the pace as the three of us, despite carrying lots of equipment - with Michael having the MG42 slung over his back, ran like madmen back towards the hotel. Hopefully, we weren't too late when we got there. Besides, there was a special fate about the Lydian Drakon that basically made it a prime target for any Ares kid who happened to be in the area. It is destined to be killed by a child of Ares, which made it all the more convenient for me to try to be the one that kills it.

We were holding for the most part in every other sector of the battlefield, but even so, we could only do so by leaving gaps in our lines to hold key positions. This is why the Drakon had managed to sneak all the way through to the hotel - or wherever it was. God, the emotions I had about maybe being able to finally take my revenge on that monster for what it did to my parents all those years ago felt like I had the blessing of Ares surging through me. I didn't.. of course, but you get the idea of how strong the feelings that I felt were.

Anyways, we had taken a route that took us through Central Park - all the trees and such that had disappeared the previous day were back plus without much foot traffic - we easily took a route that brought us into the treeline just south of the playground and the hotel. There, out on 5th Avenue, I through my red laced vision could see the beast that had killed my parents three stories up on a nearby skyscraper next to the hotel and below it was Belle, Annabeth, Kayla, Percy and Ms. O' Leary trying to unsuccessfully fight her off.

"Michael, drop the MG. Go help them.." I told Michael and he did as he was told. As the Drakon slithered its way to the ground off of the building, I loaded the Whitworth like a madman once more, hoping to get a good kill-shot on it. Kelli stood there, waiting for something.. I don't know what. I was about to fire as Michael and Percy had it distracted while Ms. O'Leary was helping Annabeth, Kayla and Belle get back away to safety.. when we heard the familiar sound of chariot wheels coming up from the south.

"ARES!" a familiar voice shouted.

Kelli and I turned our heads to the south. There, fast approaching, were thirteen war chariots. Each of them had a red banner with the symbol of the head of a wild boar on it and were pulled by skeletal horses that literally had manes of fire. On board were twenty eight more fresh warriors.. the rest of the Ares Cabin.

I breathed a sigh of relief. My sister had realized what an idiot she was. Speaking of my sister, she was in the lead chariot by herself - with one of our other siblings driving - in red armor and a boar's head helmet covered her face. Seven chariots peeled off to the east to assist the forces containing Kronos' bridgehead at the Midtown Tunnel while the other six, lead by my sister, came straight at the Drakon.

It should have been okay. Clarisse was here now. There was absolutely no way that nothing could go wrong with this.

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.

That's when I noticed that it was not my sister leading the charge towards the Drakon. First, I didn't see Chris there with her, which was unusual since by now they never went anywhere outside of camp without each other. The second thing that tipped me off to it - and probably the most crucial part of it all - were her eyes.

My sister had dark eyes.

This 'Clarisse' had.. blue ones, and if you looked closely, they had fear in them.

"That's not my sister.." I said at last, as the chariot sped up to the Drakon. I leveled my rifle once more at the Drakon, preparing to fire and save whoever this 'Clarisse' truly was. 'Clarisse' jumped out of the chariot, charging towards the Drakon.

I quickly turned to Kelli, but she was already moving. She had already transformed and had dashed straight out of the woods, much to the surprise of everyone there except 'Clarisse' and the Drakon, and headed straight for her. The other chariots stopped dead in their tracks, their occupants paralyzed from seeing Kelli.

The Drakon looked down at 'Clarisse', and just as it spat poison at her..

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..Kelli grabbed 'Clarisse' by the waist at the last moment and yanked her out of harm's way, using her body to shield her from the poison. Kelli yelped and hollered in pain from it, as the poison did do damage to her. I winced, then heard the sound of another chariot coming up. I turned and this time, I knew this time that it was who I thought it was.

Another chariot came up Fifth Avenue, and in this one was my sister - the real Clarisse La Rue - with Chris Rodriguez driving the chariot for her. She was without her armor, leaving no doubt that this was the real Clarisse.

"NO!" she screamed, visibly distressed. She obviously had seen Kelli's brave act in saving the fake Clarisse. The Drakon had its head smacked into a brick wall for some reason, but had now removed it and was about to spit more poison on Kelli and the fake Clarisse. I growled, and I knew what I had to do. I leveled the rifle once more, aimed directly at the back of the Drakon's head, and fired.

BLAM!

The bullet bounced off the back of the Drakon's head, stunning it just enough that Chris was able to get Kelli and the fake Clarisse out of the way while Clarisse grabbed her electric spear from the fake Clarisse. She charged at the Drakon with it, leaping aside as the Drakon pulverized the ground in front of her and jumping onto the monster's head with ease. I reloaded frantically as all of this played out. As the drakon reared back, my sister violently stabbed the Drakon with the spear in its one good eye. Its whole body shuddered as electricity arced across its head, and she jumped off and rolled to safety on the sidewalk as smoke rose from its mouth before we were all treated to the sight of the monster's hard flesh dissolving away, leaving nothing except a hollow, scaly tunnel of armor there on Fifth Avenue.

The drakon was dead, but for some reason, the victory felt hollow, as if we hadn't gotten revenge for my parents' deaths. I didn't know why, and I wasn't given long enough to find out.

A loud gasp and then Clarisse's cry of "YOU?!" directed my attention over to the crowd gathering around Kelli and the fake Clarisse, where my sister, the other Ares Campers, and Chris had gathered. Noticing Belle, Annabeth, Michael, Kayla, and Percy running over, I did as well.. after noticing the boar's head the fake Clarisse was wearing having come off. I looked over the heads of the crowd.. only to gasp in absolute shock.

Underneath the helmet.. was the last person I expected to impersonate my sister.

- — - — - — - — - Switch To Third Person POV - — - — - — - — -

The 'Clarisse' that Kelli had saved was actually none other than Silena Beauregard. Colton had to admit.. he did not see that coming honestly. Michael went to heal Kelli and did so with Kayla's help.

"What were you thinking?" Clarisse asked her as she cradled the scared but still alive Silena in her arms.

"You.. wouldn't.. listen.." Silena gasped. "The rest of the cabin.. aside from Colton, Sherman, and Austin would.. only.. follow you."

"So you stole my armor.." Clarisse said. "..you waited until the cabin was asleep last night.. you stole it and pretended to be me." My sister turned to glare at her other siblings sans me, with a very deadly gaze. "And none of you even noticed?!"

"Don't blame them.." Silena said, shaking off the fear now. "They wanted to believe that I was you."

"You stupid Aphrodite girl.." Clarisse sobbed. "You charged a drakon? Why?"

"All my fault.." Silena replied, sobbing now. "The drakon, Charlie's death.. camp endangered.."

Colton's head put two and two together.. and realized the horrible truth. His body shuddered at it, since even he was having trouble to terms with it. All this time.. the spy had been right in front of us the whole time and we didn't even notice.. god am I stupid, he thought to himself as he fought back tears.

"Stop it! That's not true.." Clarisse said back to Silena. That's when Colton dropped the question that changed.. everything.

"You were the spy, weren't you, Silena?" he asked causing basically everyone but Silena's eyes to go wide and look at him.

Silena's hand shook as she nodded and opened her fingers, revealing the silver bracelet with a scythe charm on her palm. The mark of Kronos.

"You were the spy" Percy said now, horrified. Kayla worryingly clutched Colton's hand in hers, and her boyfriend gave her a reassuring squeeze. Silena nodded and continued. "Before I liked Charlie.." she explained. "..Luke was nice to me. So charming, handsome. Later, I wanted to stop helping him, but he threatened to tell. He promised that I was saving lives." Silena started sobbing again and Clarisse just cuddled her.. so unlike Clarisse. "Fewer people wouldn't get hurt. He told me he wouldn't hurt Charlie. He lied to me."

"He was being manipulated by Kronos.." Colton said back in an empathic manner. "What did you expect?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" Silena wailed back. "I should have died! I should have gone to see Charlie!"

"Do you really think sacrificing yourself like that would be worth it if Olympus falls? I know Charlie wouldn't really think so.." Colton said to her, and he was right. Knowing Charles, he probably wouldn't see it that way.

Silena realized that and started to calm down. "Yeah.. you're right.." she said at last. "He wouldn't. I hope you all can forgive me.. with what I've done."

"Yeah.. we do.." Clarisse said, and Colton nodded. Kayla offered a heartwarming smile, and Chris put his hands on Silena's shoulders. "We're all in this together.." Chris said truthfully.

Clarisse turned to Kelli, who had transformed back into her human form. She glared at her for a few moments, before her expression softened. "You.." Clarisse started, and Kelli braced for the worst, closing her eyes. But it never came. When Kelli opened her eyes after feeling someone's arms wrapping around hers and crying, she was surprised to find Clarisse hugging her, letting her tears flow and into Kelli's cheerleader uniform.

"Thank you.. so, so much.. I wasn't expecting you of all people to do that.." Clarisse said while sobbing, and Kelli couldn't help but smile.

"Believe me when I say.. it's a long story as to what convinced me that I was in the wrong.. now though, I'm here to make up for my mistakes and misdeeds.." she said, and Clarisse simply looked up and smiled.

As happy as this moment was, it was shattered by the howls of monsters to the south, bringing everyone back into reality.

"Looks like the monsters at the UN Building broke through the perimeter.." Colton growled as he raced back over across 5th Avenue into Central Park, grabbed the MG42, handed it over to Michael, and with Kayla at his side and with Percy, Annabeth, Belle, Ms. O' Leary and a couple of his siblings behind him, took off to the south, towards Olympus. Clarisse, meanwhile, picked up a sword from one of her siblings - Silena's driver - that had died from the poison spewed by the drakon earlier.

"Kronos.." Clarisse hissed. "..is going to pay."

Then she, Silena, Chris, and the rest of the cabin sped off to the south as well.

What no one realized is that the Drakon Clarisse had slayed was actually a clone of the Lydian Drakon, created by Alabaster as one last ditch attempt to prevent the rise of the Monster King. Because as you shall see, Kronos is many things, but when it comes to the Monster King, he's aware of how limited of a time window he (Kronos) is operating on. Either way, bottom line was that despite the sense of triumph, the real Drakon was still out there unknown to the Olympians.

- — - — - — - — - Switch To Colton's POV - — - — - — - — -

We slammed into the attacking column from the north, just as they reached the outskirts of the Empire State Building. Under the circ*mstances, there was no time to get the MG42 set up so Michael resorted to handing his bow and arrows off to Chris, who used them to very good effect even as he rode along with his girlfriend, who had attached a grappling hook from her chariot to the carcass of the drakon and had attached to the back of their chariot - dragging it along with them like some gruesome trophy, while Michael simply used a few of the 50 round drum magazines and just fired the MG42 from his f*cking hip. Suffice it to say, it was an awesome sight to behold indeed.

Kayla was also firing off arrows while I just took potshots at monsters left and right. Still, Clarisse did most of the work for us. She drove her chariot right into their midst and tore monsters and enemy demigods alike apart left and right, even without her armor or her spear, which Chris had slung on his back.

My sister was so inspiring that the Centaurs rallied, and the campers from camp formed a shield wall reinforced by the rest of my cabin, pushing forwards and together, we drove them down Thirty Fifth Street. Clarisse charged after the enemy forces, and as she did so, an aura of red fire had begun to glow around my sister, illuminating her. I knew exactly what this was. The Blessing of Ares.

"The blessing of Ares.." Thalia said, panting and looking as amazed as most of the rest of us, except me honestly. "I've never seen it in person before."

The blessing gave Clarisse the same degree of invulnerability Percy had on the Williamsburg Bridge. It was unfortunately temporary, so Clarisse had to make the best of it while it lasted.

Chris was in for a wild time, as their chariot came on at the enemy forces. "I am Clarisse, drakon-slayer!" my sister bellowed. "I will kill you all! Where is Kronos? Bring him out! He is a coward!"

"CLARISSE!" Percy shouted. "STOP IT! WITHDRAW!"

I turned to him. "Percy.." I told him. "..don't. My sister will be fine. She has Chris to watch over her."

"What's the matter, TITAN LORD?!" Clarisse continued to bellow as she charged onwards in her chariot with Chris. "BRING IT ON!"

"See?" I continued. "They'll be fine."

"What about the camp?" Percy continued. "Is anybody left there?"

Benjamin walked up. "Only the nature spirits and Argus.." he told Percy. "Peleus is still guarding the tree."

"They won't last long.." Percy said glumly. "But I'm glad you all came.."

"Chris tried to reason with Clarisse.. she wouldn't listen.." Benjamin continued. "She eventually came around and told us she would lead us here today. Said it last night. I honestly think something about the weird storm had something to do with it. Or the nightmare we all had last night.."

Wait, nightmare? Don't tell me, I thought to myself.

"Did.. you just say.. 'nightmare'..?" Percy asked grimly.

Benjamin shuddered, as if he had just remembered what he had seen. "Yeah.. why?" he asked, hesitantly.

"You have no idea of what's been going on here since the 15th.." Percy muttered. He soon shook off the trembling he had and returned to focused mode. "But like I said, glad you're all here. This probably will be over soon. Maybe."

"My hunters will help you all stand guard.." Thalia added. "..and I agree Percy. Tonight might be the night that ends this."

People could tell one thing, one thing accurately on this night. Kronos was getting desperate. He had tried three times to reach Olympus.. and failed each time, losing even more heavily with each new attempt than the preceding attempt. We could tell that the massive slaughter of his forces, thanks to our unexpected allies, definitely left him in a difficult situation now because of their handy intervention in our favor.

As night fell, we could all sense that this might be over soon enough. Of course, anything could happen between now and when this actually ended, so who knows. We definitely weren't letting our guards down, for sure.

I still was in a bit of shock over the revelation that Silena had been the spy all along. At least she had inspired my sister to fight and slay the Lydian Drakon.

I will admit this, however.. about the whole "Clarisse slaying the Drakon" thing. Something about it seemed off to me. I do not know what about it seemed like something wasn't right in that scene, but something about the Drakon just seemed off. It was a gut feeling honestly, so maybe I was wrong about it. Maybe I was just going crazy from all of the action the past couple of days.

That was probably it, right? Hopefully it should be. I mean.. there's no way it was something else, like could it? I probably shouldn't think too much about it now. We weren't fighting for our lives at the moment, but like I said before.. we were not letting our guards down. Not when it seemed.. judging from the movements of the Titan Army on the opposite side of both the New Jersey side of the Hudson and the Brooklyn and Queens side of both the East and Harlem rivers looked more desperate than ever before. Something was about to happen soon enough.. besides, they still had that toehold at the United Nations Building, now secure thanks to the monsters now controlling the intersection at Second Avenue and East Thirty Sixth Street where Michael and I had pinned them down in the Midtown Tunnel earlier in the day.

Aside from the blocks in between the UN building and the intersection, they also held a block to the north of the UN building and one block to the south of it. So while they had gained more ground, their bridgehead was at least contained.. still it was their only permanent one they had developed during this whole battle.. and in a worrisome position.. within an easy match to the Empire State Building and Olympus. We all knew it full well.

That's why we were all on our guard this night.

The four of us - Kayla, Kelli, Michael, and I - had been in the lobby of the Empire State Building for a long while, the security guard having booked it a long while ago somehow. I don't know how or where he went. The point is, we were all sitting in there, having moved all of our ammo supplies and spare barrels from the hotel into the building over the course of two hours when Percy, Annabeth, Belle, and Grover.

"Hey guys.. you mind coming up with us to Olympus please?" Percy asked us.

"Sure.." I said while nodding.

Kayla, Kelli, Michael and I simply followed Percy, Annabeth, Belle and Grover up to Olympus. I couldn't exactly figure out why I felt this way, but there was definitely a foreboding feeling rising in my stomach looking down from the elevator towards southern Manhattan for some unknown reason that I was powerless at figuring out.

Maybe I was just going crazy from the past days of battle or something. I have no idea.

- — - — - — - — - Switch To Third Person POV - — - — - — - — -

Kronos was indeed desperate, no doubt about that visibly. He was running out of time. Why was the Lord Of Time so concerned about running out of time, and why go to the trouble of having Alabaster create a clone of the Lydian Drakon? It's purely simple, and elementary. He's fully aware of the prophecy handed down by the Fates to him while heading to Toronto, on the information from Silena about Colton's birthday party.

Blood Of Ares Boil Bright

When Drakon Comes In Sight

Time's Fall Thus Ensured

Monster King Arise And Behold

He knew full well what this prophecy was.. his fate. This is why he was trying so hard to reach Olympus.. to have his revenge and thwart the prophecy that predicted his demise at the hands of a child of Ares.

It seemed like a contradiction given what the Great Prophecy had said, that Kronos would fall at the hands of a child of the eldest gods, the Big Three. But the funny thing people can forget about fate is.. that the simplest things, things that seem so minuscule and minor at first, can alter fate. Thus, the way a prophecy plays out in one universe may very well be different in another. That was exactly the case here. Typhon's masters - those controlling him - had altered the Great Prophecy and the events beyond simply by making Colton the Monster King.

Kronos was running out of time.. so he decided to make one last attempt to take Olympus and he decided to lead it personally himself. So it was that his forces at the UN left for Olympus a couple minutes after 11:20 pm.

As Kronos set out on this final assault from the United Nations building, no one else bothered to look at the time, which was currently 11:24 pm. What no one else had also bothered to do was make sure someone was there to keep an eye on the real Lydian Drakon. This mistake would prove to be.. a fatal one soon enough.

On the clock beneath the Central Park Reservoir, the clock had ticked down to the thirty minute marker with the hour hand on eleven. As if once more this was a cartoon, a big dot with a few blobs of red and black color and two pairs of red eyes appeared in the middle of the clock. They got bigger.. and bigger.. and bigger as they got closer to the screen, revealing themselves to be the mysterious rider and his demonic horse from the nightmares and Kayla and Colton's vision on Olympus. When they were about life sized inside the clock, they seemingly leapt through the clock out into the water towards the screen with the demon horse opening its mouth of sharp teeth, letting out its familiar roar and filling the screen full of its red and black energy in its mouth before it turns to black, with the sound of the mysterious figure's familiar malevolent laughter echoing from when the duo leap through the clock into the water to a good while after the screen had gone dark.

It was now 11:25 pm.

A half hour remained.

Tick..

Tock.

To be continued..

Chapter 48: XXXVIII. Enter The Monster King, Part One

Chapter Text

(A/N: Here we go! Chapter 38, the part I've told you to look forward to. And yes, the alternative chapter title once again is not lying. This is it, the Monster King is finally being introduced in full this chapter.

No more blurry figures. You get to see his true form before this chapter is over. So believe me when I say, I have been really looking forward to writing this chapter for quite a long while now.

References to TMNT Season Five Episode Twelve "Enter The Dragons, Part 1" in this one - the ending at least. So best you all watch the ending to it first, because basically.. it'll give you a pretty good understanding as to how this chapter ends. Plus a line reference to a small bit of Scooby Doo: Monster Of Mexico, in addition to the near additional reference to Scooby Doo as described at the very bottom of this chapter.

As per usual, shout-outs to -JASONSGRACE , Imaginebooks , Morro11 , TsarinaTorment, TheTimeTraveler24, and others for the usual reasons.

One final warning, prepare to see the great prophecy flipped on its head. While Percy is the one who has to make a choice about saving or razing Olympus, and we still get to hear Luke's words to Percy about not letting the unclaimed happen again, aside from that, prepare for canon to start going out the window for this part of the battle. Like, you have been warned.)

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I don't really remember much of what happened when we went up to Olympus this time. I actually don't somehow.

All I remember is that one moment I'm about to walk out of the elevator onto the bridge with them, and the next after 3 seconds of blacking out is that I'm standing in the throne room with them and Hestia. I shake my head and blink, just as Thalia rushes in, panting and out of breath.

"You all got to get down here.." Thalia said grimly. "The enemy is advancing. And Kronos is leading them."

We all scrambled to follow her, not wasting any time as we all did so. This was it.. the final part of the fight was here.

- — - — - — - — -

Chaos greeted us once we got outside of the building. Kronos' forces stood in a ring less than 10 meters from the door to the lobby, with his vanguard right at the front. There was, however a large gap right on the intersection of 5th Avenue and 33rd Street for some reason. Anyways, the Japanese kid that had stabbed Annabeth back on the 15th stood in the vanguard next to a dracaena with a crown on, while two Hyperborean giants stood beside them. Right in front of them was the Time Boy Kronos himself, with scythe in hand.

Our defenses were gone. Literally, the entirety of camp and the Hunters were basically all on the ground in front of us, too wounded to fight anymore. The centaurs had seemingly vanished. Kayla shrieked in horror at the sight of her and Michael's siblings all laying in a pile. Aruna and Aurora were on the bottom of it, with Victoria and Austin L. splayed out on top of them. Austin M. was lying nearby, while Caeli was on top of Victoria and Alice and Matthias were on top of Austin L., with the rest of the cabin and Lee on top of all of them. Sherman had his body over top of Miranda's, staring at the monsters defiantly to the end. Clarisse was frozen in a block of ice on her chariot along with Chris. It was a similar state for everyone else, however.. meaning that me, Thalia, Percy, Annabeth, Belle, Grover, Kelli, Kayla, and Michael were now all that's left that could fight, it seemed. Well.. there was one other person.. Chiron, who was standing right in front of us in the doorway, arrow nocked on his bow and aimed right at his father.

"Chiron.." Annabeth said, clearly not at all liking this.

"Step aside, little son.." Kronos said dismissively to Chiron, with his gold eyes fixed on.. me for some reason. Percy honestly looked surprised, to be honest, as did Annabeth.. as I could see both of their reactions to my left and right. Chiron however, refused to move.

"I'm afraid not.." Chiron said calmly, no doubt enraged beyond belief at this point. I just stood there, just observing the scene at this point for some reason. Everyone else was trying to move, but it was like their feet were frozen to the ground. One of Kronos' dirty tricks no doubt. I moved my feet, and I was surprised to find that I wasn't hindered at all, which was odd. Kronos noticed, and he was surprised too.

Kronos' forces, however just like me, had no such hindrances, as the dracaena beside the crown wearing Ethan now charged Chiron.

"Chiron!" Annabeth yelled. "Look out!" She immediately went down after yelling that, howling and screaming in pain as her shoulder somehow dislocated itself even though she hadn't moved. Percy, breaking free of the time spell, ran over to her and hugged her gently.

Chiron, meanwhile, effortlessly dispatched the dracaena with a single arrow, but as he reached behind himself, he realized his quiver was empty. So he drew his sword instead, which wasn't really his style, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

"You're a teacher.." Kronos sneered at him, a smug look on his face as he approached Chiron slowly. "Not a hero."

"Luke was a hero.." Chiron said back. "He was a good one too.. until you corrupted him." He was right.. completely right.

"FOOL!" Kronos bellowed loudly. "You filled his head with empty promises. You said the gods cared about me!"

"Me" Chiron noted, and I noted that too. That was Luke speaking now, not Kronos. "You said me."

As confusion crossed Luke/Kronos' face, Chiron struck, striking right to his face. Unfortunately, Kronos now possessed all of Luke's fighting skills, and easily bashed Chiron's sword aside. "BACK!"

White light exploded from Kronos' chest and struck Chiron, sending him flying. Kayla screamed and I could only watch as our teacher slammed into the side of a nearby building with enough force that part of the wall crumbled and rained down on him, burying him under a wall of bricks.

"No!" Annabeth suddenly yelled, despite the pain, but most of us still couldn't move. That's when I noticed Kayla trembling at something to our right. I turned, and I was shocked to see right at the intersection of 5th Avenue and 33rd Street.. the Lydian Drakon, back in the flesh.

I was dumbfounded at first, but then I realized the truth. It was cloned.. so this is most likely the original and real one, I thought to myself. I felt so angry now, I wanted to destroy everyone in front of us now.

Just as I am about to go do something about the Lydian Drakon - hell, the situation in general however.. I.. black out. Seems anti-climatic here, but believe me when I say this.

That's the last thing I remember..

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..BEFORE IT HAPPENED.

- — - — - — - Switch To Third Person POV - — - — - — - — -

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While Colton blacks out internally, the rest of his body strangely acts on its own now. Upon seeing the Drakon, he draws out the sword that Typhon gave him, somehow moving at normal speed despite Kronos slowing time.

Kronos' eyes go wide and his face pales when he notices Colton pulling his sword, because he recognizes that sword full well. He turns to where Colton is looking, and upon the sight of the original Lydian Drakon being there, the Lord of Time screams in horror.

It's over.

It's all over now for him.

