The Sword: Reforged

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Disclaimer: I do gain money from this venture.

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"You guys can come out now." I called for my two companions, pressing Aestus against its sheathe. The sword instantly turned into an extendable baton against the leather, and was already neatly tucked in. "Everything's dead."

Jason dropped from the tree line, while Reyna stalked from an outcropping of rocks. The girl rounded on me immediately and slammed her hand against my face.

Fat lot of good that did, I didn't feel a thing while the look on her face made me worry she sprained her wrist.

"Who -ow-," The raven-haired girl's eyes squinted as she cradled her wrist. "The hell ever taught you that the first thing you do in a fight is to throw someone into rocks?!"

"I was more focused on saving your life than looking for a nice comfortable bush!" I defended my actions against the quite enraged brunette. "You're perfectly fine!"

"Roman's don't just throw their teammates out of the way in a fight!" Reyna changed her tactics immediately. Jason stood behind her and made a zipping motion on his mouth. I had a feeling he dealt with her a lot more than I had, and he was trying to help me out. The guy was honestly really nice, I'm actually starting to worry about him actually getting eaten by the sea monster of Troy now. "We work together!"

Still, that didn't mean I was going to take this lashing like I didn't know any better.

"Well you getting surprised by a Hellhound doesn't say much for your combat skills." I growled out I batted aside the finger poking on my chest. "Excuse me for not just throwing you into the fire, and seeing if you came out just fine."

Jason slapped his palm against his forehead, that was apparently the wrong move, so to speak.

The girl began to redden, and I crossed my arms over my chest. I wondered why I was so stubborn in many cases, I wasn't going to every back down from a fight if could. Letting people walk all over me would never end well. I sure as heck didn't regret throwing Reyna out of harm's way, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

"You almost got your arm torn off!" The legionnaire flipped the rags of what used to be my sleeve on my right arm. Her eyes were basically slits and she was hissing at me quite a bit. If not for the pale skin, I would've thought she was one of those snake women. "I would've been perfectly fine, I carry a dagger for god's sake! I'd have slipped it right between that dog's ribcage…"

"And gotten munched on by the rest of them?" I retorted, gesturing to the dozens of sets of paw prints the size of hubcaps. That particular analogy was quite good, given the fact each of those dogs were easily the size of cars. "Because I can say for certain that these dogs like chewing on demigods, I've tussled with them a lot while I was making my way here."

"You-." I half-expected the girl to start yelling, as she had been beginning to purple like her shirt. "Argh!"

Reyna promptly stomped on my foot and walked away. I wasn't sure where, but she had the map and I couldn't read those sorts of things.

"Do you have a death wish?" Jason looked at me as though I was crazy. His blue eyes seemed familiar, but a lot of things seemed familiar to me in the faintest sense. "Reyna's chewed out the Praetor more than once, she's basically a shoo in for one of the seats! Making enemies with her is just plain idiotic!"

"Well we're not in Rome right now." I pointed out, ignoring the fact that he may have just slightly insulted my intelligence. The guy didn't have a single prideful bone in his body, he just wanted to help and explain why he was so I would trust him. "And I'm not allowed in there anyways."

"…Well then why didn't you yell back?" Jason had the decency to look embarrassed as I raised an eyebrow at his question. "Reyna's a good friend and all… but she's downright too stuck up sometimes you know? Taking her down a few pegs would make her a lot more friends…"

"She doesn't have many?" I asked as he fell in step with me, his nose scrunching slightly as he thought. I noticed an odd scar on his lip, that was oddly shaped. "Why's that?"

"Well Reyna's new." Jason explained with a shrug. "She didn't get to New Rome at eight like all the other kids. She didn't have any allies, so she made up for it with politics…"

"Child of Venus?" I questioned, and Jason snorted. "Far off?"

"Daughter of Bellona." Jason laughed as I had to blink away my surprise. "You'd think people would flock for her affection right?"

