28Hello my loyal readers. Here we go again with this story! I hope you all enjoy it because I know I like writing it! Now, I hope I can continue to engage y'all and keep ya interested even through the various other stories I am posting now a days. Anyways, shall we get into the reviews then into the story?AU Administration:As always, thank you for the praise, I am glad that you think I can accomplish such a feat. I am really trying to give an intersting twist to the story we all know and love, and hopefully I achive that. Hopefully you enjoy the interactions in this chapter as wellFor my lovely guest, I hope you stick around because some of your 4 thigns may happen, they may not. But I can hopefully garuntee that you will be entertained by it all.
That's it for now, so lets get into the story shall we?
My second week at camp went decidedly better than the first, probably because I had at least two friends around to get me through some of the more tedious activities. Percy had been kind, especially after our toast the first night he spent here. It had become somewhat of a tradition for us very quickly. At dinner, we shared an air toast of some sort of blue drink with each other through the air. I also made sure that I was the one to teach him Greek so that I could spend more time on my "mission" of befriending the boy and influencing him to make the choice to save Olympus. It was a good thing that Percy wasn't a massive jerk like other Big three kids I have seen over the centuries. Otherwise, I probably would have abandoned this task months ago.
In turn, Percy introduced me to Grover, the underconfident Satyr who really, really needed someone to give him a confidence boost if he wanted to really be a searcher. Personally, I tried to dissuade him from the task, remembering the tales my dad told me of the horrible different ways Satyrs had been slaughtered during the search for Pan, but he was obstinate in his dreams. It was frustrating sure, but I was glad that someone so devoted to their cause seemed equally invested in protecting Percy, even after getting him to camp. While most of the Satyrs saw their charges as a way to get their licenses, this one seemed to have genuinely become Percy's best confidant in the world now and vice versa. It took a little weight off my shoulders, knowing I wasn't the only one invested in seeing him alive for as long as possible.
Today, I got out of my bed with a little more energy than usual because I had some free time to spend with my two companions, something I never expected to be excited about. Food, gifts from my dad, and experiencing new things? Sure, I could always see myself loving those things, but being eager to just walk around the camp talking with two people? That prospect never should have excited me as much as it does right now, but it did, and that was all that mattered I supposed.
Once out of bed I stretched a little, letting my joints pop with a satisfying sound before I released it and looked under my bed for the bag of dried huckleberries that my dad had sent me all those months ago, debating on whether to bring them down to the river or not. On the one hand, the bag itself was contraband, and I could get in trouble for having it on me, though what bothered me more was that, as I suspected, the bag was not enchanted to be endless, and just held a lot of the berries. Should I use some of my few precious snacks as a way to bond with the boys? My stomach grumbled, telling me no, I shouldn't but..I really did want to share a little bit with them.
"Meh, maybe I will bring them next time for now though it is time for breakfast." I yawned, looking at the rest of the cabin just waking up now the blond hair on their heads messed up—shared gray eyes in a tepid state of drowsiness. My own hand went to my blond locks, remembering that Athena's children were made by mother to be an ideal in her opinion, so the fact that they all had blonde hair when she was a brunette meant that mother must really find blond hair cute. Well, I already knew she was into blondes, my dad was evidence enough of that. But to finally make the connection was a beautiful thing.
"Annabeth, come on, we need to get to breakfast before the Hermes cabin devours everything there. I swear to the gods that their newest kid eats more than a Cyclops!" One of my siblings whined to me, and my face hardened slightly as I got out of bed and into my shoes, sighing as I thought about my schedule today, I didn't have much time to hang out with Percy and Grover, and today I had a sword-fighting lesson with...Castellan. Great, that was not going to end well, given how much the guy seems to hate me.
Following my cabin, to the diving pavilion, we got there just in time to see Percy devouring the food quickly, how he put away so much of the stuff I had no idea. He only stopped briefly to give me a soft wave, his cheeks stuffed full of...Granola, it looked like, and greek yogurt of course blueberry yogurt at that. I gave him a soft wave back, trying not to laugh at his squirrelish appearance before Castellian appeared again and glared at me before saying something to Percy that I couldn't hear.
"Distracted by the new kid again? What do you think of him? Any insight as to who his parent is? Because I can't help but get a bad feeling when I stare at him, its the same feeling I get when I look at y..." The kid stopped, I looked at him, it was the kid from yesterday. Mr.M-something. He apologetically looked at me with his slip up, and I could easily decipher what he meant. So my siblings got a bad feeling when they looked at me, huh? Probably a byproduct of Mother's wonderful affection warning them against her scorned and enemies.
