Chapter 5: On the Right Side

Rated T for Violence and light swearing

Annabeth pushed through the doors and crashed into someone who had been walking past. She was knocked to the floor but quickly got up as she saw Oreius rushing towards the door.

The mortal she had bumped into was angry, "Excuse me, that was kind of-"

CRASH

The glass door of the 'Smallest Bear: Gift and Bait Shop' exploded into a million pieces as Oreius slammed into the door and broke it off its hinge.

The mortal had a sudden change of heart, "IT'S A BEAR! RUN!"

Absolute chaos.

The square erupted in screams, and the mortals were running all over the place.

There were shouts of, "It's a brown bear! Play dead!" and, "It's a black bear make yourselves look big!" and then, "How did a Polar Bear get here? RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

The mist seemed to be in a mood today.

Annabeth made a run for the Cafe. She could probably get Jason to help her and then-

Her thoughts were broken as Annabeth was suddenly lifted into the air by a giant water hand.

Annabeth was bewildered. Since when did a Naiad have this kind of power?

Oreius was running around scaring the mortals into the stores or boats. She was surprised that Jason hadn't run out to figure out where all the screaming was coming from.

Ms. Lake was holding out her hand, and the water from the lake was holding Annabeth in place. She looked disappointed and betrayed that Annabeth had run off, "oh, come on now. Do me a favor. I gave you that discount after all."

Annabeth yelled, "I can't really use the discount if I'm dead!"

"Well, I was going to keep you alive. You're worth far more alive. But," the water tightened around her and Ms. Lake's eyes looked evil, "I should have guessed a daughter of Athena would escape. You're too risky to keep alive, but I'm sure your dead body will still be worth a lot."

The water tightened. Annabeth's vision was darkening. She almost felt the need to laugh. Was she really going to blackout twice in one day?

Out of nowhere, a latte flew through the air and smashed into Ms. Lake's face. Annabeth dropped down to the ground covered in water.

A voice that was not Jason yelled, "You might want to back off, Naiad."

The person helped up Annabeth as Jason pushed Ms. Lake back about two hundred feet with a strong wind. He didn't introduce himself, but he didn't really need to for Annabeth to recognize him.

He was tall with a slim wiry stature. What should have been black greasy hair ear-length hair was instead a Roman soldier hair cut. Close-cropped. He was also taller, buffer, he looked about her age seventeen or eighteen. The recognizable trait was the eyepatch. But something else seemed different about him.

Jason ran over to the both of them and as he got into a fighting stance from his wrist a round shield spiraled out glinting in the sunlight, a golden replica of Thalia's Aegis. He raised in front of the three of them as a sharp cone-shaped mass of water flew at them.

Could water even be sharp? She'd have to think about it more later.

"Annabeth this is Ethan Nakamura, Ethan this is Annabeth Chase. He's a friend." He faced back toward Ms. Lake who had now created a giant tower of water that was growing to the height of a second story building and shooting water cones toward them.

Ethan unsheathed a golden Roman-style Gladius, "What is going on here?"

Annabeth pushed her now wet hair out of her face and grabbed her knife from the ground. The three of them dropped to the ground as another round of sharp lake water flew towards them.

"It might be my fault, but I'm choosing to blame Jason because he wanted me to get Peach Rings." Annabeth rolled to the side and stood back up, "She was nice one moment, and then she wanted to kidnap and kill me. I don't get it, Naiad's aren't supposed to be this powerful."

Ethan may have had only one good eye, but every step and move he made was balanced. His nose wrinkled in annoyance, "Gods Jason, did they make you bring a newbie, or did you find this one?"

Annabeth suddenly felt the need to stab him in the shoulder, "Ok, that's kind of rude."

Jason, let another cone hit his shield. The force of it slid him back a couple of feet, "Oh shut up, she's not dead yet, she just doesn't know anything."

Wow, Annabeth thought, that was an introduction she wasn't used to.

Jason continued, this time talking to her, "Annabeth, remember when I was telling you that the Gods have blocked themselves off. Well, there's no one to keep monsters and lesser beings, like naiads, in check. She's probably been gathering power since the war started."

Ethan had his eyebrows furrowed in confusion by the way Jason had phrased his words, but instead of asking anything about it he pointed into the distance with his sword, "Is that bear wearing clothes?"