"Jeez, second most liked god of the Romans?" I had to whistle, it just seemed appropriate for the moment. "That must be one hell of a load to carry."

"Load?" It was Jason's turn to blink in surprise. "Why would she have a load to carry?"

"Well you're the son of Jupiter right?" I questioned, and the boy gave a quick nod of affirmation. "Don't people expect you to be more powerful or something?"

"Well yeah," The blonde scratched the back of his a little. "I've got to work hard to make sure I don't disgrace my deity or my father, a lot more than regular kids…"

"Well, all you have to worry about is being just a bit better than everyone else right?" I questioned and the boy gave a hesitant nod. "Well look at it in Reyna's perspective, she doesn't have many friends, her mother basically decides when Rome goes to war, and she has everything to prove. Don't you think that's a bit shitty?"

Jason lips set in a firm line, before he let out a loud wheeze.

"And I've been complaining to her about being a Son Of Jupiter all this time." The blonde mourned, holding his face in his hands. I had to steer him away from tripping on roots and trees more than a few times. "Oh gods I feel like such a whiner."

"Well a few friends would still solve most of her problems." I cocked my head to side a little. "Well maybe not friends like you-."

"Hey!"

I put up a finger.

"Hey you didn't notice you were fucking up until about five seconds ago…"

…

"The labyrinth." Grover exuded no small amount of trepidation. The satyr was as worrisome as he was last year. Though, admittedly, he had somehow managed to gain a girlfriend in the time elapsed. "The tracking song doesn't work in there, you know that right?"

"But it leads to all places in the end." I explained, as I tapped the Delta on the paper upon the table. "The lost god of the wild, Pan, will most probably be the easiest to find here."

"We're not exactly looking for the Wild." The satyr seems almost… terse? The goat legged man hasn't been as obnoxious as he had been last time I had spoken with him. Granted that was before Percy died but… "I don't think I'll be very useful in there, unless you want me to go delivering things back to camp."

"Oh," Percy had sent him away on the Ophiotaurus the last time we had seen each other. "I must admit that I didn't think this through before I asked."

The satyr crossed his arms and heaved a small sigh.

"It's just that…" The goat-legged man ran a hand through his goatee. "I don't want to be dead weight anymore. There's a lot of other satyrs out there than can track the Wild, and plenty of them can use a cudgel better than me."

"I doubt that." Grover's eyes sharpened and he regarded me as I spoke. I hurriedly began to explain, before the tension could mount any further. "Ah, I did not mean to lie about your abilities, I merely wanted to state that the god Pan is very selective of the people he sends aid to. I doubt any other satyr will be able to find him but yourself.

"…you know that you and Percy are so alike it's almost terrifying?" The satyr sighed suddenly, confusing me utterly. "He'd look the same way if I said that, you know? I'd probably just confuse him…"

"I wouldn't say no to learning more about, Percy." I attempted to sound as though I wasn't begging, but that attempt failed solidly. The satyr had the nerve to chuckle lightly at my question.

"Both of you have no idea on how you affect people." Grover explained with a small smile. "The two of you act like being empathetic, and compassionate is the norm and not the exception. You even told the elders off the same way Percy probably would have."

"I certainly doubt Percy would have gotten much respect from those old goats." I had to scoff at the thought of someone such as Percy could have intimidated the elders of the satyrs. They were far too idiotic to ever listen to someone speaking sense. "They'd have placed him under affiliation and utterly demolished your case."

"But he wouldn't have cared anyways." The satyr gave a hearty laugh from his chair across from me. "He wouldn't have been able to get me out of there without a massive deadline on my head, let alone scot free like you did."

"I've had more experience in utilizing my supposed compassion." I demurred with a slight smile. "I'm the edges of the golden laurels, are best sharpened when given to an enemy."

"You'd have been great for him." Grover's tone carried a wistfulness about it. "You'd have kept him from doing stupid things, while helping him do stupid things."

I didn't actually know what to say to that statement, and judging from the chuckling on the faun's part, it showed on my face fairly well.

