Not Your Choice

chapter sixteen

berrycrush90 this is where everything goes downhill, but worse it coming :)

Hazel woke up by Frank frantically shaking her.

She mumbled her confusion, and Frank tossed her pants and a shirt. "The Roman's are attaching. We need to leave."

Hazel got up and got dressed quicker than she ever had. They all knew something was happening, Hazel just wasn't expecting it to be in the middle of the night.

Hazel exited her room, her sword in hand. She, along with everyone else, had quickly got a good grasp on how to fight. She walked out to find Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Clarisse, Thalia, Will, Austin, Nico, Piper, Reyna, Conor, Travis, Rachel, Kayla, Selina, Gwen, Dakota, Calypso, Zoë, Chris, Katie, a short curly brown haired slave, and two other slaves holding hands, giving off a scent of greenery.

Percy tossed a breastplate to her and Frank. "We aren't going down without a fight. We have no backup."

"Our parents?" Hazel questioned.

"Dead." Annabeth said, looking straight ahead, with a murderous look upon her face. "Almost every guard in Greece accepted bribes to turn in the royal families, and work for the Romans."

Hazel's eyebrows shot up. She never cared much for Persephone, but Hades stung hard. He was dead, they all were.

But Hazel didn't have time to mourn. She heard heavy footsteps coming closer and closer to where they all were standing.

"That Leo," Percy said quickly. "Juniper, and Grover." He said pointing to the pair Hazel didn't know the name off. "Now let's fight for our lives."

•••

Hazel watched as traitor guards and Romans fell at their feet. They all had formed back-to-back pairs, running around.

Hazel's energy level had never been higher. She had never had to fight for her life, so adrenaline was something foreign to her, and she couldn't say that she hated it.

She didn't like killing the soldiers, but she felt as if it was justified because they were going to take her life if someone didn't take their's.

Percy has honestly scared Hazel a bit. His eyes were bloodshot, and his movements were swift, quick, and scary.

As they ran around the castle fighting for their lives, Hazel noticed how they seemed to go farther and farther away from the center, and moved closer and closer to where the garden was located. Hazel has never been the the castle garden, and she wished she would've come another time.

Blood was everywhere on the plants. The white rose's were not so elegant, and the lifeless bodies lying around made the sight even worse.

She was glad she was wearing pants, seeing as she would have never survived with one of her dresses.

Just as she thought the battle was over, the enemy seemed to have reinforcements.

How were they supposed to fight them all off? Hazel had always carried around a bunch of hope, and that optimism that had always lingered in her chest was fading away.

•••

It was dark, and Hazel's adrenaline was coming in and out as she went around fighting. The battle seemed like it would never stop.

She found herself back to back with Zoë Nightshade. She could tell Zoë was a skilled fighter, and when Hazel heard a scream from right behind her, and the warmth from Zoë's back left Hazel's, she knew she was gone.

Hazel thrust a dagger at the warrior that killed Zoë. He dropped to the ground. Dead.

Zoë's eyes were glassy. She was staring right up at the stars. Hazel bent down, not caring that she was in the middle of a battle. A tear fell down her golden eye.

"Stars," whispered Zoë. "Pretty aren't they?"

"Shhhh..." Hazel whispered.

"Stars." She whispered again. "I can see the stars agin."

Her eyes closed. Hazel didn't believe she was dead. Zoë was just going to sleep, sleeping where she was dreaming of seeing Bianca again.

~~~

I bet you all can see where this is going, hmm?

Sorry it's short, but I want these next few chapters to really make you cry, and it would be a better chapter if it was fleshed out.

Happy reading, and feel free to be mad at me for this lol. I love Zoë tho 🥺