Annabeth looked over to where he was pointing and saw a little in front of the water tower a blur of clothes and shaggy bear fur speeding towards them. Oreius had started making his way to the demigods. His eyes were fixed on them, his bear face looked furious.

"Ok," Annabeth dodged another water cone, "We need a plan..."

With some focus, Annabeth took in the scene in a millisecond. Ms. Lake was two stories tall and a little more than two hundred feet away. Oreius was now a less than thirty -second run away from them. Ethan had his golden Gladius. If he was anything like the Ethan from her world, he knew how to use it. Annabeth had a knife and a backpack. Jason had his shield, knife, and Jupiter powers. The shops were only a little more than one hundred feet from the lakeshore, too close for comfort. But the trees behind some of the buildings were pretty tall, maybe...

Another millisecond, and then, she had a plan.

"Ok, here's the plan. Ethan will get rid of the bear. Jason, I hope you can fly with that Areokeneisis. You're the best suited to take her on, so I need you to push her to the tree behind the Paddles and Beer shop. Throw some lightning at her, I'm going to create a distraction for you and on my signal take her out."

Jason held up his shield and another water cone crashed into it and fell into a puddle on the ground, "I got you, I don't really have great aim though."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow, "Better start praying to Apollo and Artemis then."

It turns out water can be sharp. Annabeth barely managed to dive out of the way while explaining the plan, one of the cones had skimmed her. She let out a string of curses in greek. It was probably, 'this needs stitches' deep, but it didn't hurt too terribly yet. She couldn't take care of it right now, they had to get Ms. Lake away from the water as soon as possible.

Annabeth yelled to the boys, "Go now!"

The three of them split. Jason was launched into the air towards the Naiad. Ethan let out a battle cry and then charged at Oreius. Annabeth started running toward the back of the buildings.

It was only a couple of seconds before she was suddenly more aware of her pounding heartbeat that was pushing blood out of the wound on her bicep. Annabeth tried to keep running, but the pain in her shoulder made her light-headed. She had to stop, just for a second. Hopefully, it wouldn't throw off her plan, and since there were no longer any water cones coming her way, the Naiad must have had her attention on Jason.

She ripped off her left t-shirt sleeve and tied up the cut to apply the pressure. Then she closed her eyes and tried to control her breathing, just for an instant.

Then, it seemed like the next ten seconds happened slowly, like molasses. But also faster than the blink of an eye.

Ethan shouted, "Annabeth! Watch Out!"

Annabeth suddenly heard Oreius pounding towards her. Something inside of her broke at the realization. Annabeth had miscalculated. Sure, the Naiad could be distracted, but Oreius was a simple creature. His goal was to kill her, not Ethan.

When Annabeth had started running away from the scene, Oreius had changed his path. Then she had stopped, giving him extra time to catch up.

Annabeth knew she was right when she turned towards Oreius who was only a few moments from crashing and slashing through her. She knew it was too late to pull out her knife, or fight him, or do anything. She couldn't even outrun him.

She was going to die.

Annabeth saw her life flash before her eyes. But only the good parts, the best parts. And Gods, as it did, Annabeth prayed so hard that she would get sent back to her underworld, and not this world's. She prayed so hard that Hecate would bring Percy and her family her dead body. That's the part that seems to take a lifetime. The praying.

The part that happens too fast is a thud and pop of dust. It's the slash and the quick spurt of blood. The part that happens the fastest is her water shoes filling with Ethan Nakumura's blood.

She had known this Ethan for barely anytime at all and then in the past couple seconds, his body had pushed in front of her and crashed to the ground. From her right side he had jumped in front of her, probably with his sword raised, knowing that both he and Oreius would be hit at the same time.

Now, he was laying on the ground with deep claw marks that went from one shoulder to the other, with a cut at his neck. It must have hit an artery or a jugular vein because blood was gushing everywhere.

The shock and extra adrenaline completely pushed away from the pain in her arm. She immediately knelt next to him, stuffed a bunch of ambrosia she had left in her pocket down his throat, and applied pressure to the bloodiest spot trying to stop the blood that was rushing out of the cut in his neck.

She almost couldn't believe what was happening. Annabeth had seen people die before. She'd seen people get injured. It was always someone falling or a single fatal hit. This was something she'd never experienced. Annabeth ADHD kicked in and she felt all of it. She could feel the blood seeping through her sweats. She could hear screams from the town and the sound of fast-moving wind from Jason and Ms. Lake fighting. There was crunching glass and wood breaking from the shops being torn up in the fight. She both felt and heard Ethan hyperventilating loudly like there wasn't enough air in the world to fill his lungs. His one eye darted everywhere like it was trying to take in the sky before it disappeared.