"Goat man!" An oddly dull tone carried over, and I was surprised to see Annabeth striding towards us with a Cyclops. The humanoid monster picked Grover up in a hug that made me fear for the man's spine. "I missed you!"

"Yeah." The satyr panted through his teeth, obviously having trouble breathing. "You'll miss me a lot more if you don't let me breathe."

"Zoe." Annabeth greeted and I nodded back. My name seemed to garner the attention of the Cyclops. "Zoe meet Tyson, Tyson meet Zoe."

"Hello-." I greeted the very tall Cyclopes, only to be snapped up in a similar hug. I was glad for my shortened hair, since having my follicles ground against my spine was most assuredly not the best of feelings.

"Cousin!" The Cyclops proclaimed, and I blanched at that. My reaction seemed to grander attention and I was held out and inspected for a moment. A single, brown own regarding me and everything that I stood for. "Not Cousin?"

As I was born a Hesperide, I had no doubt that I was cousins with the Cyclops. I was very far off from that particular line of relations though, especially if my exile was taken in to proper account.

"Err…" I found myself unable to say such things as the Cyclops regarded me with his watery, brown eye. "I'm a bit removed?"

"Still cousin to me!" The Cyclopes happily declared and my spine was put under strain once more. Grover was looking at me with pity, rubbing his own back and Annabeth was more than slightly amused by the entire debacle. "Happy to meet you!"

"Right back at you big guy." I managed to wheeze, when the tension suddenly loosened and my feet hit the marble flooring of the eating area. The watery eye was openly tearing up right in front of me!"

"Big guy…" The Cyclops suddenly seemed utterly despondent, and I looked helplessly to my other two companions. The two both gave me shrugs, and shook their heads in tandem. Fat lot of good they were. "Brother always called me that."

Seeing as there had only been one child born of Poseidon the past few decades, it didn't take much logic to allied to whom the Cyclops was speaking of.

"Percy called you that?" I asked and the Cyclops sniffled as he shook his head in assent.

"Brother always called me big guy." The Cyclops dabbed his watery eye with his sleeve. "Doesn't call me anything now…"

Then I was suddenly in the grip of a Cyclops that was quite sad, my two companions giggling as my assailant began to blubber and hug me closer.

Quite the team this was.

…

"The oldest tree." I mused as I shaded my eyes from the sun, shifting the duffel over my shoulder. "Doesn't look very special to me."

"That thing's as tall as a skyscraper!" Jason speculated in awe, I was afraid he'd fall backward the way he was craning his neck. "That must have been around since the beginning of time!"

"I wouldn't doubt it." Reyna examined, stomping solidly upon the massive root that we were stepping upon. "I don't think any normal tree could grow to this height, without being influenced by divine power."

"So where do you think the arrows are?" I inquired and I was leveled a look from both my companions. I realized the words that just came out of my mouth, and the fact we were on a quest to save New Rome. "Yeah, top, probably, got it."

"Well at least we've got Squirrel boy to get us up there." Reyna smirked as she addressed Jason, who looked affronted for some reason.

"Squirrel boy?" I teased the blonde, who sputtered as Reyna began to giggle. "Any story behind that?"

"Jason can fly." The grin on Reyna's face told me there was more behind the simple statement. "First time he decided to show it off, he flew right into a tree and got a mouth full of acorns."

Reyna and I shared a chuckle while Jason's face went beet red.

"You know what?" Jason took several deep breaths, calming himself. The winds died down as he probably calmed them too in his attempt to rein in his emotions.

"Go fetch the arrows boy!" Reyna teased lightheartedly, making my chuckles continue. Both our faces were flush with the light teasing we'd given. "Go get em!"

"I'm not some sort of dog!" Jason declared, before a massive gust of wind blew us in every direction.

"Jeez Jason!" I heard Reyna call from a little to my right. "It was just a joke!"

"That wasn't me!" I heard from somewhere behind me.

