The Army of Chaos

No One Knew

Percy’s P.O.V

“I’m not going.” Zoe says earning annoyed groans from Lee and Pollux.

“Yes, you are.” Luke says.

“You can’t make me.” Zoe retorts.

This is what we have been doing for the last 10 minutes. Dinner will start in half an hour and Zoe denies to go since everyone knows our identities. Since the big fight in the arena we haven’t left our cabin, and I’m pretty sure Lee is about to snap any second now.

“Yes, I can.” Luke says, “If you don’t go-” I cut him off before he can finish his sentence.

“Please Zo-Zo.” I plead, “I’ll be by your side the whole time. And you don’t even have to talk to them, we can just go in there get some food eat it as fast as we can and then leave without saying a word to anyone” 

My girlfriend looks at me, her face containing a thoughtful expression. She takes a deep breath before answering.

“Not one word?” She asks me.

“Not one word.” I confirm.

“Fine. But if that Daughter of Athena says a word to any of us we will have to face Kronos and Gaea with one less camper.” She threatens.

“Oh please say something to one of us Annabeth.” Bianca says jokingly from across the room.

“Yeah, it would really save us some time.” Selena agrees.

“Come on,” Pollux says, “She seemed pretty upset when you introduced yourself.”

“Yeah, she’s probably just upset that we have to help her.” Bianca tells us like it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

“Or she could be upset that Percy and Zoe are dating.” Pollux protested.

“Yeah, well she better back the Hades off.” Silena says angrily, her face holding both anger and protectiveness.

“Why?” Beckendorf asks calmly, placing his hand on top of her’s to calm her down.

“Because I worked hard to get these two together.” She says motioning towards me and Zoe with her index finger, “And I’m not going to let Annabeth come into the picture and simply mess this up.” She tells us, “Not going to happen.”
“Well,” I say, “I can help you with that. Because I’m not going to let Annabeth ruin my relationship wit Zo-Zo either.”

“Good.” Silena says simply.

And with that we continued to talk about nothing in particular. It was just like when we were back in Planet Chaos. Lee and Pollux would joke occasionally about how the rest of us can’t travel throw the galaxies alone, and tease us about our relationships. Bianca and Luke would always make them stop being the most matures one in the group, but they also let out a soft chuckle at their jokes. Forge and Silena would talk about anything and everything, changing the subject every 30 seconds. And me and Zoe would laugh along and talk to the others, just going with the flow. And for a moment, just for a few second, I forgot where we are. 

I forgot what was happening, and who else was in this camp.

I forgot the enemies we are going to have to, and who we were fighting with.

But that was just for a moment, just for a few seconds, but I would give everything to make those seconds last a little longer. Because at that moment no one had any idea of how hard this would be. No one had any idea of how hard it would be to stay in this camp.

Annabeth’s P.O.V

“What do you mean no matter the cost, Annabeth?” Nico asks me, breaking the short silence that had formed inside his cabin.

“They are here for on reason and one reason only, Nico.” I say facing him, “And do you know what that reason is? To help us defeat Kronos and Gaea. Once that task is done they’ll leave. He’ll leave us. And everything will go back to the way it was after he first ran away.” 

“So, what you are saying is that we don’t help them defeat the enemies?” Reyna asks me, confusion lacing her voice.

“No, what I’m saying is that we should make his war last as long as we can. I mean the last Titan War lasted for 4 years. Remember? They spent a lot of time preparing for it, getting everything set up, gathering spies and warriors.” I tell them, “And that was just the Titans, now we have Gaea fighting with them as well. So it should last longer this time.” 

“Or, now that Gaea is with them again it will take less time because they have more power together. And with more power they can take us down easier.” Jason says.

“He’s right.” Piper agrees.

“Yeah, but we have more power now, too.” I say.

“Wait.” Frank says, “So what you are saying is that we should be glad that the enemies are more powerful this time?”
“No, what I’m saying is that we should use this to our advantage. I mean the longer this war lasts the more time we have to get Percy back. And the more time we have to get Percy back the more chances we have of actually convincing him to stay.” I tell them.

“I don’t know, Annabeth. This sounds risky; we could make Percy hate us even more after this.” Hazel says warily.

“Percy can’t hate us more than he already does.” I tell them confidently.

“Oh, but he can.” Leo says.

“Leo’s right, Annabeth.” Reyna agrees.

“You guys are only saying that because he doesn’t hate you.” I tell them, “You are only saying that because you didn’t make him run away from his camp, his home. You guys are only saying that because you have no idea how hard it is to know that Percy thinks you guys betrayed him, and not be able to do anything about it.” I continue, tears slowly streaming down my face. “You guys have no idea how I feel every second, of every minute, of every day, of every week, of every month. No one has any idea of how I feel.” I tell them, breaking down into tears. And as tears fall down my face, everyone pulls me into a huge group hug. Giving me the comfort that I have needed ever since Percy left.

Yet, still, no one knew how I felt.