He painfully lifted his hand to her wrist and pushed out a question in shuttered breaths, "Blonde, grey eyes? You're a daughter of Athena, right?"

She could feel tears falling down her facing the mixing with his blood as she nodded.

His eye bore into hers as he slowly pulled Annabeth's wrist away from his neck, "Balance. This is what she meant." He said it as if Annabeth would understand, but she just brought her hand back over his wound.

He moved her hands again this time with more force, "Not going to make it… go save Jason."

He made a weak attempt to push Annabeth away towards where she had been running before. Ethan seemed to know that he had only seconds left. But Annabeth didn't move. How could she? She couldn't just leave Ethan to die. Annabeth should stay. She should keep applying pressure and hope one of the screaming hiding mortals was a Doctor.

She looked over and could see Jason starting to barely dodge the water tendrils that were now growing out of the tower of water. He was fading, but he had done what she told him. The water tower was crashing through 'Paddles and Beer' a mere twenty feet from the tallest tree. Jason was slowly pushing Ms. Lake closer and closer.

Her plan was falling into place.

She knew staying was illogical.

She glanced at Ethan one more time. Even though he was hyperventilating his eye was looking at the clear blue sky. His lips slightly curved upward. He was in pain, but he looked at peace.

He wanted her to go.

More tears fell down her face and she forced out a broken, "I'm sorry."

Then, Annabeth ran.

There was a newfound determination in her bones. She pushed herself to run faster than she ever had before. She sprinted behind the row of shops and made her way to the tallest tree behind Paddles and Beer. She ripped off her new durable drawstring backpack and started to climb up, Mulan style.

She could tell that her left arm was not having it. But at the moment Annabeth could care less about it. She tore up the tree as fast as she could while she heard the wind, water, and electricity somewhere to the right of her. Turns out the obstacles courses and climbing wall at camp had really prepared her for climbing a tree.

Annabeth made it to a secure branch about a hundred feet up. Just as she had guessed Jason was alternating blocking with his shield and shooting bolts of lightning through his knife towards Ms. Lake.

It was a pretty epic match, but she could see that both of them were weary. Jason already had terrible aim, but Annabeth could see his bolts getting less powerful, his concentration was waning. Ms. Lake was the same, her water cones were less powerful, the tendrils just barely blocked Jason's attacks, she was too far from the water to gain strength easily. Both of them barely had enough to both attack and block at the same time.

Now Ms. Lake's tower of water was only five feet away and seventy feet below where Annabeth was on the tree.

Originally, Annabeth had planned to throw something, but she realized now that the plan would have to change. Throwing a water bottle wasn't enough of a distraction. Ms. Lake wouldn't stay still enough for Jason to hit her.

Annabeth would have to fall right above her. She'd have to hope that the water cushioned her and pushed her towards the trees or the lake instead of pushing her into the dangerously broken pieces of the 'Paddles and Beer' shop. If Jason was just a second too late. If he didn't see her drop from the tree.

Annabeth guessed seventy-five percent chance of survival and she knew that was a little optimistic.

Gods, she was going to regret this. But a seventy-five percent chance of survival was good enough for her. Annabeth threw her drawstring bag on her back and edged along the sturdy branch until she was directly above Ms. Lake. She mustered her inner Pan and yelled, "YOU WANT ME? I'M ALL YOURS."

Ms. Lake and Annabeth's eyes connected and knew she had caught her attention. Some tendrils came out from the tower and started moving towards her.

Then Annabeth fell. She was crashing down straight towards Ms. Lake's now horrified face.

It takes about two seconds for humans to fall about seventy feet. A little more if you take air resistance into account.

On the first second, Jason figured out that a person falling from a tree was in fact Annabeth's signal.

On second two, he pushed everything he had into a powerful blast of lightning that ripped through the air.

Annabeth watched Ms. Lake's body explode into pieces as the lightning tore through her. In milliseconds her body turned to ash, her blue eyes being the last to burn.

On a little more, Annabeth crashed into the water just as it fell, like a wave crashing back towards the lake.

...