Geysers of water shoot up out of the water at multiple points around Manhattan in the East River, Harlem River, Hudson River, and in the bay as multiple, stationary and somehow harmless tornadoes form on land inside the area covered by the storm. Lightning begins striking in multiple places inside and outside the storm around Manhattan and Long Island furiously and with rapid frequency. The ground rumbles and shakes and trembles as Colton starts to glow brightly in a red glow, his eyes full of rage as he holds his sword up over his head.

"What the hell is even going on?!" Percy shouts, as he holds onto Annabeth tightly.

The effects, while limited to the Manhattan and Long Island area, can be felt by the Gods too as they stand right at the edge of the storm waiting to get in and help their children.. as they watch in horror and shock at what's happening around them.. mainly the lightning and ground shaking.

In an act of desperation to get him to stop, Kayla kisses him on the lips. That's when a bolt of lighting strikes Colton's sword gifted to him from Typhon, which arches off of his sword, even as he and Kayla are enveloped in bright light while they kiss each other, and strikes Kronos and the Drakon, who both begin to holler and scream in apocalyptic pain.

Right before a bright light caused everyone to cover their eyes followed by a loud explosion which actually covered the whole of the streets and alleys in Manhattan - every single one from the northern tip to the southern end of the island - full of smoke, Luke and Kronos are forcibly separated from each other as Kronos' soul is effortlessly ripped out of Luke's body. Both of them are still screaming in pain, much to Annabeth's, Thalia's, Percy's, Grover's and Silena's horror.. over Luke, that is.

Two seconds before the explosion, a piercing loud scream - Kronos' - rings out as he is scattered somehow, his essence scattered so far and so wide from how brutal and violent his end comes that except as a ghost, he will permanently never be able to even try to reform himself.

When the smoke cleared, no damage to the city has been done from the explosion however and everyone inside Manhattan - save for the sleeping unconscious mortals - had disappeared as had the Olympian forces outside the storm surrounding most of NYC and all of Long Island, which now finally disappeared. That wasn't the only odd thing to happen. For now, unknown to the entire world, time was frozen now.. and nothing moved at all, even as the planet kept turning. All that's left is the bones of the original Lydian Drakon, the only sign of what had just happened.

- — - — - — - — -

"Ethan. Me. All the unclaimed. Don't let it.. don't let it happen again."

It is Luke's voice that Percy hears in his head before he opens his eyes again. And even though he feels like they were said from an alternate timeline, something inside him already feels committed to doing what has to be done to honor Luke's wish.

When Percy opens his eyes again, he's still in Manhattan, but multiple things about the scene in front of him have changed now.

The storm is gone, but the sky and clouds are now red, and the moon is an ominous yellow and orange now. Manhattan was still colored the same, but it sharply contrasted against the.. definitely, not normal sky.

That's not the only thing that's not normal as Percy looks around. His mother and Paul are standing behind him, shocked at what's going on. Annabeth has healed, Clarisse and Chris are unfrozen and off their chariot standing nearby, everyone injured is somehow now healed and backing up towards the Empire State Building without a weapon on them, in fear of the monster horde surrounding them. Chiron isn't buried under a pile of bricks, and every demigods' mortal parents are there, including some that apparently are parents of kids in the Titan Army, that without weapons, break out of the ranks of the army scared as hell, apparently having realized that they were on the wrong side. Parents hug their children in fear, while surrounded by monsters. May Castellan is there, and even dead people are back to life.. Charles Beckendorf who hugs Silena, the dead that they lost from the Battle of the Labyrinth and this battle too, as well as Maria Di Angelo standing with Nico and surprisingly Bianca. Even more surprising is the sight of Zoe Nightshade also alive.. as all of them stare at the horde of monsters surrounding them, as hundreds if not thousands more bunch up on the approach routes to the Empire State Building. Even Rachel and somehow her parents are there too.

Among the hordes of monsters near the front is the Titan Koios, who bellows, "WHERE IS OUR LORD KRONOS?!"

"HE'S DEAD!" shouted a younger, yet familiar voice.

Percy looks on the street, and can hardly believe his eyes.

On the ground, backing away from the monsters out of fear, was a now shorter, younger 15 year old Luke Castellan. He's backing towards.. them. Not Kronos' army, them. The Olympian forces.

"KRONOS IS DEAD!" Luke shouts at them. "Whatever separated him from me killed him. I saw it myself before I had to close my eyes too!"

"ENOUGH! IF KRONOS IS DEAD, KILL THEM ALL!" said another voice, and the monsters all voice their agreement.

Percy's eyes glance upward. Up 5th Avenue, at Central Park, another Titan stands tall. Pallas, the Titan of Warcraft.

The monsters start shouting about how their bellies will be full from, causing many to panic then and there from it all.

That's when Kayla noticed that someone was missing, the one person who meant the world to her more than her own parents, both human and godly. Colton.

She screams for him, her dad comforting her as the monsters all take one step towards all of them.. then another.

Just then, a flash of light nearby forces all of them to cover their eyes, and when it clears.. there are the gods, all of them.. even the ones who betrayed Olympus all standing there, looking at each other.. confused as to what's happening. But just as things were about to get even more chaotic and deadly to the Olympian side..

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The familiar howl of a horse, followed by a deep and very familiar creepy laugh brought everyone to a fear-inducing, paralyzing halt as all of them.. including those that hadn't been involved in this up till now knew exactly what had made those noises. Then, they hear an eerily creepy voice that was also very familiar to all of them.

"It has been fun.."

A chill ran through everyone there. Even the way it said the word 'fun' sounded extremely creepy and unnerving. Athena - and by extension her kids - really didn't want to know what that voice meant by 'fun'. For once in their lives, they didn't want to know at all. No one really wanted to know what that meant. The gods all run over to their children, hugging as many of them as they can alongside their parents, unsure of exactly if that was the voice of the one they all dreaded.

"Please tell that isn't the only person I can think it can probably be.." Percy said worryingly, trembling quite a bit. Unfortunately for him, and everyone else there, what happened next made it clear to everyone that it was the only person they could possibly think it could be.

The sound of hoofbeats - terrifyingly familiar hoofbeats - turned everyone's attention down 5th Avenue towards the south, towards a pair of turned on street-lights and five very unfortunately familiar red and black swirls or blobs of dark energy approaching the lit area from the south - and a pair of completely blood red eyes just above the highest blob of dark energy, just above which sat a pair of purely red eyes, while off to the side was the flaming three pronged tips of an again.. very familiar trident. Everyone's eyes grew wide because they all knew exactly what it was - or to be more exact, what they were.

"Percy.. I hate you so much now.." Clarisse said weakly, terrified now as she hugged Chris tightly and Chris did the same.

All around, both godly and mortal, hug their kids too, all of them equally as scared as the blood red eyes, flaming points, and black and red dark magic blobs got closer and closer.

The sight that came out of the darkness and into the light of the two street lights, just as every other street light from that point up to them now turned on, wasn't blurry at all now. Not anymore, as if to say to them that this wasn't a dream anymore. This was real now. Needless to say, many screamed in horror and terror at the sight that greeted them all. Even Kayla herself couldn't have even barely comprehended - or have even imagined - the reality that had presented itself to her and everyone else right now.

The horse was at least 2.5 times bigger than it had appeared in the vision or any of the nightmares, with a few final touches to enhance the terrifying presence of just the horse, as if the rider sitting on it wasn't already terrifying. This horse reached an impressive ninety one inches tall, taller than even the tallest Clydesdale horse, which was seventy two inches tall at its max. The spiked tail was now on fire though it did not seem to harm the horse at all, and its overall profile looked more menacing and terrifying than ever before.

In terms of fear, while this horse looked like it was made for fear, the rider sitting on top of it could literally be simply described as being created in a genetics lab to be the perfect personification of fear and terror. To all those that saw it - or him, they would agree with that assessment one hundred percent and then some right now.

While this horse was basically just over seven and a half feet tall, the figure riding on top of that was fifteen feet tall with many details that together, made up a figure that would give both Kampê and Typhon a run for their money on being the most terrifying things in existence.

(A/N: A lot of medieval armor related words are about to come up, so if you are not sure what a word means, I advise you to look it up as you read this part of the chapter. Just a heads-up.)

Except for the head and neck, literally every body part about this figure was from a monster. His feet are those of the two Sun Dragons used to pull the sorceress Medea's chariot, although these were twice as big and also mostly covered by specially designed medieval age designed sollerets - part of a Knight's body armor to cover his feet - designed to fit comfortably and flexibly to the Monster King's feet with only the toes showing out the bottom end. These pieces of armor, like the rest of the body armor on his body, were both forged out of the most durable and flexible metals in Tartarus and then infused and strengthened by the strongest metals in Tartarus. All the pieces of armor are also painted in a red and black paint scheme - with white lines mixed in the design - that mostly resembles the blobs of dark magic.

His legs are dragon-like, like those of the Gigantes (the Giants) birthed by Gaea and Tartarus, with again specially designed pieces of armor to cover the wearer from harm, with both greaves and cuisse covering his lower legs and thighs from harm. Another piece of armor, the poleyn, is on over his knees, forged and meticulously worked into the design of the leg armor so as to provide a mostly continuous and consistent layer of protection for the Monster King, with only a few spots showing the dragon-like legs underneath the armor. Likewise, just below his waist, tassets have been welded solidly on to protect the upper legs. Once upon a time, all these pieces of armor would be separate mostly from each other. Now, thanks to modern day mortal machinery and the most advanced wielding and forging methods, this suit of armor is beyond anything any monster or member of the Greek (+ Roman) mythological world has ever seen, with only the head unprotected by armor basically. Everyone can also notice lines of blood - red human blood - running down its legs underneath its armor, dripping drops of blood onto 5th Avenue every so often.

His waist, specifically fitted and armor designs tinkered with before hand so that the armor fades into the waistline from above and below, is that of Kampê.. a mass of flesh that both bubbles and morphs, only this time constantly producing ferocious mutated animal and sometimes monster heads that constantly change shape like a gruesome, monstrous belt. Here, lines of blood run through it too, giving an extra creepy and horrifying dimension to the mutating animal and monster heads.

Although it is hard to see, its chest up to the neck and arms and down to the monstrous belt that is his waist is that of the Minotaur, with brown fur peeking out through the armor. A specially forged and wielded chest plate connecting to armor on his chest and back to armor on his arms and hands covers his middle body, with the upper part of pieces of faulds, plate armor worn below the chestplate to cover the waist and hips combining with the specially designed lower ends of the plackart (extra layer of plate armor covering the belly) and two plates that cover the chest and back called cuirass to create a faded, comfortable, flexible, perfectly fitting lower end for a king's chest armor. Attached and wielded to this (as well as to the upper end of the leg armor) are pieces of culets, small horizontal pieces protecting the small of the back and the buttocks, shaped and fitted to help create this comfortable, faded, flexible, perfectly fitting armor appearance. Like the waist and legs, everyone can see lines of blood going downward underneath the armor in a few spots.

His arms are like that of Tartarus - rippling with muscle despite the smaller size - and are of the same color as that of Polyphemus' arms. With the nicely integrated and welded pieces of the pauldron, gardbrace, spaulder, besagew, rerebrace, couter, and vambrace connected to the chest armor at one end and the pair of gauntlets, the one for his left hand with sharp blades coming out of the top like the Shredder's gauntlet does, at the other end, there are very little points for enemies to attack. Even here, lines of blood run down the arms, which also happen to include lots of purple fur on them like El Chupacabra, giving an extra odd and creepy dimension to this part of his body. His left hand is clenched into a fist off to the side, gauntlet blades sharp as the sharpest sword there, while the trident with the fiery points is held in his right hand.. and even then.. people can see that it has a very long handle for a weapon with incredibly sharp, flaming, and metal points on the end of it.

His neck is where all the blood lines come from. Multiple gashes are on his neck, blood dripping out of them endlessly, and despite that, it doesn't make him hiss in pain or feel discomfort at all. The other weird things about his neck are, most of the other scars are outlined in orange in such a way that it makes them look creepy too, and most of the skin - except for the scars - on the left side of his face like his neck is as dark as Tartarus' skin is.

The head of the Monster King is totally recognizable, for it is none other than Colton Reynolds' head that rests comfortably on top of this freakish body form he has become in turning into the Monster King himself. Even then, his head looks very different, even if his face is clearly recognizable.

As mentioned before, the skin on the left side of his face and head is colored as black as Tartarus, but that's not the only things on his head - aside from the once again orange outlined scars - that make it creepy and dangerous. Streaks of red blood run down his face from his hair, which is literally on fire and yet still illuminating its usual brown color in the flames, while both of his eyes are purely blood red. His lips are blue for some unknown reason with blood streaks going down on either end of them, and his eyes - never-mind them being totally blood red - looked crazed and wild.

On top of his flaming hair, sitting perfectly on top and somehow not catching on fire, is a crown. A crown that looked so similar to the Essen Crown, the world's oldest surviving Lily Crown located in Essen, Germany.. yet looked so very different at the same time.

(A/N: The Essen Crown is an actual crown, by the way.)

First up was that this crown had, like the armor on the Monster King, had been constructed out of metals from Tartarus and painted red and black with purple mixed in this time. The shape of the crown still makes one familiar with Byzantine history recall a Byzantine circlet though. The band and diameter of this crown had been greatly expanded in order to fit the head of Colton, way more than the similar Essen Crown's 3.5 cm wide band and 12.5 cm diameter. The precious stones running along the border which runs around the whole circumference of the crown consists of hard diamonds, emeralds, rubies, and other precious gems intermixed with precious stones found in Tartarus. The main circlet this time is made of metals from Tartarus which have been heavily alloyed with other metals from Tartarus, with the same case for the second circlet soldered on the outside and the reinforcing ring visible on the outside.

Pearls and a few round precious stones with soft edges (all of these on the lower edge of the crown though) have all been welded and soldered onto the upper and lower edges, with the lower edges worked over and over to give the wearer a perfect, comfortable, painless fit when the crow is put on the head of the wearer.

All of this.. horse, rider, crown.. plus the aura of total dominance, uncontrollable rage, and an overwhelming bloodlust.. combined left no doubt in anyone's mind.. that finally.. they were face to face with the Monster King himself. And he was as every bit as terrifying as their nightmares or visions had made him out to be, even if blurry up until now.

Kayla had been one of those that screamed in absolute terror at the sight, and for a very good reason. Never had in a million years had she envisioned that being the Monster King meant that her boyfriend would turn into.. this.

Colton - or the Monster King to be exact - continues to speak now, having let everyone get a good look at its true form now, but everyone is painfully aware now as it does that the voice speaking to them is not the voice of Colton Reynolds. It isn't at all.

"..And it promises to be even more so.."

Nobody liked how ominous that part of the Monster King's grim first message to them was at all. The crowd went deathly quiet at that ominous remark, unsurprisingly.

Luke hugged Thalia, both now fifteen year olds shaking tremendously out of fear.

"..As I end your lives." The demon horse huffed as he said this last part, causing the panic levels of everyone there to spike.

This isn't Colton, Kayla realizes then and there, as she hugs her dad tightly, shaking in fear. No.. technically, this was him, but with something far more darker now expressing itself fully.

Percy and Grover trembled, shivered, and gulped as the Monster King let out a long, creepy growl. "Like, this is going to be bad.. real bad.." Grover said to Percy. Percy couldn't help but hug Annabeth tightly to protect her and nod, knowing full well he's right.

The screaming then started again from the crowd of mortals, demigods, deities, satyrs, centaurs, and monsters alike as the Monster King reared his mount and began to barrel down on them. Some hesitantly raised their weapons, believing the situation hopeless. As the Monster King came towards them, a chorus and familiar - plus unknown - roars and shrieks, plus shouts of "Forward!" and "Attack!" from the heralds on both sides of Manhattan east and west of the Empire State Building, some of those shrieks and yells belonging to the Wardens but many more belonging to other monsters, made everyone aware of the fact that the Monster King had an army which was at this point was charging straight into the Titan Army.

The Olympians - Gods, Kelli, Children, and Mortals - were caught in the middle.

The scene, like a cartoon changes to a street level shot of the front parts of the crowd with the Monster King on his demonic horse getting closer and closer. The screen then changes to a closeup shot with the words "To Be Continued.." at the bottom as the camera pans up and the Monster King laughs in an unhinged, psychotic, malevolent and rapid manner as he gets closer and closer to the screen and the demonic horse roars one more time before the screen turns black just as Colton's face - with the crown on top of it - reaches the screen.

To Be Continued..

— Introducing Scottie Ray (2003 Shredder) as the voice of the Monster King! —

(A/N: I will admit, as to the theme that plays with the Monster King charge cliffhanger ending at the end of the chapter, I was actually kinda divided between either having the theme be the original music that plays at the end of "Enter The Dragons, Part One" before the credits or the theme for the Wakumi, the monster that the Warden Abyssling is based on, from What's New Scooby Doo. Arguably, that track fits perfectly here too. Anyone wanting to hear this, simply look up "New Mexico, Old Monster" on YouTube and click on SCOOBYPALOOZA's video showing a clip from the episode that does feature this music. The music starts at 2:05 in the video and ends at 2:32. Great music honestly. In the end, I stuck with the original music from the episode the ending is based off of.)

Chapter 49: XXXIX. I Turn 5th Avenue Into A Valley Of Death

Chapter Text

Alternate Chapter Titles: Defending Everyone From A Horde Of Monsters (Again..), Part One; I Take On Kronos' Entire Army (yes literally), Part One; The Beast Of Camp Half Blood Returns (Aka I Go On A Killing Spree), Part One; Enter The Monster King, Part II

(A/N: A Lot of Alternate Chapter Titles here, yes.

Moving on.

You all waited for last chapter, and I hope I made it as good as every bit of the hype I made it out to be. You're probably asking yourself now, how exactly does this affect the story of the Last Olympian now? Well in this chapter, you are about to find out. Let's just say, it goes about as well as for the Titan Army in this and next chapter as the last chapters have probably led you to believe. That is to say, very painful.

Shoutouts to the usual people too. Also enjoy the pre-chapter opener below too.)

My name is Hades, King Of The Underworld. Eldest of the Big Three, Firstborn son of Kronos, and Greek God of the Dead. Why exactly are you hearing from me if this is a Colton Reynolds chapter? Well, I'll tell you.

Ever since the first of August this year, I have been plagued with nightmares about the return of a figure the Olympians - those same Olympians that I am not a part of - have not had to deal with for over 60 years. A figure that died near the end of World War II.

And now.. those dreams..

The scene, like a cartoon changes to a street level shot of the front parts of the crowd with the Monster King on his demonic horse getting closer and closer.

those nightmares..

The screen then changes to a closeup shot as the camera pans up and the Monster King laughs in an unhinged, psychotic, malevolent and rapid manner as he gets closer and closer to the screen and the demonic horse roars one more time before the screen turns black just as Colton's face - with the crown on top of it - reaches the screen.

are becoming real!

"..HA HA!"

- — - — - — - — -
(To the actual chapter now!)

The Monster King kept laughing maniacally as he closed in on the Monsters encircling the Empire State Building, coming straight up the middle of 5th Avenue from the south. Along both sides of the front to the east of 5th Avenue and to the west from Sixth Avenue onwards, the sounds of an extremely violent, heated, ferocious monster on monster clash erupted as fierce fighting raged over the front.

Hand to hand fighting was everywhere, with ranged combat and some aerial combat taking place as well. More reinforcements had joined the Monster King's army prior to the all-out assault in this alternate dimension void of mortals - and yes they were all in an alternate dimension, hence the red sky and clouds and odd-colored moon - and it showed, as contingents of various groups of monsters from different mythologies, whether containing groups of hellhounds, dracaenas, Hyperborean and Laistrygonian giants, Blemmyes, and legions of undead Greek, Spartan, Mycenaean, Union, Confederate, Revolutionary, and even G.I. soldiers from the Greek Pantheon and from American history along with large packs of werewolves; Jotunn, Trolls, and other monsters from Norse Mythology; squadrons of Dullahans riding with weapons from Irish folklore; gargoyles from Europe and Jiangshis and Yetis from Asia duking it out with enemy forces. Under heavy assault from land, sea - for sea creatures loyal to the Monster King were also popping out of the East and Hudson Rivers to bring the fight to Kronos' army - and air and facing both monsters, wardens, and heralds at the same time, it is little wonder that slowly but surely, Kronos' masses were being forced back at a very heavy cost in lives.

As the Monster King got closer and closer, the monsters around the Empire State Building panicked more and more. Some turned and fled to the rear, pushing and shoving their way through the hordes of monsters choking the approach routes; others prepared to fight; still others were uncertain whether to fight or flee.

One of the monsters, a hellhound, leapt for Kayla and Darren, deciding to maybe take a demigod child with it before it was probably killed.. and as Kayla screamed in terror and yelled out Colton's name and Darren tried to shield his daughter from it..

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..the hellhound was stopped in mid air, perishing instantly as blood erupted out its other end and sprayed all over the ground nearby, the flaming tips of the trident having gone directly through the monster. It had leapt at Kayla, only for it to become the first victim of the new Monster King right before it could tear into Kayla or her father as it is violently skewered on the prongs of the flaming trident wielded by the Monster King, its entrails now hanging outside of its body for all to see. All on the Olympians' side can only look in awe and also disgust (because of the visible entrails) at this unbelievable scene.

Then, the Monster King mutters a few words that to Kayla Knowles, mean the world to her.

"Don't. Try. To. Kill. My. Girlfriend. Slash. Queen, you pieces of ungrateful sh*t.." the Monster King growls, glaring at the hordes of monsters nearby that at this moment, are also trying but failing slowly but surely to halt the onslaught of the Monster King's forces. "Else.. I will not hesitate to make your death as slow and painful as possible, which let's face it, because you all attacked those I care about, you all will die here!"

Kayla can't help but want to get up to her boyfriend's monstrous face and kiss his cheek, because she knows that it's still him inside that monstrous figure he now is. The Monster King swings the trident to the right, and the corpse of the hellhound is sent flying into the packed ranks of monsters, killing quite a couple dozen, injuring more, and knocking down still more like a bowling ball into bowling pins. The Monster King lets out another low, menacing growl like that from El Chupacabra, before saying grimly, "Who's next?"

None of the monsters made a move, even as the sounds of battle roared all around on either side of the Empire State Building. The Monster King chuckled, "Well.. sucks to be you.." he said ominously, before his eyes started glowing with blobs of dark magical energy. "..because I'm not sparing any one of you!"

A pair of lasers shot out from his eyes, and killed dozens, if not hundreds of monsters in an instant down East Thirty Third Street.. before he turned to the left and without damaging the buildings, cleared all the monsters surrounding the Empire State Building up to the Thirty Fourth Street intersection.

"RUN!" shouted one of the monsters still alive.

The rest now panicked, turned and began to run back up the slope towards Central Park. The Monster King launched another blast of lasers from his eyes, targeting the fleeing mass of monsters. Hundreds were killed instantly if not maybe over a thousand in a single moment, before the lasers veered left and right at the same time to kill and maim still more.

Having done enough, his eyes go back to their normal fully blood red and then.. he turns to Kayla. When he speaks again, it's in a tone that sounds much closer to how Colton speaks. "Hey.. Kay.." he says, rather awkwardly. "I.. honestly.. don't really know how to take that.. this is what my true form is supposed to be. But honestly, it's so f*cking awesome to use this form!"

Kayla smiles. "Give them hell for me, my King.." she says cutely, and he can't help but blush.

"Anything for you, my beloved Queen.." he says, and noticing the monsters are coming back down the slope, he rears his mount and with both a growl and roar from the Monster King and a roar from his horse, the demon horse charges onward with the Monster King still on towards the fray, leaving everyone there to process what had just happened. No one spoke at all.

The first one to break the silence is Darren. "Kayla, my dear.." her father says in disbelief. "Was that thing.. your boyfriend?"

She knows she can't hide it from the others any long, and so with a deep breath and all the courage she can muster up, she turns around and faces all of them with the exception of the Gods, Chiron and Michael, because they knew.

"Believe it or not.. yes.. that thing is still my boyfriend, Colton Reynolds.. he is the Monster King and I am the Monster Queen.." Kayla said assertively, and everyone was dumbfounded at the part about Kayla being the Monster Queen. Zeus in particular looked furious and was about to use the Master Bolt, which had just appeared in his hand, to strike Kayla.

Before he could do so however, out of nowhere, the God's body was suddenly wracked by pain and he fell to his knees, moaning and groaning much to Hera's horror.

"Father!" shouted Ares.

"I would advise against trying to harm the Queen which me and my brothers serve.." said a voice from above. "..along with the King as well. We aren't the type to allow attempts on our lord and lady's life.. Lord Zeus." Those two words were said with incredible amounts of anger and annoyance.

