A Son From Lands Unknown (PJO x Male Reader)

Capture the Flag

A few hours later it was time for Capture the Flag. Everyone cheered as dinner wrapped up and the conch horn sounded once again. Everyone stood up and cheered as Athena Cabin ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was around ten feet long, glistening silver, with a painting of a barn owl sitting on an olive tree. From the opposite end of the pavilion, Ares cabin ran in holding another banner of identical size. However, where Athena's banner looked regal and like it was one would see on the side of a castle, Ares' looked more like a barbarian standard. It was painted a gaudy red with a bloody spear piercing through a boar's head.

Percy turned to Luke, asking "Those are the flags?" having to yell over the cheers of everyone else.

"Yeah," the head counselor replied.

"Ares and Athena always lead the teams?"

"Not always, but usually."

"I'm guessing looks provide no advantage then?" (Y/N) perked up. "Because that is the ugliest flag I've ever seen. Whose side are we on anyway?"

Luke gave the younger camper a grin, his scared face almost making him look like a villain in the torchlight. "We've made a temporary alliance with Athena. Tonight, we get the flag from Ares. And you two are going to help."

The teams were announced shortly after. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins. Apparently, privileges had been traded in the alliance. Shower times, chore schedules, and best slots for activities were all exploited the same way one would use coins or resources, all to win additional support. Everyone else, that being Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus (don't ask how those last two were able to get along), sided with Ares. Whether it was in a similar way as Athena or by threats of violence, none could tell except those who forged the deals. From what Percy had seen, Dionysus's kids were good athletes but limited by the fact that there were only two of them. Demeter's kids had the edge when dealing with nature and terrain, but weren't all that aggressive. Aphrodite gave him no concern at all, as they seemed to be more concerned with cracking nails than cracking skulls. Hephaestus's kids, like Dionysus's, were limited by numbers with there being only four, but they were each built like tanks due to working in the metal shop all day.

That just left Ares Cabin. A dozen of the meanest, ugliest kids on Long Island, likely the planet.

Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble.

"Heroes!" he announced. "You all know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are legal. The banner must be prominently displayed, with no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming. Period. I will serve as referee and medic. Arm yourselves!"

The centaur spread his hands, and the tables that they were all once eating off of were suddenly covered in equipment; helmets, bronze swords and spears, and oxhide shields coated in metal. The piece that really caught (Y/N)'s eye was the rapier that seemingly spawned right in front of him. Clearly, someone knew his preferences. But something even stranger was also there. Whereas most people received a Xiphos or spear and a shield, (Y/N)'s equipment was a rapier and a single golden coin. Don't ask him how, but (Y/N) could just tell that it was made of pure gold.

"Whoa," Percy breathed. "We're really supposed to use these?"

Luke shot Percy a look as though the smaller boy was crazy. "Unless you want to get skewered by your friends in cabin five. Here, Chiron thought these would fit. You'll be on border patrol."

"What about me?" (Y/N) asked. "All I've gotten is a sword and a coin."

"Right, yours is slightly different. You don't actually have a shield. You're on ambush duty. You're gonna hang around a border patrol member and wait for someone to show up, then just pop out of the bushes and stab them in the back."