Of Greeks And Romans (Leo Valdez x Reader)

XXII

*Warning It's a long one*

Frank

The battle was mayhem. The four of them ran into the enemy camp, and Frank was just impressed at how Y/n and Percy ran into battle as if they had done it many times before. Then again, they could have for all he knew.

The First and Second Cohorts—pride of Camp Jupiter, a well-oiled, highly disciplined war machine—fell apart under the assault and the sheer novelty of being on the losing side.

Part of their problem was Percy. He fought like a demon, whirling through the defenders’ ranks in a completely unorthodox style, rolling under their feet, slashing with his sword instead of stabbing like a Roman would, whacking campers with the flat of his blade, and generally causing mass panic. Octavian screamed in a shrill voice—maybe ordering the First Cohort to stand their ground, maybe trying to sing soprano—but Percy put a stop to it. He somer saulted over a line of shields and slammed the butt of his sword into Octavian’s helmet. The centurion collapsed like a sock puppet.

Then there was Y/n, who fought very similar to Percy. She also swung and slashed, but mixed it with classical roman styles. She was fast as well. The air shimmered around her, as if it was spurring her movements twice as fast. Most of her enemies didn't even have the chance to react before she was down on them. Add that to how she manipulated the earth around their feet, trapping them in place.

Frank shot arrows until his quiver was empty, using blunt-tipped missiles that wouldn’t kill but left some nasty bruises. He broke his pilum over a defender’s head, then reluctantly drew his gladius.

Meanwhile, Hazel climbed onto Hannibal’s back. She charged toward the center of the fort, grinning down at her friends. “Let’s go, slowpokes!”

Gods of Olympus, she’s beautiful, Frank thought.

They ran to the center of the base. The inner keep was almost unguarded. Except for the long swirling ng skin of a snake that was wrapped tightly around itself in the center. The First and Second Cohort standard-bearers were sitting around a table playing Mythomagic with cards and figurines. The cohort’s emblems were propped carelessly against one wall.

They were doing so good until the serpentine creature in the center of the large area opened it's eyes.

The thing was huge as it started to unravel, just the diameter of its thick skin was as tall as he was.

The elephant, hannibal, froze in its tracks, a single glance from the creature stopping it in its tracks. Frank watched in horror as Hazel flew off of it's back and hit the opposite wall, immovable herself.

"Hazel!" He shouted, nearly ready to run over to her before the snake started moving. Its head moved up, gazing around as almost the entire cohort froze.

He was about to look up before a hand was spinning him around. He was slightly confused as he started running, only realizing then that Y/n was dragging him along. Percy wasn't far off. One hand against their eyes.

"Don't look at it in the eyes," Y/n hissed, moving to the edge of the walls as a slide of the snake's tail took out half of the cohort.

"What do you mean. What is that thing?"

"It's a basilisk," Percy said, finally catching up. "They're supposed to be able to kill with just a glance."

Frank froze in horror. Kill? That didn't mean that...

His horror must have shown on his face.

"Don't worry," Y/n said. "This one is just an adolescent. The most it could do is paralyze you for a couple of hours." A confused look crossed her face. "I just don't know why it is here."