Tagged again, oops. By @CLCullen this time.

1. Which fictional character would you save from dying?
I mean I hate that I feel like I'm spoiling things by answering this question but in writing this fic I've already technically saved someone from dying and so that is my choice and just for the record I totally would
2. Worst Movie?
I mean if you ignore the fact that the Percy Jackson movie was based on Percy Jackson it's not a bad movie but I can't ignore it so it is
3. Crush's initials?
NB for nobody
... Not the Annabeth version
4. Favorite Youtuber?
NateWantsToBattle or Overly Sarcastic Productions
5. Day or Night?
Night
6. Favorite Fanfiction on Wattpad?
I haven't been reading a whole lot on Wattpad lately but I can never go wrong with Lord Perseus Child of Rome or Pokemon........ A Training Start or anything from the people I follow
7. Favorite Author?
Rick Riordan and John Flanagan and I've been reading a lot of Jennifer A. Nielsen and I love it
8. Best Friend's Name?
A******
9. If you could meet a famous person, who would it be?
Dunno, probably some author or musician
10. What book would you live in?
Guys I would not last five seconds in any of the books I read but I guess I'd live a quiet life in Carve the Mark with my currentgift and I would definitely not be important enough to have a Fate, for the record
11. Realist or dreamer?
Realist
12. Phobias?
Claustrophobia
13. One thing you love about yourself?
I'm comfortable enough with myself that I can like the things I like without any justification other than that I like them. Even if they're weird, especially if they're dumb

This is the idiot you guys signed up for

Jenny had to lead them all the way back to her house before she could compose herself enough to stop her tears, let alone fill them in on the time they'd missed.

"It was supposed to be a secret," Jenny murmured, taking a seat in front of them, "If it got out that the Crown Princess and Araluen's foremost heroes had gone missing, there would be chaos, after all."

"So how did you know?" Will asked.

"Gilan'd been a little off for a while so I threatened it out of him with my ladle when he came for a visit."

Halt nodded sagely. "I raised that boy to be a smart one."

"Who's Gilan?" Annabeth asked.

"Halt's first kid."

"Wait a minute."

"My first apprentice," Halt sighed, "Stay focused. Jenny, what's happened since we left?"

"The Ranger Corps hasn't said anything to anyone," Jenny told them, "But no one really expects to hear from them anyway. Gil says that only he and Crowley knew you were missing. Malcolm told them you disappeared after you followed Trobar's tracks into the woods. He said the horses realized you were gone and charged off after you, but didn't come back either."

She teared up a little, knuckles going white around her ladle.

"They're just letting everyone believe you're on some world saving quest somewhere, like you usually go on. King Duncan's been running the country like normal, but I suppose he's been told that his daughter went missing."

"Pauline's been worried sick," Jenny sniffed, and Halt went white at the words, "Comes around here every other week or so. Gil couldn't help but tell her, too, after he told me."

"Who's Pauline?" Percy whispered to Will.

"The only person in the world who can whip Halt into shape. Or make him get a proper haircut."

"Makes him cower with a single word," Horace added, "She's quite the force to be reckoned with."

"My mentor," Alyss said, "The best diplomat in Araluen. Renowned worldwide for her skill and cunning. She could bend the entire Ranger Corps to her bidding with a crook of her finger."

"She's my wife, you knuckleheads," Halt sighed, "Don't blow it out of proportion."

"Tell them they're wrong, Halt," Percy snickered, unable to mask his grin, "Oh, gosh. I want to meet her. She sounds so awesome."

"You darn heroes," Jenny said, half sobbing half chuckling, "Coming back to my restaurant and my home and goofing around like nothing's wrong. I'd have half a mind to smack you into next month if you hadn't already done that to yourselves."

That sobered them immediately.

"Jenny," Will said quickly, "It's very important that this stays a secret. There's a war coming that could destroy Araluen. I can't go into details, but-"

"I've been keeping it a secret for months, Will Treaty," she reminded him hotly, shooting to her feet, "My best friends go traipsing around the world saving it on a weekly basis and you think I don't know that war is coming? War is always coming. I personally know three Rangers, which is more than most people can say they've seen in their entire lifetimes, two couriers, the royal family and even George has been shot in the arm on business. George! You think I don't know that I'm not allowed to know details? Don't make me laugh, Will. I'm not in the mood."

She prodded him hard in the chest, making him stumble back in his shock.

"If you don't save the world and come back alive, I'm cutting off your coffee supply." She brandished her ladle threateningly. "You're lucky I don't take a crack at that thick skull while I'm at it."

Will softened, taking in the indignant worry in her eyes. He wrapped her into a hug.

"Of course," he whispered into her hair, eyes twinkling.

"You know I would never think to threaten my coffee."

_______________

They didn't end up making a stop at Castle Redmont to see Pauline since she was out on a mission, much to Percy's chagrin, but he was placated by their visit to the Rangers' cabin to pick up their horses and the knowledge that they would be meeting Halt's first kid.

"Do you think I should make the Poseidon Cabin door squeaky?" Percy asked, intertwining his fingers with Annabeth's as they walked, "Might stop the Stoll Brothers from sneaking in and painting the cabin walls pink again."

"Doubt it," Piper scoffed, "They'd find a way. And even if they couldn't, you sleep like a rock, Percy. No way in Hades a squeaky door is getting you up."

Percy opened his mouth to retort before thinking better of it and falling silent, pouting. "Fair."

"We'll meet with Crowley and Gilan at Castle Araluen," Halt told them, interrupting Percy's Stoll-proofing brainstorming, "We need to tell them and the King what's going on, and get the princess back to her father before he remembers I only had two Rangers for his daughter and exiles me for another year."

"Another year?"

"Someone needed to save Will from his kidnappers."

