Chapter Text
Running. That's all she and everyone else had been doing for the past couple of days, just sprinting as fast as they could. She could hear the panting breaths and pained grunts of her group, but she ignored all of them.
Then, her tree came into view.
"WE'RE HERE!" She yelled in relief.
The Hunt yelled in relief as well as they sprinted toward the tree, smiles on their faces.
Then an arrow flew past her face. She whipped her head to see nothing in the direction the arrow had come from, except another arrow. She paled and dodged. Is this what the Titan had told them about? Was the invisibility bubble already set up? Were they too late?
"Just a little farther!" She yelled to the hunters, shaking off her worry.
One of the hunters screamed and began to run faster. Above them, a blanket of arrows was covered in a blanket of arrows.
She grumbled. "Hey, Dad. Now would be a good time to help."
Her eyes began to glow a bright blue, and she jumped and whirled around, taking aim with her arm. She mimicked the motion of throwing a spear, and a giant thunder bolt shot from her hand, zapping between each arrow and making the sky light up like fireworks.
The Hunters all cheered.
"Nice, Thalia!" Pheobe yelled through her panting breaths.
Thalia nodded and continued running. Once they passed the tree, they began to slow down, breathing heavily and hearts pounding.
"We can't slow down," Thalia managed to say, resting against her tree for a moment. "You guys go rally the campers. Get them ready for the fight. I'll go get Percy and the others."
The Hunt nodded and took off in different directions, moving as fast as they could in their exhaustion. As Thalia ran through the camp, it began to erupt in noise as campers started to rush around, suiting up and finding others to warn.
When she reached the Chaos cabin, she pounded on it. Luke opened the door.
"Oh, Thalia!" He said. "You're ba -"
He looked past her. "Why is everyone running around?"
"Monster attack," Thalia gasped out. "The force was massive last time I saw it, and since then, it's definitely grown."
Under his mask, his face hardened. "Got it. I'll get everybody. Go tell Chiron, see if Dionysus will help."
He closed the door.
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"Percy, I have to tell you something," Thalia said.
Percy shook his head and rifled through his cloak. "Not right now. You told us everything about the assault, right?"
"Well, yes," Thalia admitted. "But that's not what -"
"Then it doesn't matter right now," Percy said. "Go rally the hunters. Make sure they're ready."
"Percy, it's really important!" Thalia said.
"You can tell me after the battle," Percy insisted. "Is someone dead?"
"No, the opposite," Thalia said. "Your sister is alive!"
Percy froze.
"I know," he said. "That isn't news to me. Now, please go rally the hunters."
"But -!" Thalia began to say before she was interrupted by Percy.
"No buts!" He said, looking at her in frustration. "The topic is hard for me, and right now, we have a battle! Go. Rally. The. Hunters."
Thalia cursed and rushed away. Fine. Even though he would know what she wanted to tell him after the battle, she could just tell him that's what she wanted to inform him about.
Let him be mad he didn't let her talk. What could she care? It's not like him not knowing would lead to any major consequences or anything.
Yeah.
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Apollo fired an arrow up at the roof of the throne room. It broke apart into bright light, and instantly, each God began to teleport in, sitting on their thrones.
"Why did you call this meeting?" Zeus asked.
"The battle is starting," Apollo said. "Please let us help."
"I already said no!" Zeus bellowed.
"Father, people down there will suffer and die if we do not intervene!" Apollo exclaimed. "Important people! I've felt it."
Zeus ignored him and fished out a drachma from his pocket. "Oh, Iris, please show us the battleground of Camp Half-Blood."
He flicked the coin toward the center of the room and a bright beacon shot from the floor, swallowing it. When the beacon disappeared, the Iris message sat in its place.
"Father -!" Apollo began to say before Zeus held a hand up.
"Get on your throne, Apollo," he said. "And be quiet."
Apollo closed his mouth and glared at his father in silent rage, teleporting to his throne. Zeus turned to Hermes.
"If he tries to get out of his seat, restrain him," he ordered.
Hermes gulped at the look in his father's eyes and nodded fearfully before looking at Apollo, who had already focused on the Iris message, watching the camp's troops prepare.
Ares grinned and cracked knuckles, staring at the mirage in excitement. Hephaestus had already started to fiddle with a metal contraption, Dionysus was watching the screen with small, hidden amounts of worry, Athena was watching with interest, anxious to see any new fighting styles, Hera watched with clear disinterest, Poseidon watched the figure of his son intently, and Aphrodite was watching from the corner of her eye, mainly focusing on the mirror in her hand.