Everyone looked up. There, standing and hovering in the air above them, was the figure in fiery Greek armor. "Allow me to introduce myself, demigods and mortals.." the figure said to those below. "I am Cháris, mystical master of fire and one of the six Heralds created by Lord Typhon following his defeat at the hands of Lord Zeus to faithfully serve those who become the Monster King.. and we have done so for centuries. We now currently serve our new king, Colton the son of Ares and our queen Kayla, the daughter of Apollo."

"Typhon.. created you?" Percy sputtered, in absolute disbelief.

"That is correct, son of Poseidon.." Cháris said back, lowering himself down gently to the ground. "You would be wise in not interfering in the affairs of our king and queen.. even if it concerns Olympus and demigods. He could easily steamroll all of you without breaking a sweat."

"He's lying!" Clarisse shouted, unable to believe that what her brother had transformed into had the potential to do all that.

"Clarisse.." Ares said glumly. "..he isn't kidding around. I fought the Monster King once in the past in Vienna. The Monster King in that era.. 1660s.. nearly killed me. I couldn't even land a scratch on him."

Clarisse had a horrified look on her face.

"So why Colton? Why Kayla? Why make them Monster King and Queen?" Annabeth asked.

Cháris simply sized her up, and gave this as a response. "There will come a time, Daughter of Athena, when you are able to privy to the information you seek.. but now is not the time."

"But.. but.." Annabeth started, before Zeus grunted and spoke.

"Child.. we will explain all this once this is over.. I promise.." he said, before Hera added. "He's right. The battle is not over."

"Indeed.." Cháris stated. "Now if you will all excuse me.. I must get back to aiding my lordship. Asterios!"

Darren's ears and Apollo's ears both perked up and their eyes widened. The aforementioned Warden that rounded the corner left them no doubt in their mind that Kayla's bodyguard was indeed a servant of the Monster King. Cháris then left to assist his king, flying away.

"Asterios! You'd been working them this whole time?" Apollo said, and to be fair, the other gods were equally caught by surprise.

"Apollo.. Darren.. yes I have.. I love your daughter greatly.. and I am grateful for all you have done me.. but yes. I am not just a monster created by you.. I have existed longer than that. I'm the mysterious 12th Warden that the Gods thought was a myth for so long.." he said back to the two.

"Hold up. Warden?" Percy asked. "What does he mean..?"

"We will explain later, son.." Poseidon said with regret. "..I deeply apologize for having kept this information from you and Sally. I didn't feel like I needed to, considering there hasn't been a Monster King since the end of World War II."

"So Colton is the first in over 60 years?" Malcolm asked, and Poseidon nodded. "Correct, son of Athena.." the god replied. The sounds of battle continued to rage in the distance, even as everyone stood around and looked at Poseidon.

"So how long did you know that Colton was the Monster King..?" Percy asked, wanting to know more.

"Since last year.. Chiron told us that Colton told him the day you and Colton got back to camp. Typhon crowned him King while in Hephaestus' forge right before he joined you.." Poseidon replied. "..Zeus, as expected, questioned his loyalty and only the deal between Colton and Ares convinced my brother not to kill him."

"Apollo let it slip that Clarisse and his kids could be in danger in the battle back then.. so I made him a deal.." Ares explained. "..he defend his sister and his girlfriend and her siblings at all costs in exchange for ammo and celestial bronze as well as me convincing my father not to smite him."

Every demigod there had a epiphany then and there. "No wonder he fought so hard.." Belle muttered. "..we all never knew."

"Who else knew about this, aside from the Gods and Chiron? Anyone, Kayla?" Lee asked, really wanting to know more from his sister. That's when Michael spoke up.

"I did.." he said just loud enough so people could hear him. Aruna, Victoria, and Aurora's jaws drop open, Alice looks at him like he has two heads, Matthias is just blinking, Austin L. looks like he can barely believe what just came out of his half-brother's mouth, and Lee.. he's trying to decide whether or not he should strangle Michael for keeping this a secret.

"Since when..?" Lee asked, and Michael gulped. "Around the time.. they made the deal.." he says back. "I kept my mouth shut about it the whole time."

Lee was fuming.

Clarisse didn't know who she should be angry at. Her father for not telling her all this, the gods for not telling her anything about the Monster King, or her own brother for not telling her or the others anything.

"That's why he never told you all about me being the Monster Queen.." Kayla said. "..after having Zeus on his case once, he was determined to keep me safe."

"Father.." Apollo said angrily. Zeus gulped in fear. "..are you that paranoid that you would strike down a child of mine and her boyfriend after all they have done for Olympus?"

"Zeus said we can discuss this later.." Hera interjected. "Focus on the task at hand. The final defeat of Kronos' forces is at hand."

"Exactly.." Percy said, for once agreeing with Hera. He raised Riptide over his head. "Grab whatever weapons you can, demigods. It's time we made the final push to victory."

Apollo and Kayla smiled.

The parents of the demigods could only imagine that there would be plenty of discussions after this was over.

- — - — - — - — -

In the meantime, the new Monster King was busy exploring his new powers as he advanced on his demon horse up the slope towards Central Park. Boy, was Colton having a field day with them honestly. For starters, with just a simple thought, he could order the mutated heads on his waist to launch fireballs at enemies that incinerated multiple monsters at a time if aimed just right.

He had the laser eyes too. Then, he found out that if he concentrated really hard and thought about the trident, the three flaming points of his trident began to rapidly shoot out multiple fireballs at the monsters, killing and incinerating still more monsters to a crisp.

This is too easy, Colton thought to himself as he - as the Monster King - continued to run roughshod over the hordes of monsters that had poured into this version of Manhattan - wherever they all were. This is like shooting fish in a barrel.

Nearby, Atmos was having the time of his life. The dark herald was seriously enjoying himself as he shredded monsters left and right alongside the Wardens and troops of the Monster King's army with his dark elemental powers and the double ended, four sharp prongs on each side staff gifted to him and his brothers when they had been created by Typhon, the dark herald laughing manically all the while. No, he wasn't insane, he simply just missed times like these.

There hadn't been a great battle between monsters since the great clashes at Rzhev, Stalingrad, Kursk, Normandy, Iwo Jima, Berlin, and Okinawa over 60 years ago.

Sixty year ago.. had been when the last Monster King had been ruled. When the King had been killed by the forces of Zeus and Poseidon (aided by the Gods) on Okinawa in June 1945, Typhon had outright refused to immediately crown a successor immediately and ordered the heralds, wardens, and troops to go into hiding.

Now.. he had.. and their new king was proving to already to be a good choice.

- — - — - — -— -

Thalia was in disbelief over what had taken place in the past half hour. Words simply failed her. She had just witnessed the boy that did so much for her and Annabeth, the one who turned his back on the Gods, Annabeth, and her and become the host of Kronos, get forcibly separated from the Time Lord and get regressed back to a fifteen year old. Said fifteen year old version of who used to be her best friend, who had already apologized profusely and honestly to her for all that he had done, was fighting alongside her now, much to the displeasure of Zoe and most of the other hunters. A part of her didn't mind it at all.

She had witnessed the return of a legendary figure that the Gods had never told her, the Hunters, or anyone else about.. found out that said legendary figure was still the boyfriend of Kayla Knowles.. that said girl and her boyfriend had been crowned Monster King and Queen.. that Colton had kept it a secret since last summer.. and that Colton had literally fought like hell at the Battle Of The Labyrinth last summer just to keep Zeus from striking him down with a lightning bolt. Safe to say, she had.. so many questions about exactly what the hell was going on.

Plus, with Luke saying that Kronos was dead and being alive somehow, that threw the whole Great Prophecy into chaos. Everyone thought that it would either be Percy or Luke that would die - they weren't sure which of them it would be - and now it turned out that neither would, only Kronos in being scattered.

The prophecy should have moved on to the final line.. so why did it feel like that it wasn't there yet? She had no clue, and right now, leading the Hunters alongside Artemis and Zoe and fighting alongside Luke, the Gods, Percy, the others.. with these Wardens, Heralds.. and other monsters against Kronos' forces.. it was strange, to say the least.

As if the whole half hour prior to now hadn't been strange enough. It just kept building on and on and on. Thalia was sure that any more of this kept going her head was going to explode.

All the while, the Monster King's forces kept advancing, aided now by the Olympian forces mopping up stray monsters here and there. By now, Colton had discovered additional powers. Simply by concentrating a lot with his hands open and fingers extended, he could summon fireballs in his hands to then throw at the monsters. That was honestly cool, at least in the mind of the fifteen year old demigod that inhabited itself inside this body. Colton really thought that it was cool. Still though, he couldn't afford to take time to experiment a lot with his powers right now.

There were still plenty of monsters to kill right now, even as he was nearly at the top of the ridge that had Central Park at the top. Approaching it, however, the Monsters backed off plenty.. retreating in rapid fashion for some reason.

The combined forces of the Monster King's army and the Olympian Forces had killed thousands upon thousands of monsters in the past few days up till now.. but now.. it seemed like the teleportation spell that had occurred just prior to Colton turning into the Monster King had dragged in thousands more, possibly the rest of Kronos' entire army.

As he crested the rise along with the rest of his forces, the sight that greeted them was one that for a moment, staggered almost everyone. Regrouping for one final push, the remnants of the Titan Army surged forward on both sides of Central Park from the north and through the adjacent streets, thousands packed in dense ranks, intent on one final all-out effort to destroy the Gods. Right in the middle, squarely opposite the Monster King on 5th Avenue, were the two strongest Titans that could even put up a fight against the Monster King.

Pallas, the Titan of Warcraft and Koios, the greatest swordsman of the Titans.

Colton felt his Monster King side take control as his own personality was pushed further back inside mentally, as he watched his trident change from well.. a trident to a ridiculously long version of the sword Typhon had given him, with a impressive sixty inch long blade. The demon horse snarled at the two approaching Titans before the Monster King reared it back and both horse and rider as one charged down the two Titans. As he did so, all eyes on both sides - as for some reason all the buildings and trees in the area turned transparent - turned to the three opponents.

Colton had the sense now that this was it.

The final clash of the Great Prophecy - and his prophecy with Kayla - was here. The two Titans in front of him, Koios and Pallas, were the final bosses.

Now more than ever before, failure was not an option.

To be continued..

Chapter 50: XL. I Fulfill The Prophecies

Chapter Text

Alternative Chapter Titles: Enter The Monster King, Part III; Defending Everyone From A Horde Of Monsters (Again..), Part Two; I Take On Kronos' Entire Army (yes literally), Part Two; The Beast Of Camp Half Blood Returns (Aka I Go On A Killing Spree), Part Two; I Become The Sniper Of Olympus

(A/N: Very long note before the start of the chapter. Bear with me here. And yes, this is it. The finale to Colton Reynolds' original prophecy, the one that brought him and Kayla together.

First off, yes.. a lot of alternative chapter titles, again.

Of all the things you expected to see in this fanfic, probably seeing Kronos a bit earlier than planned and then having Koios and Pallas becoming the new villains in the Last Olympian - even if only for a short time - was probably not one of them. There's a reason why I was going to have Pallas as the main villain in my scrapped idea of an author self-insert fanfic (the self insert fanfic I'm doing now is just the second version).. and it directly comes from Askinar-The-Dark's fanfic "Demigod?".

I always thought having a bigger role for Koios - being the Titan dispatched by Kronos to prevent Kronos' Demi-Titan son Fayden Thatch from being the one to foil Kronos' plans during the Battle Of Manhattan, only to end up being killed and sent back to Tartarus and becoming the reason Fayden and Thalia Grace finally admit their feelings for each other - was really cool.. so in the original idea, I was going to do the same for Pallas.. have him be a villain that while his defeat would be vital to Percy's success in completing the Great Prophecy and defeating Kronos, the battle between him and me would be of a kind that no one else - except those relevant to the sub-great prophecy (yes, prophecy within a great prophecy) - would be able to interfere in.

The final fight in that fanfic - me against Pallas - would have involved me, Kelli, Luke, Asterios, and Michael having to cross Central Park to get to Pallas waiting on the other side, except they would not only have to deal with monsters, but also bullets - lots of bullets that basically turn Central Park into a hellhole of gunfire.. meaning that the five fated to complete the prophecy would basically have to claw their way (figuratively speaking and maybe a little bit literally) through Central Park to reach him.

In a sense, the final fight in the Battle of Manhattan in this fanfic - Colton as the Monster King vs. both Pallas and Koios - is my way of honoring both ideas.

It would also make perfect sense as to why the final Titan antagonists would be these two. It is actually implied that Koios was an excellent swordsman (Askinar in their fanfic has him as the greatest Swordsman of the Titans) and he is the only Titan that was never mentioned or appeared at all in the original series, despite his descendants being very important in the original series (and in Trials Of Apollo).

Pallas is the Titan of Warcraft and Battle, as well as a Titan that even less is written about him. My original vision for him was to be a bit of a sorcerer, able to shift the tides of battle.. and being a Titan, skew it in such a way that despite Percy's efforts, Kronos would win in the end - at least in the original version of the author self-insert fanfic. So since he is a Titan God of Battle, I find it fitting that he gets to be in his natural element in the final part of the Battle Of Manhattan, even if his opponent (along with Koios') just so happens to be the Monster King himself. So buddy, hope you're proud of getting some more time in a fanfic, even if only for a short time.

Given those reasons, it would make sense to have these two to be the stronger Titans basically to have to fight a battle like this - and by this, I mean what takes place throughout most of this chapter.

I will admit, writing this was fun for another reason. Most often, it's always one Titan against demigods. So.. I figure.. why not up the ante and do a fight scene pitting the Monster King in his very first fight against deities - and TWO Titans at that for once in a PJO fanfic - for the express purpose of demonstrating just how much on another level this guy is?

Believe me when I say, that little detail about Kronos feeling minuscule to Azamoth back in Chapter Thirty Three is going to return here for good reason. Because there is a very good reason why it's Porphyrion who will be the main adversary for Colton from the end of this chapter till the end of Book Three (with Gaea being a secondary major antagonist) and not one of the Titans. You have been warned.

Anyways, enjoy the finale of this incredible arc - and the end of the larger arc covering the Battle Of Manhattan. Next three chapters will cover the aftermath before we get into the final arc - the confrontation between Colton and Porphyrion I've been hinting at for a long while now. Enjoy, and like or comment!)

- — - — - — -

If there were words that could generally describe the reactions of the Olympian Forces at the sight of the Monster King charging straight at the oncoming forms of Koios and Pallas as both sides halted in shock as their leaders charged head on at each other, those words could generally also describe the reactions of the remnants of the Titan Army too.

Put simply.. both sides were shocked and surprised, caught off guard by this completely.

Not in a million years, could anyone on either side could have ever predicted that the end of the Battle Of Manhattan would start like this. About close to an hour and a half had passed since the start of Kronos' final assault on Olympus. In the original timeline, you would have probably expected the final fight to be between Percy and Kronos. Here in this timeline, however.. things had changed.. fate had changed.. and now the final fight was taking place between three of the most unlikely (in the sense that no one had expected these three fighters - four if you count the demigod inside the Monster King - to even have a chance of being involved like this) people to face off in a final confrontation. It was like a legend writing itself, and everyone else was a witness to it.

All Kayla could do now was pray that Colton came out of this alright. Fortunately for her, Colton had no intention of letting everyone on his side down now.

Even so, Pallas got the first blow in this brawl in when a blow from his staff - just as the three combatants got within melee range of each other - slammed into the Monster King's chest armor, knocking him off of his horse, which then proceeded to sink its sharp teeth into Koios' leg, and then brushed Pallas down onto his back while fleeing. This removed any immediate advantage the two Titans might have gotten from knocking the Monster King off of his horse, but it still got Kayla to scream "Colton!" from a distance when she heard the thud of the Monster King impacting the pavement.

Koios was obviously distracted a bit by the bite in his leg, but he was able to parry a strike from the Monster King, before the King dove back to avoid another strike from Pallas' staff.

Too close for comfort, still though.. Colton though to himself as he, or should I say MK (Monster King), simply stared down the two Titans for the moment. Definitely got a bit of an advantage here. If only I could pry away Pallas from Koios..

While Koios was desperately trying to bandage his bloody leg on the fly, MK decided to hone in on Pallas for the moment. The Titan of Warcraft could only gulp briefly as the eyes of the MK switched to him, before he was using his staff to defend himself from a series of furious strikes from his opponent. MK wasn't letting up on Pallas, not even as the battle continued to flare and rage around the three combatants.

Sherman speared two hellhounds in anger before his fury went to rage as he, alongside Travis, sliced apart twenty three assorted monsters, including two Cyclopes and five enemy demigods, that had jumped Miranda and Katie. Sherman's rage continued as he hacked apart more enemies on his own while Travis helped Katie and Miranda to safety. It was during this blind rage of a killing spree that Sherman realized something about how he felt for Miranda that he hadn't realized before. He was in love with her.

Knowing that drove him to start fighting even harder, feeling like how Colton felt back on Calypso's island last summer when he realized that he was in love with Kayla.

Koios finished bandaging himself up, but his attention was still distracted when Percy and Nico came across and start dueling. Although the Titan was a match for the son of Hades and the son of Poseidon, it kept Koios from assisting Pallas as the fight between him and the MK grew ugly. The MK had already slashed Pallas in the leg once in the fight so far, and now, as Pallas wound up for a magical spell attack, he was brutally prevented from doing so when the hilt of the sword the MK was holding smashed into the Titan's face, knocking him off of his feet and down onto the pavement. Pallas rolled out of the way of the next strike and got back onto his feet, only for a sucker punch to the jaw to greet him when he got back up.

The MK noticed that Koios was too busy with Percy and Nico, so it moved quickly.

Koios was busy blocking attacks from the two demigods when he felt a sharp pain ignite in his chest. He looked down, and gasped. The blade of the MK's sword had gone all the way through his body, ichor streaming out of the mortal wound - for it had been inflicted near his heart, cutting an artery. The Titan collapsed to his knees, and after the MK withdrew the blade, it kicked Koios in the back, and the Titan fell to the pavement, never to get up. Koios had been scattered.

"KOIOS!" Pallas screamed, charging the MK in a blind rage. A headbutt greeted him, then the MK swung his sword, cutting off both of Pallas' hands before he was kicked in the chest and sent down to the pavement, laying on his back.

He knew it was over, but as he laid there and the MK grinned at him in an evil fashion, raising his sharp bladed gauntlet up before he would deliver the killing - or scattering blow - to the Titan, Pallas summoned all his energy for one final magical spell.

If he was going to go, then he was going to try to take the Monster King with him.

The MK swung the gauntlet, slashing Pallas through the area where his heart was. The Titan of Warcraft crumpled to the pavement and soon disappeared, but not before he had placed a spell of elimination on the MK which commanded all monsters in the area loyal to Kronos.. to kill the Monster King.

Instantly, all the monsters - thousands upon thousands - instantly vectored in on the MK, cutting him off from reinforcements or help.

He was trapped, as the monsters awaited in a ring around him, hungrily waiting for a collective signal among themselves to strike at him and kill the one who had dispatched their leaders from them.

"COLTON!" Kayla shouted in horror. She wanted to be with him, but was held back by Lee and Clarisse, despite the girl's screams and wails.

That's when Colton Reynolds was shot out of the body of the Monster King, which rapidly disintegrated right after the possessor left the body. He still had the power of the Monster King, before anyone would like to comment in worry. (A/N: Fourth wall break, I know.)

The Olympian forces as well as the MK's army all held their breath, and hoped that he would find a way out of this.

For all of their sakes, they hoped he would do it.

- — - — - — -

Colton was moving upwards. Up into the air, to be exact. He hadn't expected for the Monster King - his true form - to launch him out of his body like he was some sort of a shifter who needed to escape from the situation (A/N: Low key reference to Attack On Titan here. In fact, anytime he transforms to the Monster King is basically a reference to Titan Shifters from Attack On Titan.)

He stared at the hordes of monsters waiting below him as he continued to rise, then at the dots of his friends, the family he had - and the supporters he had due to being the Monster King. He knew that if he died, they would go for them next.

He had to do something.. or else everyone would die.

He had no weapon though, at least that's what it was at that moment. Magically, in the next moment, he suddenly felt the Whitworth which had been in Michael's hands appear in his own, much to his temporary confusion. Then, he suddenly felt an urge that he had to act. So, while still flying upwards, going slower and slower by the second, he balanced the butt on the Whitworth on his foot and started loading the rifle in mid-air, pulling a cartridge out of his cartridge box and loading as fast as possible.

What he hadn't noticed was that the cartridge paper for this round.. was green. And none of the rounds Beckendorf had made him had green cartridge paper.

Beckendorf himself noticed as this cartridge paper sped down to Earth like a rocket oddly for some reason. It worried him.

Just as Colton stopped traveling upwards and started to fall into the hordes of monsters waiting below, he leveled the rifle straight down.

One second passed, then two.

Finally, he fired.

BLAM!

He passed out just after firing the shot, the Whitworth vanishing from his hands and returning to Michael's, again to the Apollo Head Counselor's confusion when he noticed, but by then, it didn't matter.

The second he saw the bullet, Beckendorf knew that this was something very powerful.

"GET DOWN!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, and the Olympian forces and the Monster King's army did exactly as he had, instantly hitting the deck.

As Colton's unconscious started to gracefully glide towards Earth, the bullet exploded in mid air, with the force of a nuke. Yet, its effects made Percy's exploits with the Curse Of Achilles mere child's play.

When the allied forces opened their eyes once again, the world had changed once more. It wasn't a red sky that greeted them. It was back to normal.

In an instant, the world changed back to the NYC that had been under the spells of Kronos and Hecate...

..and the thousands upon thousands of monsters that had made up the bulk of the remnants of Kronos' army were gone.

All of them killed.

By just that one single bullet.

Colton Reynolds had just pulled off the shot that would place him among other feats in the history books of Greek Mythology.. well, present Greek Mythology that is.

No one could even believe it for themselves.

"Did.. he.. just.. kill the whole army..?" Clarisse stuttered.

"..with just one shot..?" Zoe added. That's when those who had been alive the whole time realized that those who had died up until the Monster King's entrance weren't just illusions. They were the real thing.

Celebrations and hugs instantly followed, many of them tearful. Throughout it all, Kayla Knowles kept her eyes trained on the skyline.

Cháris simply looked on at the celebrations with a sly grin. "There are many things about our king's power.." he noted to himself. "..that still defy belief and that we can't explain, even to this day. This is one of those times."

Colton gracefully floated down to Earth while unconscious, as if being carried down slowly but surely by magic.

Kayla was wondering if anyone was going to catch them, but a familiar roar and howl - that didn't chill her much this time compared to last time - left her with a smile on her face. Of course the steed would do it.

Galloping through the woods of Central Park, the horse of the Monster King burst into view underneath Colton as he was now only 20 seconds away from gently hitting the ground.

Catching the unconscious Colton on the saddle, the demon horse of the Monster King could finally breathe a sigh of relief as it galloped back to the Queen.

It was good to be back.
- — - — - — -

When Colton opened his eyes again, the face of the girl he loved hovered over him. Her frown turned into a teary-eyed smile upon seeing his eyes open once more.

"I really need to stop passing out, do I?" Colton muttered, before Kayla just kissed his cheek.

"Yeah.." she said after pulling away from his cheek. "..you really need to stop doing that."

Colton took a look around.

He was back in Olympus. Specifically, Apollo's chambers which made him feel a bit uncomfortable since.. he was a son of Ares. But with Kayla there, all those worries and uneasy feelings vanished. He reached up and gently cupped her cheek before sitting up in Apollo's bed and kissing her squarely on the lips. She delightfully kissed him back, this kiss being full of passion, affection, and accomplishment. Since he was with her, he knew that he had done it.

His prophecy - which tied him to her - was finally over.
- — - — - — -

Over at Camp Jupiter, a certain demigod woke in a start from her sleep from what she had seen. She reached under her pillow and took out the piece of paper that had blown next to her one day while no one else was looking.

Three shall go south to the desert
To seek the treasure of times lost
Monster King and Light clear the path
for Dance to see herself bright at last
In the mountains of T they dig
And one shall ascend to begin

She read those lines again and again, and held back the urge to cry or scream. She just put the paper back underneath the pillow and went back to sleep, her worries about her future at Camp Jupiter slowly beginning to cease.

Her name is Lavinia Asimov, and come next June, the daughter of Terpsichore is destined to see more than she could ever possibly have hoped to see.. even more than she had woken up from.. which was..

..witnessing the transformation of a Greek Demigod into the Monster King that her prophecy entailed helping.. her.

