Chapter 27: The Preparation

Chapter 27

The Preparation

~Army's Cabin, The Meeting Room~

||Percy Jackson||

I sighed.

I may have turned immortal but godsdamm, don't I feel old. Sighing seems to happen almost every minute. If I knew this is what my life as a prince and a commander I probably would've stayed in my persona of Dark Echo, at least that was more chill than this.

After this blessed war and the making of this gods forsaken prison, I'm going to pack my bags and take a vacation for at least a year or two.

I opened my palms, pulling up the image that the person in front of me suggested. Causing me to sigh. Again.

"Dad," I said, "Void Fire and Void Water are not suitable elements to mix together. They're both too powerful. They'll cancel each other out."

Chaos ran a hand through his hair. "What do you suggest then?"

"Your idea could work if we have a median in between two...."

His eyes lit up, finally getting what I was trying to make him realize, "we don't need to mix them together. We can just conjoin them! That's brilliant!" He exclaimed, "my star, you are brilliant!"

I grinned at him, pleased that he got what I was thinking but of course, the problem just doesn't stop there, "But," I countered, "we need an element to act something in between. We can't just create an element in such short amount of time with so much in our hands."

"There's a reason why we aren't doing this alone, Percy."

"And they have the same thing in their hands-- two powerful contrasting elements."

"Correct, but that doesn't mean we don't have other elements in our arsenal," Chaos retaliated with a tone that clearly conveys his know-it-all attitude.

"You're suggesting a four layered prison? Am I correct?"

Chaos nodded.

"But," I countered, "is that--"

The door opened without warning, causing my hand to close and the tiny miniature of the prison that upgrades as we talk disappeared, along with all our other set ups for this meeting. I frowned in annoyance as I look over the door to see a frazzled Fyna standing by the door, looking back and forth between me and Chaos.

I gave her a blank look that I'm sure conveyed all that I felt about being interrupted, "Fyna, what did I tell you about interrupting this certain meeting?"

Her lips tightened into a straight line, "I know, Your Highness, but something happened."

I raised an eyebrow, "What is it?"

"The Camp is surrounded by enemies."

~

~A day ago~

|| Annabeth Chase||

I coughed, bringing their attentions back to me. I piled all the papers in front of me, looking at the immortal campers with a questioning eyebrow, who nodded at me in return. The look in my eyes told them my question but I still had to voice it out, "Is everyone satisfied with their positions?"

There was the silence that fell upon us, the only sound that can be heard was the muffled voice of the campers outside the Big House and the continuous bouncing of the bouncy ball that is being passed back and forth by the Stolls twins.

"Well, we have no choice but to," sighed Jason, running his hands through his hair.

Piper took Jason's hand and held it in reassurance, the ring in her hand shining from the lighting, "All this waiting is making me really anxious," she commented.

"It'll be fine," Hazel chimed in, though her eyes held so much worry in them. She was trying, and I praise her for that. "I'm sure of it."

"Okay, but," Katy said, "didn't the Army say that they want the result of our sorting?"

Everyone froze as if not moving will solve the problem regarding going up to the Army. Everyone looked at each other with dread. I mean, it's not that we'd hate to talk to them, we would actually love to, they were are friends after all, but there was no denying that they're intimidating.

"Will?" I asked hesitantly.

The son of Apollo only shook his head, "I can't. I'm working on a fast-healing formula with Michael under the orders of Percy and we want to present it to him by tomorrow so we can mass produce it if approved."

"...Reyna?...." I turned to the Praetor with a pleading look, who, in return, only gave me a guilty smile.

"Sorry, Chase," she said, "I'll be checking our weaponry after this."

I sighed, nodding, "Anyone?" I asked.

No one answered.

I closed my eyes briefly, trying to settle my frenzy heart. "Guess I'm taking one for the team."

~

I approached the building with a heart that's beating way too fast for my own liking. Looking up at the building up close, much closer than I had seen it last time, it held the air of intimidation from afar but up close it honestly felt so homey. I took the first step that was touching the ground and continued on a couple of steps that would lead me to the porch of the building considering that this cabin is a few feet off the ground.