"I think he is a really kind boy who lost his mother and is trying to recover some. Even if I don't understand his point of view, I am not going to be against him. I think he is one of my few friends at this camp." I had to suppress a glare, M probably didn't mean anything by what he said. His eyes even said he was a little sympathetic, worried even. He had a bad feeling, and Demigods were generally trained to trust their guts.
"Sorry, sorry. If he is friends with you, then I guess he must not be that bad. Still, I don't like how I get nervous when he is around; it's like when a monster is approaching you, ya know?" I didn't, I honestly didn't know what he was talking about at all, but I just nodded, hoping to get through the conversation about Percy as soon as possible.
"I don't get that feeling at all when I am around him. In fact, he probably would feel horrible that just being around is making you feel uncomfortable. I had watched him for a long time, and he takes a lot of blame onto himself. Too much, in fact." I grumbled this would need to be something I hid from Percy. I could already tell he was having trouble fitting in and making friends other than Grover and I, probably because of his mourning state.
"You can thank our mother for the feeling, by the way, she is usually pretty biased about the gods she hates, so you can bet he is a child of one of them." I shook my head before getting myself some bacon and pancakes, being careful with doling out the syrup on them so that there was enough on the fried dough that it imparted flavor onto all of them, but not enough to drown them.
"Do you know who his parent is then? I heard that he was whining for his mom when he came into camp, so she must be the mortal one, right? Do you know who his godly parent is?" At that, I let loose a small growl, a rumble in my throat. Yeah, I didn't care about the mortal's life. She had come and gone like they all do in the end, but it was a sensitive subject for Percy, and I didn't care for people talking so callously about it behind his back.
"I have my suspicions, but that's it. Now please leave me alone so I can eat my Pancakes and go teach my friend some Greek." I resisted the urge to give the kid a rude gesture as I ate my food. It had started off innocently enough, but now I was just sort of sour to him. So casually speaking about such a sensitive subject.
"Ok, sorry about that...I didn't think you would get offended after a week of knowing the guy." Ok, M was quickly getting on my shit list. Sure, he had only known me for a week, but I had watched him for months! I had known about him for months and had even seen the rage he produced at the death of his mother, and the subsequent need to protect his best friend. Percy didn't deserve people talking behind his back like that, maybe I could do something to stop it. Looking up from my food, I caught Percy's sympathetic look again. I saw his irises flicker dangerously, a bit of that protective aggression that I had seen before starting to appear.
Quickly I shook my head, I didn't want him to get in a fight. Not for me, not for something like this. I knew from some experience that he wouldn't hesitate to get kicked out of this place, causing fights if it meant I could feel somewhat better. I had seen it happen at Yancy after all. It was nice to know he was willing to do that for me, however, and I couldn't help but wonder if anyone else in my life would do that for me.
I quickly decided that they wouldn't, the Satyrs and Nymphs I knew wouldn't do that, and my father, loving as he was, wasn't willing to directly fight mother for me, though I wondered how far this loyalty to his friends went. Calming down a bit, for Percy's sake if not my own. I went back to eating my food eager to get through it so I could spend the following hour and a half with him, looking forward to something good to improve my mood.
After that disaster of a meal, I hung out with Percy once more, underneath the shade of a tree near the canoeing lake giving my friend his greek lesson. Today, we were actually going through a Greek translation of the stories of Robin Hood. It was a deviation from our usual mythological tales, but I knew that eventually, those would bore my friend and me, so we needed to switch it up a bit.
"Man, I always heard of this guy before. Seen a few movies of him and the like, but I never imagined that his adventures were this...Goofy, it's fun, though." He read about how he tricked the Sheriff of Nottingham to get his riches and the like to spread to the poor. "If only Robin Hood was around today." I shook my head, going back to read about the noble thief for a moment before looking at him again. Still harboring some sadness, I could tell.
"Hey Perce, is there anything that you...Miss from outside of camp? Like anything you really wish you could have right now but aren't able to?" I couldn't help him with his grief, I just didn't understand that. Wants and desires, though? I could help fulfill those hopefully.
"Oh, um...I guess blue food. There isn't enough stuff here, not really any if you don't count the drinks we toast every night, which I don't, but it's the closest thing I have for now."
"Why blue? If you don't mind me asking, it seems like an odd color to want your food to be." So there was probably a reason he drank something blue every night. Also, this was something I could totally help with; I had a stash of those blue berries in my cabin after all.
"Oh, it's just a silly thing I did with my mom...We ate blue food, so doing so kind of feels like I am connecting to her for now. I don't want to stop doing it ever, because it's our special thing." I nodded, humming with pursed lips, so it had to do with the woman.
Why was she so important to Percy that she wanted to continue a tradition with her even after she was gone? This was curious, but I wouldn't push it further than that. Maybe if I could ever meet her, then I would understand, but she was killed. So I couldn't, all I could do was offer him the comfort of my berries sometime soon. Hopefully, that was enough to make him feel a little better. Shrugging, I nodded along to Percy, those thoughts buzzing in my head as we went back to reading again.
