PJO Fanfic by Swufty

Arrows rained. Blood flew. Fire coursed. Campers shouted and yelled, shortly before likely being stabbed… if they were lucky. A worse fate accompanied the more resistant campers; the Chimera. Fighting the Chimera is kind of like fighting a hundred headed dragon. It can see you everywhere, and the second you see it, you know it’s over. You’re dead.
It started simple. It was a normal day in Camp Half-Blood – or, well, as normal as it gets, I guess, being the sons and daughters of gods and goddesses. We sparred; we ate, and listened to how much Mr. D – or Dionysus, the god of wine – hated us. It was average. All was calm. When it really changed was tomorrow. Dionysus came out, and said nothing. He walked over the hill and we didn’t see him again. Not today, not the next day, and not the day we were attacked, which is when we needed him most.
The unnatural silence of the day was broken by a camper running in, panting, and warning us of an invasion, right before he had an arrow through his neck. He coughed up blood and was dead. In an instant, we were prepared, yet we weren’t. His idea of invasion was different than ours. Ours was a hundred monsters, say. We could take it. Not without casualties, but we would survive. His idea was five or six hundred monsters. Not to be pessimistic, but when we saw it storm the hill, walking with ease through the barrier, we knew we were about to die.
Bravely, we fought till sundown and back to sunrise, sun high and sunset again. You couldn’t see the leaves on the trees, the clouds in the sky, or maybe the flashing of flames that signaled our camp being destroyed. All you could see was blood and dust.
My name is Aaron, and I am part of an elite group of campers that includes me, my brother Seth, two children of Ares, Andreas and Ajax, a girl, Marie –who I may or may not have feelings for-, Tyler, Kayla, Cassandra, Autumn, Haimon, Orion, Philantia, Vibius, Tiberius, and Quinta. We’re the same as the other campers, but much more experienced.
As the carnage continued, we began to lose. Their mass numbers began to overwhelm us, so we decided to make a plan. Easier said than done; nobody could think of anything. Cassandra had an idea, though. She made a group of fake demigods to distract the enemy, so we could escape with our living and live to fight another day. We disappeared to Zeus’s fist, and heard the enraged screeches of Echidna as she realized the demigods were fakes. In spite of our situation, we all laughed somewhat.
We decided on a battle plan. It was nightfall; they would look for us by morning. We had to escape camp, and hide, wait till they leave, and either ambush them or escape back. Our leader Chiron, or more like director, had disappeared as well. We had until sunrise to enact something, lest the carnage ensue.
Ajax began pacing. “You’re all stupid!” He snarled viciously. “Why sneak back? They killed so many of our friends and you want to avoid them?”
Kayla stood her ground. “If I’m correct, I’m the daughter of the wisdom goddess, and my wisdom is that ambushing them will kill us too, Ajax.”
Andreas shifted uncomfortably. “Um… Ajax, she has a-“
Ajax silenced him swiftly with a glare. Andreas resumed nervous shuffling and thinking.
I raised my hand, and then put it back down. We weren’t in school, and Ajax was certainly not a teacher. “Ajax, what if we created a diversion? Lead them away, then re-prepare camp, and be ready.”
He snorted. “Yeah, you saw how well it went. N-“
I retorted, “Yes, but we weren’t prepared. This time we are.”
Ajax rolled his eyes. “Aaron, you may be a child of the big three, but you’re as thick as a rock.”
I sighed. “Ajax, speak for yourself.”
He growled and stepped forward, hand raised, but Marie interrupted. “Guys, we have enough trouble without you two fighting. Now, we have to decide on a plan. All in favor of Ajax’s plan?”
Ajax raised his hand, and was the only one. He noticed no one agreeing with him, and angrily he stormed off, kicking a tree, then wincing in pain.
Marie smirked. “All in favor of Aaron’s plan?” Nearly everyone agreed, but there were a few people who disagreed. Majority ruled, and our plan was set. “Now then,” She continued, “what will the diversion be?”
Cassandra said, “I would use magic, but likely they would not fall for it again, and I doubt I could keep it up at a distance, plus the diversion would have to be multiple people, or else it wouldn’t work.”
There was silence for a moment as everyone thought around this new problem, and everyone came to the same horrible conclusion; it would have to be real people. Collectively, everyone except for a few looked at me. I spread my hands and backed up. “Uh…”
Tyler shrugged. “I’ll go.”
Ajax snickered. “Afraid, Aaron?”
“In your dreams, almighty one. Since you’re clearly fine with this, maybe you should go?”
Ajax paled, but before he could say anything, Marie said, “So it’s decided! Aaron,” I think I heard a bit of reluctance… “Ajax and Tyler.”

