"What the actual f*ck is going on?"
- Philomena Yıldırım, most of the time
. . . IN WHICH . . .
Philomena is just another demigod in Camp Jupiter and all she wants to do is have some peaceful years in the legion before settling down in the ci...
THEY WERE MARCHING, in perfectly constructed lines. Not one step was misplaced as the soldiers of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata marched on.
The echo of their feet could be heard for miles around Mount Othrys (or as the mortals would call it, Mount Tamalpais) and Philomena wondered what the mortals who were just here for a hike would see through the mist.
Because they sure as hell wouldn't see an army of teenagers clad in armor march to certain death, now would they?
Her thoughts wandered as she looked up at the outline of the gigantic fortress that the titans had built and she was about to misstep, which would be totally embarrassing and the only thing the survivors of this suicide mission would talk about, since it was the only amusing thing that had happened.
Though, before she could lose herself more in her thoughts and misstep (or worse, accidentally impale herself) someone hit her elbow lightly.
Philomena glanced to her left, where Alex walked, her expression as serious as ever.
The small latina looked more threatening than she ever had, clad in armor, her hip adorned with her father's old sword and the pilum she held in her hands; well just this sight alone would make some monsters run for their lives tomorrow when they would attack.
As she turned away from her friend, her steps once again in sync with those of her comrades, she wondered what she looked like.
Did she also look as threatening as the rest of them? She figured not, because no matter the many hours Philomena had spent in the Colosseum, training and fighting, she would forever be a daughter of Cupid, who only knew how to send some arrows flying through the air.
They stood still suddenly and Philomena almost ran into the person in front of her, which wouldn't have ended well, since their pilum was tilted slightly backwards.
The legionaries were quiet, not a single word muttered among the rows of soldiers; they were waiting for further instructions, commands from their centurions or whoever was above them in rank.
Jason and Claudia stood in front of the fifth cohort, looking over the soldiers they were responsible for.
"We'll build the castra here, everyone knows what to do so get your stuff ready and start digging," Jason shouted, almost in complete sync with the other centurions who were ordering their cohorts to do the same.
After hearing his command, everyone got ready and began with the task they had been entrusted with by the senators during one of their many 'war-preparation-meetings'.
Philomena walked side by side with Alex through the woods surrounding Mount Tamalpais, searching for firewood.
"Can I ask you something?" the daughter of Cupid asked her friend, once again.
Smirking, Alex responded the same way she had done not too long ago, "You already did, but go on."
"I don't want to insult you or anything but why are you here? I thought you can't fight anymore because of ...well, you know what I mean?" Philomena worked up the courage to ask, just wanting to satisfy her curiosity and not insult her friend.
"You mean my dad?" Alex asked nonchalantly, as if it were no big deal. However both of them knew that her dad was a big deal.
Marcus Evander was a son of Mars and well-known for his skilful swordsmanship, after all one didn't just get the byname 'invictus' for no reason.
So of course, when word got out that Marcus would get a child, everyone in the city of New Rome was ecstatic, awaiting another great warrior, though the people (and Marcus in particular) were already disappointed by the legacy of Mars the moment she was born.
Little Alexander was a girl, you see, so no one believed her to be able to carry on her father's legacy. Disappointed by the gender of his newborn child, Marcus decided to ignore this and named her after Alexander the Great and raised her to be a true warrior.
Before Alex could ride a bike, she had been running around with a wooden-sword in her hand and trained to fight monsters. While the other children in New Rome were playing at the big playground, Alex had to endure her father's harsh conditioning so that she would be one of the best soldiers one day and maybe make up for the mistake of being born as a girl.
When, at eight years, Alex had finally been sent off to Lupa and had returned just a few months later to the camp, she trained independently.
Alex was as ADHD as any other demigod but it seemed like she just couldn't rest, she was always moving, be it a early morning jog around the camp or training in the arena, Alex always moved and trained her muscles, even when she had to sit (like physically had to sit down during meetings or while eating), she held a hand gripper in one hand and trained her fingers.
So honestly, with all the training she was forcing her body to withstand, no one was shocked when she collapsed one day, her body completely giving out from the constant pressure it was under.
Some legionnaires carried her to the infirmary where she was told that she should stop training, her joints completely destroyed and that she would never be able to fight as she had used to.
After that, Alex had never been the same (or so people said, Philomena wouldn't know, since she only arrived after the incident to Camp Jupiter, when Alex had already transferred herself on her own volition to the fifth cohort, since she believed that she no longer deserved a place in the first).
She refused to leave the Legion and took part in the activities that the children of Apollo let her attend but other than that, she became a brooding shadow that haunted the arena and watched others train, like she had once.
Philomena nodded at Alex' question. Yes, she was curious why Alex still wanted to fight in this battle, this war, when she had completely destroyed her body and probably wouldn't be able to defend herself properly.
Alex sighed deeply, clumsily crouching down to gather some branches from the ground. "I don't know. Maybe I want to prove myself? I trained so much, destroyed my body and everything to be a strong soldier, you know. So I can't really give up the only chance I will ever get to prove my ability."
On one hand, Philomena understood Alex' reasoning, but at the same time she couldn't. And this was the big difference between the two of them: while Philomena would want to avoid this battle, this war at all costs, Alex saw it as a chance to prove herself.
The only thing left to wonder was: who was the insane one between the pair?
(The whole of Camp Jupiter would say: easy, Philomena is insane and a coward, what else would one want but to prove their abilities to the gods in battle?)
HOPE speaks!
all my homies love Alex, even though she hasn't been mentioned a lot here, she's still a dear friend of Philomena :)
and btw I changed Jason's faceclaim from Rudy pankow to Hugh Laughton-scott bc I discovered him yesterday on my Pinterest and he seems way more fitting (and he's hot af ;))
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