My cabin was lined up at the arena, all of us waiting for the sword instructor to appear, and true to form he did. Castellan's blond hair and tanned looks coming up the hill from the Hermes cabin with a soft smile on his face, I guessed he might look handsome to some people. Especially mother, as he gave off that rugged, but thinking aura from himself and everyone in the cabin was evidence of her weakness for that hair color. To me though, he put me on edge, my skin prickling a bit when he was coming in close, he looked to Mr.M with an apparent kindness in his eyes before all of it vanished when he caught that I was there, becoming cold while he got into the bit.
"Alright campers, today we will be working on your basic forms. No new moves today, we want to make sure you have a solid foundation before moving to the more complicated stuff. Everyone chooses a sparring partner and get to it. Annabeth, because there is an odd number of campers. You are with me." I hissed a little bit, this wasn't going to be fun. I nodded anyway, I didn't want to say anything and draw suspicion to the Hermes Counselor, I may have had a bad feeling, but no one else here did apparently.
Grabbing a blade that felt right enough, I stepped into the pit, and Castellan jumped on me, even before I could get into a proper stance and started to slap and whip at me with his blade. Castellan's sword nothing more than a flash of bronze as he attacked me from all angles. Commenting on my form now and then, giving surface-level feedback to look like he was doing his job. I was forced to do my best and defend myself. Adapting as fast as I could to the man who was pounding away at me.
As we fought, my blade clashing into his a few times, I could feel the differences in our strength and speed. He was overwhelming me, and the only thing keeping me slightly in the game was the fact that I had been practicing swordplay, admittedly against dummies and training automatons for the past few hundred years. However, that was mainly with a knife, and even then, I could barely keep up with his skill. Each slice, each block parry or flourish, was something hard-won by myself. The sound of metal clashing against metal echoing out, ringing in my ears with each clash. I found myself panting through it all while I tried to make the blade dance like he did.
The weight and extra length of my blade constantly making me mess up, it was clear that I had no chance of winning against this man, that he could have quickly finished me off long ago, but he kept going. The bruises and cuts were forming on my skin, each one a new sensation of pain that I hadn't felt before there. Each time the edge of his blade cut along my shoulder, it elicited a gasp of pain from the initial blow, which was usually followed by a few hisses as it still stung afterward.
I could tell that Castellan could have ended this at any time he wanted, but he was purposefully dragging it out, trying to inflict as much pain on me as possible or some reason. Keeping himself just reserved enough that it didn't look like one-sided bullying. His eyes bore into me, cold and cruel, just daring me to give in. Give up, let him win after putting me through intense pain, but I couldn't! I wouldn't give this up until I had no choice! In his confidence and arrogance, Castellan had made a mistake in this whole plot to subject me to the business end of his blade. He had given me time to think.
As the man pushed me around the rink, I noticed we were on pretty fine gravel and sand. Useful for keeping your footing, of course, no slick surfaces to lose yourself on though as I slid my feet across the gravel, there were rough patches. Excellent. I let the man lead me into a pattern of left-right-left parrying, repeating that pattern for a few exchanges, leading him to a rough patch of sand at the same time I knew Castellan would mix it up and attack from the supposed unexpected angle only to meet my blade there. I placed both my hands on the grip to resist him, hold our blades in place, but I wasn't going to kid myself. I was a 12-year-old girl up against a 19-year-old man, the gap in our physical strengths was tremendous, a giant canyon that I couldn't hope to overcome.
I couldn't help but stare into Castellan's eyes, boring down into me while he pushed forward, daring me to give up. Give in, let myself be humiliated by this man, let the former goddess lose on her first spar too bad for him, that wasn't the plan at all. I braced against his blade, resisting it as I was pushed down. Onto one knee, my other leg tensed up like a spring, perfect.
Releasing my non-dominant hand from the blade while bracing my other arm harder against Castellan, I swiftly scooped some of the gravel into my hands. I flung it upwards into Castellan's eyes, making him flinch back for a second as he was blinded. His blade going off-center for an instant, it was all I needed
"Gah a good trick, but can you cap-" The man's lecture was cut off by me springing forward, my knee raised high as I slammed it between his legs as hard as possible. I put all my demigod strength behind it, making Castellan yelp out in surprise and squeeze his knees together, collapsing to his own knees while tears welled up in his eyes in pain. I got back to my standing position quickly and swiftly brought my blade to the side of his neck.
"I win." I stared at Luke, panting a bit. My cuts were bleeding, letting red streaks run down my arms as I pointed up at the man's neck I hoped it only added to the image as my cabin mates started to boo me for some reason.