The countdown to the summer of 2009 was starting, even if no one else but her knew it. What no one realized is that it wasn't the only prophecy from the Sibylline Books - aside from the Great Prophecy - that would go down that summer in the future.

(A/N: As to the nature of at least one - and yes, "at least one" - of these prophecies the last lines of this chapter refers to, I have actually already released portions of one in an earlier chapter - that also involves Lavinia. So yeah.. like this chapter hints.. fate has big plans for the daughter of Terpsichore next summer.

But yeah.. finally it's over for Colton and Kayla. Their prophecy that brought them to each other is finally over. As to the prophecy that came to Rachel Dare.. well.. you're about to see how that factors into the scene that followed the Battle of Manhattan, aka Percy's deal with the Gods that changed everything at Camp Half Blood.

But yeah.. over the next two chapters.. Colton has a lot of explaining, morale-boosting, and anger-management to do before the final interlude of this fanfic. Can't wait to see you all next time!)

Chapter 51: XLI. We Recieve Rewards And Other Blessings

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Alternate Chapter Titles: The Monster King As Explained By The Gods; We Get The Rundown Of Exactly Who And What The Monster King Is

(A/N: This is going to be a very interesting chapter to write, simply because everyone except those who already know - basically me (the author of this fanfic), plus the Gods and Titans (Primordials and Giants know the backstory too, but this group mainly concerns me and the deities in the scene) - are about to get the rundown of exactly who and what the Monster King is. I have hinted at least a little bit of the Monster King's past in this fanfic, plus Monstrous Ghost, as well as on "Barriers Will Fall", a non-canon modern fantasy AU of "Heart Pierced" I am doing on Archive Of Our Own.

Shout-outs as per usual to Imaginebooks , -JASONSGRACE , and Morro11, as well as A03 users grumpylia, TheTimeTraveler24, and laurellins, but this time with new shout-outs to A03 users for the following: sunflower_star for inspiring the part about mortals being on Olympus in the celebration scene with their recent fanfic about Sally Jackson's agenda, InsaneMakaioshin for their fanfic called "Modern Myths" in which Hades stumbling upon Percy soon after Gabe came into his life changes a lot of things that inspired a bit of what goes on in this chapter.. oh boy with what is coming to Artemis.. this will be good. A03 Users nlpiersee and paymenonevermind did a similar thing to Artemis in their rather unique on-going take of the cliche "Reading The Books" trope where Percy's story is a visual image that everyone can watch. So shout-outs to them too.

Also using the Graphic Novel a little bit for this chapter too.

Either way, hope you enjoy this chapter and the backstory behind the Monster King!)

It was about several hours after the Battle Of Manhattan had ended - on what my girlfriend called the greatest shot I ever took - when I had woken up, so only now.. an hour after waking up since I wanted to cuddle with her and we made out a bit until Apollo had came in and yanked us out of bed, that we were headed to the throne room. It was weird though, walking into that throne room after well.. everything that happened since last time I was in the throne room. Last time, I was single yet fueled by desire for revenge to a degree, and having to be prodded along by Clarisse.

Here, now I was basically the opposite of what I was back then, thanks to Kayla. Though still, the fact that everyone's mortal parents were there - with their kids in the throne room, with Darren waiting for Kayla.. and all of them just instantly looking at me - was both a bit depressing and unnerving to be honest.

That was honestly offset when I noticed the ghosts of all the Titans that had been slain - Kronos, Koios, Krios somehow - I don't know how he died, Pallas, Perses, and Lelantos standing off to the side alongside a ghostly vision of Typhon and both the living Prometheus and Klymene were there too. Even the Gods who had defected were there as well. I was a little bit suspicious at first, but then I felt Kayla's soothing touch from her other hand just wrap around my body, while a very, very warm hand simply touched my other shoulder.

"Do not worry, my king.." said a voice from behind me. "They are not here to fight you or the Olympians. It will be explained soon."

I was confused as to who the one touching my shoulder was, but Kayla answered the riddle for me even if I didn't say anything.

"That's Cháris.." Kayla explained. "One of the Heralds, some of our most loyal servants as the Monster King and Queen."

I simply nodded. Oh.

That makes a lot more sense.

I was still a little bit about the ghosts and living Titans all with us, even with Typhon's ghostly vision figure being perfectly reasonable as to why he was here. Most likely because since I had become the Monster King finally - and to be clear, even I hadn't expected my new title to be as powerful as it was - everyone was likely wondering exactly what the hell was going on.

I shuddered at that realization, since it meant that I would likely also have to reveal to them that after all of that, fate wasn't done with us yet. I could see Kelli nearby, and the subtly distressed look (she was basically looking happy, but subtly distressed in her expression) on her face told me that she knew that it would come out soon. I only hoped that it didn't go really bad when me, Kayla, and Kelli had to reveal that dark secret.

Of course, as we would find out later, Apollo being the god of prophecy meant that when we had to reveal this to Camp finally, it was not on our own terms unfortunately.

I had no inkling of this right now though, mind you. Everyone was more or less in a mood for celebration - aside from Kelli secretly because you know what.

Like I said before, everyone was there - Belle, Aurora, Aruna, Alice, Lee, Katie, Stolls, Miranda, Sherman, Nico.. all of them were there. Everyone we had lost over the past few years - like Liam, Zac, Shelby, Beckendorf, Hector, Bianca, Zoe.. they were all back, which was so f*cking weird to be honest with you all. I had no idea how it was possible, but there they were. It was like a family reunion.. except the only whose mortal parents weren't there.. was me. (A/N: Colton walked in after the part about Zeus being made to thank his brothers for their help.)

"So.. any one want to explain what the hell just happened out there?" Percy said to the Gods, looking like he had just been robbed of something. To be quite fair, he kinda had been.. since apparently I was the one that had ended Kronos, not him or Luke.

One of the Fates, who had been standing nearby with her sisters, spoke up. "What happened in regards to the great prophecy, Perseus Jackson.." she spoke, her voice both old, clear, and incredibly calm at the same time. "..was an event that has rarely happened at all. Prophecies, on rare occasion, can be overwritten due to events that fundamentally change how it plays out."

"So.. what.. because of this whole Monster King thing, Colton is the hero, not me?" Percy said, angrily and confused. Annabeth just held his hand. "What even is this?"

"Those are questions we cannot answer, Perseus Jackson.." the Fate lady responded. "But yes.. because of it.. Colton became the hero of the prophecy, not Luke like it was originally supposed to be."

"What exactly.. was overwritten?" Annabeth asked curiously.

"The lines 'The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap' and 'A single choice shall end his days' were overwritten soon after we found out about Colton having become the Monster King.. in its place was.." the Fate lady responded, before Apollo interrupted.

"Blood of Ares boil bright.. when Drakon comes in sight.. Time's fall thus ensured.. Monster King arise and behold.." Kayla's godly father said, to which the Fate lady nodded.

"The other lines of the prophecy remain unchanged, apart from what was overwritten.." she explained. All eyes turned to Percy, because we all knew what that meant. He still had to make a choice.. and looking into his eyes, we could all tell he now understood full well what that choice was.

Either he could accept the reality that fate had altered itself, or persist in being angry.. for most likely no reason at this point.. and help Olympus burn.

Luckily for us, Percy calmed down. "That's.. a handful.. to take in.." he started. "But.. I'm still confused. What exactly does this 'Monster King' have to do with anything?"

Zeus sighed. Evidently, he knew it was time to give us all a rundown of what the hell lurked inside me and probably Kayla too.

"I believe it is time that you.. all of you.. finally got to understand exactly how much of a big deal the Monster King is.." Zeus stated. "..now that the cat is out of the bag."

He was referring to me becoming the Monster King and then using the power of it to save everyone.

"This should be interesting.." I could hear Annabeth mutter.

"Athena.. daughter.. if you may.." Zeus said to the goddess, and Athena simply nodded.

"The 'Monster King' is a title of tremendous ancient power, close to that of a primordial.." she started, and a whole lot of gasps went up throughout the throne room, as lots of eyes glanced over to me. Suddenly, why Zeus had wanted to smite me before I could access the power of the Monster King made a whole lot of sense now. With one move, Typhon had turned both me - and most likely Kayla too - from demigods to practically demi-primordials. "..and was originally intended by Gaea to be given to Porphyrion.."

I huffed under my breath, fists clenching though not where Kayla's hand was holding mine. So that's why the bastard is after my power, I thought to myself. That's why Porphyrion is after the Monster King's power.

"..However.. due to falling in love with Hera and causing the First Giant War which resulted in them being sent to Tartarus.." Athena continued. "..Gaea gave the title to Typhon instead, making him the first Monster King and why he was extremely powerful back when Lord Zeus faced him the first time. He is still powerful now, don't get me wrong.. but only he possesses the ability to be able to name successors to inherit the power of the Monster King, which he did so for centuries up until World War II."

"The Monster King of that era was killed in the fighting on Okinawa.." Poseidon explained. "..we only found this out from the Fates after the battle.. and since then, there hadn't been a Monster King and Queen for over 60 years.. until Typhon crowned Colton and Kayla."

"So why is he such a big deal?" Percy interrupted.

"Patience, Perseus Jackson.." Athena spoke, annoyed a bit. "We were getting to that part. The reason why Father wanted to smite Colton when Chiron told us that he had become the Monster King after Colton had told him and Kayla about it.. is because well.. it hasn't exactly been an ally to the Olympians in the past. Past Monster Kings have on occasion killed children of the gods for whatever reason.. however, given Colton Reynolds' deeds, we have good reason to believe that this King will be different."

Oh great.. I inherit a title whose past users have used to kill children of the gods in the past.. just great, I thought to myself sarcastically.

"More than that.. he essentially is the one that can command monsters - all monsters except Typhon - to do whatever he wants if he feels like it.." Athena said, and all eyes drifted back to me. "The power of the Monster King instantly makes any demigod granted its power able to go from just a demigod to one that has the ability.. to kill giants."

Everyone gasped, but I took in that information with interest. Basically speaking in terms of ability, I had the power now to potentially kill Porphyrion or any other giant now. And likely, since she was now the Monster Queen, my girlfriend did now possess that potential too.

Thanks to Typhon, we had literally eclipsed Percy Jackson.

There was silence for a while, before the spirit of Kronos broke it.. and some of the most awesome and insane stuff I ever witnessed in my life followed.

"So.. my children.. after being scattered by the new Monster King.. I have come to the realization that I should apologize to you all for trying to destroy what you all have created.." he said, sounding so un-Kronos-like in the process. Kayla tightened her grip on my hand, indicating that she didn't like it either.

"You're basically a god of evil.." Percy retorted. "..why would you want to apologize?"

Kronos looked dead on at Percy. "This is my good part, Perseus Jackson.." replied the Titan in an annoyed manner. "..I'm here to make amends before I officially settle down to being scattered indefinitely. The other Titan spirits here would like to do the same here."

Percy looked like he was about to ask what he actually meant by that, but then Zeus interrupted.

"Speaking of which.. I believe it's time for awards.. and that brings us to the matter of thanking our young demigod heroes.." said the King of the Gods. "Thalia Grace!"

Thalia stepped forward in front of the Hunters, looking up at her godly father. "You led the Hunters Of Artemis with distinction. Even with the fact that all those who fell somehow returned to the land of the living, I will make sure that their efforts and sacrifices - even if not permanent - will never be forgotten. They will achieve Elysium when they truly die."

Artemis and Zeus looked at Hades, with Artemis glaring pointedly at him.

Hades simply shrugged. "Probably."

Artemis glared at him longer and harder in response.

"Okay.. fine.." Hades agreed. "I'll streamline their application process."

Thalia simply bowed her head and said, "Thank you father. And thank you, my lady. Also uh.." She turned to Artemis, a bit hesitant and shy now. "..I have.. a confession to make, my lady.. I uh.. believe me when I say, I do love being with the Hunters, I really do.. it's just that.. despite everything.."

She turns, walks over to Luke, and before he can say anything, Thalia just kisses him.

Right.

On.

The.

Damn.

Lips.

It's one small kiss of emotion, literally just one kiss.. but it's one that leaves everyone, including me, looking on in shock. I'll admit, I didn't expect her to still want him after everything he did in Kronos' name. Luke has to be one lucky bastard. I'm pretty sure he hesitated for a moment, before kissing her back for the remaining 4 seconds of that kiss.

A lot of people were happy, and then there was Artemis, Zoe, and quite a few of the Hunters, who looked furious.

It really reminded me of the dilemma that a maiden who's really good with a bow or other weapon faces when past feelings and the Hunters Of Artemis are involved. Swear off men or lose the chance to be a part of something very great for those who are abused and looking for an escape. Not really the choice one would like to make.

I knew this kind of "males bad" logic among them existed partly because of that sh*t involving Orion, but still, it was.. a bit stupid if you ask me because I will grudgingly admit, despite all the bad things, it seemed whatever happened to Luke when I transformed into the Monster King for the first time had caused him to turn over a new leaf. Like hell, practically everyone else could see it too.

Hermes looked like he was about to intervene, given that Artemis looked like she was going to either revoke Thalia's semi-immortality or tear the two apart from each other by force. I turned to Kayla. "Apologies for what I am about to do.. just stay behind me please.." I whispered and she looked confused but nodded.

That's when I led her out and placing her safely behind me, stood in between both Luke and Thalia as well as Artemis and the Hunters, a look of grim determination in my eyes.

"Look.. Lady Artemis.." I started, before one of the Hunters interrupted me.

"Hey! You! You don't have the right to address our lady like.." she started before she was interrupted by Zeus.

"Let the son of Ares.. and the current Monster King.. talk, please. I command it.." he said annoyed, clearly taking interest in what I was doing. The Hunter simply kept her mouth shut after that.

"Thank you, Lord Zeus.." I said to Zeus before turning back to the Hunters and Artemis. "As I was saying.. Lady Artemis.. what seriously gives you the right to tear two people apart if they love each other, even when the guy despite everything that he has done has turned over a new leaf and willing to make amends? Huh?" I asked the Goddess firmly.

"He should be ashamed of being anywhere near my huntress.." she snarled back. Bianca simply looked shocked at what was going on, while Phoebe and Hunter Kowalski looked conflicted.

I simply put on a smile. Time for a good old morality lesson.

"Thalia came from a bad situation. Annabeth came from a bad situation. Percy came from a bad situation.." I said, knowing full well that from the questions I asked Grover about Percy a couple of times, his situation growing up had been anything but great. And then I remembered what happened to me, and I felt like crying. But with Kayla holding onto to me tightly out of concern, I was able to stop myself from doing so. "..I lost my parents to the Lydian Drakon. There are probably male demigod children out there who are suffering from equally bad situations at home."

Hades looked guilty for some reason, as did Hermes.

"..so let me just say this.. if you want to tear her away from him, despite everything he's done.. and make her life miserable, you'll have to go through me first.." I said, daring the Goddess to try anything.

Artemis was about to retort, but Athena decided to interrupt her. "He's right.." she said uncomfortably, clearly recognizing the severity of the truth. "..as much as there are bad men out there who do bad things to girls, there are equally bad women out there who do the same thing to boys. To simply leave them to suffer from those bad situations just because they are male is hypocritical, dear sister." Despite her flaws, she clearly decided to care here, as she said the word 'sister' with quite a bit of disgust.

Artemis was flabbergasted. "Father.." she pleaded, but Zeus was in deep thought for a while and didn't respond. The tension in the room dragged on for a while before Zeus made his decision.

"I'm sorry, my daughter.." Zeus said decisively. "..but your sister is correct. Children of the gods, even male ones, shouldn't have to be suffering in bad situations, regardless of the gender. As punishment, you will not only retain my daughter as lieutenant of the hunt alongside your former lieutenant as well, but you will also allow Kayla Knowles, Colton Reynolds, and Luke Castellan into the hunt too.. and I forbid you from interfering in the relationships of Luke and Thalia or Colton or Kayla. To make sure that this is followed, I ask both of my brothers to spare someone to keep watch over her and the hunters.. at all times."

Poseidon and Hades simply both nodded in agreement.

"Deal.. I will see if I can spare of the Furies to do so.." Hades said, smiling all the while. Nico looked dumbfounded at seeing Zeus actually make a smart decision. The Hunters, Artemis, Thalia, Luke, and Kayla were all shocked, as were the rest of the demigods and their mortal parents, and me.. I simply couldn't believe it.

Artemis wanted to protest, but one glare from Zeus and she was backing down. "Fine.." she muttered in annoyance, and then glared at me and Luke. "..don't make me regret doing this." Zoe was also glaring daggers at me, but I didn't flinch at all.

Artemis then did some sort of thing with her fingers and soon, I noticed both me and Kayla were glowing sliver a bit now.

"Rise forth Kayla Knowles, hunter of Artemis.." Thalia said happily. "Rise forth Luke Castellan and Colton Reynolds, honorary Hunters of Artemis."

Zeus didn't even mutter a word at that. He seemed satisfied with the situation now, while Artemis was still sulking.

"With that out of the way.." Zeus said. "Let's continue forth. Tyson, son of Poseidon!"

Percy's brother looked very nervous, but he went forward to stand in the middle of the crowd as me and Kayla backed off towards Luke and Thalia.

"Doesn't miss many meals, does he?" Zeus said weirdly. I don't know what he meant on that front to be honest. "Tyson, for your bravery in the war, and for leading the Cyclopes.." He, Poseidon, and the Cyclopes had helped send Typhon, who had definitely shown more evidence that he was operating under the orders of someone else outside the city, down to Tartarus.. although his defeat released hordes of storm spirits in the process. I felt bad for the wind gods because of it honestly. Poor souls. "..you are appointed a general in the Armies Of Olympus."

Okay, I did not see that one coming.

"You shall henceforth lead your brethren into war.. whenever you are required to by the Gods. And you shall have a new.. um.." Zeus stated, then stuttered. "..what kind of weapon would you like? A sword? An axe?"

Tyson just held up his broken club. "Stick!" she said back. Gods, help us all, I thought to myself.

"Very well.." Zeus stated. "We will grant you a new.. er.. stick. The best stick that may be found."

"Hooray!" Tyson called, then went back to join the other Cyclopes.

"Grover Underwood of the Satyrs!" Dionysus called next.

Grover stepped forward, nervously chewing his shirt like he expected to be blasted to atoms then and there.

"Oh.. stop chewing your shirt.." Dionysus said to him. "Honestly, I am not going to blast you. For your bravery and sacrifice, blah blah blah.." I couldn't tell if the 'blah blah blah' part was boredom or sarcastic mockery. "..and since we have an unfortunate vacancy, the Gods have seem fit to name you a member of the Council Of Cloven Elders."

The revelation of this proved too much for Grover, as the Satyr immediately fainted and collapsed then and there, causing alarm and concern from some.

"Oh.. wonderful.." Dionysus sighed as several Naiads rushed forward to help Grover and lug him away to a bed. "Well.. when he wakes up.. someone tell him that he will no longer be an outcast, and that all Satyrs, Naiads, and other spirits of nature will henceforth treat him as a Lord of the wild, with all rights, privileges, and honors.. blah blah blah." Again, I couldn't tell if the blah-blahing was boredom or mockery. "Now please, get him somewhere where he can rest before he wakes up and starts groveling."

A split second, Grover demonstrated that he had woken up probably faster than anyone had expected.

"FOOOOOOODD.." he moaned, as the Naiads carried him away. Honestly, I was just proud of him. He had gone from just a regular satyr to a Lord Of The Wild in only like about a decade. That was awesome.

Kayla couldn't help but flash a smile at the sight, from what I noticed of her. "He deserves it.. he deserves it.." she muttered quietly.

Nico was called up next. "Nico Di Angelo, you risked much" Zeus said to him. "For guiding Percy and showing the foresight that the world of the living could not survive without the help of the realm of the dead.. even if in the end, we received crucial assistance from the followers of the Monster King.." Judging from the way he said that last part, Zeus wasn't happy about the humiliation he had received at the heralds' hands from what Kayla had told me. Nico, though, paid that last part little mind.

"If it's all the same, Zeus.." he replied. "..Dad and I will work it out.. along with my sister and our mother. Together." (A/N: The little convo between Nico and Zeus is actually from the graphic novel of The Last Olympian.)

"Annabeth Chase, my own daughter.." Athena called.

I looked at Annabeth and Belle. The latter squeezed Annabeth's arm, as if to assure that she believed in her. Then, Annabeth took a deep breath and walked forward, kneeling at her mother's feet.

Athena smiled down at her, as did Percy from behind Annabeth. From the look in that boy's eyes, I got the sense that he was finally starting to realize that he was in love with her. Finally.

Though.. I could be fooling myself here. Maybe. So I wasn't calling this as a confirmation.

"You, my daughter.." Athena said. "..have exceeded all expectations. You have used your wits, your strength and your courage to defend this city, and our seat of power. It has come to our attention that even with Olympus being the way that is, we feel that the city could be improved. We'll take this battle as an opportunity to do so. And you, my daughter, will design the improvements."

Annabeth looked up at her mother, a stunned expression painted across her face. "My.. my lady?" she asked, stunned.

"You are an architect, are you not?" Athena responded. "You have studied the techniques of Daedalus himself."

I forgot that she still had that laptop that Daedalus gave her last summer. Big oof on my part, honestly.

"Who better to redesign Olympus and make it a monument that will last for another eon?" Athena asked excitedly.

"You mean.." Annabeth started. "..I can design whatever I want?"

This was.. definitely going to be interesting to watch.

"As your heart desires.." Athena replied. "Make a city for the ages."

Cue some of the other gods, including Apollo, piling in with requests for statues of them. Kayla couldn't help but giggle cutely at her father's request, while I just sighed at my father's request. Typical Ares moment.

"All right.." Athena shouted when she had enough, cutting them off. "She gets the point. Rise, my daughter, official architect of Olympus."

Everyone was clapping and cheering as Annabeth, almost in a trance, rose and walked back towards Belle and Percy. They talked for a little bit before Demeter's voice rose.

"Belle Adair.." Demeter called, beckoning her over. "My daughter, come here."

Belle simply froze for a second, took a deep breath, and walked up to her mother's throne and knelt at her mother's feet.

"You have fought so bravely, my dear girl.." Demeter said proudly to her. "By using control over plants and the sword Sunflower alongside your friends and siblings, you have defended Manhattan wonderfully. That's why I want to make you the official gardener of Olympus."

I blinked. Say what now?

Belle simply looked up at her mother, probably in shock. "Mother?" she asked, confused.

"I want you to assist Annabeth in making our home beautiful again. Architecture always needs plants to accompany, after all.." Demeter clarified. On second thought, at least to me, that made much more sense.

"Any plant?" Belle asked.

"Yes.. any plant.." Demeter said, after thinking for a moment. Guessing that is her way of saying "go crazy with it" or something. I didn't know. "I would appreciate some wheat, though. Now rise, Belle."

Belle rose, a bit unsteadily, to her feet, and then walked back to Percy and Annabeth seemingly in a daze. They chatted once more for a brief bit.

"PERCY JACKSON!" Poseidon announced loudly. His roar echoed round the chamber, making us all go so silent the only thing you could hear was the crackling of the fire in Hestia's hearth. Percy looked to Annabeth for support, and the daughter of Athena smiled softly and gave him a subtle nod. All eyes were on him as he walked to the middle of the room. Percy first bowed to Zeus and then knelt at Poseidon's feet. Something about the way Zeus and Poseidon's eyes looked, though, gave me the impression that this had more to do with something else than just simply rewards, possibly to you know.. place Percy back in the spotlight that I had basically taken alongside Kayla.

"Rise, my son.." Poseidon ordered and Percy did so, standing uneasily. I looked at Kayla. "Something's not right here.." I told her. I didn't know what, but it is was as if there was a prophecy here about to be fulfilled - or maybe two - that at least one of them we did not know about.

"A great hero must be rewarded.." Poseidon said, and I rolled my eyes. Of course they hand the big reward onto Percy. Apologies, Ares jealousy kicking in here. "Is there anyone else who would deny that my son is deserving?"

His eyes zeroed in squarely on me, as if I had done something to offend him.

No one protested, despite the fact that Cháris moved - or should I say, hovered - over to me and Kayla out of concern because of Poseidon looking at me.

"The council agrees.." Zeus stated. "Percy Jackson, you will have one gift from the gods."

Luke looked miffed.

I was annoyed - for other reasons.

Percy hesitated, not believing what he was hearing seemingly which made sense, given his story up till now. "Any gift?"

The king of the Gods nodded.. in a grim fashion, which told me all I needed to know. Here we go, god idiot moment coming up.

"I know what you will ask.." Zeus stated, as if this idiot sitting on the center throne of Olympus could predict what the f*ck a son of Poseidon wanted. The next words that came out of his mouth simply confirmed what I had suspected this was about. "The greatest gift of all. Yes, if you want it, it shall be yours. The gods have not bestowed this gift on a mortal hero in many centuries.. but.."

