Son Of The Cup Bearer {Percy Jackson x Ejen Ali}

Instead He Got Doves

When Khai screamed like a girl, Iman knew they were doomed. The boy's mind must have short-circuited, because he ran blindly into the biscuits aisle and was showered by biscuit deliciousness, leaving, yes, Iman all alone without a partner-in-crime.

And there Iman thought they could possibly be good friends. Guess boys just stays boys.

Ten feet away, a tiny frown formed on the giant's small face (ironic), like he was disappointed to find his favourite biscuits trashed.

"Sometimes I hate it when boss is right," he grumbled, which Iman has to agree with.

Iman slipped out her Imperial gold hunting knifes and held them in front of her like she was about to butcher some chicken meat.

The giant raised an eyebrow upon seeing her. "Theta Junior! It's been a long time. How's your uncle, huh?"

Iman tightened her grip on her knifes. "Leave him out of this. Why are you here? Alpha sent you? Don't tell me you still let that beast of a man to tell you what to do."

Gamma barked a laugh, which sounded almost as pleasant as sandpaper on stone. "What has Gaia done for me when she was on her brink of victory, huh? Forgotten me, she did. Her most pathetic son. The one who was born out of a mistake, the one born without a bane. I was betrayed."

From here, Iman can already summarise that Gamma's emotional state isn't as great as his physical appearance. Strong, but emotionally brittle. Prone to insults? Maybe not so much.

"That's..." Iman tried to sympathise. "Actually very sad. I feel sorry for you."

But Gamma rambled on, "Of course, not that you you would care about how- wait, did you just say you feel sorry?"

Iman could tell that Khai was still cowering somewhere nearby. How could she send the message for him to evacuate everyone without triggering Gamma?

But then, just as she decided she would shout for Khai and abandon her talking tactic, the fire alarm went off. At first she thought it was the giant, but he looked equally confused as she felt. Just a great timing for someone setting off a fire somewhere, she guessed.

"Are we going to stand here all day?" Iman shouted over the blaring of the alarm and screaming of people as they headed for exits. "Or are you going to finish what you came here for?"

Gamma grinned. "You sure know business, girl." And he thundered at her in full speed.

Iman was ready for it all along. She was silently counting the exact timing to slash up at Gamma. But just as she swung her Imperial gold knife, Khai came running out of nowhere and stood in between them.

"Khai!" Iman warned, but the damage was done. Not by Gamma, but by her.

Gamma was taken off guard by this action of stupidity too. He veered sideways, toppling into the candy shelf and causing a chain reaction of falling racks throughout the whole shopping mall, so that every five seconds were followed by a ground-shaking BOOM.

Despite the freshly bleeding wound on his back, Khai still held up his arms as if defending Iman, though Iman noticed him wincing and his strength faltering.

"Khai, what were you thinking?" Iman screamed. Her voice still sounded soft, but that didn't matter. She didn't know whether she was letting go of her anger or guilt.

With great anguish, Khai turned around to look at her. "I'm sorry for screaming. I hope this counts as repayment." Then he collapsed, his eyes rolling up in his head.

"NO!"

Her mind going into overdrive, Iman surged out all her healing skills she could remember all the while panicking. She didn't even know why she was helping a boy, she just knew his death would not be her fault. Unfortunately, when she had extracted the supplies from Khai's sling bag, Gamma decided to awaken in all his candy-licious glory.

"Argh!" he grunted, lifting the entire shelf above him and throwing it ten metres away. Iman had to admit, this bald-headed guy was starting to intimidate her.

He got onto his feet and glared at Iman with murder in his eyes. "That hurt, you know! No more surprises!"

"Actually," said a woman's voice from behind Iman. "There is still one more."

Next thing she knew, beautiful white doves flew overhead and gathered around Gamma's head like a swarm of bees. It reminded Iman of those old representation in cartoons to tell that one is dizzy. The thought nearly made her laugh. 

Until she saw the woman who had interrupted.

She was tall, with sleek curls of dark brown hair that ran down her shoulders. Her eyes were a sky shade of blue that glittered, her face devoid of anything, all fair and smooth pale skin. She was wearing a long sleeved rose red jacket paired with white jeans and extremely high heels. There were so many other things Iman could describe, but one thing was sure: she was gorgeous. 

"L-Lady Venus," Iman stammered, bowing at the goddess of love.

"Quick, my darling, we must get the boy out of here," the goddess insisted, heaving Khai by the shoulders.

Iman hastily assisted with the legs while Gamma screamed and flapped his large arms around, trying to get rid of the birds. After carrying Khai towards the meat section, not far but good enough, she sprinted back to take care of Gamma without sparing a word.

Back at the biscuits and candy aisle, Gamma was still being pestered with the doves.

"Brave, aren't you, little girl?" Gamma grumbled as he swiped at yet another, as if he swiped doves every day. "Had the chance to run away, but you didn't."

"I'm no coward," Iman said, unsheathing her knifes once more, one of which was tainted with fresh blood from her friend. The sight of it made her angrier. She gripped the handle harder. "I'm the Lieutenant of Diana."

A hidden circlet appeared on her forehead - the symbol of the Lieutenant of Diana. Hefting her twin knifes higher and burning with rage, she charged at the giant with new found savagery.