Crossing the few feet distance, I knocked. The sound resonating deep within me and hopefully to the rest of the cabin. I don't even know if someone will answer me, considering that the Army seems to be very busy people. It's a day-off today which I'm sure they're doing something. Thankfully, I didn't have to wait for long because the door opened and I come face to face with the attractive leader of Section 4, Harmony.

A raised eyebrow and a smirk had me steeling myself. If there is one thing to associate this woman with, it's her sharp tongue, "Well, well, look who decided to grace us with their presence, the pretty blonde princess. Where are your minions? Did they finally abandon you?"

I shot her a glare, my lips tightening just as my fist did. "My friends are busy. I'm here to drop off the position listing for the campers. Now, maybe, if you can please do your job and take this." I handed her the thick wad of the folder filled with information.

"Feisty this morning, aren't you?" she grinned, before looking back to the cabin, ignoring the folder in my head. "However, that is not my job and I don't take orders from you," the woman said, stepping back and opening the door wider. "Unluckily, it had to be you--"

"Excuse me?"

"We were expecting you lot to send someone else to deliver that information, preferably, the centaur, but we'll settle for you," Harmony said as she motioned with her hands inside. "Come in, the commander wants the file delivered to him personally -- though, I have no clue why he won't just let us deal with it. Anyway, he probably wants to ask some clarification questions."

My heart, at that moment, jumped from my chest. A one-on-one talk with the commander. With Percy.

"...what?...." my voice was just barely above a whisper from the shock factor I've been hit. I could even hardly get the words out as my heart thundered and I could feel my blood rushing in, the pounding in my head.

This, this, would be the first time I'd be able to talk to him alone without anyone around me or him. Just us two. Granted, this talk is not for personal reasons but I will take what I can get.

I don't ever expect him to forgive me but if there is anything, anything, that I can do that would be apologizing to him. I owe him at least that. I knew, of course, the moment I saw him again, I knew what I needed to do. There was never a chance to do so.

"Don't get your panties in a twist, sweetie. It's strictly business. He's that kind of guy," Harmony said, closing the door behind me and began leading the way to the stairs.

Looking around as we passed through endless hallways, I tried to keep track of how many turns we left but I lost track and I'm assuming she did that on purpose, for security reasons, I'm guessing. The cabin is fairly small outside but godsdamn, this was an exact definition of don't judge a book by its cover.

After passing hallways for what seemed to be the 100th time, we finally began our trek to another set of stairs that I haven't seen before. It was a short one and another long hallway. We took a left, then another right then a couple more turns.

"Oh my gods," I said finally, "How many more turns do we have to do?"

"As many as possible," Harmony replied almost a second later, "This cabin was designed for the purpose of a maze. The room for each member is far ways apart. In the case of an intruder, it's harder to find us and harder to escape."

"How do you manage to find your ways then?"

"Those with special passes, you can guess who they are, have easy access to things. With us, the Army, we know the layout of this building by heart, the normal access, and the special access."

She gave me an eyebrow-raised look before stopping, finally. I looked at the door in front of me, it seemed like any normal door; brown, wooden and ornately designed. Harmony motioned for me to stay put. The moment her hand made the movement of knocking, I could feel every cell in my body still, muscles tightening in anticipation.

"Perce?" The section leader said, opening the door and peeking her head in. I heard a muffled voice answer and she fully opened the door and entering in, motioning again for her to follow me close by and so I did, biting my lip as I did so.

"Monnie, what is it?" My stomach did a flip upon hearing his voice. I peeked from Harmony's shoulder to see him sitting on a desk, endlessly tapping on a holographic screen, without even sparing us a glance. 

Hair, as usual, is ruffled, and he's wearing a clothing lighter than what I normally see him in. Man, his time as a commander did him good. Not that he wasn't attractive before, but this Percy, the one I'm estranged to, was a magnet. "If you're here to request me to beat your boyfriend's butt, then you should know it comes with a price."

"He's not my boyfriend!" argued Harmony.

Finally, he looked up, fixing his gaze on Harmony, "I beg to differ," he scoffed. Before his gaze landing on the person beside her, aka, me. It was almost instantaneously, the way his face changed to businesslike, as if, it has been there all this time. His eyebrows raised in questioning, back straightening before he leaned back in his chair.

