Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, or any of the characters introduced in that series. This is simply a fan's appreciation of Rick Riordan's work.

Special thanks to trustingHim17 for taking the time to beta this story, even after the long wait for this chapter.

I wish I had known that night was the turning point, though I honestly don't know how I would have approached it differently. Maybe enjoyed it less, tempering my expectation for the future. Maybe enjoyed it more, knowing it would be a long time before I had fun like that again.

As it was, I had a blast. The adrenaline pumped through my very being, causing a shock of pure enjoyment to rock me to my core as I rushed another hapless blue soldier, sweeping his legs out from under him before dashing back as his friends rushed to aid him, Alejandro's arrows covering my retreat. The back and forth had gone on for about five minutes already, but I didn't care. It could have been hours, it could have been seconds. Either way, it was amazing.

So far, Alejandro and I had still only managed to make it to the first few trees beyond the river before they forced us back. We had caught sight of a few other skirmishes on either side, and the sound of battle permeated the entire forest, but we stuck to our orders, keeping our feints quick and devastating. By my count, Alejandro and I had managed to knock three enemy soldiers completely out of the fight. If even half of the groups were as successful as the two of us, we'd have this game in no time.

Taking a quick breather on the red side of the river behind a rather large oak, I looked up at Alejandro and did my best attempt at a smile, begrudgingly admitting that though he was panting heavily, he still looked as handsome as before. Was there nothing that would even displace a hair on this guy's head? After all the running and fighting, I was one big, sweaty mess!

Alejandro noticed my glance and flashed me a brilliant smile, seeming to catch his breath in the very act. "Ready for another feint, my young friend?"

I nodded, pushing up from where I was leaning against First Light. "I think we should move a little to the right, make it look like we're going more towards the center. We haven't seen the flag yet, so if we keep making blind attempts in the same spot, they'll catch onto the feint."

"If they haven't already." Alejandro said by way of agreement, drawing another of his arrows. I had been worried that he would have run out by now, but his quiver always seemed to carry the exact same amount of arrows no matter how often he drew from it.

Breathing in deeply, we both dashed out from behind the tree and made for the river once more, this time veering to the right. Even before our feet hit the water, I was scanning the trees for signs of enemy movement, but I couldn't see anything. The sounds of combat around me were still present, but seemed much more distant.

Griping First Light tightly, I charged as deep as I dared into enemy territory, Alejandro a few paces behind me. As I had thought, my reckless charge produced results, as two figures moved out from trees a few feet ahead of me and charged. Much to my dismay, I knew I had to fight. My momentum was such that if I tried to turn now, I'd just slow myself enough to expose my back to them when they caught up with me. So, with a heavy heart, I pressed on, my spear sweeping in from the left to strike at Peter and Abigail.

Peter raised his large ox-hide shield to his side and blocked my blow, as Abby swung in with her bronze sword to strike at my exposed right. Throwing the butt of my spear up to meet her, I pushed off Peter's shield, attempting to create distance between my two opponents and myself. I saw one of Alejandro's arrows sail towards Abby's nose from over my shoulder, but to no avail save for a curse from Alejandro as Peter raised his shield to cover her, pushing forward with his blade to strike at me as I retreated. I had to tap-step my way to the side to avoid the strike, just as Abby launched at my right again, trying to keep the pressure on my off-hand side. Ducking low, I released my right-hand grip on First Light to strike my open palm out at Abby, forcing her to back up as I shouted out to Alejandro. Turning quick on the spot, I spun First Light above my head, allowing the magic spear to burst forth in all its brilliant light.

However, I had to step quickly to the side as I heard rushing footsteps, opening my eyes after the light had died down to see Peter charging me, his shield raised to block his eyes from my light. On Peter's other side, Abby ran past us both, ducking under one of Alejandro's arrows before closing in the distance, forcing him to sling his bow over his shoulder and draw his own blade to meet hers. However, I couldn't spare the two any further attention as Peter pressed the attack on me. I knocked aside his blade using First Light before backing up, creating space between us.

Now that he had my full attention, Peter was making no move to strike at me. His grip on his shield had tightened, and the large ox-hide surface had been brought closer to his frame, his blade held out diagonally just to its side. It was an incredibly defensive stance, with very little room for sudden offensive movements. The two of us began to slowly circle each other, my gaze locked with his stormy grey one. Peter was obviously buying time. He knew I was the better fighter, so he was focusing all of his efforts on defense to give his allies a chance to come to his aid. I grimaced. Descendant of Athena indeed. It was a brilliant strategy.