"Although I was doing a fine job before you got there," Evanlyn teased, "I even got him off the Warmweed."

"Okay," Percy said, "After we save your world, we need some serious story time."

"We can start right now," Annabeth suggested, "Apollo said something about a threat in Araluen? A war around the time this all started."

"Yeah," Evanlyn sighed, "Morgarath. He was an old Baron back in my father's days as the Crown Prince. He tried to overthrow the crown. Would've succeeded, too, if Halt hadn't stepped in. In the end, he was banished and retreated to the Mountains of Rain and Night."

"He rose again in my first year of Battle School," Horace added, "Started the war all over again. That's the one that coincided with your Titan War. Tried to take the Crown, kill off some other barons, the works. He challenged King Duncan to a duel, but I took it instead. We couldn't lose our king, after all."

"Especially not when Will and the heir to the throne were off getting stolen away by some Skandians," Halt smirked.

"Will you stop that?" Will snapped, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I was banished because of you, boy!"

"Sorry! But you didn't have to get drunk and spew treason about the king!"

"A whole year!"

"Minus three weeks!"

"So where are these Mountains of Rain and Night anyway?" Piper cut in before they could get carried away.

"Southeastern Araluen," Alyss said, pulling a map out of her bag, "More just off the border than part of the country, really. They separate the rest of the country from Morgarath's Plateau, and you can only access it through the Three Step Pass."

"Hey, Percy," Annabeth murmured, "You know what that sounds like?"

"I do, and I don't like where you're headed with this."

"Araluen isn't an exact match to America, of course, so we have a little wiggle room. But southeastern America is Florida, and just off the coast of Florida is..." She trailed off.

Percy dug the heels of his palms into his eyes, letting out a loud groan. "This trip is digging up all sorts of bad memories. Can we hide in one of those fancy castles? Please?"

"Percy," Hazel whispered gently, putting a comforting hand on his arm, "What's there?"

"The Sea of Monsters, which you can only enter through the Strait of Scylla and Charybdis."

"That's probably how Morgarath got to the Wargals in the first place," Annabeth reasoned quietly, "There's probably a rift there that Apollo hasn't dealt with yet."

"And that's the best place for Kronos to set up base," Frank said, pointing around the area, "Considering its easily defended, out of the way and probably abandoned because of all the folklore and rumors surrounding it."

"Hey," the son of Mars noted, tapping a spot on the map, "What's this place between Redmont and Araluen?"

"The Ruins of Gorlan," Will told him, "Morgarath's old fief."

"Maybe we should stop by there on our way to Castle Araluen, then," Hazel reasoned, "Check it out just in case it's being used as another base."

Will winced, trying to stifle it and failing.

"It's nothing," he said as all eyes turned to him, "Just- it's like Percy said. Bad memories."

"I don't know if you have a monster like this," Halt said, "But Kalkara are nasty things. Huge, fast, and intelligent. They can paralyze you with their eyes and carve right through you with their talons. Their only weakness is fire. Nearly killed me in Will's first year. It took us and Redmont's Baron and Battlemaster to defeat it, and even then, it was only barely."

"Fire?" Leo smirked, slinging and arm around Will's shoulders, "No worries, bro. I might have been nerfed, but I can still roast and toast any monsters that come our way."

"And we've all grown a lot since then," the Ranger agreed, "But that doesn't... stop the memories."

"Let's keep going forward. It's all we can do." Percy nudged him gently on the shoulder, "And hey, you made it through Tartarus. You can handle a couple of old rocks."

Will rolled his eyes fondly, nudging him back. "Thanks, Percy. Let's get to the Ruins."

_______________

"So we're up against the Titan Lord," Evanlyn said, watching the sun begin to set as they moved, "Anything we should expect?"

"We don't know how much being in this world has affected his powers, like it did with us," Annabeth mused, "But I'm assuming he's significantly less powerful than he was when we fought him."

"Which isn't saying much," Percy pouted, "Because he's probably still pretty powerful. Unless... Do you guys have blue plastic hairbrushes in this world?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Nevermind."

"The point is, Percy and I have fought him before," Annabeth said, "He knows how to build his army and get people to follow him. He knows how to fight. But the thing is... we're not the ones who beat him. We couldn't beat him on our own, and I doubt his host in this world will be so eager to sacrifice himself to save us."

"We failed this country once," Will asserted confidently, "And this time, we have the time to prepare, the knowledge of what we're up against, and you. I refuse to fail again. We have a chance. The prophecy said so."

The demigods traded a look, something shadowed and pained passing between them.

Piper took a breath. "About the prophecy-"

"Wait," Halt hissed, holding up a hand for the group to stop, "There's smoke. Will."

He didn't have to clarify. The instant Halt had spoken Will's cowl had come up, handing off Tug's reins to Percy, who watched them warily. Each Ranger stepped into the surrounding forest on either side of the path, disappearing from view within seconds. The shadows rippled and the trees swayed, and even with Halt's advice, Look for where they'll be and not for where they are, Percy couldn't even have hoped make out their forms.

"What does that mean?" Piper asked.

Evanlyn scowled, hands tight around her sling. "It means there's a fire. And where there's a fire, there's a camp."

"And where there's a camp," Horace finished, glaring in the direction of the Ruin, "There's people."

"Could they be travellers? Hunters?" Hazel suggested.

"Doubt it," Alyss told her, "No Araluen citizen in their right mind comes to the Ruins without a reason. We need to assume the worst. But either way, that's what Will and Halt are for."

Horace tilted his head to the side suddenly. "What's it looking like?" He asked the forest.

"At least two hundred," Halt reported, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, "Most armed. None human."

Will turned to the group darkly, eyes flashing beneath his cowl.

"They're on the move."

"The war is starting."