"As you've requested, sir," she said almost mockingly, to which she was responded with a playful glare, "Blonde princess here said she's here to deliver the files for the positioning of each camper."

Percy hummed, not saying anything. Clearly understanding that Harmony still has more to say.

"Since you look like you're busy, do you want me to take care of this? I can also drag Sylas out of his room if you prefer."

I frowned at that notion. There was no reason for him to refuse her suggestion, but I didn't want him to. I need to talk to him. I need to see if there is anyway, at all, that he might listen to me.

He only waved his hands, "No, there's no need for that. I can deal with this."

She rolled her eyes, "Fine," she grumbled, "once Mother Rhea gets a wind of you over-working, she'll be throwing a fit."

"Which is why she won't know now, will she?" Percy said, with a smirk and a raised knowing eyebrow at Harmony who only glared at him, reading in between the lines of his sentence. "Now, please run back to your boyfriend or whatever you were doing and let me do my job."

Harmony swirled, glaring at him and giving me a look as she stalked off, yelling, "He's not my boyfriend."

The door closed behind her and at that moment, there was no one else but me and him. Just the two of us. I didn't know what to do so I just stood there, waiting for him to say something. I held my breath under his gaze for a second before he told me to sit down on one of the chairs in front of his desk with his hands held out. I hesitantly put the manila folder in his hands and he immediately got to work. Gods, this feels like a job interview.

I looked around his office while waiting for him. The office had a simple black and white theme with an accenting color of silver. It looks so modern, like one of those offices you see on Tumblr or Pinterest or some social media like that.

"Is everyone accounted for?" He finally asked.

"Yes, I believe so," I answered. My voice cracking just a bit. Percy nodded, still scanning through the papers.

"How did you make your decision? Are they okay with it?"

"We made each of them fill out a form to what they would like or be okay with and then, we just went through that. We assessed them with the statistics you gave us and decided if they're okay in the position they chose or they're better off somewhere else or if they're needed on a different one. And then, we personally talked to them if they're okay with the final decision."

He nodded approvingly, "Good. Now, where are you planning to put those who cannot fight and how old are they?"

"Below 11 or 10. We were planning on doing it at the arena or the Big House but I don't know if it's safe enough."

He began twirling the pen in his hand, moving it from one finger to another. Eyes staring at me so deep, it was as if he's grilling me right here and there before he hummed. "The Arena should be good. I'll send my dragon and Mrs. O'Leary to guard the place and have someone routinely watch on the place."

I could only nod in reply.

"Have you contacted Artemis' Hunters and other back-ups?"

I nodded again, "The Hunters are bound to arrive by tonight and previous campers and those that are willing to help us are bound to arrive anytime soon."

Percy nodded in approval before saying; "So, just to be clear, everyone knows what they're supposed to do, correct?"

"Yes, that's correct."

"Well, that's all. Thanks for delivering this to me. Just take this portal," as soon as he said that, there was that usual swirling vortex opening on the wall beside me. "It'll take you straight to the Big House."

He didn't say anything anymore and went back to the holographic screen. I bit my lips in anxiety and stood there, debating with my stomach lurching before finally going for it. "....hey, Percy?" I asked hesitantly, my voice so quiet I wondered if he heard.

It seems like he did because his head turned to me with that same raised eyebrow. He didn't say anything else, just expecting, waiting. The look in his eyes says that he knew I would do this, I honestly don't know if that's supposed to make me feel better or not. "May I talk to you about something.....not business related...."

Nothing changed, not even a flicker of emotion or any twitch. This man has full control over his mask, it astounds me. "I don't mix my business and personal matters." His hands flicked and I felt something, a breeze nudged me towards the portal closer and closer.

"Wait!" I exclaimed, "Please, just listen to me." The wind kept pushing and pushing before I was a hair's breadth away from being in the portal. "Percy, please! I'm begging you." I couldn't keep the desperation off my voice as I said those two words.

The breeze stopped pushing me, instead, I felt it wrapped around me. Keeping me still and captive as Percy stood up and walked to me, leaning his body on the desk. "Look at you grovelling," he said with a dark smirk on his face, my lips tightened and my jaw clenched. He was mocking me, I didn't say anything--couldn't say anything. "The great prideful Annabeth Chase, almost ready to kneel down in front of me and kiss my shoe if need be."