I spared his weapons a glance. He was wielding his sword in his left hand, keeping his shield close to his body with his right. Usually, as a left-handed fighter, I had a slight advantage over the more common right-handed warriors, due to their lack of experience defending strikes from their blade-side. However, Peter was ambidextrous, and had obviously changed the way he held his weapons-quite possibly in anticipation of this fight. I grimaced again. Circling each other was getting us nowhere. I needed to press the attack, and pray that either Alejandro can beat Abby in time, or I can somehow slip past Peter's iron defenses.

A crack to my side was my chance. The noise signaled the approach of either a friend or a foe, and I couldn't be caught simply staring at Peter if it was either. Letting out a low, almost primal growl, I launched myself to Peter's left, away from the approaching soldier, and launched two quick stabs, followed by a low sweep at Peter's legs. Peter managed to deflect both stabs with his blade, and hopped away from the sweep, before pushing back with his shield, forcing me to move to the side. I then found myself ducking under a viscous sword swing, as the third party aimed to knock my teeth out with the flat of their blade. Definitely NOT a friend, it would seem.

I cursed under my breath. They were flanking me, cutting off my options of how to react. Peter was still focusing on his defense, but I had no doubts that if I turned to deal with my other problem, he would simply strike at my exposed back while his ally defended against me. I needed to think quickly, but Peter had outplayed me. It was frustrating. He was my best friend, but we had always had a bit of a competitive streak. I didn't want his plan to beat me. I wanted to win.

As the other opponent came rushing towards me again, my world shifted. Panicking, I found everything had once again slowed down. My hypersensitive slow-motion mode had activated again. As my unknown foe swung down at me with his blade, I found myself moving quickly to the side, redirecting his strike to threaten Peter, forcing him to duck behind his shield. I pushed off from my foe (a camper I now recognized as a member of cabin 11), and kicked them down, pushing them into Peter. Turning, I threw First Light with all my strength, yelling a warning towards Alejandro. The brilliant spear sung through the air, causing Abby to leap out of its path as it buried into the ground at her location, giving Alejandro time to back off and shoot a quick arrow at her, forcing her behind cover.

With my backup secured, I turned and grabbed onto the edge of Peter's shield as he regained his footing and yanked him forward. The unexpected move caused him to tumble forward, giving me an opening to grab his sword arm and twist it till the blade fell. Snatching it from mid-air, I turned on my heel, slapping the Hermes kid with the flat of the blade as he rose, once again, knocking him to the ground. Hearing a yell from Alejandro, I pushed off from my defeated foes and ran towards him.

This was wrong. The spirit was in charge again. It was controlling me. But I didn't want to stop. The feeling of triumph, the rush of excitement from victory against seemingly insurmountable odds. It was addicting.

Alejandro was being backed into a corner. Five more enemy soldiers were pressing the attack against him, while Abby was circling around behind me to go check on her brother. Seeing one of the larger kids from cabin 15 about to reach Alejandro, I adjusted my grip on the blade and tossed it, yelling a warning to cause the kid to look. Backing up in obvious surprise at the flying steel, the kid stumbled back, opening himself up to a quick blunted arrow from Alejandro. As the first foe fell, I ran up to bar the other four from reaching Alejandro, scooping up First Light from where it stuck in the ground as I went. Spinning it above my head, I forced the point downwards as I kneeled, squeezing my eyes shut. A roar of energy erupted around me and the kids screamed as light so strong it was nearly physical erupted from my spear, causing spots to appear in my eyes even from behind my eyelids. Not bothering to open my eyes, I leapt forward, using the sounds of stumbling feet to guide me to my first target, sweeping his feet out from under him. Turning as the light blindness left my eyes, I opened them to see a large force of blue soldiers charging towards me. Grinning despite myself, I charged.

What follows is hard to describe. As I raised my spear to meet my first opponent, my vision changed again. This time, the very world around me seemed to fade away, replaced by hellish background. The ground was burned and scarred, the dirt and mud trampled under thousands of feet, and stained with ash and blood. The air was choked with smoke so thick it created a haze of dark clouds above me, casting a monotone grey upon the entire battlefield. Everything smelled of blood, smoke and death. And everywhere I looked, I saw monsters.