Something dripped onto my shoulder, and I looked up.

It seemed to be a bird made completely of metal, a single Ruby eye glistening in a massive socket the only color besides iron and bronze upon its beak. Oil was on my sleeve, as that was probably its version of saliva.

" Giant Stymphalian birds!" Reyna cried out as the bird lunged for my eyes. I grasped the massive metal bird between my hands, and crushed it Something inside the metal bird went 'squish' and suddenly my hand felt as though it was on fire. I threw aside the man-sized bird and drew water from my canteen to clean the wound. "Their fecal matter is highly corrosive!"

Wow, that is a literal shit defense, how I wish I had never encountered it already.

Three larger birds made completely out of metal dive-bombed me before I managed to take Aestus out. I caught one by the neck, wrestled it into submission, and broke its neck. Whatever fluid it had, stayed inside and didn't do me any harm.

"Jason!" I yelled, and the blonde boy made a beeline for me, his feet not actually touching the ground as he went. The Roman Legionnaire looked at me as though I was something out of a horror movie, his eyes absolutely wide. "Go get Reyna and deal with whatever's guarding the arrows at the top of the tree."

"I'm not just going to leave you behind." Jason's shoulders were square and I gave a snort. "Don't laugh! We're going to do this together!"

"As much as I know you can carry more than five hundred pounds of human and equipment up a skyscraper, we're just going to be sitting ducks against those birds if we're that slow." The blonde seemed ready to protest, but I cut him off. "I'm part of the Penal Legion, Jason. It's practically right in my resume that says that I hold off the enemy for as long as possible."

Reyna was covered in black oil as well, a golden blade shining in her right hand.

"Kiss and tell later, boys." Reyna huffed, and I couldn't help snort as Jason blustered. "We need to take care of the nest mother, or this'll never end."

Seeing as Jason was a spluttering wreck, Reyna couldn't fly, and the two birds were coming back with friends, I had to take the situation in my hands.

I grabbed the hems of the jackets I bought for them.

Reyna's eyes widened to the size of plates when she realized what I was about to do to her, again.

"No, please, no-."

"Sorry, Reyna." I grunted, and I chucked them both up. Jason grabbed onto the brunette and flew into the foliage of the massive tree. "I'll make up for this one next time, I promise!"

A giant bird slams into me, beak trying to cut off my arm. The water I just used though, made that particular attempt at evisceration pointless. I could've been hit by a truck at that point and won.

I took a moment to make sure it was looking at me while trying to bite my arm off, and shook my head as I punched whatever it used for a brain right out of its skull.

"Bad bird." I quipped as I pulled out Aestus, the familiar pull on my stomach growing as the edge became bright red. A few days of rest, and I'm feeling more than slightly energetic. The sword is leaving behind embers while I swing it experimentally. A flock of the iron and bronze birds hover over me, like they were the hunters. "How about I teach you lot about who's at the top of the food chain around this place?"

I felt water within the roots of the massive tree, and willed it out. A geyser formed, spewing gallon after gallon before the immortal tree healed itself.

The water swirled around my legs, and the five Buick-sized birds charged right at me.

The birds were good, a lot better than that pack of hellhounds we'd had an unfortunate encounter with earlier. The birds worked in tandem, and had the advantage of speed over me. They took little bites that scratched at my arms. They were more than slightly used to killing demigods, since I would've been unable to attack with my arms in pieces.

Speed and the ability to get through my skin with water flowing through me. If they had the strength of the snake-ladies, I was sure that they would have been able to take me down. They didn't though, and that sucked for them.

A bird tried to bite off another chunk of flesh, but I was ready this time. I shoved my arm down it's throat, relinquishing my two-handed grip on Aestus. My strike with my right arm, cleaved the bird's head right off its body.

And then I had a bird head attached on me.

I chucked the soccer-ball sized head right into one of the birds. Metal met metal, but my throw and my target's charge at me allowed my projectile to win. Two heads met, and two heads flew away.

