Sunflower

5

Tw for blood and gore

The moon shines through the trees. It reflects off the armour and many blades of the campers. On one side of the forest the Hermes cabin members are trying to blind a few people just for laughs as they prepare for their game to begin. On the other side will is shouting for the Ares campers to stop trying to fight each other. Aelia is already at the front of the ground with a wide smile on her face. Her and her friends had already made their threats for the night, so they were all ready for this to start. Nico and Annabeth find their way over to where Aelia is standing with her bow in hand. Attached to her wrists are two cylinders that with a flick of her wrist will extend into two scythes. Nico's own sword is in his hand and is nearly dragging on the ground with how long it is. Lined on Annabeth's waist are multiple daggers, each a different shape. "Did you raid the Ares cabin?" Aelia asks Annabeth.
    Annabeth smiles, "Yeah. I'm pretty sure Clairsse didn't even notice.
    "Oh I noticed. I just don't care." Clairsse says, walking past the three.
    "Well there you go." Annabeth smiles.
    Nico snorts with a shake of his head, "You're going straight to Percy is my guess?"
    Annabeth nods, "That boy needs to be knocked down a few pegs. What about you two?"
    "I'm going after Leo and Piper." Aelia offers.
    "Reyna, Frank, and Hazel." Nico says with a small smile.
    "I forgot they all are on the other team." Aelia says.
    Will walks over, "Yeah well Connor cheated the coin flip. So now he has them."
    A loud horn sounds, starting the game. The Ares campers start a howl before sprinting off into the trees. Nico, Annabeth, and Aelia follow them. Annabeth splits off from them and goes more toward the water, knowing full well Percy will be going there. Aelia and Nico keep running until they hear the clanging of swords and shields hitting each other.  Beside them they hear people whisper. They move that way before finding Hazel and Frank trying to move through bushes. Nico smiles before sticking his sword in the ground. A black smoke rises from the ground, making it almost impossible to see anything. Aelia leaves Nico with them, before following the trails where Hazel and Frank had come from. When she gets closer to where the other team would have their flag she sees firelight ahead of her. She hears Piper yell out and Aelia breaks through the brush. Leo is standing in front of her shooting balls of fire at Piper, whose shoulder is smoking as she tries to charmspeak Leo. "Leo stop!" She yells.
    Leo doesn't even falter. Aelia takes a deep breath before tackling him from behind as he winds up again. She pins him down seeing a flaming sword in his hand. His skin turns red and Aelia jumps off of him. She looks down at her hands to see them burning. Leo turns to her and slices forward with his sword. She quickly snaps her wrists down and blocks his sword with her scythes. But with his free hand another ball of flame shoots out of it. It hits Aelia's side. And she hisses in pain, rolling back away from Leo. She can now see his eyes are glowing red and he is smiling darkly. He keeps moving toward her, his sword swinging quickly. Every other hit he reaches her skin, creating burning cuts all over her body. She manages to keep up with him until one of her scythes flies from her hand.
    She grunts as it scraps against her burns. Her vision went black for a split second. Leo tackles her backwards, and they land roughly on the ground. His sword hits the ground right beside Aelia's head and she stares wide eyed at it. She tries to kick him off of her but he hits her back down. Her head smacks against the ground. She has to put her hands up to block him from hitting her again.
"Leo stop!" Piper yells again, trying to get him off of Aelia and to focus on her.
    Piper can see Aelia losing energy as Leo seems to get stronger with every swing. Piper screams when Leo's sword finds its way into Aelia's abdomen. He pulls it out and turns back to Piper. Behind him Aelia sways a little before launching herself at Leo. She tries to flip him over, but he fights back. His elbow connects with her jaw with a sickening crack. Aelia slides off of him and falls to her knees, her face is pale under the moonlight. Already Aelia's shirt is soaked red and her hands are a matching color. Piper is forced to stay where she is as Leo comes running at her, "Stop!"
    She dodges away as he nearly plows into her. She pulls out her dagger and stands up. She hopes that all of this will bring people over here for help.
Her and Leo had been walking through the forest when he'd just froze. Piper had looked back at him to make sure he was alright. His eyes had been closed and his chest was heaving. "Leo?" She asked.
    When he had opened his eyes they were no longer their normal light brown. Instead they glowed red. As he looked up at me, a smile spread across his face. He just randomly started shooting fire at her and then he somehow made a sword out of fire, which Piper had to admit was pretty cool. But it wasn't too cool when he started attacking her with it.
    When Leo charges at her again she slices her dagger low at his legs. She mutters an apology as it makes contact. He doesn't even flinch as it cuts him. This kind of fight was hard to win. When the person attacking you looks like they want to kill you but you don't want to even hurt them.
    Aelia shouts something in Latin from behind Leo. He stumbles and a shining black cage comes up around him. He bangs against it but hisses when he touches it. Piper takes this moment to rush over to Aelia's side. She's laying on the ground with a blank look. "Lia? Come on, you need to get up. We need to get you some help."
    Aelia looks up at her friend as she takes off her armour and sweatshirt. Piper presses it to where she was stabbed. Aelia whimpers, "Ow."