***
At about 12:00 midnight, we slipped silently out. Creeping to their camp, we let off a booming sound and ran. Arrows sailed after us, but eventually they gave chase. We went through the forest, and found the other side of it, surprisingly. It was a cliff. Dead end. We turned around slowly, to see her army emerging.
Echidna herself stalked out, cackling like a mad woman. “Fools, to think you could escape me!”
Then darts hit us in the neck, and the world went black.

Seconds. Minutes. Hours. Days. We didn’t see them again. The last we heard of them was when they were running from the enemy. Then that was it. No more knowledge. Search parties were mentioned, but swiftly decided against. We already lost Aaron, Ajax and Tyler… we didn’t need more losses. Aaron. The thought of him gone was harsh on me… I mean us. Ok, ok, yes, I like him. I may be a Hunter, but the rule was to turn my back on men… feelings don’t count, right? Hunter or not… feelings are uncontrollable.
Search parties were continuously proposed, and after a while organized without permission. With them missing, I took over as leader, and those unorganized parties were really starting to tick me off. Finally, I caught one in the midst of being set up, with Seth at the head of the group, and exploded.
“What are you doing?!” I roared at them, and they all scrambled backwards, except for Seth. He stood his ground, though he did flinch.
He retorted, “What do you think we’re doing?”
I slapped him, and everyone gasped. “Don’t get smart with me! Do you know how much pressure this all is? How much trouble it’s been ever since we lost Ajax… Tyler… Aar-“My voice cracked, and I stopped talking.
Seth noticed this, and disbanded his group. “Marie, I know this is hard on you, but- “
I hissed at him to cover up my previous weakness. “Save it.” Then I stalked away. Back in my lonely dug out, I flopped down, and regretted it, as I banged my head on a rock. I moaned, rolled over and picked it up, and gasped. It was an iridescent color that shimmered and glowed as I rolled it in my open palm. I dug a little more, and almost fell as I unearthed a tunnel to a cavern. I picked up the rock in amazement. I had no idea what it could do, but I would love to find out, which I would, though I didn’t know it right then, that very night.

***

Once again, fire was everywhere. If only we had Aaron; he could likely put out the blaze, but it might be a bit too much strain on him. Either way, the problem was here, and now, and there was nothing we could do for the poor dryads, who spent some of their final minutes relocating to other trees, as their first source of life died.
There was nothing we could do at all, anyway. The monsters took us by surprise, and most of the survivors were now prisoners, except for our elite group of people. They closed in on me, and at close range I could do nothing with my bow. They took it, and without care threw it away, and I hoped it wasn’t being burned. With a last effort, I threw the rock at one of them, knowing it would do nothing, but desperately hoping it would. To my utter amazement, though, it did.
The rock carved through the monsters chest like a knife through butter. With a grating wail like nails on a chalkboard, it disintegrated to dust, but it still wasn’t over. As the dust began to settle, it floated and was absorbed into the rock, which glimmered even more brightly for a moment or two, hovering, then fell to the ground. The other monsters backed up, except for a small, curious fellow, who attempted to throw it away. However, he was absorbed as well, and I saw my chance. I ripped open the tunnel again, and tore at the rock. My hands came off bloody, but it did the trick, and I had managed to tear off a loose piece, which I used like a knife. I jumped around from monster to monster, stabbing through their heads with it, destroying them instantly. They began to flee, and soon nothing was left but Echidna and her Chimera. I walked towards them slowly, angrily. They, in their haste, left all of their prisoners of war behind. The Chimera looked at me with wide, angry, but also fearful eyes. I lunged, and the Chimera ran. Echidna, on it\'s back, screamed at it the whole way back to their camp, but the damage was done. The dryads put out the remaining fire, and I freed our friends. If only I knew how powerful that rock was from the start.
Ajax walked towards me, eyes wide with shock. “Y-You… How? What is that?!” He stuttered. Everyone was surprised, more so than I was, to the point of speechlessness.
I shrugged. “I don’t know… but I think this rock deserves a name.”
Ajax smiled a weird half-grin. “Hmmm… well, it’s iridescent…”
Something clicked in my mind. “Iris?” In the name of the rainbow goddess. I nodded.
“Iris Iron.”