I turned to my left. My siblings looked angry, Clarisse a bit especially. Annabeth looked on, rather annoyed. The rest of camp looked the same way, especially Michael.

I looked to my right. Kayla looked angry too, as did Luke and Thalia. Basically, everyone else was rather not pleased by this, not even Artemis and her hunters, simply because after all I had done, I was being cast aside while Percy got the rewards after all my work put in.

"..Perseus Jackson - if you wish it - you shall be made a god. Immortal. Undying. You shall serve as your father's lieutenant for all time."

Percy looked shocked. Zeus and Poseidon - and to an extent, Dionysus and Athena - seemed absolutely oblivious to the anger in the room.

Percy just stared at Zeus, having trouble comprehending what the King of the Gods had just said. "Um.. a god?" he asked.

"A dim witted God.. apparently" Zeus said, rolling his eyes, which only ticked me off more. "But yes. With the consensus of the entire council, I can make you immortal. Then I will have to put with you forever."

"I approve of that.." Athena said, causing Hera to look at her like she was crazy, as did Aphrodite too.

I just looked at Percy. Don't give in, fool, I thought. Think of Calypso. Think of the unclaimed. Think of Annabeth. Don't be stupid.

There was a very long silence. Eventually, though, one word broke it.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

"No."

The entire council was even more silent than before, if that even was possible. Kayla got a bright smile on her face as murmurs of muffled happiness emitted from inside her closed mouth, happy muffled chortles could be heard to my left and I just smirked as I stared straight into Zeus and Poseidon. Take that.

"No?" Zeus repeated, a dangerous edge in his voice that caused whispers of concern from the crowd. "You are... turning down our generous gift?"

He was shocked that anyone would turn down such a gift. But then again, this was Percy Jackson. If anyone would do that, it would be him.

"I'm honored and everything.." Percy replied. "Don't get me wrong. It's just.. I've got a lot of life left to live. I'd hate to peak in my sophom*ore year."

Zeus, Poseidon, Dionysus, and Athena all glared at him, as did Ares albeit to a lesser extent. Percy turned around to look at Annabeth, and looking at the daughter of Athena, she honestly looked like the happiest girl in the world at that moment. I think, in retrospect, that smirk from Percy to Annabeth was when I knew.. that whether he knew it or not, Percy Jackson had finally fallen in love with Annabeth Chase.

There was more to it than that though. Percy Jackson, after everything that has elapsed, didn't want the spotlight as if he was a true hero.

"I do want a gift, though.." Percy continued, turning back to face the Gods. "Do you promise to grant my wish?"

Zeus pondered for a moment. "If it is within our power."

I couldn't help but chuckle. Knowing Percy, there was no doubt that it most likely would be within their power to honor.

"It is.." Percy said. "And it's not even difficult. I just need your promise on the River Styx."

I gasped, as did Kayla and many others. I took a look at Luke and Thalia. Thalia was in disbelief while Luke was just staring in awe.

"What?" Dionysus exploded. "You don't trust us?"

"Someone once told me that you should always get a solemn oath.." Percy replied, and then turned to look at Hades, who just shrugged and simply replied, "Guilty."

"Very well!" Zeus responded, although his face was definitely thunderous and not in the figurative sense. "In the name of the council, we swear on the River Styx to grant your reasonable request as long as it is within our power."

I snickered. I knew full well what it was, since despite our rivalry, while I had been back at camp after returning from Toronto, me and Percy had been talking in secret, using Iris Messages sent whenever no one was looking to discuss exactly what he was about to say to the gods. I had no idea that he had heard a message in Luke's voice when I had turned into the Monster King.

"From now on.." Percy started. "I want you to properly recognize the children of the gods. All the children.. of all the gods."

A wide smile grew on my face, and turning my head left, only two people had noticed. Clarisse and.. Hestia. The looks on their faces told me everything I needed to know. Both of them weren't surprised and knew exactly that this idea was mine in the first place, and Percy after everything was all too eager to help.

"Percy.. what do you mean exactly?" Poseidon asked obliviously, and I couldn't help but have to make my voice heard.

"You know exactly what he means.." I said back, staring dead on at the God of The Sea. I didn't care that everyone's eyes were on me, nor did I care that Athena seemed to realize that I had been involved in this since she just exclaimed, "You! This was your plan!"

Percy just looked at me and smiled, before turning to Athena. "Guilty as charged.. he wanted change.. I was all too willing to help him with it.." Percy said, and Kayla looked like she had just fallen ever deeper in love with me, and I blushed.

Percy turned back to the Gods again. "Kronos couldn't have risen again if it hadn't been for a lot of demigods who felt abandoned by their parents.." Percy said, and as I turned to the left, I see the Japanese demigod with a eyepatch that had stabbed Annabeth earlier nodding his head in agreement. "They felt angry, resentful, and unloved, and they had a good reason."

Zeus looked furious. "You dare accuse.." he started before he started shouting in pain for a little bit, and Cháris just chuckled.

"Apologies.." he said, mischievously. "..I slipped.."

Kayla giggled in delight.

To be fair, I was starting to like this guy. Zeus just glared at Cháris as did Hera, but the dude in flaming armor didn't flinch.

"No more undetermined children.." Percy continued, meeting Zeus' gaze and not flinching. "I want you to promise to claim your children - all your demigod children - by the time they turn thirteen. They won't be left out in the world on their own at the mercy of monsters. I want them claimed and brought to camp so they can be trained right, and survive."

Apollo looked like he wanted to protest, but Cháris tilted his head in Apollo's direction, and I don't know what Apollo saw, but the Sun God just shut his mouth quickly.

Percy went on. "And the minor gods.." he said. "Nemesis, Hecate, Morpheus, Janus, Hebe - they all deserve a general amnesty and a place at Camp Half Blood. Their children shouldn't be ignored. Calypso and the other peaceful Titan-kind should be pardoned, too. And Hades-.."

"Are you calling me a minor god?" Hades interrupted.

"No my lord.." Percy replied. "But your children should not be left out. They should have a cabin at camp. Nico has proven that. No unclaimed demigods will be crammed into the Hermes Cabin anymore, wondering who their parents are. They'll have their own cabins, for all the gods. And no more pact of the Big Three, or trying to get rid of demigods just because of something that happens to them. That didn't work anyway. You've got to stop trying to get rid of powerful demigods, even if their powers make you look small in comparison."

Some of the Heralds snickered at that remark, much to Zeus' annoyance as well as to Poseidon's annoyance also.

"We're going to train them and accept them instead. All children of the gods will be welcome and treated with respect. That is my wish" Percy finished, and believe me when I say, despite this man being my rival, I couldn't have been any more prouder of him at this moment.

Zeus snorted. "Is that all?"

"Percy.." Poseidon warned. "You ask much. You presume much."

"I hold you to your oath.." Percy stated. "All of you."

The gods all glared at him, which wasn't surprising. Then, along came Athena after a realization in her head, from what it looked like.

"The boy is correct.." she said. "We have been unwise to ignore our children. It proved a strategic weakness in this war and almost caused our destruction. Percy Jackson - I have had my doubts about you before.. and to a lesser extent, Colton Reynolds too.. but perhaps.." Her eyes wandered to Annabeth first, and then to Kayla despite her being a daughter of Apollo, before returning to Percy. "..perhaps I was mistaken. I move that we accept the boy's plan."

Zeus let out a 'hmph' in annoyance. "Being told what to do by a mere child.." he said, really annoyed. "But I suppose.."

"All in favour.." Hermes said, and all the Gods raised their hands, including even Hestia.

"Um.. thanks.." Percy stated before returning to Belle and Annabeth. I thought it was over then, but I was wrong.

"Colton Reynolds.." Ares said, but I honestly hesitated for a bit, not wanting to leave Kayla's side for a moment. Kayla looked into my eyes, her expression telling me she didn't want to let go for a moment either. Not after we had been through so much.

"Colton Reynolds and Kayla Knowles, son of Ares and Daughter Of Apollo respectively.." Apollo stated. "Both of you please come on up."

We looked at each other. "It'll be fine.." I told her, and she nodded. We let go of each other's hands and walked up to bow at Zeus' feet.

"Colton Reynolds.." Apollo started. "..I must admit I had my doubts about you dating my daughter. However, despite you becoming the Monster King, I must admit that I was wrong about you. You truly deserve her, that's for certain. So now.. rise, Colton Reynolds.. son of Ares, and now honorary son of Apollo as well as Typhon."

I was about to get up, having felt a blessing of power surge through my body.. but that's when a chain reaction started.

"I would like to add on to Apollo's.. generous.. blessing.." Ares continued. "..by now declaring that as of this moment, I officially recognize Kayla Knowles as an honorary daughter of Ares."

"I also would like to recognize Kayla Knowles as an honorary daughter of myself because of how cute you are with Colton.." said Aphrodite. "..as well as Kelli for saving Silena's life."

Okay, I did not see that coming.

"I would also like to hand out a blessing to both of you, Colton and Kayla.." Athena said, and then I felt another surge of power through me, each surge making me feel ever more and more powerful. "Henceforth, you two are now also honorary children of Athena."

"A bit unrelated.." said Poseidon and a gasp from Belle and Percy could be heard behind us. "But.. I would like to make Annabeth Chase an honorary daughter of Poseidon for saving my son's life time and time again."

"I would like to add on to that as well, to make you both - Colton and Kayla - honorary children of me too.." Hera stated and another surge of power coursed through me.

"I second that too.." Hecate stated behind us, and along came another surge. "Colton and Kayla are now honorary children of Hecate too."

Then came yet another surge of power as Kronos' spirit spoke. "I believe we would like to join in on this too. From henceforth, Colton Reynolds, Luke Castellan, Chris Rodriguez, and Ethan Nakamura are now honorary sons of Kronos."

More surges came through me as in order Perses, Lelantos, Pallas, Koios, and Prometheus all both declared me and Kayla honorary children of them too. Klymene additionally also blessed Kayla as an honorary daughter of her too.

Then, both of us finally rose and believe me, I felt like I was on a whole different level then and there. I also realized something then and there. With all those blessings, Rachel's prophecy had come to past.

But I didn't care much about that right now. I was too busy enjoying the moment.

I looked at Kayla, and she was so beautiful with all of her blessings. She smiled back at me, and then both of us leaned in and we kissed.. and the crowd around us went absolutely berserk.

It was so perfect.

Absolutely perfect.

Too bad going back to camp.. brought us back to the reality that fate wasn't done with all of us.. not by a long shot.

Chapter 52: XLII. Returning To Camp A Hero Never Felt So Good (But..)

Chapter Text

Alternative Chapter Titles: .. We Find Out The Fates Aren't Done With Us Yet; I Channel My Inner Schroeder; I Come Clean To Camp About What I Know (Again); Beginning Of The Second Giant War Arc, Part One

(A/N: Shout-outs to -JASONSGRACE and Morro11 here, as well as AO3 User liminal for their fanfic "oaths cracked lengthwise (don't let it go)" which is as one tag puts it, "a requiem on the gods' broken promises" and is another fanfic that realistically depicts that after something like the Battle Of Manhattan, the demigods are very much traumatized teens now. Thanks to this user for helping me be inspired in writing at least part of this chapter.)

If one has to wonder when I started to be called the "Sniper Of Olympus", it was in the aftermath of having Rachel's prophecy come to past and becoming alongside my girlfriend, the two most powerful demigods of the campers at Camp Half Blood.

Somebody - I think it was Tyson - shouted 'Hail Colton Reynolds, the Sniper Of Olympus!' during the start of the celebrations on Olympus before we demigods started to head back to Camp Half Blood and the moniker simply spread like wildfire.

Contrary to what probably everyone else had in mind when it came to the two of us, with a simple nod from Kayla, the two of us booked it out of Olympus and headed to the elevator, Kelli deciding to follow us.

It was a bit of an awkward silence that pervaded a while between the three of us as we descended towards the ground floor of the Empire State Building, Manhattan once more hustling and bustling below us with reconstruction efforts going on to repair damage from the battle that had been fought. Eventually, Kelli broke it.

"So are we going to tell them about what's coming..?" she asked worriedly. Kayla sighed, and I just fidgeted with my hands.

"Yeah sure.. but we'll try to do it on our own terms, not those dictated upon us by other forces.." I told them, and they simply nodded in agreement. Oh how naive I was then..

Kelli changed back into her human form so as to not arouse suspicion from mortals. "So.." Kelli started again. "Rachel's prophecy has come to past, hasn't it?"

I nodded, and Kayla did too. I could feel power surging through me like I was made out of nothing but electrical circuits all pulsing with major surges of electricity. It was weird, to be honest. "Yeah it has.." I told Kelli. "Honestly.. I feel like I'm on a whole another level right now."

"Same here.." Kayla said, just as the elevator dinged for the ground floor a few moments later and the doors then opened.

The three of us simply darted through the mobs of dazed mortals once we had exited the building until we came upon the demon horse I - as the Monster King - had used as my mount in the final stages of the battle in an alleyway, simply snacking on hot dogs from a hot dog stand it had dragged over. When it saw me, it let out a low, affectionate neigh, stopped snacking and just walked over to us. It lowered its head and huffed, not doing anything when Kayla came up and petted its head, avoiding its spikes, gently.

It shook itself, and a rope ladder with metal steps unfurled itself on the side of the very tall horse, allowing each of us to climb on. Kayla wrapped her arms around my chest firmly from behind, while Kelli did the same thing.

"To Camp Half Blood, my steed!" I told it, and gave a shake of the reins, and like that, we were off. I'm not sure what we looked like to the mortals, but judging from the fact that basically everyone who looked at us didn't have any horrified looks on their faces and just turned away in boredom, I think the mist made the horse look something more like a double decker bus or something.

I'm not really sure here.

- — - — - — - — -

Somehow, despite the three of us having a head start, we arrived at Camp Half Blood just in time to see none other than Rachel Elizabeth Dare zoom in from above on Blackjack, Percy's pegasus. Needless to say, we were all caught by surprise.

"How?" Kelli asked.

"I don't know.." Kayla said.

"Me neither.." I told them, as the demon horse easily passed through the shield along with Kelli. Guessing one of the Gods gave them both clearance for their deeds. I will admit, camp seemed so peaceful compared to the burning buildings, wounded fighters, and infernal noises in Manhattan for the past couple of days, even if it was still dark out. Actually.. no.. the sun was just beginning to creep up now.

Rachel landed Blackjack on the ground next to the Big Cabin, and I will say, for a clear sighted mortal who has probably never flown a pegasus before, she made that landing look so damn easy. Hopping off of Blackjack, she walked up to the bottom of the porch steps and raised her arms. I pulled in on the reins and halted the demon horse close to the Big House too, just as the place started to go berserk.

Every closed window opened, green light shot outside from every window, and magical mist began to swirl around the yard. The demon horse reared upwards, startled by this, and Kayla and Kelli clung on to me and Kayla respectively for dear life to avoid falling over. The horse settled back down eventually, and we all hopped off of it, Kayla keeping the horse calm as we all watched the scene along with Blackjack.

"What are you doing?" I called out to Rachel, but she didn't respond.

I tried again.

No response, so I just let the matter drop for now.

Kelli and Kayla both looked nervous, as neither of them, like me, had seen anything like this. We had all both been there for a good long while before Chiron, laying on a horse sized stretcher with a bunch of Satyrs carrying it and him came up over the ridge and stopped dead in their tracks.

"Colton.." Chiron said. "..what is going on..?"

I shrugged. "I have no idea.." I told him. "We just about got here when Rachel flew in, walked up to the Big House after getting off of Blackjack.. and just raised her arms and this started happening. I can't tell you anything more."

Soon enough, a bunch of footsteps behind us, while the Satyrs sat Chiron's stretcher down in the volleyball pit nearby, indicated that others had arrived. Turning around, we noticed coming up towards the Big House none other than Argus, followed by Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Belle Adair, and Nico Di Angelo. Needless to say, the four demigods who had returned to camp were just about as equally confused as the rest of us.

"Uh..." Belle started, but Annabeth interrupted.

"What is she doing..?" Annabeth asked. "And how'd she get past the barriers?"

"We don't know exactly what she is doing.." Kelli replied to them, neither side demonstrating uneasy feelings towards the other now. "..and as to how she got in.. she flew in."

"She flew in on Blackjack.. right past the dragon, right through the magical boundaries.." Kayla added. "Someone must have given the horse and Kelli clearance too because we came in on land and didn't have a thing happen to either of them."

"Rachel!" Percy yelled. However, the Satyrs stopped him when he tried to get closer to Rachel. I didn't know why, but I had a feeling that I was about to find out. By this time, gradually the rest of the camp - including the Hunters and strangely Artemis was absent from the hunters for some reason - were also now arriving. They too were baffled by what was going on.

"Percy, don't.." Chiron warned, wincing in pain as he tried to move his partially bandaged body. "You can't interrupt."

"I thought you explained things to her!" Percy shot back.

"I did.." Chiron retorted. "..and I invited her here."

I looked at Kayla. You have any idea as to what he is talking about? I asked her telepathically.

She shrugged her shoulders. Your guess is as good as mine darling, she replied back.

I looked back at Percy, who was staring at Chiron at disbelief. "You said you'd never let anyone try again! You said-.." Percy started, then Chiron interrupted him. I was even more confused now.

"I know what I said, Percy" replied Chiron. "But I was wrong. Rachel had a vision about the curse of Hades. She believes it may be lifted now. She convinced me she deserves a chance."

"And if the curse isn't lifted? If Hades hasn't gotten to that yet, she'll go crazy!" Percy shouted back. Then it hit me.

The Oracle.

Hades must have placed a curse on the Oracle in the past. That's what this is all about. Suddenly, I was a bit worried for the Dare girl now.

More mist swirled around Rachel, and she shivered as if she was going into shock or something. It was a bit concerning.

"Hey!" Percy shouted, running towards her and ignoring the protests from the satyrs. "Stop!"

He hit something invisible after going about ten feet and bounced back onto his butt, landing in the grass. Everyone looked on a bit in alarm, but I instantly knew what exactly Percy had hit.

"Force field.." I muttered to Kayla and Kelli, and they nodded. Rachel turned to us now with her eyes open, and she looked an awful lot like she was sleepwalking, like it was a little bit creepy to be honest here.

"It's all right.." she spoke, her voice seeming far away now. "This is why I've come."

"You'll be destroyed!" Percy retorted.

Rachel shook her head. "This is where I belong, Percy. I finally understand why."

Percy tried to get to his feet - he was definitely struggling to do so - but it looked like he was being held down by something. Belle gripped the keychain of Sunflower tightly after she had reached down to it, trying to calm her nerves. Annabeth and Nico stood back and watched, both probably aware that they could do little to intervene in what was taking place literally right in front of all of us right now.

The Big House rumbled.. like no seriously.. it tumbled.. green light pouring out everywhere as the door swung wide open. Mist curled up into what seemed like over or close to a hundred serpents that idled about in a lazy manner before they slithered up the porch columns and curled around the house. More mist shot towards the doorway and curled around the figure standing there like serpents too as well.

The figure that moved forward out of all that mist was instantly recognizable.

It was the Oracle herself in her rainbow dress, shuffling forward. I felt Kayla's hands cling to one of mine in worry, and I pulled her close to me to keep her calm. The demon horse behind us took some audible steps back in response too.

The mummy that was our Oracle.. she looked.. way worse than the night I had gotten that prophecy from her over three years ago. Her hair was falling out all over the place in clumps and her leathery-like skin was cracking, crusty and dry like no human's skin ever was before.

Even though her glassy eyes stared blankly in space, she seemed to be focusing directly on Rachel apparently.

Rachel held out her arms, not looking scared at all. "You've waited too long. But I'm here now."

The sun then suddenly blazed more brightly, and what then appeared floating above the porch..

.

.

.

.

..was none other than my girlfriend's godly father, Apollo.

The god winked at Percy - I believe - after Percy behind me said his name and Apollo also held a finger to his lips.

"Rachel Elizabeth Dare.." Apollo spoke. "You have the gift of Prophecy. But it is also a curse. Are you sure you want this?"

Rachel simply nodded at Apollo. "It is my destiny.." she replied back.

"Do you accept the risks?"

"I do."

"Then proceed."

Rachel then closed her eyes, and recited this pledge from where.. I have seriously no idea exactly where she got those words from, but they just flowed out of her as the mist thickened around her. A green column of smoke flowed out of the Oracle's mouth and slithered down the stairs curling affectionately at Rachel's feet. Mist then proceeded to completely envelop both Rachel and the Oracle and conceal them from anyone else's view at all for a while, even though I was pretty sure that for a brief moment or two, I could see the Oracle's body literally crumbling into dust.

Then the smoke cleared, revealing Rachel collapsed on the ground curled up in a fetal position and nothing left of the past Oracle anymore. Without hesitation, I rushed forward, letting Kayla's hands go and I was pretty sure that a few people behind me did the same.

"Stop!" Apollo shouted, stopping us dead in our tracks. I had halted roughly about 7 feet away from Rachel, being the closest to her. "This is the most delicate part."

"What's going on?" Percy asked, confused. "What do you mean?"

Apollo stared at Rachel in concern, and I figured it out immediately. "Either the spirit takes hold inside of her, or it doesn't" I said.

"Correct, my boy.." Apollo confirmed.

"And if it doesn't?" Annabeth questioned.

"Five syllables.." Apollo said, counting them on his fingers. "That would be real bad."

I could hear someone ignoring what Apollo said and coming forward, so when they were right next to me, I quickly reached up with my arm and grabbed them by the shirt collar, holding them in place.

"LET ME GO!"

It was Percy.

"Dude.. chill.. I don't know her, but she'll likely be fine.." I told him, and he seemed to calm down. The mist sunk into the ground and the green light faded, but Rachel was still pale and she seemed to be barely breathing.

Rachel's eyes then fluttered open, focusing on the two of us with difficulty.

"Percy. C..Colton" she muttered.

"Are you okay?" Percy asked, concerned.

Rachel attempted to sit up and press her hand to her temples. "Ow."

The next words from Nico.. they were very concerning. "Rachel, your life aura almost faded completely.." Nico said to her. "I could see you dying."

I felt like an asshole now for holding Percy back like that now. I shouldn't have done that. Sometimes, I hate being me.

"I'm all right.." Rachel murmured. "Please, help me up. The visions — they are a little disorienting."

At that, I released Percy's shirt collar and he, Annabeth, and Belle ran over and gently helped Rachel to her feet.

"Rachel, are you really sure you're all right?" Annabeth asked her. Just then, Apollo floated down from the porch and interrupted in typical Apollo fashion. "Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce the new Oracle of Delphi."

So Rachel had been destined for this after all. She hadn't been lying at all. Wow.

I definitely was a bit speechless to be honest here. Annabeth blinked. "You're kidding."

Rachel just managed to give Annabeth a weak smile. "It's a little surprising to me too.." she added. "..but this is my fate. I saw it when I was in New York. I know why I was born with true sight. I was meant to become the Oracle. Finding out those few words in my head about the Monster King was actually a prophecy was what sealed the deal about it for me."

Percy tilted his head at her, skeptically I might add. "You mean you can tell the future now..?"

A pang of worry, fear, and despair crept up in my stomach now at those words, and I shuddered and quietly gulped.

Future.. oh f*ck..

I forgot about that part.

What lay ahead for all of us.

"Not all the time.." Rachel responded. "But there are visions, images, words in my mind. When someone asks me a question, I.." She paused. "Oh no.."

I took a glance at Kelli and Kayla. Neither of them liked the sound of that. No one else, aside from maybe Apollo, knew it then, but judging from the last two words and our knowledge of what is to come, I think it was safe to say that the three of us knew that a prophecy was coming.

"It's starting.." Apollo announced.

Rachel doubled over. Then, she stood up straight and her eyes glowed a very familiar serpent green. When she began to speak, her voice sounded tripled and out of her lips was what was, in every conceivable sense, a reminder of just how not done fate was with us at this point in time.

"Eleven half bloods shall answer the call.. drawing many with them on a journey beyond all.

Through heaven and hell many will go.. but to storm or fire the world must fall.

The Queen's powers shall unlock when needed most.. and the web of fears shall wilt in its wrath.

Love arises to help fall another.. and the gun shall bear the test brought in the mire.

Against many he and his forces will stand.. and unleash the rage on where they stand.

Between him and the future he demands.. are three usurpers bent on revenge.

Two pantheons collide in the tower of hell.. and the Monster King's rage bore forth to save all.