"That was a cheap move, Annabeth!"
"Yeah! Where is the honor in that?"
"That doesn't count! You should be disqualified for that sort of thing!"
What? I...I just won, and they were booing me for it? No! I had done something incredibly hard and right. Using battle strategy and they were just...Chiding me for it?! I let loose a growl before turning to them. "Well, I'm sorry! I didn't know there were rules when you wanted to survive! That's what we are here to do, right?! Train to survive? I don't know about you, but most monsters I know don't give a single piece of hellhound shit about honor or cheap moves! If you see a weak point, you go for it, or else you die!" I flicked my sword then, yelling at the cabin that was looking at me with disdain now, only Mr.M seemed to be apprehensive about this, his eyes flickering to Castellan now and then. I could see all of them tense up, their blades ready for defense, and recalled my conversation with M earlier that day.
"I can't help but get a bad feeling when I stare at him, it's the same feeling I get when I look at y-" They were feeling it now, the feeling when a monster was about to attack them. A bad feeling in their guts because I was the equivalent to a monster in my mother's eyes! I was dangerous enough that they instinctively wanted to avoid me, and I was just now showing them that violent side.
"If you can't see the wisdom in that, why are you even in Athena's cabin?" I screamed, looking to Castellan, who had the decency to make his face look sympathetic towards me at least, but his eyes twinkled with amusement. He may have lost the fight, but he had managed to turn the cabin against me even more than they had before. Blinking away tears of frustration from my eyes, I stormed off towards the armory.
"Annabeth! What do you think you're doing!? We still have half an hour of practice left!" My head counselor screamed at me, and I just threw him a hand gesture that I had seen the Ares kids use plenty of times before when talking to him. I didn't know exactly what it meant, but it seemed to get the point across as I put away my blade and ran off towards the woods. Towards the river where I would meet up with my friends, the only two friends I had in this damn camp, knowing how Castellan seemed to hate me, I doubted that Percy would want to be my friend any longer and with him leaving, so would Grover.
That thought made me shudder a bit, I had spent months preparing for this. A week building a sweet friendship with the boy, and it all came crashing down in a day because I gave the Hermes counselor a swift knee to the testicles. I should have just let him win, it would have been easy! Just let my blade fall out of my grip, then he has me in a fatal position, but no! I couldn't just let that happen! I had to win! I had to! Letting out a small sob, I curled up a bit...Why was I feeling so bad about this? About making them angry about losing Percy and Grover? They were just...Just stupid mortals! I stayed there, curled up for I don't know how long before I heard the grass crunching behind me.
"So I heard you kicked Luke in the nuts to win a fight..." It was Percy, of course, it was Percy. I looked to him, my eyes must have looked red and swollen from the tears. I looked at his pursed lips, afraid to go higher and see the disappointment and maybe anger that was sure to be in his eyes
"And? Are you going to be angry about me doing it like the rest of my cabin?" He shook his head, sitting down so fast I didn't get a chance to look away from his eyes as they looked into mine, his own swirling with some sympathy, amusement, and that same protective anger that I saw this morning.
"I didn't hear anything about your cabin being a bunch of pricks to you for that. Now I kinda want to yell at them too.." I chuckled a bit, the idea of this scrawny 12-year-old screaming down a bunch of kids, half of them older than him, an excellent image in my mind.
"Glad I could at least produce that. Listen, Annabeth, I know what you feel like right now. To have no one on your side, to have everyone watch you take the fall from the sidelines. So I am not going to do that to you. I don't know if you've noticed, but I find it a little hard to let go." That made me smile, just a little bit.
"So, I guess I am stuck with you, eh? What about Castellan? Didn't he tell you off about me or something?" He shrugged, looking towards the lake with an amused look in his eyes.
"Oh, he told me to stay away from you, especially after today. Said you were a dirty fighter, but I was like nope. You risked your life to help Grover that night, you risk your popularity every day by talking to me at all." he flashed me a small grin, a new expression, one of a troublemaker.
"Yep, me and you are stuck like glue. The least I can do is risk him being a little angry at me for hanging around you. Besides, in a fight, protecting your nuts is like 101, the basics. Wear a cup or something, because honestly, I would go for that shot when given the opportunity as well. It's how you fight in the real world."
"That's exactly what I said! But no, the whole cabin was getting angry at me for saying that." I took a deep breath before letting it out with a smile on my face.
"Well, that wasn't very wise of them. You gotta use every advantage you can in a fight." I nodded eagerly, and the two of us started to talk more. The pain I was feeling dissipating from my chest as I really took in that Percy wasn't going to be leaving anytime soon, at least not of his own volition. If only I knew the dangers that soon lay on the horizon for us, I might have savored this moment a little more.