The three remaining birds were skittish, and maybe even a tiny bit afraid they began to circle around me and…

Oh hell no.

"Oh hell no." I dodged as acidic bird fecal matter began to drip all around me, the tree was healing itself so they didn't endanger their home. I was sure that I was the only person that was currently being threatened by bird poop of all things. "This shit is not going to stand!"

I palmed my face with my oil-covered hand when I realized what I just said.

I pointed a blackened finger at the birds strafing me with their acidic droppings.

"You made me use a pun." I cursed the birds with every fiber of my being. I took out the switchblade, and the heavy spear I'd managed to gain popped out the moment I flipped it opne. "It's game ON! You'll be a value meal by the time I'm done with you!"

...

"My back…" I groaned as I tried to pop the kinks from the hug session I'd been with my new ocular impaired friend. My other friend was currently giggling behind her hand as we walked towards the aptly named Big House. "Foresight on Percy's brother would have been quite nice Annabeth."

"You said you wanted to know about Percy." Annabeth teased as she crossed her arms over her trim figure. More than a few boys our way stumbled as we passed, much to my amusement. "I merely let you know much more about him, you should be thanking me for that amazing experience!"

"Hardly…" I grumbled as I stopped the movement that was making a few men drool. The fact that I had been a Hunter of Artemis aside, I felt slightly flattered by the attention. A larger part of me was amused, because no one had a chance. "…Your camp seems to be teeming with far more voyeurs that before."

Annabeth actually made a grimace at that, and glared at a boy carrying a box full of daggers. The boy nearly tripped and experienced the pain of a thousand cuts, but he managed to gain his footing as he made a pointed attempt of walking away rapidly.

I raised a brow at her reaction, and she raised a brow back.

Then she began to giggle, and I couldn't help but giggle myself.

"Oh look at me." Annabeth suddenly began to walk while exaggeratedly shaking her hips. "My back hurts! Let me shove it so far that you can imagine grabbing them!"

I felt a blush rise on my face, two can play at that game Annabeth!

"Oh!" I held up a hand against my face. "Why do I look so surprised? Am I laughing at you? Do you wish to see my smile? Kiss my lips perhaps?"

My opponent laughed, outright guffawed at my attempt to get her back. I felt more than slightly pained at my failure.

"Hiding my lips?" Annabeth snickered, "What is era is that from? The fourteen hundreds?"

"It was considered a great temptation to men!" I protested as my companion shook her head, not a hint of embarrassment on her features. My own face must have been bright red by then, my ears felt as though they were on fire!

"You could have pointed out my shorts." My friend rolled her eyes while gesturing at her legs. I had to blink rapidly as my mind switched from looking at combat potential, to the amount of sheer skin she was actually showing.

"That's very crass…" I muttered and my blush felt welded onto my features, both from her brazen gesturing and my previous embarrassment. "Don't you feel embarrassed?"

"Says the girl practically gave every guy an eyeful a second ago?" My companion teased and gave a light laugh. "I guess there really was only one guy I would've been embarrassed to get seen like this, I don't really care now."

"The attention is flattering though…" I found myself saying, and the short haired blonde looked at me bemusedly. "…er… Did I say that aloud?"

"You're so much like Percy." The blonde warrior shook her head with a small smirk. "I'd thought that Thalia and Percy were alike, but you're just as much of a knucklehead as he was…" She gained a thoughtful expression, her brow furrowing in deep thought. "A bit of a far cry from the last time we met, Thalia said that you had a rather large stick up your butt-."

"Thalia's descriptions are as colorful as always ." I cut off my friend dryly and she gave me a pout that I had to chuckle at.

As I walked along the same trail he had walked, I couldn't help but think of what would he have thought if he saw me now. Would he be happy that I'm with his friends, helping them out? Or would he disappointed that I didn't just choose to live quietly into my now-mortal life?

Hah, as if Percy would ever think sitting around would be better than helping other people out.

…