An oath to keep with a final breath.. and foes bear arms to the doors of death."

We all just looked at her in absolute shock. Of course, like I said, the trio of me, Kayla, and Kelli had at least some inkling of what was to come, but nothing like.. this. It was chilling, to say the least.

At the last word, Rachel collapsed again.. but Nico and Percy caught her and helped her to the porch. Kelli, Kayla, and I shared worried looks with each other.

"I'm alright.." Rachel reassured us.. 'tried to' would be a better way to describe it, even as her voice returned to normal.

Percy's eyebrows just knit in thought. "What was that?" he asked. Deep down inside, I had a very good feeling as to exactly what that was. I didn't like it one bit at all.

Rachel shook her head, mostly likely confused as it was likely she had no memory of what she had just said. "What was what?" she asked.

Then, Apollo sealed the deal and confirmed my worst fears.

"I believe that we just heard the next great prophecy.." he replied, causing Kayla and Kelli's jaws to drop open in horror. I was.. livid, and that's putting it mildly to be honest with you all.

"Oh, f*ck off.." I muttered quietly under my breath. It suddenly dawned on me that my dreams about Gaea, Tartarus, Porphyrion, and Periboia as well as the other weird dreams weren't exactly dreams of just the future, but dreams of the near future."

Belle blinked. Luke just looked on in shock, Ethan had a worried look on his face, Chris' expression was just 'oh god not again', and Annabeth was just.. perplexed to put it lightly. Of course, this was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to the reactions of camp. "Didn't we just have one?" she asked Apollo.

Rachel frowned. "I don't even remember what I said.." she spoke, confirming my suspicions about her not remembering exactly what she had said.

"No, you won't remember.." Apollo clarified for Rachel, ignoring Annabeth's question in the process. "The spirit will only speak through you occasionally. The rest of the time, our Rachel will be much as she's always been. There's no point in grilling her, even if she has just issued the next big prediction for the future of the world."

"What?" Percy cut in, obviously caught off guard by that. "But-.."

"Percy, I wouldn't worry too much.." Apollo said to him. "The last great prophecy about you took almost seventy years to complete. This one may not even happen in your lifetime."

Unfortunately for Apollo, it was extremely likely that he was dead wrong on that one.

Belle looked deep in thought, as did Annabeth.

"Maybe.." Percy continued. "But it didn't sound so good."

"No.." Apollo said cheerfully. "It certainly didn't. She's going to make a wonderful Oracle!"

That's when I snapped and decided to be a killjoy.

"Unfortunately for us.." I said. "..this will be on us sooner than most of us think."

Everyone turned to me. I didn't flinch from all the attention. I figured at this moment, well.. might as well reveal to them what else me, Kayla, and Kelli are hiding.

"Colton.." Apollo said, suspiciously. "..what exactly do you mean by that?"

I looked at Kelli, then at Kayla. Both of them nodded. Then, I sighed and front of all of those present, I spoke. "I must confess.. there have been some more secrets I have been keeping from all of you.. secrets that only Kayla has come to know of recently.." I started. "..when I first ran into Kelli in the labyrinth, she informed of some things that were really so disturbing at the time I thought it was best to not tell anyone about them. Kelli, though serving in Kronos' army, actually was a double agent for Gaea."

Some gasps in the crowd arose at that revelation. "Correct.." Kelli added. "But I changed.. realized that neither of them would offer a better future for mortals and demigods and lesser deities. But that's not the point here."

I took back over. "She's right.." I added. "The point is, she told that Gaea is making moves and planning and plotting her return soon. She's bringing back the Gigantes too."

Everyone's eyes, aside from Kelli and Kayla, grew wide at those statements from my mouth. "Colton.. please tell me you're kidding.." Clarisse said, trying very hard it seemed not to believe what I was saying.

"I wish I could, sister.." I said back to her mournfully. "I wish I could. But it's true. She has already risen one of them in Alaska, the bane of Hades."

"Alcyoneus.." Apollo said. I nodded, and then continued.

"I have also had dreams recently.. of what is to come, I believe. But before that, somehow the bane of Hades isn't the only one that's risen.." I said, and Apollo's eyes grew even wider.

"Wait.. wait.. hold up.." he said. Chiron nearby looked very worried as well. Apollo continued, "..you're telling me that there is more than one giant out there right now?"

I had to nod, unfortunately. "Kelli noticed Porphyrion and Periboia lurking in the trees around the camp border after the Battle of the Labyrinth last summer, in human form somehow while we were talking with Hera that day. They're back too, and possibly Enceladus as well. The thing is.. the king of the Giants and his daughter are not on Gaea's side anymore."

Everyone was dumbfounded by that one. "What?" Percy asked.

Kayla filled in the blanks for them. "They're after Colton's Monster King power.." she stated, and a even more worrisome look crept over everyone else's faces. Apollo looked beyond terrified now.

"As crazy as this might all sound, it actually gets worse because of the two.. possibly three giants betraying their parents.." I said uncomfortably, and everyone seemed to shiver since I hadn't mentioned the part about Gaea and Tartarus having new kids to anyone yet, not even Kayla or Kelli.

"Colton.." Kayla said, looking at me worriedly. "..how exactly does them coming after your power make this upcoming war any worse?" She definitely looked like she wouldn't like what the answer to her question was.

I took a deep breath, and then I told them. "One of my recent dreams, right before the battle in Manhattan, was of Gaea and Tartarus. Their conversation in it revealed to me that.. they have given life to more Gigantes. Six of them, to be exact. Three to replace Porphyrion, Enceladus and Periboia, and three born to oppose Demeter, Hera, and Hestia."

Everyone looked freaked out of their minds now at that bit of info. "You can't be serious.." Percy said to me.

I looked at him, worry in my face too. "Well.. I don't f*cking know why exactly I had these dreams, but I did.. and yeah.. they said that in my dreams. So lo and behold.. it's probably likely that we don't have long to wait before we have to fight for our lives and the fate of the world.. again.." I said bluntly to him, and I probably should have been more careful with my words, given that we had all just fought the battle of our lives.. only for it to not be over for us.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Because I basically broke camp emotionally. If there was ever an award for single-handily pushing a large group of demigods and semi-immortal hunters and huntresses - minus yourself and your girlfriend and your monster friend as well as the God of the Sun who happens to be your girlfriend's godly dad, plus also your activities director - then with those words, I had probably just won that award hands down. That's how badly I had misjudged in saying those exact words.

Grief swept through everyone else like wildfire, except given all the tears, it was more like 'wild water' if anyone wanted to be factually accurate here.

Storm clouds up in the sky form and darken around the barrier, a visual maelstrom likely answering to Percy's fluctuating moods at the moment. Either way, this wasn't good at all. Nor was it surprising, for Mr. D, who had come over the ridge moments ago, doesn't have it in himself to criticize this. We're Greeks after all, our lives were meant to be tragedies for the most part; desperate, unyielding mourning is in our blood.

Still, I had to do something to calm down the sobbing, wailing mass of kids here. That's when it hit me.

The piano.

Lee had given me plenty of lessons on it in the past. If I only could play something soothing that could calm them down..

It was a long shot sure, but at this moment, it was better than nothing.

So I let go of Kayla's hand again, and I took off running into the Big House, ignoring the startled cries of Kayla and Kelli behind me. I had to find the piano.

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.

.

It took me two desperate minutes, but I eventually found it with sheet music of Beethoven's Piano Sonata Number Ten In G Major, First Movement set up on it in one of the rooms on the second floor close to the front.. with three open windows. Perfect.

Amongst all the sobbing, wailing, crying, and screaming from outside, I hopped down onto the piano seat, did a quick little stretch of my fingers and began to play. Believe me when I say.. that blessing of Apollo worked wonders here.. because even though I had never played this piece at all before, when I needed to play it good the most which was right now, I played it to perfection and then some.

It was close to seven minutes of playing on the piano, probably one of the most clutch seven minutes periods of my life if I had to be honest, but.. it worked.

People stopped crying and sobbing uncontrollably and calmed down, joining in with Kayla and Kelli in a little clapping celebration when I came back out.

"I really should have worded that better.." I muttered out loud, and Clarisse punched me in the shoulder. I didn't flinch, since I deserved that entirely.

"Yeah, you should have, jerk.." she said to me, before hugging me tightly. I just hugged her back.

The scene moved everyone else, and while two gods, some satyrs, and Chiron looked on, in a scene reminiscent of two years ago under the light of a campfire, the other campers all joined in on the massive group hug. Even all the Hunters and Kelli did as well.

I looked up at the crest of Half Blood Hill. There stood the Heralds, behind which were twelve human figures that had the auras of the wardens, Asterios being clearly noticeable and recognizable, which could mean that these were the human forms of the wardens. All of them simply looked at me with smiles on their faces, being proud of their king and queen, and it made my day.

Hugging as many of my fellow friends, fellow campers, and half siblings as I could, as well as Kayla, I simply said this.

"We're family, and just like before, we're all going to get through this together. No matter what they throw at us. I swear it on the River Styx."

That, along with the cuteness of what was happening here, made me not mind the internally chilling, long and loud bout of malicious, creepy, evil, and malevolent laughter that my Monster King voice started inside me.

Not mind it at all.

Even as a familiarly creepy portion of music played alongside it.

To be continued..

(A/N: And yeah.. all of Colton's secrets are now out of the bag. And yes.. alternative chapter titles aren't kidding here.. this war will be starting much sooner than in canon.

An interlude awaits, and then we can get on with the final arc of this book!)

Chapter 53: Interlude - Change Is Constant

Chapter Text

(A/N: With the usual shout-outs to -JASONSGRACE and Imaginebooks here, plus TsarinaTorment and TheTimeTraveler24, some new people are getting shout-outs here because going forward, their OCs will be characters in this fanfic. So shout-outs to goddessofwisdom- , Az56796743 , and Galatea-Green-31 here too as some of their characters (that I like) make their debut in my fanfic in the final interlude.

One note in here about the new faces - I can't help but low key insert a couple of Hunger Games characters. However, despite them basically being mostly the same characters from that franchise, these two are OCs in this one, adapted to this franchise for convenience so this remains a PJO fanfic.

One small casting change announcement due to Az56796743 since their OC (who is played in their fanfic by Sadie Sink, who I will announce now plays Rachel Elizabeth Dare in this series and Adagio Dazzle (Equestria Girls) in the expanded/crossover version of the series, first book of which I am concurrently working on and that one is called "Keeper Of Their Hearts") has to be cast by a different member. So, with an early Book Two casting here now.. welcome Claire Capek who playing Adriana Sendria (Az56796743 's OC).

So yeah, there's all that.

With that out of the way, on to the chapter!)

- — - — - — - — -

It could safely be said that in the next two weeks, a lot of things changed around Camp Half Blood. After the battle, Chiron extended the camp session by another four weeks, which was.. to put it bluntly in my own opinion.. very, very generous indeed.

Probably the defining moment of all of this - and the figurative thumbnail to it - was me and my Ares cabin siblings' father Ares himself visiting camp only hours after Rachel had become Oracle to once again make another camper an honorary son of Ares, this time being none other than Michael Yew. Needless to say, both me and Kayla were very proud of him.. and believe me, it honestly suited Michael.

As to how things changed, the place changed in quite a number of ways. First of all, where the seeking satyrs had been finding very few demigods during the war except really young ones every once in a while, now we had once more had kids starting middle school and some older than that joining the ranks of camp. And believe me, with me and some of the other experienced campers including Luke and Percy being called out to assist the satyrs, some of the introductions of campers to the Greek world also served as a jumpstart introduction - both to me in terms of the abilities I could now use, most from the blessings but quite a few related to me being the Monster King - and the new demigod(s) that had to been explained then and there that I wasn't your typical demigod.

I won't go into much details on what transpired on some of these outings, as the information contained in them would likely lead me away from what I'm discussing here, but just so you know, one of these outings did lead me to bump into a demigod from another Pantheon.. Egyptian, I think it was. No.. this one has no idea that I'm the Monster King, since given the King's past, it was probably for the better that I avoided confrontations with other pantheons both for the sake of Olympus and for myself. (A/N: Before you say anything, no he did not bump one of the Kane siblings, though I will admit, it was definitely one of their fellow Egyptian demigods. I'll reveal which one when we get the Giants' Tower in Book Three.)

Point is, we were bringing new campers at higher levels than before, and I was witnessing it along with everyone else first hand. We were all getting new siblings left and right, and kids from not just deities, but Titans as well were showing up. Some of them were more interesting than others for different reasons, and some of them.. I had a feeling that given what was coming, they would play some sort of role in the next Great Prophecy. I just had no idea how at this moment in time.

One of my newest siblings in the Ares Cabin, a thirteen year old girl by the name of Clove Vasquez, definitely took after me in a way, and I couldn't help but somehow rapidly become one of her favorite older siblings. She was a bit shorter than me at five foot three inches tall, with dark hair that was usually either in a ponytail or a braid, dark eyes, and some freckles.

The unusual thing about Clove was that as her preferred choice of weapon, she used a different ranged type of weapon that wasn't a Greek weapon. Whereas I was using guns, she used knives, particularly very sharp throwing knives. She was accurate and lethal with them, making me wonder when exactly she had started learning to throw them.

If Clove was small and vicious, with looks that were both beautiful and could also make you sh*t your pants if she got angry, then her best friend was the big, up close and personal brute counterpart that could make you run screaming for your life. I am not exaggerating on this one.

Cato Richards was a son of Kratos, the Greek god of strength, and believe me, he fit the definition of a demigod son of Kratos to a T. He was just above my height, at 6 feet tall at only fifteen years of age. But this dude was packing muscle, with a robust stature and very powerful, well-muscled arms. With short-cropped dirty blonde hair and ice blue eyes, the dude looked like an absolute tank. Plus, he had been training with a sword, his preferred weapon of choice, so much he was already one of the best swordsmen - right up there approaching Luke by the time he had arrived at camp.

Kayla's cabin also got a new sibling as well, and before I mention some of the other new campers that got on my radar, I'll describe the new Apollo camper here. Whereas Cato and Clove were both strong - in their own separate ways and absolutely scary, A.J. Hood was scrawny, un-athletic and yet still beautiful in her own way. With blonde hair, glasses, and a mostly skinny frame, at fifteen years old.. she had nearly died to an Aethopian Drakon near the border of camp that me and the guys (and yes, a large group of male campers from camp including me) collectively managed to kill in a team effort with zero casualties, thus saving her life. Needless to say, she was rather grateful for the intervention. Aruna, Aurora, Kayla, Victoria, and Alice all have really taken a liking to her.

Some of the other campers were rather interesting for known reasons and some for reasons that didn't seem to jump out at me, yet still left me convinced that they would be interesting to observe at least.

Alec Thompson was one of those who was of the first category, being interesting since when he was claimed roughly 8 hours after arriving at camp, it was by the Titan Hyperion. So, in addition to having a great hero in Percy, the astronomically powerful duo of me and Kayla, the Ghost King in Nico Di Angelo, and a few other dudes (Luke, Ethan, Annabeth, Chris) that had been claimed and blessed by more than just their original godly parent, we also now had a Demi-Titan in our ranks at Camp Half Blood. Needless to say, it was a weird thing to adjust to.

Rose Louloudi was of the second category, being a rather pretty daughter of Demeter that showed up at camp three days after the end of the Battle Of Manhattan. She didn't have much on the outside that made her interesting, yet I had a gut feeling that there was more to her than met the eye. So, I just observed her from a distance for now. Belle just adores Rose, to be honest. She practically dotes on her a lot of the time.

Another redheaded beauty showed up a day later and if a Demi-Titan was weird, then having basically a Demi-primordial in our ranks just added more confusion to the mix. Adriana Senderia was a daughter of Gaea that definitely made more than a few heads turn at camp, with her beautiful appearance and flowing red hair, that's for sure. I probably would have too, if I wasn't you know.. already dating an even more beautiful redhead that meant the world to me at that time.

So yeah.. we were getting an interesting mix of campers.

Cabins were going up in rapid succession. Construction of the Hades Cabin, the Nemesis Cabin, the Kronos Cabin, and The Typhon Cabin had started only about three hours after Rachel had become the Oracle. The number of cabins in construction (or in queue for construction) then rapidly increased in the following days as Cato's arrival at camp put the Kratos Cabin on the list, followed swiftly a couple hours afterwards by the Iris Cabin as Butch Walker, who had been saved by Kelli prior to the Battle of Manhattan (and who he was now rather fond of), was claimed by.. Iris, of course.

Side note here, the other demigod Kelli saved - Damien White - was claimed by Nemesis around the same time, so Ethan now had a sibling related by his 'biological' (given that Gods don't have DNA, we use this term loosely here) godly parent. Being a fellow son of Nemesis, in typical Nemesis fashion, his reaction to it was something along the lines of half happy, half frustrated. For what reason he was half frustrated, I have no clue.

Then, another couple of cabins were added to the list moments after Butch's claiming when twins Holly and Laurel Victor were claimed by Nike, followed shortly afterwards by Clovis, a new sleepy dude who got claimed by Hypnos.

Then, of course with Alec and Adriana coming along, that boosted the list up even further, in addition to the fact that we also had the Hecate, Hebe, and Tyche cabins on the list of cabins to built as well, since we now had kids from those three gods and goddesses that they had claimed in among us. So yeah.. things were changing a lot around Camp Half Blood.

It wasn't just Camp Half Blood where change was occurring. Well.. change and exploration, as well. Mind you.

Like that one dream about the lake had foretold, when some of us had gone down to the lake one day, part of the hillside on the northwest side was now gone and there was a portal that led into another dimension and straight to that imposing castle from the same dream.

I hadn't seen Cháris or any of the other heralds for a while, but I am sure it was a shock to the new campers when he appeared out of nowhere while those campers who had went to the lake and found it were talking to Chiron after having run back to the dining pavilion, since we were having breakfast at the time that morning. Cháris was really exerting insane control over his fiery armor, keeping his flames to just bare minimum.. that is, you could still see them but the flames were quelled to the point that there was zero chance he would accidentally cause a fire and burn down the camp.

Fifteen minutes later, there was me and Kayla with Cháris by our side stepping through the portal with everyone else watching as we disappeared through it. Stepping out the other side, staring up at the imposing castle in front of us, seemed so surreal, yet felt so natural.

As if this was where me and Kayla were meant to be.

One of the other heralds, the one in dark armor, was waiting for us at the foot of the drawbridge that led over the moat.

"Welcome home, your highnesses.." he said to us, bowing respectfully and then kneeling at our feet as if we were ourselves gods, which was a little bit unnerving.

I looked at Kayla. She seemed to look the same way.

"Atmos.. please.. chill with the formalities, brother.." Cháris said to the figure in dark armor, who merely started to profusely apologize to his brother. Cháris then turned to us.

"You'll have to excuse Atmos.." he told us. "Comparatively, he's the youngest of us heralds.. so he tried a bit harder than he should sometimes."

"Point taken.." I said back to him as hand in hand with Kayla, we walked over the drawbridge and into the castle. Behind the first wall was what could be described as an army camp, but filled with monsters of all kinds, rather fitting if you ask me.

If I had to judge from what I could see around us, I estimate that there were at least several hundred monsters in the area between the outer and inner walls. Doubtless hundreds more lurked on the other side hidden from our view by the castle in front of us.

"Looks.. a bit rustic.. and dirty.." Kayla commented, definitely not at all amused by the filthy, cobweb littered, and torch lit interior that greeted us after a pair of skeleton warriors pulled the main doors to the castle open. "If I'm going to live like a queen, I demand you all clean this pigsty." She looked at Cháris with a very annoyed look on her face. "The kids in the Athena Cabin as well as my own siblings in the Apollo Cabin always kept things clean."

She then proceeded to tear into Cháris, delivering an angry rant to him about how filthy the interior was before storming back out to return to Camp Half Blood, escorted by two other heralds, the ones in water and earth themed armor respectively.

I cleared my throat. "Even with.. this.. subpar mess of an interior, would you mind showing me where you keep the records from the past, if you all have them?" I asked Cháris. He nodded.

"Of course, my liege.." he replied, and then proceeded to guide me through the murky, decrepit, dark and dirty interior of the castle. Even with lit torches everywhere, it had obviously not had people inside it for a long while and it showed.

And to think that this was going to be me and Kayla's residence on official Monster King and Queen related business.. probably would be wise to ask Chiron about if the Gods have any good exterminators and cleaners on their payroll right now. I jotted that thought down to do later.

- — - — - — - — -

The Typhon Cabin was completed on the same night as the Kronos, Nemesis, and Hades Cabins, which was a couple days after all the stuff at the castle went down, and me and Kayla instantly moved into it. Whoever built this cabin - I hadn't been paying attention to who had been working on this - had an insanely cool sense of design because while the cabin looked normal on the outside, apart from the swirling masses of black mist that looped around the roof on the outside in multiple, narrow bands, the inside had basically unlimited space. The floor was like you were walking in mid air, and the cabin counselor room, basically co-shared by me and Kayla, was also customized.. with half of the room being stocked with my stuff, with a bathroom on my side, and the other half being stocked with Kayla's stuff, with a bathroom on her side.

Needless to say, being inside it knowing we were basically the only occupants of the cabin now, it was safe to say that we started to understand how Percy must have felt when he had - and basically still does for the most part - the Poseidon cabin all to himself.

"Compared to the castle.." Kayla remarked to me. "..this is way better. Though to be fair.. it does feel a little bit odd being made co-counselors when we're not kids of Nike."

I simply nodded, because yeah it kinda did feel weird. Plus, like I said earlier, it was just us in the cabin. So yeah.. it was weird. It didn't stop Kayla and I from enjoying it anyway.. as for the first time in what seemed like forever, we could finally make out with each other and not have to bother with people walking in on us. We made out with each other for a good long while that night before we both went to bed.

What neither me or Kayla noticed that night outside the cabin was the multiple pairs of pure red eyes that watched us from the dark woods in the distance, pairs of red eyes that I would find out who the owners of them were.. all too soon.

(A/N: Turns out I'm not quite done with the Ninja Turtles references yet. You'll find out more very, very soon.)

Chapter 54: XLIII. We Get Drawn To A Mysterious Building Appearing Out Of Nowhere

Chapter Text

Alternative Chapter Title: Beginning Of The Second Giant War Arc, Part Two

(A/N: This chapter - the inspirations for this one are definitely all over the place, just a fair warning here for this one. I'm changing gears here, as the TMNT inspirations mainly come from Season One, specifically Episode 13 of that season, "Notes From The Underground, Part One". References from that episode in this chapter, plus some from Season Five as well. That as well as some Scooby Doo stuff too. This arc is also inspired by the Foot Clan from TMNT.. in particular the various incarnations of these common foes of the Turtles over the years.

Shout-outs to -JASONSGRACE , Imaginebooks , Az56796743 , goddessofwisdom- , and Galatea-Green-31 here since their OCs all appear in this chapter and the next few as well. Also shout-outs to TsarinaTorment and TheTimeTraveler24 here too because the composite OC (Alice) based off of their versions of that OC character appears here too.

Anyways, enjoy the chapter!)

((Series Related Note: If you see something like "(** _ **)" at a certain point in some of these chapters coming up and in other fanfics I'm doing, it's a sign that I have some music from another fandom that I think fits really, really well with what is happening in the chapter it is placed in. Thank you for taking the time to read this message. Back to the chapter-scheduled content below.))

- — - — - — -

One small fact that I forgot to mention last time, my sister Clarisse was made an honorary daughter of Hermes too, much to Chris' pride.

Anyway.. back to what I was going to talk about this time.

- — - — - — - Switch To Third Person POV - — - — - — -
(** Please play Eerie (Score) from the original Scooby Doo Where Are You soundtrack. Music is up on YouTube courtesy of one user named "Montgomery Gator." Repeat as many times as you have to until the POV switches again.**)

Deep in the woods of Long Island only a few miles from Camp Half Blood and in between Camp and New York City, in a large clearing, the mist was amplifying itself in full force in a mysterious fashion on this night.

The mist, green as ever, condensed at a massive rate in this particular clearing, rapidly gathering in massively large quantities until it covered an area of ground about 370 yards long by 320 yards wide, almost the entire clearing. Within this mass of mist, as if by magic, the ground cracked into multiple pieces, as if an earthquake rupturing the ground decided to appear and contain itself to just that area, and then the ground sank, creating a massive hole that took up almost all of the area covered by the mist, its edges jagged yet also partially rounded like those of a circle.

The sounds of ground moving against each other could be heard a while as it sounded that something was rising up from that hole. Then, out of the hole, came the Greek-like roof of a building.