    "Sorry. Can you get up?" Piper apologizes quickly.
    Aelia weakly shakes her head, "Leo..."
    Piper glances behind her seeing him still trying to get out of the cage no matter that it's hurting him. "That's not Leo. He'll be alright. We need to get you help."
    Aelia shakes her head. Something about that sword was not normal. Aelia is guessing it was somehow poisoned no matter that it was made of fire. "He's going to hurt himself."
    "He'll be okay. Don't you have some way of contacting your siblings if someone needs help?" Piper asks quickly.
    Piper is shaking as she holds her friend in her hand. She holds back tears as blood starts dripping from Aelia's mouth. "Yeah we do."
    "Can you do it? Otherwise I'll go get someone." Piper starts standing up but Aelia grabs her arm.
    "I can." Aelia raises her arm in the air and a stream of light shoots straight up. Instantly the distant sound of swords hitting each other stops. Everyone in camp knows what the beam of light means. It means someone is hurt really badly,and that the game is over. Not more than a few minutes later do people find them, including a few of Aelia's siblings. Piper steps back as they lean down next to her. She wraps her hands around herself as she starts crying. Behind her she hears Nico, "What in the Hades happened?"
    She turns around seeing him, Hazel, and Frank standing there. All three of them are staring at Leo who is still trying to get out. "I don't know. He just started attacking me. Aelia found us and he turned on her-" her voice breaks, "She made the cage."
    "Where is she?" Nico asks.
    Piper doesn't even have to answer as Hazel gasps and rushes over to where the crowd surrounding Aelia is. Nico stares over there but walks over to where Leo is. Frank tries to stop him, "Nico-"
    "Give me a second." Nico replies.
    Franks tanks next to Piper as the two watch Nico circle the cage. Leo seems to completely focus on him. "Ipsum revelare." Nico says loudly.
    Piper hears Leo laugh roughly, instead of his voice a woman's voice came from his mouth, "Child of Hades. Such an honor."
    Nico narrows his eyes, "Why are you here?"
    "Why wouldn't I be? Death is prone here. I thought I could help speed it along." Leo replies swiftly.
    "You aren't welcome here Ker. You've outstayed your welcome."
    "You're not the one to decide that for me. That is your fathers job." The Ker says.
    "Doesn't matter whose job it is. You came here and attempted to kill one of us. I'm sure that broke my fathers deal with your kind." Nico growls.
    The crowd watches them talk to each other, curious on what tried to kill the Apollo camper. "Bah. What does it matter? He's the only one who can get rid of me."
    "That's not true." Lou Ellen, one of the Hecate campers, says stepping forward, "Magic can get rid of you just as easily."
    All of the Hecate campers step forward knowing full well what their counselor means. Nico steps back and lets them come up to the cage.
    "You think you're so smart don't you, witch girl?"
    "I guess you could say that. You have your chance to leave now, your other choice is for us to make you leave and we'll send you to Tartarus." Lou Ellen says.
    At the corner of the gathering where everyone is gathered the last of the campers stumble over, among them Will, Reyna, Percy, and Annabeth. They look around thoroughly confused on why Leo is in a cage being harassed by a hoard of Hecate campers. Will glances around before he pales seeing Aelia on the ground with the other Apollo kids around her. He goes over quickly and quickly sees the stab wound in her abdomen. Her eyes are fluttering as the more medical kids try to heal the cuts and burns all over her body. He pulls on the wrist of one of his brothers, "What happened?"
    The kid's face is red probably from crying, "We don't even know. We came when we saw the light, and she was already almost unconscious."
    Will lets go of him and steps up beside her. He joins the others in trying to heal the wounds but nothing is working. He freezes when Aelia grabs his wrist. She whispers something and he leans down, "It was made of fire. Somehow there was poison on it. The sword."
    Will nods quickly relaying the message onto the others. None of them know what to do at this moment. If the sword was made of fire her wounds shouldn't be bleeding this much. The sword should have scabbed over instantly. Nico comes up behind him, "What's wrong with her?"
    "She was stabbed, but we don't know what to do."
    "What do you mean you don't know what to do Solace? Heal her!" Nico says panic finding its way into his voice.
    "We've been trying. Something is different about that sword." Kayla mutters from the other side of Aelia.
    "What do you mean?" Nico asks.
    "We mean, Aelia said it was made of fire and had some sort of poison. But if it was made of fire she shouldn't be bleeding this much." Will says, staring at the pool of blood.
    "It's fire from the Underworld." Nico mutters, "It must be. The thing possessing Leo is a Ker. They're spirits that used to work for Hades. She probably summoned the sword from the underworld. I don't know about the poison though."
    "Thanks." Will mutters, "We need to get her back into camp. Fast."
    Nico nods, "I can shadow travel her and someone else there."
    Will glances at his siblings, all of them covered in blood. Will stands up, "I'll go. You sure you're good at bringing both of us?"
    Nico nods, "I'll be fine. Come on."
    Will carefully picks Aelia up and Nico brings them back into camp.