The cannibal giants—Laistrygonian—marched en masse towards me. Hounds as dark as night, with eyes like smoldering fires bounded by their sides, hungry eyes focused on me. Women with their legs replaced with dragon tails slithered forward, pointing viscous looking weapons in my direction. Hideous winged monsters that were half woman and half bird swooped down towards me, crying shrill calls of blood and death. One-eyed Cyclopes marched towards me with toothy grins of malice, while ghoulish undead shambled towards me with rotting armor and rusted weapons. I tried to blink away what I saw, but the vision refused to relent. So I did the only thing I could do—I continued the charge.

My vision flickered for a second as I swung my spear towards one of the dragon-woman, knocking her flat on her back. It was a camper—a girl I had seen in cabin six. That was all I needed to know. These 'monsters' in my vision were campers. I needed to fight to disarm or remove from the fight, not to wound or kill.

The next 'monster' to lunge at me was a Laistrygonian wielding a shield and spear. Dropping First Light lengthwise onto my raised right foot, I grabbed at the extended spear length, and pulled on the weapon, dragging the point into the ground. Kicking First Light back into my hand, I twist and smack my opponent in the face with the butt of my spear before turning and kicking a 'cyclops' that had lunged towards me, knocking them onto their behind. The world around me kept flickering between fantasy and reality, causing a queasiness to rise in my stomach, but I pressed forward. I recognized about half the campers that flashed before me as I fought, but it didn't matter. I pressed forward, losing myself to the combat.

I don't honestly remember all the details after that. It just seemed to blend together. Dodge or block attacks from the 'monsters', strike back with non-lethal attacks. Enemies kept coming, and I kept fighting. I quickly learned that most of the 'monsters' that I saw in my vision weren't real, simply there as background instead. Luckily for myself, these fakes didn't strike at me, so I was able to focus all of my attention on the threats that wished to subdue me. I vaguely remember a light covering fire from Alejandro, and a few other soldiers that I knew were allies coming to my aid, but all of that was simply noise to me. The symphony I longed for was the battle before me.

After that, my next clear memory is that of the enemy mob in a state of panic. The monstrous horde let out a cry of dismay, bringing my attention to a lone soldier dressed in Greek armor running through their midst, holding aloft a magnificent banner of red and gold. My eyes flickered again, showing the truth of the situation: Ellie had taken hold of the blue team's flag and was running for the river. Seeing the masses around her begin to collapse on her position, I launched myself forward, determined to block their path.

That's when my spear was blocked by a lone warrior wielding a pair of daggers. Unlike most of the rest of my vision, this enemy appeared as a human—a female soldier, pale-skinned and slim, dressed in elaborate Greek armor. In each hand was a golden dagger, which she held crossed in front of my spear, halting its movement. Grunting in annoyance, I spun my spear, knocking the daggers away from her body as I moved to slam the butt of my spear into her. However, another warrior joined the fray in the form of a Greek soldier wielding a sword and shield, the latter blocking my strike. A third adversary joined leaped into action, trying to strike me with a wooden spear.

Three human-looking Greek soldiers. I tried to puzzle out their significance when my vision finally faded back to the real world, showing me who my opponents were. Alexis, Peter, and Abby, who had traded her sword for a spear. Alexis was shouting for allied soldiers to collapse on Ellie, while Peter and Abby tried to force me away from my ally.

I felt anger boil up inside me. We were so close to victory. Other allies were gathering around to protect Ellie, but I wanted to help. I needed to help! I wouldn't let my friends stop me: not now. Letting out something between a shout and a roar, I tossed First Light into the air, slamming my fist directly into the ground. Surprisingly, instead of feeling a sharp pain in my fist, I stared in awe as the ground gave way slightly under my blow, creating a small ripple effect around me. I couldn't figure out how that was physically possible, but it didn't matter right now. The blow had caused my opponents to stumble, and I wasn't about to give up that opportunity. Catching First Light once again, I rushed Abby, effortlessly pushing her down while she lacked balance. Turning, I moved to strike at Alexis so I would be left dealing with just Peter again, but I was forced to step back immediately as a bronze dagger impaled where my foot should have been, unleashing a viscous clap of thunder. Stumbling back myself, I was left defenseless as Peter rushed me, his shield held aloft to form a wider surface to slam into me.