"....Percy...."

"Honestly, I had hoped that I wouldn't have confrontation with you until the end, I anticipated it in fact but I guess fate just have different plans."

"Just hear me out and I swear, if you want to, this will be the last you talk to me."

He sighed. It was brief, so fleeting that it was as if I imagined it. For a brief moment, I saw a tired, exhausted, beaten down man, but of course, it was gone as fast as it came. What I registered next was an emotionless closed-lipped smile of Percy's, "Tell you what, Chase," he said, "let's make a deal."

I licked my dry lips, "A deal...." I echoed.

He nodded, arms crossing across his chest, "I'll lay out the details that I'm sure will suit to your liking."

"How will you know it will?" I accidentally blurted out, much to my dismay.

The side of his lips quirked, "Because, one, I know you, don't forget that. Two, part of my job revolves around negotiating and I'm trained to read people," he stated with a roll of his eyes. "Now," he began again, "I've seen countless of wars and there's always a personal goal of mine when I deal with them."

"And that is?"

"And that is making the casualties as low as it can go. I give certain people that holds power an incentive to lower their casualties, say, from a certain number to zero, and I do something that they want."

"So," I said, "are you suggesting a deal like that?"

"Ms. Chase," Percy said, stalking towards to me. I held my breath as the distance between us shortened, the closest I've ever got from him, so close I can see the red tint in his eyes flicker. "There's approximately 530 campers, plus the hunters and the backup, which could be about 200. Now, how much casualties do you think there will be?"

My heart thumped painfully at the thought of people dying because of this pointless war, "About 200?" I answered hesitantly.

He hummed, "So, the deal would be this, Annabeth Chase," he said, moving back from me, "If, by the end of this war, which won't be long soon, the total count of casualties are below, let's say, 250 then I will listen to what you have to say. To make the treat even sweeter, I'm willing to listen to you and your other friends. Are we good?"

It was as if I was paralyzed at the proposition he gave me, instead I could only nod in reply. Thoughts flying by my head in a rush.

"I said," Percy's voice broke me out of my reverie as I found him staring at me, "Is there a deal or not?"

"Yes," I answered, clearing my throat and once again spoke; "It's a deal."

He didn't answer, instead I felt the nudge again and this time, I didn't fight in and let it guide me to the portal. It swallowed me and in the blink of an eye, I was standing at the Big House's porch; scaring the crap out of Chiron and Natalia, who were both sitting in front, talking with mugs in their hand.

"By Gods, girl, you scared us!" Chiron exclaimed until he saw the astonished look and pale complexion, he frowned, "My dear, what happened?"

"....Percy..."

"Oh, dear," said Natalia, "What did he do?"

~

That night, during the bonfire, the Commander came out and stood where the storyteller's makeshift stage is. Everyone looked at each other in questioning and anxiety. "Good evening, everyone," Percy greeted, "I just want to say good job on your training, I've seen your progresses and I couldn't be even more pleased. Comparing your statistics from before training started to now, the results are astounding and I can say that I'm proud and glad that you guys worked hard and have come a long way."

Cheers and clapped erupted from the camper.

"And the break you kids got today was well-deserved. Unfortunately, I have to cut the bonfire short tonight and we, the Army, decided it's best for you to get your rest for tonight. It'll be a busy day tomorrow and you're going to need all the energy you can get. You've all followed orders very nicely and this is no different. So, you guys are dismissed for tonight."

Without another word, everyone instantly scattered. As Percy stepped off the stage and everyone gone aside from us, the counselors and a few, I heard the Army crowd around him. "Percy, what are you talking about?" Silena questioned.

"I didn't want them to panic. There's a possibility of an attack tomorrow and I was just going to inform you guys to set everyone to them in their positions in the morning, so everyone is prepared."

Chiron walked over to them, to which, of course, we followed, "And you didn't bother to tell us?" He asked accusingly.