    Meanwhile Lou Ellen and her siblings have started chanting at Leo. A series of colors come from them as they get further into their spell. The Ker hisses again when the magic touches Leo, "You will regret doing this witch girl. Mark my words, I will be back for you."
    Lou Ellen ignores the Ker and finishes the spell. The entire camp watches as Leo falls to his knees and the Ker screeches. They watch as a red smoke radiates off of him and sinks into the ground. Piper races forward when Leo fully collapses, "Someone get rid of the cage."
    A few of the Hecate kids raise their hands and the cage dissolves. Piper kneels next to Leo who is coughing, "Oh gods... everything hurts."
    "I'm sorry I had to stop you." Piper mutters, helping him up slightly.
    Leo looks up at her in confusion, "Stop me from what? Why is everyone staring at me?"
    "You were possessed. You started attacking me and Aelia. I had to stop you, so don't mind the cut on your leg. Again I'm so sorry for that." Piper explains.
    Leo looks around, "Where is she? Are you guys alright?"
    Piper bites her lip to stop tears from streaming down her face, "She's with Will and Nico. Something happened."
    Leo notices her tears and shakes his head, "Tell me I didn't kill her. She's not dead right? Pipes?"
    "No she's not dead. She's hurt badly though. I don't know what will happen to her." Piper whimpers slightly.
    Leo's hands shake beneath him, "Oh gods."
    "It's not your fault Leo. You didn't know what you were doing." Piper tries to reason with him.
    "I'm still the one that hurt her." Leo snaps. "You wouldn't understand."
    Piper backs off and leaves Leo alone in the middle of everything. Piper tries to move out of the crowd but Annabeth stops her by grabbing her shoulders. Piper cries out and Annabeth quickly lets go, "Oh gods sorry. Are you okay?"
    Piper shakes her head, fearing that if she said anything she would make a fool of herself in front of everyone. Annabeth understands and leads Piper away from everyone. When they get further away Annabeth drags her into a hug and lets Piper cry into her shoulder. "I thought she was dead. I thought she died in front of me like Jason."
    "She didn't die, it's okay. Her and Leo are still alive." Annabeth whispers.
    Slowly Annabeth brought Piper back to camp and they both went to the Aphrodite cabin against the protests of Piper, "I need to make sure Aelia is okay."
    "You can see her in the morning. You need to wash yourself and get some rest." Annabeth says almost sternly.   
    "Fine." Piper makes her way into the large bathroom in the Aphrodite cabin. She stares at herself in the mirror. Her arms and face are smeared with blood and her clothes are horribly stained. She peels off her clothes, avoiding the burns on her shoulder from where Leo had burned her. She washes herself off in the shower and puts on clean clothes. When she leaves the bathroom Annabeth is still sitting out there. "You don't have to stay." Piper mutters.
    "I will if you want me to." She replies.
    "You should go sleep in your own cabin, I can imagine you'll be much more comfortable there."
    "Okay." Annabeth says quietly, "Try to sleep."
    "I'll try." Piper says as Annabeth leaves.

    Percy stays back as Annabeth brings Piper somewhere. Eventually all the campers leave except for Percy, Leo, Frank, Reyna, and Hazel. Leo is still where the cage had been. He hadn't even moved since Piper left. Percy went up to him, "Leo, we should go back to camp."
    Leo doesn't acknowledge Percy. "Leo."
    He glances up, "You can go back to camp. You don't need to wait for me."
    "I'm not leaving you out here." Percy replies.
    "You don't trust me you mean." Leo says darkly.
    Percy rolls his eyes, "Don't you start with that again. I trust you fully, it's that I have a feeling if I left you out here, you would torture yourself. I'm telling you man, you should come back to camp."
    "What if I just don't come with you." Leo mutters, being unnecessarily stubborn.
    "Then I'll drag you there myself. Doesn't matter to me. But you need to go back to camp."
    "How bad did I hurt her?" Leo whispers.
    Percy sighs, "Leo-"
    "Answer me."
    "It's bad. I didn't hear what happened but it looked like you stabbed her." Percy says after a long sigh.
    Leo looks up more, "How did I stab her? I don't even have anything that would stab anyone."
    "The thing possessing you had a flaming sword. I heard some of the others talking about it." Reyna says from behind Percy.
    "Who'd you hear it from?" Percy asks.
    "I was standing by the Apollo campers. They said some other things about what happened to her-"
    "Like what?" Leo asks.
    "They had no idea what to do. The sword was made of flames so you'd think it would scab over from the heat of it but somehow it was just bleeding more than usual. Nico thinks it was fire from the underworld."
    Leo starts panicking again, "Oh gods. What if I killed her?"
    "You haven't yet so don't worry yourself over that." Percy says quickly.
    "Do you think she'll be alright?"
    Percy nods his head, "Of course, she'll be fine."
    Percy said that just to make his friends feel good but inside of him he knows it doesn't look good. Like really not good. It would almost be a miracle if she pulled through. "Will you please come back to camp?"
    Leo nods, and Percy helps him to his feet. Together the five of them go back into the camp and all stay in Percy's cabin overnight.