The Son Of Asclepius, Doctor of Divinity

Victory and Origins

It wasn't too long until the galloping ended and they arrived a  a trailer park at the edge of a lake. The trailers were all horse trailers, tricked out with televisions and mini-refrigerators and mosquito netting. It was a centaur camp. (Y/N) had to admit, he had never actually interacted with many centaurs besides from Chiron. Most of what he had learned about the species was from his mentor and booklets in his office 'library' he salvaged from Athens when Rome invaded about the centauromachy and Lapiths. And from that, he did not have high hopes for the horse-men. First impressions were the serious cases of hygiene, or lack of it. Sure, they had mosquito nets, but they also seemed to communally bathe in the muck-infested water with their ridiculously hairy bodies. The trailers reeked of root-beer and it seemed that half the park's grass was dying due to an unknown chemical spillage. But at least the centaurs were enjoying themselves. 

"Dude!" said a party pony as he unloaded his gear. "Did you see that bear guy? He was all like:'Whoa, I have an arrow in my mouth!'"

The centaur with the googly-eye glasses laughed. 

"That was awesome! Head slam!"

The two centaurs charged at each other full-force and knocked heads, then went staggering off indifferent directions with crazy grins on their faces. Chiron sighed. He set Annabeth and Grover down on a picnic blanket next to Percy, (Y/N) coming over to join them. 

"I really wish my cousins wouldn't slam their heads together. They don't have the brain cells to spare." 

"Chiron," Percy stuttered, stunned by the teacher's surprise appearance. "You saved us."

He gave a dry smile. "Well now, I couldn't very well let you die, especially since you've cleared my name."

"But how did you know where we were?" Annabeth asked.

"Advanced planning, my dear. I figured you would wash up near Miami if you made it out of the Sea of Monsters alive. Almost everything strange washes up near Miami."

"Gee, thanks," Grover mumbled. 

(Y/N) patted the young satyr on the head. 

"No, no," Chiron said. "I didn't mean ... Oh, never mind. I am glad to see you, my young satyr.The point is, I was able to eavesdrop on Percy's Iris-message and trace the signal. Iris and I have been friends for centuries. I asked her to alert me to any important communications in this area. It then took no effort to convince my cousins to ride to your aid. As you see, centaurs can travel quite fast when we wish to. Distance for us is not the same as distance for humans." 

"So what now?" Percy asked Chiron. "We just let Luke sail away? He's got Kronos aboard that ship. Or parts of him, anyway." 

As Chiron began to speak, (Y/N) remembered Percy's wounds, and so took out his staff and gently traced over the wounds with the cold touch. It was a shock to the son of Poseidon at first, but as a warm feeling spread throughout his chest he relaxed. 

"I'm afraid, Percy, that today has been something of a draw. We didn't have the strength of numbers to take that ship. Luke was not organised enough to pursue us. Nobody won."

"But we got the Fleece!" Annabeth said. "Clarisse is on her way back to camp with it right now." Chiron nodded, though he still looked uneasy. 

"You are all true heroes. And as soon as we get Percy fixed up, you must return to Half-Blood Hill. The centaurs shall carry you."

"You're coming, too?" (Y/N) asked, nervous of losing the man he had come to see as a parental-figure once more. 

"Oh yes, my child. I'll be relieved to get home. My brethren here simply do not appreciate Dean Martin's music. Besides, I must have some words with Mr. D. There's the rest of the summer to plan.So much training to do. And I want to see ... I'm curious about the Fleece."