A large and tall building, to be exact. It looked like a temple mixed with that of a department store, at least on the outside. Then again, this was what could be seen as a shadow through all of the green mist as this strange, mysterious building on a mass of land that when fully risen made the gap between it and the rest of the ground on Long Island an earthen moat about 5 yards long and 8 feet deep that was hexagonal in shape, rose from base to roof about 4 stories into the air. Magically, at the entrance which looked like a typical Greek entrance to a temple, an arching stone bridge like the type used in the mid 19th Century formed to connect the building over the earthen dry moat to the rest of Long Island.

In the shadows of the night, a large, shadowy creature slipped out the front doors of the mysterious shadowy building that had rose out from below in the concealing mass of mist. It decided to take a little stroll around the area, a stroll that while innocent enough, it would have far-reaching consequences in what it unintentionally started.

- — - — - — - Switch Back To Colton's POV - — - — - — -

The morning after the end of last chapter (and the third person POV segment above)..

For some reason this morning, at least to me, the very air smelled of a fight on the horizon somewhere close. I couldn't tell you why, it just did.

I had fallen asleep and sleep well snuggling with Kayla for our first night in the Typhon Cabin. To be fair really, despite sleeping well, it still felt weird waking up that morning and not seeing anyone else other than your girlfriend in the cabin with you. Of course, it would probably take a while before it became normal, so.. I shouldn't be too concerned about it. After all, Percy has the Poseidon Cabin all to himself, as does technically a few other people, like the Victor twins in the Nike Cabin, Lou Ellen in the Hecate Cabin, Damien in the Nemesis Cabin (since Ethan went straight for the Kronos Cabin), etc. so like, me and Kayla weren't like the only ones in this situation.

But enough of that.

Moving on to what happened next now.

I woke up to the sound of my alarm that morning, and Kayla decided to sleep in a bit. Ever since gaining the blessing of Typhon, despite being a child of the Sun, she's gradually been able to sleep in a bit more, so that's why. Anyway, I did my usual routine.. brushed my teeth, freshened myself up, grabbed my gear, slipped out of the cabin, and quietly headed up to my sniper perches along Half Blood Hill via the alternate entrance located in the tree line between the cabins and the lake. Just when I got to my usual spot..

.

.

.

.

.

.

That's when I saw it.

Two trails of mysterious footprints. Big, a good one and a half feet long in length, three-toes in a sharp triangle kind of shape and two sets of them going first to the east and then back to the west, clearly visible across the far slope of Half Blood Hill, running right to left and then left to right across it.

I was stunned. I had never seen anything like it. So what did I do?

Naturally, the only logical thing that anyone in this situation could do. I turn and ran to get Chiron, not noticing the pair of yellow eyes staring grimly at me from the still relatively dark forest as the sun rose on this early September day.

Along the way though, I saw something that I hadn't seen on the way up - a note that was nailed to the tree at the sniper perch by the amphitheater - so I took one look at it, stumbled backward, fell on my butt, and screamed for good reason.

It was just like the prophecy paper that had came in through the mysteriously opened window before the Battle of Manhattan. Same type of paper, only a different - and longer - prophecy was on it this time.

Monster King, beware.. take many as you please. Follow the tracks, and you will come across a place that feeds. The creatures below turn and shift.. and secrets will float from hollows forgotten. Former guards lie in wait.. a test of skill will beckon. The clash that begins the war looms.. and the blow will echo and reckon.

- — - — - — -

Chiron, as could be expected, immediately called an emergency meeting, even going as far as sending Argus and Annabeth to go and urgently pick up Percy from NYC. When they finally got back, we were all in the break room of the Big House for the meeting.

By we, I meant Chiron and the following camp counselors. First up was me and Kayla for the Typhon Cabin.

Then there was the Victor twins for the Nike Cabin (still in construction as of this time). Malcolm was subbing in for Annabeth until she could return with Percy, so both could represent the Athena and Poseidon cabins respectively.

Thalia was there for the Zeus Cabin since thanks to her dads' punishment on Artemis, she was able to be at camp at this time to spend some time with Luke, who was also here as head counselor for the Kronos Cabin. Clarisse was here for the Ares Cabin, as was Jake Mason for the Hephaestus Cabin, Michael for the Apollo Cabin, the Stolls for the Hermes Cabin, Katie for the Demeter Cabin, Drew Tanaka for the Aphrodite Cabin who took over after Silena like Lee before her decided to step down from her position as head counselor for Cabin Ten, Castor for the Dionysus Cabin, and Bianca for the Hades Cabin.. since Hades had Nico off doing something.

Alec was there for the Hyperion Cabin, while Cato was there for the Kratos Cabin. Similarly, Adriana was there for the Gaea Cabin and also couldn't really keep her eyes off of Luke. Butch was there for the Iris Cabin, Damien was there for the Nemesis Cabin, Paolo Montes was there for the Hebe Cabin, Lou Ellen was there for the Hecate Cabin, Clovis was there for the Hypnos Cabin, and lastly there was Chiara Benvenuti there for the Tyche Cabin.

So yeah.. a whole lot of camp counselors now. All there because being the Monster King has opened up a whole new line of sh*t that gets everyone dragged into it.

Though I will admit, it is honestly weird seeing Luke walking around with Backbiter once again as his sword. To explain it bluntly, one of Kronos' last gifts came to fruition when the Kronos Cabin finally was complete, as the spirit of the Titan left a new Backbiter, completely like the original, as a gift for Luke, who calls it "Backbiter II". It's touching, to say the least.

Anyways, like I said, we were all in there simply because a lot of things were deciding to come out of the woodwork, to put it bluntly.

Everyone else all stared at the prophecy paper, looking at it with a mixture of stunned, confused, and fearful faces. Added to this group was Percy, Annabeth, and Grover, who walked into the ping pong room a few minutes later. There was a very long, deathly still kind of silence that pervaded the room. It was very unnerving, to say the least.

Finally, a voice broke the silence. "So.. I'm confused..? What's going on here? What's the deal with the whole Monster King dude?" Cato asked, obviously confused as hell since he hadn't heard all that much about me being the Monster King up till now. Cue Annabeth and Grover providing an explanation that brought all the other new head counselors aside from Cato who weren't all that in the know about the story that was me and Kayla being the Monster King and Queen up to speed with it.

"Oh.." Cato said once it was done. "Got it now."

Chiron turned to me. "These tracks you see.. these are very unusual.. I do not believe I have seen any tracks quite like these before.." he told me, before a very familiar voice interrupted the conversation.

"Pardon me if I am intruding on this, young master.. but I do believe I can be of assistance to you on this matter."

We all turned around towards the doorway. There, once again controlling his flames intensely so as to not burn down the Big House even as he rested one of his flaming hands on the doorway to the room, was none other than Cháris.

"Who even is this guy?" Alec said from his spot on the far side of the ping pong table from where I was.

"Cháris, one of the heralds of the Monster King and Queen, aka me and Colton.. and elemental user of fire.." Kayla replied. Cháris simply bowed in front of us.

"At your service, dear friends and fellow campers of the two me and my brothers serve faithfully.." he said in a very friendly tone. "..so, could you please repeat exactly what it is that you have seen, my king?"

So despite the fact that he already broken the part about trying to be less formal with me and Kayla, I preceded to tell Cháris about the strange footprints in the ground on Half Blood Hill and show him the prophecy paper. Before I was finished with it though, I simply whispered in his ear, "This isn't the only one though. I'll show you the other one later." He simply nodded and said nothing, face having morphed into one of recognition and concern. It seemed like he knew exactly what had made those tracks.

"It seems that other pieces of the past are emerging in this country after years of being hidden.." he said, quite concerned. "These tracks were made by Akuma, a Japanese ushi-oni that is the guardian of Ναός της Φυλής, the Tribe Temple, also the Temple that was used as the center of operations of the legendary Tengu Clan, a clan of monsters, ninja warriors, and clear sighted mortals whose clan symbol is that of an arrow piercing through a heart. At the time we were all forced into hibernation due to the loss of the last Monster King, had operations in San Francisco, Sydney in Australia, Japan, China, South Korea, Vietnam, Israel, India, Egypt, Ukraine, Greece, France, and Italy, just to name a few."

We all looked at him, completely confused. "That's.. a.. Japanese monster.." I told him, having read up on lots of mythological monsters other than Greek in some of my spare time in the past. "What the hell.. is a Japanese monster.. doing in the role given to a Greek demigod?" I asked him.

"There are other Pantheons that exist out there right now.." Cháris said, and I think everyone else's brains just broke at that one. Didn't see that coming. "..and the Monster King's domain doesn't just cover Greek monsters. It covers monsters from every pantheon and religion all over the globe. So, we have many connections in multiple other pantheons, as well as enemies that aren't the deities of those pantheons as well. I apologize for not conveying this information to you before, my lord and lady."

"Cháris.." I said to him, a little bit miffed. Kayla put her hand on my shoulder, and that helped calm me down. I put two and two together, and pretty sure.. I was half ready to smack the herald into the damn wall. "..you do realize that what you just said here, cannot under any circ*mstances be shared to our enemies, got it?"

He nodded after gulping. "I understand, young master.." he said, before politely taking a few steps back. I turned to face the others.

"I absolutely apologize for having to drag you all into this.. not that it seems fate is giving me much of a choice right now.." I said, and Clarisse simply nodded.

Percy looked like he was still trying to process what he had just heard. I wouldn't blame him if he did think that this was very confusing.

"We know where the tracks are.." Annabeth said. "We follow them to the source, we find the temple."

"Agreed.." Luke responded. "But, it's up to Colton who goes.. since clearly, the first part of the prophecy is his choice."

He was right.

It was my choice, and man.. did I feel very, very nervous.

I took a few minutes to think it over, and then I spoke.

- — - — - — - Switch Back To Third Person POV - — - — - — -

"I can't believe Colton didn't really choose us to go!" Katie complained to Silena as the two walked back to their cabins after the meeting. Katie was extra miffed since the boy she was starting to realize she had feelings for, Travis Stoll.. Colton had selected to come from the Hermes Cabin, in addition to Connor and Chris. Percy and Annabeth were no-brainers, though Colton did pick Malcolm Pace from the Athena Cabin as well. Kayla obviously would be by his side as would Cháris, who volunteered to be of assistance in what to many, including Katie, saw as his attempt to make up for his mistake, and also, others would be assisting them too, including Clarisse and Michael, who were starting to make up with each other for their feud, along with Luke, Thalia, and Ethan. Cato and Clove would go too, as would Beckendorf who had refused to retake as spot of head counselor of the Hephaestus Cabin for now as well as Austin M., Lee, Will, Sherman and lastly Alec.

A decent-sized force of 21 demigods and a herald who knew way more than had first appeared, investigating the temple that this prophecy was centered around.

And somehow, Katie Gardner was miffed that she didn't get to go.

"He's the Monster King.." Silena said back to her. "Of course he's going to leave some of us behind. It's because he cares about us.. that's why he only chose those of us who are likely to come back."

It may seem harsh, but then again, the Aphrodite and Demeter Cabins hadn't really produced strong fighters combat-wise. Katie and Miranda were getting there as was Silena, but on the whole, that was it for now.

"Besides.. the Athena Cabin is still pouring out over those boxes of records he brought back from the castle.. at least Chiron is still putting in something worthwhile as he finishes his recovery.." Silena continued, pointing out the fact that the Athena Cabin had basically become the spearhead of the effort of Camp Half Blood to help Colton - and themselves - understand what it was that Colton and Kayla were King and Queen of.. the Gods' explanation had helped a bit, as to an extent Cháris' confession earlier, but that was all that they knew about what Typhon had entrusted Colton and Kayla with.

"She's right.." Alice said, the daughter of Apollo walking over to them. "..the Athena Cabin is working overtime analyzing all of it. Even Victoria and Caeli have volunteered to help them out with it."

The multiple boxes from the castle contained treasure troves of information from the past about the history of this title, and with the help of Chiron who could move his hurt legs now but not too much - which meant not galloping for a few more weeks, they were putting together a profile of what it was they all were dealing with.

Hopefully, the trip to the temple and the successful fulfilling of this prophecy would provide them with more data to work with. The more, the better if they were going to really have a chance of understanding the Monster King perfectly.

- — - — - — - Switch Back To Colton's POV - — - — - — -
(** Music here from the "Arriving At The Scene" score from the original Scooby Doo Where Are You cartoon, on YouTube courtesy of again Montgomery Gator. Repeat as many times as you have to.**)

There was a rather large barrier of mist that we had to past through following the tracks right before we reached the place when we had set out about a couple hours later, in such a way that it almost felt like another magical layer like the boundary at camp.

We all came over this rise after passing through it, and that's when we all laid eyes on it in the clearing in front of us. Kayla and I were at the front alongside Percy and Annabeth, so we four saw it first before everyone else.

The building was a weird one, that one was for sure as we came upon it, following the tracks. It was made mostly with design elements from Ancient Greece mixed in with a few elements that could have come from Japan in the same time period, plus some Roman and Gothic stuff her and there, but the mixture of these styles was in such a way it seemed to absolutely f*cking blend so seamlessly it was as if somebody was worshiping a hybrid mostly Greek/Japanese religion.

And honestly, putting it that way, the thought of such a religion sounds gross in my own mouth. It really, really does sound gross to me.

The only other thing about this that makes this even remotely normal is that it is just a single building, but moving on from that is where we go from normal to a sense of architecture so carefully crafted it is making Annabeth and Malcolm's heads spin in circles right now just from looking at it. Like, I'm not kidding. They figuratively look like it right now.

It was in a large hexagonal type shape from what we could see, at least for the main shape of the building. Past the bridge and the moat, a tapered set of four stone stairs the length of the building at the bottom and becoming narrower and narrower in length on up to the porch, was what the furthest point of the building towards us consisted of.

The outer part of the temple consisted of a polished marble floor leading up to the medium sized double lintel with Gothic arch at the top type doorway fitted with what seemed to be ancient Japanese type doors - I don't really know how else to describe doors with what looked like nose rings attached to them.

Between this and the stairs - as well as just the edges of the temple in general - was about a between 5 to 10 yard gap where a double colonnade, a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature - superstructure of moldings and bands lying horizontally above columns - and also in this case by alternating Roman and Gothic arches, to the rest of the structure. The peculiar thing about this was that there were three sets of alternating arches, as the columns were of the Doric style, where a concavely curved neck sits at the top of the column, separate from each other by a very durable material used as the floor for the second and third floors, about at least three quarters of a foot thick. A large and gently curved roof sat on top of the structure, mostly likely made out of planks and tree bark reinforced by other materials, while in some areas of the second and third levels, which had a single layer of colonnade on the outside followed by a layer of engaged columns - columns embedded in a wall and partly projecting from the wall's surface, there were some Gothic type stained glass windows in the wall between the engaged columns. A layer of engaged columns did exist on the ground level, though it was behind two sets of colonnades instead of one.

Torches lit from the sides of the columns illuminated the building on the ground level, glowing brightly even as it was still late afternoon.

All in all, it was a insanely complex and neatly constructed building that greeted us. Even I was taken aback by it.

(** Music ends here **)

"What the absolute f*ck is this?" Michael muttered. "Why does it look like a Frankenstein-like mosh pit of style designs?"

"I.. don't.. really know.." Chris said in response.

"So this is the Tribe Temple.." Luke said, observing the building. "Pretty sure this definitely was not what I was expecting."

"The Tengu Clan were fans of mixing different styles together back in the day.." Cháris said calmly.

I turned to look at him. "Seriously?" I asked.

He just nodded.

Annabeth and Malcolm groaned.

The fact that there was a layer of normal white mist that hovered close to the ground - not enough to obscure the moat and bridge from view, but enough to add a sort of Scooby Doo type creepy atmosphere to what awaited us, despite the fact that the sun was out today - did not help matters.

"This place.. looks.. absolutely nutty.." Clarisse said.

"Agreed.." Sherman chimed in.

I didn't like it at all either, but the prophecy stated that we would "come across a place that feeds" - to which I might add that none of us, except possibly Cháris who wasn't talking much up till now, knew exactly what it meant by that - so this had to be it. We were now two lines through it, so we had to enter to complete the rest.

I took a step forward. "Either way.. this is the place that feeds according to the prophecy apparently.. so we go in.." I said to them, moving towards the entrance of the place, with the footsteps of Kayla and Michael right behind me.

- — - — - — -

The minute we opened the doors, a swarm of bats exited the building, snuffing out some of the torches around us from the dense amount of air they made with their wings. We all ducked our heads, all except Cháris that is. He was unscathed when it was over, however.

"Bats.. yuck.." Kayla muttered.

"What's with the Scooby Doo references on this place?" Cato said.

I didn't like it at all either, as I have said before. But still, we had to go into this place. Strangely, as if the bats weren't enough when it came to this place, the torches that they had sniffed out relit all by themselves.

Some of us - I was not among them - were definitely shivering because of that. "Are there ghosts here? What the hell?" Percy asked.

"These are magical torches.." Cháris explained. "They relight themselves after a short while if extinguished."

"Well.. that's.. nice to know.." Lee replied, still obviously on edge from everything about this place. I took a step inside, and the interior of the place was also a fusion of styles, except in this case it seemed to be more of a Gothic and ancient Japan type of fusion.

The place seemed deserted, though a set of muddy tracks lead on through the main hall of the place towards a wide set of stairs that obviously went down to the basem*nt. "The Tengu Clan's operations usually occurred in vast underground complexes" Cháris muttered. "This temple was no exception. It was usually guarded by elite warriors, who in times past, were guardians of the Monster King whenever he came to Japan."

"So what exactly went on when it comes to this floor as well above us?" Malcolm asked, as he looked around with his flashlight shining into the dark spots that the torches inside the temple here didn't illuminate. There was also a marble staircase that led up to the second floor, further highlighting the need for the question.

"Mostly worship occurred on this floor.. though there were a couple of offices devoted to finances and other things that would fall under the scope of the Athena Cabin.." Cháris replied. "..usually in such temples, these offices dealt with more local affairs, such as donations from civilians that came to the temple. The real goodies are on the upper floors, and some underground as well. Upper offices were also guarded by elite warriors, but these dealt more with clan activities, regional policy - for the clan operated more with regional branches than as a centralized national force, though they could do so when needed - the whole nine yards of valuables. They usually kept the more highly sensitive of these documents plus valuable weapons and what not below the temple."

"Including that.. creature?" Ethan asked, referring to the guardian of the temple. "Correct.. as I was a frequent visitor to this temple in the past, I will stay on this floor and watch over the staircase should the creature appear again to bring it over to your cause, young masters.." Cháris said, bowing before me and Kayla before taking his place by the staircase.

I turned to the others. "Luke, Thalia, Clarisse, Chris, Ethan, you all got lookout duty. Cato, Alec, Sherman, Austin, Will and Clove, you all stay in here to back them or Cháris up if required.." I said to them. "Malcolm, Lee and Beckendorf, you all check out the offices on the ground floor as well as any other rooms you all come across. The rest of us will check out the offices upstairs."

"Right" Luke said.

"You got it brother.." Sherman remarked.

I turned to Percy, Annabeth, Kayla, Michael, Travis, and Connor. "Alright.. let's get to work."

- — - — - — -
(** Music here is from the "Searching For Clues score from the original Scooby Doo Where Are You cartoon, on YouTube also because of user Montgomery Gator, minus the segment between 1:47 and 2:11 in the video. Repeat as many times as you need to before the part that tells you to stop.**)

The upper floors had fewer torches in the hallways than had been present downstairs, making it even more creepy. There seemed to be multiple offices on both sides of the twin staircases that led up from the first to the second floor, and then from the second to the third floor, so like downstairs, the seven of us split up. Percy, Annabeth, and the Stolls would cover the right side, while me, Kayla, and Michael covered the left.

"Dude.. this is so creepy as sh*t man.." Michael muttered, his flashlight moving along the hallway floor. I will admit, for a temple that seemed so deserted, the place was remarkably still clean as a whistle. "Like.. normally, we can't even go into most places without running into a monster.. it's like something straight out of a horror movie."

I had to agree, but then again, this was even better than the time I had in the labyrinth when I got sent down there last summer. "Fair.." I replied back. "But either way.. this is basically an once in a lifetime opportunity we have here. No monsters to have to deal with, a building to explore.. it's like we're robbing a bank and nobody knows we are even here."

"I don't like the metaphor, but I get what you mean.." Kayla added. "He's right. We most likely will have little chance of having such an opportunity like this again."

Soon, we had entered one of the offices, and we were looking around all over it. "What exactly are we looking for?" Michael asked.

"Anything that might be important, whether related to me and Kayla as the Monster King and Queen or to what exactly here could be valuable to us going forward.." I replied, looking around the desk.

"How exactly am I supposed to know which stuff is important if most of this is in ancient Japanese?" Michael groaned.

"Cháris can probably translate, or at least find someone to help us out with that.." Kayla replied.

Michael groaned again in frustration. "I hate this so much.." he grumbled. "Why couldn't they have written this all in Ancient Greek?"

"It's a different ancient civilization, Michael.." Kayla responded, a little annoyed with her half-sibling.

"Right.. right.." Michael said.

A few moments of silence passed between the three of us before Michael suddenly called out, "Holy sh*t.. look at this!"

(** Music ends here **)

- — - — - — - Switch To Third Person POV - — - — - — -

Near the tip of Long Island, to the east of Camp Half Blood - the temple had been to the west of it - two figures sat on sandy thrones on a private beach. A closer look at these two figures made it clear that they were ones that had been in the area before last summer.

They were Porphyrion and Periboia.

"The tides seem anxious.. father.." Periboia muttered. "Perhaps a sign of what is to come."

"Perhaps.." Porphyrion replied to his daughter. "..though it could be that you are just on edge after all since we felt what happened in Manhattan."

Periboia nodded, but the daughter of the former King Of The Giants seemed still lost in thought, as if she was constantly thinking about something.

She was shaken from her thoughts as a third human figure, that of Enceladus, came running up, panting and out of breath. "My lord.." he said, kneeling at their thrones. "..I have received word from some of our limited amount of followers. The Tribe Temple of the Tengu Clan has risen on Long Island. Those cursed brats from Camp Half Blood are already at it."

Porphyrion cursed under his breath. "Drat!" he exclaimed. "Now they are likely to gather information, weapons, and supplies from it."

An evil thought arose in his head. "No matter.." he said. "Tonight, we will confront those pesky brats and show the new king who the real owner of the power is supposed to be."

Enceladus and Periboia both paled, precisely because they had sensed all the blessings Colton had gotten on Olympus, as Porphyrion stared out into space, a wicked malicious grin on his face.

To be continued..

Chapter 55: XLIV. I Go On A Figurative Digging Expedition

Chapter Text

(Note: From now on, this replaces XLVIII as Chapter 55 of this fanfic on here.)

Alternate Chapter Titles: Secrets And Files, Part One; Beginning Of The Second Giant War Arc, Part Three

(A/N: This is it! After this, only five chapters remain of this book. We're in the endgame now, everyone. I will admit, when I started writing this thing, I don't think that I had intended for the story to go in the direction that it has by now. But hey, my brain has a way of making crazy ideas that actually work, so.. I followed what I had in mind and here we are. Needless to say, I definitely like the result of it honestly.

Lastly, the end of this chapter.. I was planning on introducing some more of the Monster King's minions and members of the Tengu Clan at the end of this chapter, but after playing the scene the characters they are based on first appear in during TMNT 2003, it just didn't feel right this time around. Needless to say, this decision is going to have some far reaching consequences on the new King Of The Giants when the Lost Trio confront him in Book Two.

Anyways, enjoy!)

- — - — - — -

As it turned out, the upper level offices were absolute f*cking pay-dirt. I don't know who had been last around in this place before it disappeared from wherever and then was resurrected here in the U.S., but they had apparently stocked the basem*nt, guarded by that creature, full of lots of valuable items and sh*t so much that the contents of what was down there when Cháris had translated all of the files we had found in Ancient Greek added up to basically a field day for Hermes Cabin kids.

I was not really kidding at all there when I say that, I'll be completely honest with you. It was a damn supply drop that the last people to be in here had in the basem*nt. So, in order to claim all of this loot, that's where we would have to go next. Down there into the basem*nt.

The basem*nt that despite the torches, still looked dark and creepy to many.

"Do we really have to go down there?" Malcolm asked, his and Annabeth's anxiety obviously going very on edge right now, because if basem*nts are known for anything, it's treasure, filth, and things you fear the most. Which, for the Athena Cabin, meant spiders.

"Of course.. dingus.." Clove said to him, my new half sibling clearly showing her colder than cold attitude, something that even people like Clarisse had thawed out from after a few years here. Of course, it was equally likely that Clove would thaw out too, because Cato.. but that's a topic for a whole another day, to be honest. Not worth going on a rant here right now. "..if what we're looking for now loot-wise is down there, we go down there."

