The Pursuit For Freedom (a MCGA/PJO+HOO fanfiction)

Sorry For 'Killing' Your Friends

I'm changing the time when Magnus finds out about the Greeks to the start of the second book, and the content of this fic is between the first and second book.

~Eiryn POV~
I've been in Valhalla for a few days, and it was time for this thing called 'the Battle Games'.
Pfft. Sounds like a run down version of capture the flag, although there were almost no similarities.

It was almost ironic, how everything was somehow, somehow like back at camp.
Back home.
It felt like the fates were screwing with me, playing with me.
When I think about it, maybe our whole purpose of life is to be toyed with by the universe? Demigods, I mean.
Are we all just pieces of stardust, floating around the depths of the world, waiting for the fates to stop the winds that constantly pull on us?
Or maybe the fates were the wind, enjoying the control they have on us, how they can overwhelm us easily? How they have control over our lives?

I could go on and rant to you on the meaning of life, or maybe death, as I am currently dead and in Valhalla(being dead sucks), but at least Lina's here with me.

Speaking of Lina, she was absolutely stubborn on winning the Battle Games.
Something about "proving herself" and "bringing honor to her father", and by saying that she was stubborn about it I meant that she was so awfully determined that she would raise Tartauras to win, or at least that's what it felt like.
Even though I don't understand why winning would bring her honor
(geez, what a Clarisse-style approach, and oh no I'm imagining Zuko from Avatar screaming honor with Clarisse's face photoshopped on his face, dam ADHD), I understood why she needed to prove herself.

I saw the looks they gave her as we crossed the hall, her head held high.
The sneers, the glares, the whispers shared among the crowds.
She needed to show that she was strong, that she didn't need their approval.

Wow, people suck.

People actually tried to approach me and talk with me when I wasn't with Lina.
'She's a daughter of Frey, she has to be nice, even if she's friends with that child of Loki, right?', was their detestable attitude.
I told them to shove off with their disgusting stereotypes as politely as I could.

After all, the cabin motto Kayla and I developed was "You fuck with my mates, you fuck with me.", alongside "Music can be elegant, then you have the totally different punk. There is no norm here. Shove off."
Will, our cabin counselor, didn't accept any of them because of the "language" but, hey, he had a good laugh.

So, anyways, Lina and I decided to team up in these battle games, which was nice.

The whole thing was annoyingly melodramatic, but it never irked me when capture the flag was dramatic, so I guess that's just me.

Anyways, back to the battle games.
Everyone took their weapon of choice, and went on to the battlefield.
You know how your belongings are taken to your Valhalla suite?
Well, my bow and arrows were there too, along with some ambrosia and pictures from the time Percy snuck in a Polaroid camera.
Pictures of me with all of my cabin, of me and Kayla, and a group photo of the seven that Kayla, Austin, Will, Nico(Will had to convince him to join us) and I snuck into.
All hidden under my pillows.

Ugh, I'm getting off track! Dam ADHD!

So, after I took my weapon and some ambrosia, Lina and I stationed ourselves in a forest, where I made a small platform of light, we boarded it and soared off, with Lina creating blue fire and bending it in a way very similar to Tai Chi, the fighting style waterbending in 'Avatar:The last airbender' is based on, and me showering arrows at random people I didn't know.

I started to get tired, as it was hard to control light, especially when the sun is covered by trees so it's hard to bring light to control in the first place, and even more so while I attacked, which was tiring by itself, so we started to walk.

Along the way, we met someone who looked a lot like Annabeth and his friends.
"Hi, I'm Magnus, your half-brother", he said, stretching out his hand, "wanna team up?"
I shook his hand, and took a glimpse at Lina, who was already killing off his friends.
"Nah, this is an all-out game", I replied as I made another light platform, "also, sorry for 'killing' your group!

"Sayonara!", I yelled at him as I jumped on the almost-transparent golden platform.
And at that, we were off.

Magnus stared at us, bewildered, with both awe and revulsion, which made me question(the awe part) if children of Frey without the blessing of Apollo can control light.
Meh, I thought, there's nothing I can do now, and talking to him about it would only make it more suspicious.

The revulsion part was probably because we 'killed' his friends. Well, seems like I made another powerful enemy, although most of my powerful enemies were my enemies because of the person I was born to.
It was refreshing to have an enemy who was my enemy because of something I had control over.

We decided to stay at one place, so that we could find the best places to attack without getting 'killed', but before we could find a place to stay in we were attacked by a group, all dressed in black, who held various weapons.
They were such a large group that they seemed like a flock of birds, only humanoid.

I shot at them as they ran towards us, but it was hard since the bow is a long-range weapon that you use on people who didn't have swords.
Lina fought off people with swords, daggers and spears alike with her spear, taking on even a few people at once, but we didn't look out for what was in the trees- many warriors from the same group, with bows and arrows at ready.

A stray arrow glided through the air, unnoticed in all the chaos.
They 'killed' Lina.

She was out of the game.

I ran into the forest opposite from where they came from, making them think that they succeeded and scared me off, only for me to perch on a tree branch and shower them with arrows.

This was my favorite tactic, since that way the enemy couldn't know where I was yet I could attack them mercilessly.

I breathed heavily, scanning the area.
I won.
I 'killed' them.
I turned around, ready to high-five and congratulate Lina, only to realise...
She was 'dead'.
She couldn't get first place, even though she wanted to so much.

I nibbled on some of the ambrosia in my pocket, healing my wounds and replenishing my energy.
I savored the taste of the dishes the nymphs at camp HalfBlood served us, and moved on.
I couldn't lose, for Lina.
If she didn't get first place, at least the person who did wouldn't be one of the utter bastards who doubted her.
I defeated many people who stumbled upon that mini forest until it was over.
I stood before a large scoreboard.

I got first place.

I scanned the scoreboard.
Eighth place. Lina got eighth place.
Lina also stood before the scoreboard, glaring at her name.

I walked over to Magnus, receiving many wolf stares from the people around him, who happened to be people Lina killed.
"Well, again", I nervously told my half-brother, scratching the back of my head. "Sorry for 'killing' your friends."