The others just watched with interest, nothing notable. At least in Hermes' eyes. What he failed to notice was the eight year old by the hearth, frowning up at the massive message through her flames. She could sense it. Something important was coming. And it wouldn't be good.
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Annabeth frowned as she put on Hazel's armor.
"Are you sure?" She asked.
Hazel nodded furiously, her eyes focused for the first time in a while. "Yes. I'm fighting. And if I die... I'll be able to apologize to Frank."
Annabeth grimaced as she finished the last clasp. "But..."
Hazel sighed and turned. "No buts. I don't know why I did what I did, but I'm going to make up for it. You can't stop me."
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Leo grinned and moved the tiny statue of Festus around in his hand, rolling it and marveling at how light it was. His mind began to whirl with ideas of what to do in the fight as Calypso came to stand next to him.
"You ready?" She asked.
Leo nodded. "Of course. Me and Festus will be raining down hellfire."
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Beckendorf nervously checked his drones again. Silena, who was holding his arm, looked up at him.
"Everything will be fine, don't worry. And you calibrated those well the first time, stop messing with them."
He looked into her eyes. "B-but... what if I didn't?"
"You did," she said, tightening her grip on his arm. "Believe in yourself. For me."
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Percy shook his head. "No, you're staying on my body this time," he said. "If Erebus really is going to be there, I'll need armor."
His Companions whined and complained, but they understood. Protection would be needed dearly if he fought a primordial.
He smiled and tightened his chestplate. "I'll get you guys so much food after this."
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Michael looked up at Hemera. "Are you ready, my lAdy?"
Hemera nodded. "Of coUrse! Let's go kick somE monsTer butt!"
Michael smiled and stepped into the teleporter with Hemera right behind him.
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Bellerophon grinned as he aimed down the scope of his rifle, aiming at one of the bird statues on the big house. Icarus chuckled.
"Excited?"
"Hell yeah," Bellerophon said. "Those monsters won't know what hit them."
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"How did they learn of us?" Periboia asked, looking up at Thalia's tree, where the demigods stood, looking down toward them.
"Please relax," Otis asked.
Ephialtes nodded. "Yeah. Erebus will be here soon. We'll be fine."
Thoon grunted in agreement, and Periboia looked away from the demigods.
"Yeah. Yeah, you're right," she said. "Those demigods won't know what hit them."
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Percy stared past the tree, down the hill, seeing nothing.
"They're down there," Thalia said. "Behind a bubble of invisibility."
Percy nodded and turned around to face the camp while Thalia rushed to rejoin her hunters.
"Anybody under 15 I want either defending the archers or the city!" He yelled to the mass. "Archers, stay in the back! Romans, use your practice well, and Greeks..."
His eyes twinkled under his mask. "Wreak havoc."
The demigods pounded on their shields and raised their weapons, cheering. Percy turned to his team.
"Alright, here's the plan. Thalia told us that Bob is one of the Titans in the crowd. I'm going to try and locate him. Luke and Bianca, you -"
He was interrupted by the sound of a giant roar. The sound echoed across the battlefield like a gunshot in a shooting range, and Percy actually paled.
"No..." He whispered. “No way Tartarus let him…”
The invisibility shield dropped, revealing the massive force of monsters to the campers, most of whom instantly adopted looks of trepidation instead of courage. The monsters cheered, but Percy's team ignored them and focused on their leader, who had stopped talking.
"Percy?" Luke asked. "Are you there?"
Percy gulped. "Th- there's been a change of plans."
"What?" Hyacinthus asked. "Why?"
"It's - you'll see. You, all of you, focus on helping the campers and taking out the heavy hitters as fast as you can. Just- try to find Bob in the conflict."
"But you have to do something," Bianca said, confused. "What will you be fighting?"
Far, far behind Percy, a massive shape entered the horizon, its five heads stretching up to the roof of the sky. Everyone fell silent and looked at the creature, filled with terror. Its heads slowly lowered until it looked toward the camp. The monsters cheered again, and both them and the giant creature began to rush forward.
"I'll be fighting that," Percy answered, gesturing toward the creature and summoning his trident. "Let no one near it. One drop of venom from that thing gives you a nasty way to die."
He turned toward the monsters and leveled his trident.
"CHARGE!" He yelled, launching forward.
The campers yelled and screamed and ran, quickly coming face to face with the monsters and shedding first blood. Percy shot forward, toward the hydra that was rapidly barreling toward camp, determined to bring it down.