I felt my feet leave the ground as I was pushed backwards, my back slamming into the ground seconds later. Clapping my palms against the forest floor, I pushed myself back to my feet, turning again to face my opponents as a cheer erupted throughout the battlefield. Ellie was crossing the river with a small contingent of red soldiers led by Nicole, waving the flag aloft with pride. We had won!

I felt my hyper-sense mode slowly fading away as the red team around us cheered. I might not be one for parties or celebrations, but the adrenaline and general comradery made it impossible not to join in. Punching my fist into the air, I watched with awe as the flag began to shift in Ellie's hands. The shimmering grey background faded into a dusty black one, and the owl above the olive tree shifted into a stylized flaming A in front of a golden apple. I heard a collective gasp as the world around Ellie shifted slightly and a blazing trail of fire twisted into the same A above her head, before changing to smoke and water.

"It seems we have a new claiming." Chiron's voice was so loud and sudden that I couldn't help but jump slightly, as the kind old centaur trotted up from behind us. "Heroes, I present to you Ellie, daughter of Eris, goddess of Anarchy, Strife, and Discord."

I blinked as a general murmur broke out in the crowd around us. The cheer and laughter from the red victory seemed to die out all at once as campers awkwardly shuffled, all staring at Ellie even as the A faded from above her head. Unlike with Lana, no one seemed to be happy by this new claiming. I tried to think over the cabins, but I still didn't know them all. Still, from the reactions, I couldn't help but feel that Eris didn't have a cabin. I heard a nearby camper muttering to himself about bad news and ill omens.

This was ridiculous. Ellie had just won us the match. She had finally been claimed by her mother. Who cared if her mother happened to be the goddess of strife and anarchy? This was still Ellie, a popular girl in camp, and this was something she had wanted for such a long time! There should be celebration! Cheering! Anything, really! Finally, my patience broke. I might not know Ellie very well, but she was still one of the friendlier campers I had met, and I'd be damned if I let this humiliation go on. Jogging forward until I was right next the Ellie, I turned towards the crowd, grabbing hold of her wrist with my free hand while punching First Light into the sky.

I didn't have clever words to say. I didn't have a speech prepared. I just stood there, First Light raised into the sky next to Ellie's banner, my right hand clasping onto her wrist. This wasn't about me moving the hearts of those around me. This was just me showing my friend I was with her.

To my mild surprise, I found I wasn't alone. Abby, Peter and Alexis had all joined me by Ellie's side. From the corner of my eye, I saw Abby reach up and grab Ellie's flag hand, reaching out her hand to clasp her brothers. On my other side, Alexis had reached up and grabbed the hand that was holding First Light. I felt a hand clasp my shoulder, and turned my head back to see Alejandro standing behind us, one hand resting on my shoulder, with the other grasping Ellie's.

We stood there for a good few seconds, the campers staring at us, before the sound of one person clapping their hands filled the air. Seeking out the source of the sound, my eyes rested on Nicole Magnum, a smile on her face as she clapped her hands, staring right at Ellie. After another moment, a second person, Lana, joined in, clapping excitedly. Next followed Chiron, smiling with pride at his students. Finally, the whole crowd burst, clapping and cheering for Ellie.

Turning to see the proud warrior, I had to resist the urge to gasp. Tears were streaming down her face, as she turned towards me. Letting the flag drop, she hugged me with all her strength, forcing me to release Alexis's hand so as to keep my balance.

"Thank you."

The sound was barely audible, despite her proximity to my ear, so quiet was her tone in the face of all this cheering. Smiling, I embraced her as well, before turning to the camp in general.

I felt like I was on top of the world. We had won capture the flag, my new friend had been claimed, and I had helped her be accepted by the camp. But sadly, in the world of Half-Bloods and the like, good things rarely last.

I didn't know the campers name. We had never really talked a lot. From what I remembered, he was some kid from cabin 15. But even though I still can't recall his name, his face will forever be burned into my mind. He was a larger kid with baggy eyes, round features, and permanent bed-head. And at that moment, his face was scrunched up in an suspicious sneer as he stepped forward from the crowd, his finger pointing at me in an accusing gesture. And even more than his face, I will always remember those words that will haunt me to my dying days.

"That kid's not right! Celestial Bronze passes right through him! He's not a half-blood; he's Mortal!"