The water had broken her fall. But it probably wanted to go home because it had pushed itself and her back into the lake and left Annabeth laying on the deck.

Mother of Hera, Annabeth felt exhausted. Unfortunately, she didn't have time to be exhausted quite yet.

Annabeth stumbled away from the dock and back towards the once cute little shopping area. It was now destroyed. Everything was soaking wet. Paddles and Beer, and it's adjacent stores had giant gaping holes in them. Most people had gotten in their cars in and left, with the exception of a couple of people and two police cars that read, "Small Bear Lake Police'.

And there was Jason. He was sitting crisscross in front of the "Paddles and Beer" shop looking just as exhausted as he felt. He didn't even notice her come over until she shouted his name.

His head shot up and looked over to her, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She responded.

Jason laid on to the muddy ground and closed his eyes with a sigh, "Is the Naiad dead?"

She got over to him and stood next to him before grabbing his hand and pulling him up to his feet, "She's not dead. She may be a very very minor entity, but she's still immortal. She should be scattered enough that she won't be back to Small Bear for another hundred years."

Annabeth pulled her unopened water bottle out of her bag took a couple of sips and gave it to him. She stayed silent while he drank.

Where should she start about Ethan?

He asked before she could, "Ok, where's Ethan? We need to get out of here."

Annabeth looked down and realized her once blood-stained clothes were mostly clean, Ethan's blood washed away with the mass of water, "He didn't make it, Jason."

Jason's face turned to stone. She could hear him breathing harder and his eyes closed like he was trying to control his breathing.

Then, contradictory to a couple of tears running down his face, his voice came out, rough and unfeeling, "Where's his body?"

Annabeth dragged him over to Ethan and felt her palms get clammy. Now that she could see all of it, she knew he would have never survived his injuries. The pool of blood went from a foot or two above his head and almost too his knees. The scratches were deep, some of the ones on his shoulder went to the bone. Maybe if he had armor on he would have survived, but it didn't really matter no. Even though Ethan was no longer breathing, blood was still leaking from his neck. He must have died only moments before they had gotten to him.

Jason slowly knelt by his side, grimacing as his knees touched the puddle. He reached for Ethan's face and slowly closed his left eye.

Jason muttered, just loud enough for her to hear, "You will find rest in Elysium, my friend."

They both hung their heads in silence for a couple of seconds more before Jason suddenly took the belt and sheath off of Ethan's body and stood.

Annabeth protested immediately, "Don't take stuff off of him. That's not right."

He picked up Ethan's gladius and handed the belt and sheath to Annabeth, "This is a war. You need more than just a knife. Ethan would want it to be put to use anyway."

Holding the sword felt wrong, and she knew why, but she didn't drop it. Annabeth ignored the feeling and stopped Jason before he walked away, "We can't just leave his body here. We have to do something with it."

He continued to push past her, "We can't bring him with us. And we need to take whatever we might need out of these stores before the County Police come, or worse, the Romans."

He was right, of course. But Annabeth felt like she owed him something. He died to save her. She wasn't even sure why. Because she was the daughter of Athena? It's the same reason the Naiad had attacked her. Ethan had also said something about balance. Did he know that she was sent here to save his world? Surely not, she barely knew what she was doing,.

Annabeth took out one of the Golden Drachmas softly muttered a 'thank you' and placed it on his chest, some ferry money so he wouldn't have to wait to get to Elysium. Then, she followed Jason to the soaking rubble of buildings.

It wasn't till after they walked away from Small Bear Lake that she realized what had bothered her about his appearance before. Her world's Ethan had his eye patch on the left side. This Ethan had his eye patch on his right.

A/N. Thank you for reading! I know I just killed Ethan. Sorry about that. I know that this chapter was a little gruesome. But there might be a little more of that as we go on. I really want to emphasize what happens when there's a war fought with swords between demigods. People don't just pop into dust like monsters, people bleed. People bleed a lot. Also, if ya didn't notice, Annabeth is really good at judging distances. And I'm just gonna make that something she can do. I mean, she's an architect and a warrior/strategist, so I think being good with distance makes sense. I hope you liked this chapter. Let me know about my mistakes and flaws so I can fix them. Have a great day! Thank you for reading!

Important Note: I have not read any Trials of Apollo or Magnus Chase. Anything that happened in those books either has not happened yet or did not happen at all. Also, Jason is not blind anymore, I just gave him a cool scar instead.