Friend Or Foe || [A PJO FanFic]

-=-= Rescue =-=-

*~*~ Rachel's POV ~*~*

"What?"

My voice caught in my throat. My mind blanked. I felt my heart plummet through my stomach. He said no. Chiron said no to sending a search and rescue party. No to rescuing my friend. I had explained everything, and he still said no. I couldn't do any but let my mouth gape open, opening and closing like a fish. Funny, usually that's what Percy does.

"I'm sorry, Rachel, but we can't do anything at the moment except hope that she makes it back home safely. Everyone is busy -- we are only just finishing fixing damages from the war -- and there is not enough people to spare for someone that you hardly know." Chiron spoke softly, trying to reason.

That struck me where it hurt. Too busy. They were always too busy. My face formed a frown, and I looked up at the centaur. Glaring at him, I strained my voice, trying not to yell.

"Then I'll go by myself." And with that, I bolted out the door of the Big House. I could hear Chiron calling from behind me, his hooves thudding on the wooden floor as he tried to run after me. I payed it no attention, the only thing on my mind was getting to Rabbit before she got hurt. How dare he say that she was not worth the time to rescue! She got through the barrier! That at least should give her some sort of importance to them!

I felt myself growl under my breath as I continued to run. I sprinted all the way to my cave, adrenaline flowing through my veins. I hardly noticed that I wasn't out of breath when I flung the curtain aside. I roughly grabbed the vines hiding the secret entrance, ripping them out of my way as I remembered that I might need a weapon. So I quickly raced back over to the shelves, picking up a small celestial-gold dagger that I was given to protect myself with. Tucking the dagger into my jeans, I ran back over and pushed through the crack. My top caught on the jagged rock face, arms becoming scraped from the stone. I burst through the other end, and with only a quick glance around, took off in the direction that her footprint faced.

A cool breeze hit my skin as I ran through the trees, my red hair flowing out behind me. My breathing began to labour, giving away that my adrenaline rush had ended, and now I was feeling the effects of fatigue. I pushed the thought of rest to the back of my mind, focusing on where Rabbit could be. I spotted colour as I passed a particularly thorny bush, and I skidded to a stop, backtracking to where I saw it. A piece of fabric, the size of my palm, hung from one of the branches. But that wasn't the feature that made my heart skip a beat. It was the crimson red substance the stained it, splattering across the flower-print.

I felt like time had stopped. I couldn't move, just staring at the cloth. Then, I felt the wind pick up, blowing east-wards. Whispers echoed through my ears, quiet masses of words assaulting my head. Then I heard one.

'Follow... wind...'

I blinked. What? Did I really just hear that? The wind blew slightly harsher, and I took that as a sign to get moving. I turned on my heel, sprinting with the breeze at my back. The wind blew to my right, I swerved around a tree. It blew left, I just missed a thorny bush. It was almost like it was guiding my entire path. I bet I could close my eyes and by just feeling the wind change I could make my way through the forest. My train of thoughts stopped as I heard a growl. I froze, and I felt the wind still with me. I peeked around a tree trunk, and my blood ran cold.

Rabbit stood there, gazing into the glowing eyes of a hell hound. I watched as it took a threatening step towards her, getting closer and closer. My hand unconsciously moved down to the pocket of my jeans, where my dagger was hidden. I watched as it took one step back, then pushed off with it's hind paws, leaping towards her. I felt my body snap back into action as I screamed, and charged at the great beast. I watched myself in slow motion, as I flung myself at the hell hound. I hit it's torso, and pushed with all the strength I could muster.

I somehow got the monster to land off-target, and both of us rolled of to the side of the clearing. The hound scrabbled around a bit, before gaining back it's footing, and I pulled my aching body up into a stance. I tugged out my dagger, holding it in a defensive position. I saw Rabbit curled up in a ball, slowly lifting her head and blinking confusedly. I returned my glare to the hell hound, who had now puffed out his chest and looked at least twice it's size before. I steeled my nerves, not letting myself think of how when this beast finished with me, I would be a mangled.. bloody.. deformed.... NO! Rachel stop thinking like that!!

My eyes focused back into the moment, just to see the hound leap at me. I closed my eyes, bracing myself for my ultimate death. Bright gold shone through my eyelids, and I cracked one open to see a mop of black hair connected to a tall, tan figure in front of me. It took a moment for my brain to process, but when it finally did, I gasped in the realisation.

"Percy!" My mouth gaped while I thought, hey, I'm still in the danger zone, probably want to move now. Percy seemed to realise that too.

"Get out of the way!" He yelled at me. I dove off to the side, watching as Percy's sword sparked against the hell hounds claws, as they fought. Then I saw the shadows blur behind the monster. A slightly smaller male, pale with dark brown hair, sporting a large jacket and dangerous looking sword, stepped out from the darkness, stealthily sneaking up to the back of the hound. With one swipe, the beast howled in pain as it dispersed into a gold dust, that floated to the ground.

I took a shaky breath, and gathered my wits as the two demigods turned towards me.

"Hey guys.. So... How's life-" I was cut off.

"What do you think you were doing?! You could've been killed!" Percy snarled, beginning to tug his hair in a frustrated fashion. He glared at me, before looking over my shoulder at something behind me. Or someone. I may or may not have completely forgotten about the reason I was here in the first place. Oops.

"And who's that." He pointed to the young girl that was watching the conversation with wide eyes, blinking as we turned our attention to her. Her mouth opened, then closed. She shook her head slightly, before looking up and opening her mouth again. Once more she closed her mouth. I started to speak for her.

"She doesn't talk much-" I was interrupted by a softly spoken sentence.

"You're the voices.."

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Hey guys! So, new chapter, it'd be great if you people reading this could comment on anything, just so I know that I'm on the right track with my story.

Lov ya all~!