Cato took one look at the basem*nt and cursed under his breath. "I hate basem*nts that look ominous like this.. I really do now.." he muttered.

Luke and Charles looked rather anxious about it. "Not exactly my cup of tea.." Charles said, shining his flashlight down into it. "..it's also definitely a basem*nt you wouldn't be able to get Silena to walk down into in a million years."

"You got that right.." Luke said.

"So what now, Colton?" Percy asked.

I just turned to him, with a smirk on my face. "We go into the basem*nt.. what did you expect us to do?" I retorted, and with that, we did descend into there. I did feel a little satisfaction that Percy was deferring to me this time on what to do, I will admit that.

- — - — - — -

(** Music here is from the "Searching For Clues" score from the original Scooby Doo Where Are You cartoon, on YouTube also because of user Montgomery Gator, minus the segment between 1:47 and 2:11 in the video. Repeat as many times as you need to before the part that tells you to stop.**)

Much to Malcolm and Annabeth's relief, the basem*nt did not contain many cobwebs and spiders thankfully. Nevertheless, we all stayed on our guard as we went down there, because even in a place like this, I'll admit.. the silence of this place was absolutely unnerving a good bit to be honest.

"It's too dam quiet.." Percy muttered, his sword Riptide in full sword form in one hand and holding Annabeth's shaky hand in the other as we were walking down the staircase. Thalia and Grover chuckled a little at that. I didn't know why, nor was I really concerned about it to be honest.

Cato nudged my shoulder. I turned to him, as I was walking down the staircase at the head of everyone, the Whitworth in my hands as usual with Kayla's arm wrapped around mine. "Did you really choose to become the Monster King?" he asked me.

"It wasn't my choice.. to be honest with you.." I replied to him, and he nodded. Like, I wasn't kidding at all when I say that. I'm one hundred percent not kidding.

(**Music fades off for now**)

It really was not my choice, much the same way that it wasn't my choice that once when I slept with Kayla in her own cabin, all the other Apollo kids literally cuddled up with us. This was the night of the whole snake incident back when Tantalus was around by the way. The point is, it definitely was awkward when I was delayed from being on patrol by like an hour the next morning since the entire Apollo Cabin, with another couple beds pulled up next to us was basically napping all over me. Sure, I basically was more or less just a fellow camper to many of them back then, but they did it anyway, because of Kayla's suffering.

That reminds me now that I still have to get Silena to delete the photo she took of me in that position. Yeah, I get that it did look cute from her perspective, but I was more an Ares Cabin kid back then thrust into situations that back then I would have never expected to be thrown into. So I guess that reaction from me of giving her a look that said 'don't you dare show anyone else this' was my Ares nature showing back then most likely, at least from my own perspective on that situation back then and there in camp.

Also, on the subject of Kayla.. look, that girl has been through so much and come so far, it's honestly remarkable that she and I ended up together. She's in the tier of fame that if we hadn't been demigods, her and I getting together would have been next to impossible if you think about it. But because we were born with godly parents, such things were possible. Believe me when I say, at this point, with all of the things that we went through, I consider the two of us as a couple forged from the toughest of times.

Because let's face it really, we honestly were that kind of couple. She came in at a time where we didn't know if we were going to survive, if camp was going to survive.. when I was nothing but a boy driven by rage, a desire for revenge, but mostly rage.. fueled by Luke's betrayal. At a time when I was debating whether I should join Kronos myself too.. giving up on that prophecy that we eventually fulfilled together. Then, she came in.. and my whole world changed. Slowly but surely, I was starting to really understand why it did. I'm not really sure if I ever believed in love at first sight to be honest, but I will admit.. I'm slowly starting to get that it might have occurred when I first saw Kayla.. well, if falling in love with a girl at first sight and still spending over a year after meeting her in denial about it involves literally passing out after first making eye contact with her for the first time when you first see her in real life.

Okay.. yeah.. I'm basically ranting about our relationship again. I know. I've been doing a lot of retrospective thinking about us since the Battle in Manhattan. Trying to understand exactly what had made us connect in the first place. We weren't no Austin and Caeli kind of couple, that was for sure. They fell for each other in a couple of years. Kayla and I.. we only took over a year after first encountering each other to admit it.

So yeah.. we probably and definitely did fall for each other at first sight maybe, even if we both did not immediately recognize it. And suffice it to say personally, I wouldn't trade it for the world, not matter what the f*ck kinda offers you put in front of me. There was literally no way I was going to give up what I had with her, come hell or high water... or both if it came to that. No way at all. I was firmly in love with Kayla Knowles and it was the best thing life could have ever given me as a demigod, before you know.. it gave us a crap ton of other things.

(**Music resumes**)

I was shaken from my thoughts back into reality as I heard someone coughing. I turned to my left. Annabeth was coughing from some dust from a pile of stuff nearby.

"Yep.. definitely quite a few safes down here.." Travis remarked nearby. Connor simply giggled in excitement. Oh, those two.

I had to imagine that Travis sooner or later was probably going to maybe try to use whatever we found in this place to make Katie his girlfriend, which would be nice since like quite a few other potential couples, it's been painfully obvious that they like each other.. to the point where love is very possible between them. Of course, that's if Travis had any brain power to not try to impress Katie with a prank. It's amazing that he has even come this far with her. Well, to be fair, I kinda helped him out with it despite beating the sh*t out of both him and his brother on.. and I reluctantly admit this, more than one occasion. Yes, that time I beat both of them up over Kayla getting changed from her normal clothes to her being in a bikini prior by their hands to her and I getting together was not the first nor the last time that it happened.

Also, spoiler alert.. Luke gave me an earful when he found out about it a few days after the Battle of Manhattan. I deserved it honestly, I'll own up to it here.

Either way, this was turning out to be even more of a field day for Cabin Eleven, if of course.. we could prevent other people from stealing all of this.. namely Porphyrion and his rogue crew of giants. Kayla and I split off from the main group, and cautiously trekked further back into the basem*nt, descending another staircase in the back as this basem*nt turned out to be multi-leveled.

"Yeesh.." Kayla remarked, looking at how filthy the place was. "..and I think the inside of the castle was bad enough. So yucky and unclean."

"Yeah.." I replied. "..this place definitely could use a cleaning crew in here. It's f*cking disgusting as sh*t down here."

She wasn't wrong at all, if my words were any indications. Sure, there was some cobwebs, but most of all, there was just dust and filth everywhere. Yuck, indeed.

A clutter of items falling and a person hitting the floor upstairs, plus Clove shouting "CATO!", had our heads whipping back around to where we had come down from, flashlights in tow.

"I didn't think it would come out so suddenly.." Cato muttered.

We could hear that.

"That's why you don't pull so hard, dummy!" Clove said, obviously a good bit concerned. Kayla and I turned back around, only to notice what looked like a pair of ghostly figures in armor standing guard at a doorway at the far corner of the room. Judging by the armor, the Tengu Clan symbol on their chest plates, and the fact that these two guards held tridents in their hands, it was definitely clear that these two guards were definitely hiding something.

"You see that..?" I asked, turning to Kayla. She already had an arrow nocked on her bow. "Yeah.. and it sucks that they are ghosts.. but I'll keep this arrow on here nevertheless."

I had my sword gripped firmly in my left hand, the flashlight in the other.

I turned back to where we had come from. "Hey Cháris!" I shouted. "We need you down here!"

There was some shuffling and a few footsteps, but soon, Cháris came down the stairwell with Percy, Annabeth, Cato, Clove, Travis, and Connor in tow. The six of them behind Cháris could only just gaze out in wonder at the two ghosts standing guard by the doorway.

"Ghost guards? What even is this, Scooby Doo?" Travis remarked sarcastically. Connor and Percy both snorted at that remark.

"Ah.." Cháris muttered. "The 'Atlantis Tunnel'.. so they call it in English. It leads to a vault deep underground that only the Monster King can access, and preferably alone when he does it. Though, one can expect a challenge from the most skilled of the Tengu Clan when traversing the tunnel. A test to prove the current Monster King is worth swearing fealty to, so to speak."

We all stared at Cháris like he had two heads. There was a bit of an awkward silence there for a while until I broke it eventually. "Wait.. alone?" I asked. I definitely was not okay with that part.

Cháris simply nodded. "Apologies, my lord.." he said apologetically. "..that's just how the clan does things." I took a look at Kayla. She definitely did not look pleased.

I thought about it for a minute. On the one hand, I could choose not to do it and stay with Kayla. But on the other hand, there probably was a good many things in this place that could potentially help us with the Giants. Plus, we would at least have another ally in the war against the two rival factions opposing us — those Giants loyal to Gaea and Tartarus on one side and Porphyrion's rogue crew on the other. It seemed a no-brainer to me, as much as I really disliked leaving Kayla without me for any period of time at this point.

I sighed deeply. Alright, f*ck this, I thought to myself. I'm going in.

"Fine.." I muttered. "I'll go in there by myself."

Kayla whimpered a little, but I just turned to her and gently hugged her, while also petting her head. "I'm sorry for leaving you even for a brief period of time, Kayla.. but I have to do this. The advantages that we are all likely to gain from me doing this far outweigh the negatives about it. So I have to.. for the safety of you, everyone else, and the Gods."

"Noble as ever, I see.." Annabeth remarked.

"Has he always been like this?" Cato asked.

"Yes.. unfortunately, this is classic Colton right here. Welcome to what caused him to unintentionally become the Beast Of Camp Half Blood.." Connor said in response. "..well, partly motivation-wise that is."

He was right. No matter how you sliced it, it was part that and the other part basically consisting of my love for Kayla at the time that drove me to do what I did in both the Battle of the Labyrinth and the Battle of Manhattan. I never intended to gain that chilling sort of nickname from my actions at all. But, that's what happened. Not my fault that anytime I step on a battlefield, brutality follows me as if it is my middle name. I'm an Ares kid, war is just my speciality basically. Well, that and being the boyfriend of one Kayla Knowles, that is.

God, I love that girl forever and always.

Anyways, me and Cháris stepped forward, towards the two ghostly guards guarding the doorway as the others — and Kayla — held back. One of the guards, upon seeing us approach, held up his hand to block passage. "Halt.." he said in a low, creepy sort of voice, which I'll admit, definitely caused me to shiver a little. "..only the Monster King can access this tunnel."

Cháris simply chuckled. "In that case.." he muttered. "..may I introduce the new Monster King, your lord Colton Reynolds!"

The two guards took a look at me, sized me up and then started laughing at me, as if this was a joke. I was annoyed to be honest with you here, and Cháris was.. livid to say the least. He grabbed both guards by the neck, despite them being ghosts, and lifted both off of their feet into the air by a few inches, the pair flailing helplessly in his grip. "If you two think this is funny.." Cháris said menacingly to them. "..then I will be happy to introduce you to new forms of pain for insulting the new king."

He then turned to me. "Apologies, young master.." he said, and I didn't chew him out over it. I was kinda starting to get used to him calling me 'young master' by now. I don't know why really, I just was to be honest. "..I will deal with these fools. You go on ahead."

I simply nodded, then turned to the doorway. It lead into a tunnel alright, going straight and slightly downhill through a corridor cut from the stone and lined with torches on either side on the walls, before it descended further down via what looked like the start of a staircase.

It was a little bit spooky, to be sure. But this is what I had to go down for the Gods.

For camp.

For Kayla.

At that, with a deep breath, I stepped into the tunnel, even as the sound of screams echoed behind me as Cháris decided to do gods know what with those two ghostly guards. I never found out what he did exactly, and to be fair, it was probably best that I didn't know.

- — - — - — -

Walking through that tunnel alone felt.. awkward really. I was so used to having Kayla by my side that I just didn't feel like myself without her.

It was like that time between when she left at the end of the summer she first arrived and when I saw her again, after I came back to camp due to Clarisse basically dragging me out of camp to Arizona.

It felt so unnatural, so weird. And yet here I was, trying to manage like this. I guess I've been with her so much I've forgotten what's it like to be alone. Maybe that was it probably.

Either way, the trip down the tunnel had been anything but uneventful.. that was for sure. Already, I had dodged a couple of traps — nothing too serious though, just your average temple traps of a garbage compressor corridor, and the gauntlet of stakes being shot at you from both sides. Oh, and I had already engaged in one fight in between those traps with a bunch of ninjas affiliated with the Tengu Clan. So, by this point, I was a little bit bruised to be honest, but still functioning nevertheless.

Honestly though, that fight was kinda tough, because ninjas.. those buggers never fight fair. And yeah.. a Greek demigod against ninjas.. it sounds crazy, but this was my reality now.

I scanned on ahead around the next corner with my flashlight, looking to see if any more enemies or traps awaited me.

None were there. Instead, a doorway gleaming with light awaited me about twenty five yards away. Finally, I thought to myself. I must be close to the end of this damn tunnel, thank god.

I jogged into the light, not as much caring if there was anything else between me and the doorway. Thankfully, there wasn't anything else.

I came to an arena.

(** Music ends here **)

I was standing along the stone pathway that led into the arena, only a few yards ahead of me through a gate like that used in Rome. Come to think of it, the arena itself was that of a Roman coliseum which was very weird honestly if you thought about it. But then again, I guess that could be chalked up to the forces loyal to the Monster King being multi-national and multi-religion if I had to guess here. Nevertheless, I got the sense that beyond this arena, through the closed gate on the far side of the arena — the gate close and in front of me was open — was that vault. Hopefully, a way out of there back up to the basem*nt existed. I didn't exactly want to go back the way that I had come to be honest.

I turned off the flashlight, put it in my backpack on my back, took out my other sword, and with both swords — my normal camp sword in one hand and the sword Typhon had given me in the other — firmly gripped in them, I took my steps forward.

I stepped into the arena and after some difficulty, mainly because Kayla wasn't at my side, I managed to beat the over a dozen opponents sent at me. They were tough, that's for sure, but given how a certain son of Jupiter met who became more of my loyal servants after what happened in that arena only a few months later, I find it unnecessary to describe what went on in there at this time.. as their entry in this case was lamer than their entry in the incident down the road.

(** Monster King Theme starts here **)

If anything, I felt more satisfied once that was over with. My list of allies that I could call on for the war with Gaea seemed to grow more and more, and with my latest allies — which also included the Tengu Clan as well — I felt like I had all the tools necessary to deliver a message to Gaea's forces in the event that anything happened to me.

I let out a long, evil laugh down there — and even with my eyes closed, I could still feel that a lot of magical energy was gathering around them, making me feel more dangerous than even before.

(** Music ends here **)

To be continued..

(A/N: That's another chapter down! Four more chapters to go before this book is finally finished! Believe me when I say, it's honestly been so much fun writing this book from start to finish! Can't wait to see you all in the next chapter!)

Chapter 56: XLV. Let's Get Ready To Rumble!

Chapter Text

Alternate Chapter Titles: Secrets And Files, Part Two; Beginning Of The Second Giant War Arc, Part Four

(A/N: Three chapters left after this one. Again, I thank everyone for all the comments and stars left on this fanfic — on Wattpad, that is — as well as to all of the kudos and bookmarks on Archive Of Our Own and those who favorited and followed this story on Fanfiction as well. You all are amazing. Truly amazing indeed. Anyways, here's the chapter.)

Fortunately for me, the vault turned out to have a staircase that led back up to the basem*nt which was nice to be honest. But I did stick around a while at least to get it open. What I found inside was enough loot inside it to make everyone at camp lose their minds at the same time. I took a few items for myself, a couple for Kayla, then basically left the door to the vault propped open so that the others could come in and take anything they wanted.

Which to be fair, there was most likely something for every cabin in that vault, and this is not an understatement at all. Because I'm pretty sure that a list of its contents would most likely extend from Zeus' throne on Olympus all the way down to the elevator leading down to the Empire State Building. Like holy sh*t.. was it the mother-load.

But enough talk of that.

It took me a while to walk up this pathway and all of these steps — gosh, I hated it. Like, why couldn't it have just been a portal honestly? But still, I got all the way back up from there and came out through a secret door in the wall that opened when I pulled a lever nearby. It opened up to reveal the upper level of the basem*nt, where the group was still searching through the contents of the area. Well, mostly everyone.

Kayla had been up and running the minute the secret door opened. She engulfed in a hug, understandably anxious. I didn't blame her at all. She may have come a good long way from who she was at the start of her times here at camp, but because of how close she was with me, it was understandable that anytime I wasn't with her, unless she knew that I wasn't getting into anything dangerous, she was a nervous wreck.

I hugged her back, just calming her down. "I hate it when you have to do those things by yourself.." Kayla said to me, a relieved but also partially miffed look on her face illuminated by the lit torch nearby on the wall as she stared up at me. I gently pet her head, and she simply released a happy moan in response. "If my fatal flaw wasn't caring too much for others, trust me I would have insisted that you come with me.." I said back to her. "..and to be fair, in this case, I honestly think it was wise that I was guided by my fatal flaw.. since I had to go through a fight in an arena at the end of the tunnel to prove myself — I won, of course.. despite the fact that given that I was dealing with some highly skilled ninjas — I definitely was in something a bit more difficult than fighting monsters."

"But you're back.." she said simply. "..and that's all that matters to me. We're in this together."

I smiled. God, I love her so much. I just kissed her forehead and she sighed happily. "Together we are. Forever and always.. as well as always and forever and however else one wants to say that.." I said back.

She glowed brightly, once more as bright as her father. It was just a perfect moment, until..

"Umm.."

We both turned. Clove was standing there next to us, a little bit amused. "How is it that you fell for a child of the sun, dear brother?" she asked curiously. Kayla and I looked at each other. Our story.. man, our story wasn't a normal one. That was for sure.

From the dark days of that summer we met in 2007 to now, I had gone from a hungry, vengeful, and mostly cold person to who I was now — a better man — thanks to her coming along. It hadn't been easy for either of us — the birds, Tantalus, the labyrinth, asshole suitors, Kronos, the Battle of Manhattan — but we had survived through all of it. Now, here we were — getting ready to survive another war soon — but as long as we had each other, we had hope that we would survive this together.

So, in face of my sister, I only could respond this way. "It's a long story.. and to be fair, I'm still thinking about why even now, but the point now is that.. we're together.." I started, and Kayla finished it for me. "..forever and always."

Clove simply hugged both of us. "..you both truly deserve each other.." she said simply, and then released us from the hug and walked away.

Kayla kissed my cheek, and I blushed. "I love you so much.." she said. "I love you too.." I said back. That was all I really knew when it came to Kayla Knowles honestly. Her heart was mine and I was the same way for her. We may have been born to gods that were basically different from each other, but as they say, opposites attract.

We were basically the definition of that. Did I mind? Not at all. In fact, to be honest, I'm pretty sure I was going to ask her to marry me when this next war was over. If only had I knew that it was going to be after I had nearly lost her to an asshole Roman Emperor and Legacy Of Apollo — thanks to yet another prophecy taking me away from her after we had dealt with that f*cking serpent god and the Giants — before I got the chance.. and even then.. I wasn't going to stop till the new threat was dead before I actually did do it. Add to that trying to prevent that f*cking asshole and his cronies from wiping out Apollo's kids.. and suffice it to say, what happened down the road before I did it was arguably.. the most emotional great prophecy I had been through, topping even the current we were under at this time.

Yeah, more bullsh*t got in my way — namely a war after this one — got in my way before I could even propose to her. But all of that was in the future, a future I had very few inklings of up till this point. Believe me, during next summer, that was when I would start to figure it out.

- — - — - — -

We left Cháris and some of my loyal minions — summoned from the other dimension by his magic — behind at the temple to guard it from intruders. Camp would strip it clean — of any valuable loot, that is — in the following days. I wasn't exactly kidding when I said the place looked like a field day for the Hermes Cabin to enjoy. Pretty sure I could hear Travis and Connor talking about how they were going to bring their siblings here tomorrow. As for what I took for me and Kayla from the vault, I'll tell you later. I have other things to explain and describe currently.

Since the fight that the prophecy had predicted ominously had not occurred at the temple, we were all on edge as we headed back to camp. Basically, it was practically all of us who had set out on this that were walking back to camp — minus Beckendorf, Malcolm, Annabeth, Percy, Travis, Luke, Ethan, Thalia, and Connor.

I don't exactly know why Thalia, Ethan and Luke had decided to stick around really. I'm guessing that with Luke, it might have had something to do with him formerly being a Hermes camper before he had joined Kronos in the past, so that might have been it and the other two just stuck with him due to Ethan being a close ally of him and Thalia being his girlfriend now. I don't really know for sure. I wasn't really paying much attention to that much honestly here. I really wasn't at all.

I was too busy thinking about what my next steps — well, our next steps because me and Kayla were Monster King and Queen respectively — would be in the war against the factions Gaea of Porphyrion to be honest. Because really, that probably was what I should be thinking about at this present time, if you think about it. I wasn't going to make the same mistake Zeus and the Gods had during the last war in not thinking about this threat at all until it had almost cost you all that you supposedly cared about, basically. I'd throw myself into Tartarus on my own free will if I made that mistake, to be honest here.

Either way, with Kayla holding my hand as the remaining part of the group that had set out towards the temple trekked back to camp and clear skies as evening approached on this day, things were looking good.

Really, really good.

Alas, when we got to the base of Half Blood Hill, a flicker of movement off to my right had my head drifting to the right..

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

..and coming straight into eye contact with a human dude, on the far side of the clearing that was the slope of Half Blood Hill facing towards the Atlantic Ocean, that had green, snake like hair and completely white eyes. On either side of him were two more figures. One of them was a guy who also had green, snake like hair and white eyes while the other figure was a girl with long, braided brown hair and a devilish look on her face.

I grimaced and then my eyes grew wide, recognizing instantly who they were.

There was no way.. that those three humans were Porphyrion, Enceladus, and Periboia respectively. There was just no way.

But alas, there they were on the far side of the clearing, visible for all of us to see, or at least me at the moment really. I hadn't really noticed that I had even stopped until I heard Clarisse yell out, "Will, go inform Chiron! Get the Apollo Cabin!"

I snapped out of my stupor and turned my head the other way to find everyone else scrambling about into battle positions. I turned back the other direction and saw the three Giants — in their human disguises — coming across the field towards us. I sighed, gripping the handle of the sword that Typhon had given me in anticipation of what was about to go down here. I had hoped that it wouldn't come to this, but it was a prophecy so here we were anyway. Either way, this would be a first.

I hadn't had an opportunity yet to test the powers of the Monster King, and yet here I was, staring at the opportunity to try it out on my current top three most dangerous foes at the moment. Talk about my luck being crap, because if I lost, I'd likely lose the power of the Monster King here too.

Then the giants now underwent — or started to undergo the transformation from their human forms back into their normal giant forms — and all hell breaks loose.

- — - — - — - Switch To Third Person POV - — - — - — -

Once transformed, the three giants simply stared down at the group of demigods in front of them. Porphyrion wickedly grinned. "Good.. this is very good.. my rival.. caught outside the protective net of his own camp.." he said, letting out a long, evil laugh.

Enceladus tapped his shoulder. "My lord.." he said to him. "One of the demigods just scrambled up the hill into camp. He might be reinforcements to their aid, including the heralds and wardens."

"Go then, you and Periboia.. and keep them occupied.." the former king of the Giants said. "..I have business with the imposter king."

Colton rolled his eyes. Of course this f*cking moron would be so ego-driven that he would call me an imposter king, even though I was crowned by Typhon himself, he thought as he drew the sword and held it out with his right hand for now, not saying anything. Kayla stuck close to him, her bow aiming an arrow squarely at the giant in front of them, but she was trembling. She had never seen a giant before, and right now, the former king of the Giants right in front of her and the others looked very terrifying.

"On this night, I will gain the power to exact my revenge!" Porphyrion called out malevolently, just as Colton put his left hand on Kayla's shoulder and just whispered into her ear. Kayla looked at him, surprised for a moment, and then nodded.

She kissed his cheek, and just like during the Battle of Manhattan, a lightning bolt came down and struck the tip of the sword, encasing both Colton and Kayla in a blinding light that forced everyone to turn their eyes away from the scene now unfolding right there.

What followed next, however, left everyone else stunned and shocked when they all saw the result of it all. As Colton transformed, Kayla at his side transformed as well. Once again, for the third time in just over two years, Olympus - and Camp Half-Blood's worlds for the most part - were rocked as Kayla Knowles tapped into the power inside her and transformed into the Monster Queen. Things would truly never be the same again.

(A/N: Remember when I said I was saving Kayla's first time as the Monster Queen in her true form in Book Two? Well, turns out I lied. You're welcome.)