Percy swirled around, clearly not liking the tone in the centaur's question. "If you can't tell, Chiron, in the duration we've been here, we've only provided sure information and I prefer to continue to do so. So, if I say there's a possibility, then I am not sure if the info is reliable or not, there was no reason to make the kids panic unless I know for sure. Now, it could go both ways, there might be an attack, there might not be, but that doesn't mean I won't prepare them for it."

Percy turned to Zoe, who stood by his side, as usual. "Are the hunters and others all settled in?"

"Yes" Zoe answered, "The Hunters preferred to stay in their tents while the others gladly accepted the accommodation provided."

Percy nodded, and bid everyone a good night before stalking off and disappearing a few feet away. I turned my head to face Chiron who was looking at the space that Percy occupied with a frown. "Is he all right?" he questioned.

"Percy really gets down to business when he knows an attack is coming," Ethan said.

"He must've gotten another information," Sylas commented, "He's on edge. The times I see him like this is when it's the final battle. Considering that we haven't had a full blown attack yet, only tiny, miniature ones, I'm guessing there would only be one battle and it's going to be huge."

"And I'm sure that he'll be sending us to fight," Luke said. I looked at him longingly, god I missed him. His gaze turned to me and only gave me a slight nod before he walked away, after saying, "So, you guys better rest. It might be the longest day you'll ever have."

~

They weren't lying when they said that we're going to need all the sleep we can get because as soon as the sun peeked in the sky, we were already up and running. Campers positioned in the spot of healers are all preparing the infirmary and their stock of medicines with the help of Michael and Will; those in charge of canons are making sure they're in working order; the ones taking care of the weaponry are all available for all the campers to take and making sure all of them are working properly; a few are in charge of helping struggling campers get in their battle suit (courtesy of the Army, of course); and majority of us, the battle lines, are busy getting our stuff ready and mentally preparing ourselves, going through the battle lines and all that.

It's a very eventful morning, safe to say.

Even the Army was out and about, helping and guiding the campers. Except, of course, the Commander, which is Percy. The deal he made hung above my mind like a bait, floating and taunting me. I know of course that he means well with his deal but that doesn't mean it doesn't freak me out.

As I was helping the other campers prepare their battle suits, I saw Fyna running to Nico. I saw them talk quietly together very seriously and at that moment, sirens blared around the camp. The annoying sirens that was activated once a monster step within 10 miles close to camp. It was set up by us, counselors, under the instructions of the Army.

I looked back at Nico, who nodded at Fyna, who, in turn, disappeared. Nico moved to the front and gathered the attention of everyone, even the nymphs, the moment the sirens stopped blaring. He coughed, crossing his hands across his chest, "This is the awaited moment, everyone. We had a theory that there would be an attack and so we decided to get ready and you are ready, the Army can agree very well with that. It's going to be scary, I know, but you all can do this and will manage to survive this battle. We believe in you all."

Everyone held their collective breath, the monsters stomping towards us became the dreaded music we all heard. There was no screaming or crying, nothing but deep breaths and I know we all shared the same heartbeat rhythm and same feeling at this moment; scared but ready for this.

"Now, everyone, go to your battle positions," Nico commanded, "and get ready for the attack."

It was as if the whole camp was connected, we all marched to the same beat as we exited out of the camp and prepared to meet the monsters as they also stopped at least a hundred meters from us. I looked at each of my friends, nodding at them with a grim smile. We've survived many, many wars and this is no different. We can survive this too.

Jason took a deep breath, flipping his trusty coin transforming sword. "Demigods!" He yelled as soon as the sword turned and landed in his palm, "For our future!"

Everyone echoed, raising their chosen weapon in hand. We ran towards the monsters the moment the arrows rained down on our enemies from the archers and the Hunters.

The battle had begun.

~

"I have the whole word raging under my skin. I've always been a girl armed for war."

~

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters etc etc. I only own the plot and some made up characters. Picture isn't mine too. 

Hey, how's it going, lovelies? 

Four thousand word chapter here you go. What did you think about it?? We're finally getting into the battle. Ngl, I still have no clue how to go about it. I'll be ready to take some of your opinions on how you think the battle  would go or how it should go. 

Anyway, I hope you're having a good day and that you enjoyed this chapter! 

Vote, comment and tell me what you think and thank you for reading! 

~Leannexo