Heroes Know When to sacrifice

Getting Distracted

Once again, if you haven't read all of The Trials of Apollo, please read it. You will regret it if you don't.

I don't own these characters, Rick Riordan does, good for him.

Chapter 2

Getting distracted

Third POV

Jason ran, swinging his gladius and rushing forward, sending a call out to Tempest. Piper and Crest followed close behind. Meg, however, rushed to Apollo's side and started examining the arrow implanted in his chest.

Leaving no time for hesitation, she got a good grip on the shaft and yanked it out. Apollo let out a moan and went deathly still. A pool of blood starting to form around his body while Meg searched frantically for something to bandage him up. She settled on a dark red curtain and ripped it off its hanger.

He'll be fine, Meg told herself. Apollo just needs to get out of here. He's a god, he can't die.

But he's not a god right now, the rational part of her countered. He's not even a demigod, he won't be able to drink nectar or eat ambrosia.

Shut up! she snapped back, and, of course, the voice didn't even want to disagree with her.

"NO!" Caligula screamed. "I'M TOO CLOSE! YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME! I WON'T LET YOU!" he rushed forward, picking up a sword lying on the ground. He met Jason's gladius in the air. Their blades clashed, scattering sparks.

Caligula pushed against his sword and met Jason's eyes. "Apollo is mine, leave now, you'll live, and Apollo will at least accomplish something important in his miserable life," he growled through his teeth. "He couldn't even make his own father proud of him, just like he let down anyone he ever cared about."

Jason pushed him away. Stumbling, Caligula backed up, glaring at Jason before rushing over to help Medea and Incitatus.

Meg, meanwhile, was setting the unconscious Apollo down and leaning him against a pillar. She shook his shoulder, eyes begging him to wake up. She tore up the curtain into long strips and bandaged his torso. She tightened the bandage and tied a tight knot to keep the cloth in place before placing the bleeding arrow into his quiver. Why anyone would even want to use the arrow again was beyond anyone else. But Meg knew better, when Apollo woke up, he wouldn't want the first thing to find out that his talking arrow was split in half by his friends, or left on the boat, or thrown into the lake.

Jason rushed forward to join Piper and Crest, who were working together to take out Incitatus and Medea. Medea looked exhausted, sweat dripping from her forehead as she tried in vain to summon her own venti spirits to send at the demigods, but kept getting distracted with countering Piper's charmspeak on Incitatus, who had Crest on his back, hitting the horse's head with a makeshift club that looked a lot like a golden shoe.

Jason arrived at Piper's side, just in time to block a blow from Caligula, who came out of nowhere.

Medea glanced desperately at Caligula, who appeared at her side. "We need to leave now! Get back-up, maybe retreat into the maze, but there isn't enough time to take these brats out and do the ritual-"

"NO! You're not getting out of your deal that easily, I'll be a god before tomorrow's sunset, and I'll kill anyone who stands in my way," he growled at Medea before launching into another heated argument.

Tempest chose just that moment to send a gust of wind that pushed the emperor away from the demigod.

"Thanks, bud," Jason said, grinning, before hopping on Tempest's back.

Caligula broke from his fight with Medea and glanced around, searching for his own horse and found him, lying unconscious in the middle of the floor with Crest and Meg proudly standing over him. What Meg was doing over there, he had no idea, but anyone could see that Apollo's condition couldn't be helped by Meg. She's a 12-year-old after all, they aren't that educated on medication.

"Common Incitatus, really?" Caligula complained like a brother whose sister was giving him a hard time about his cookie-eating-habits. Which, for him, would probably like that a lot.

Medea grumbled something that the demigods couldn't make out, but it sparked up their argument again.

Meg and Crest jogged over to Piper and Jason, taking advantage of the distraction the enemies were making for themselves, no doubt satisfied with how many hits they landed on Incitatus.

"Meg? What are you doing here? I thought you were taking care of Apollo." Piper asked.

"Apollo's fine, I managed to wrap him up and put pressure on the wound, but we need to get him to Plam Springs now. Without Medea, he can't last much longer." Meg responded a little bit of anger lased into her explanation.

If Piper noticed the anger, she didn't let it show, and instead glared at their enemies still arguing.

"Surrender now, we have you trapped, alone, and with no way to escape. It's over." Meg growled, gesturing toward the pillars she pushed over to block the exits.

Caligula's glare no doubt sent shivers down their spine. "You've won nothing. I'll make you pay for this, and when I'm done, you won't have anywhere to call home." he snarled before glaring at Medea and all three of them, including the horse, burst into flames and disappeared, leaving no trace they were ever there...

...Except for the burning inferno that started to grow and spread towards the hunched form of the glorious Lester Papadopoulos.

The flames moved so fast, it was as if they were a river themselves. Quickly surrounding Apollo's limp form before his friends could do anything.

"Apollo!" Meg screamed and ran as fast as she could with the rest of their group toward the circle of flames surrounding their friend. The circle got smaller, as the flames grew larger and slowly inched closer to the wounded boy.

You replaced me, a voice vibrated through the hall. How does it feel to be powerless Apollo? Heilos asked. Apollo did not respond, except for a few twitches of his neck.

"What's happening?" Meg asked. "Why can't we hear them?"

"Heilos must be continuing the conversation in Apollo's dream." Jason guessed, hoping that it was going well.

The flames grew closer and closer to Apollo until they were a mere two feet away from him, but they did slow their attack on the former sun god as the conversation continued. The voice seemed to put the demigods on hold while he closed off his conversation to only his successor and himself.

Leave. The word seemed to free the air the demigods had been holding. You have your bargaining chip. Kill the witch Apollo, you know what to do. Good luck, demigods. It echoed around the room as the fire died down and left a smoldering floor behind.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok,

Thank you 'thewostisgoingtohappen,' 'DataArchiver,' and 'Celly Victoria.' for your following me and favoriting me. Not sure I deserve it after only one chapter and one week... BUT, I do appreciate it and hope I can write the right stuff to deserve the great thing you gave me.

As always, keep smiling, and I'll post the next chapter as fast as I can.

-Jkoo7