chaos.

that's how you could describe the atmosphere of the camp at the moment.

"donghyuck! stay with us." jisung exclaimed, a huge trident appearing in his hand.

"w-what?" donghyuck asked. "what does that mean?"

"somebody is attacking the half-blood camp. we need to fight." chenle replied, taking out from his pockets two daggers.

"fight?! f-for real?" donghyuck exclaimed, panic evident in his eyes.

jisung raised a brow. "does it seem like a joke to you?" he said, motioning to their surroundings.

donghyuck looked around, only to find people with their weapons running everywhere, screaming, crying for some of them.

he gasped, realising that this was real.

"w-what do i do?" he asked panicking.

"you stay with us. we need to find jeno." jisung told, earning a nod from chenle.

before the three boys could do anything else, a loud roar was heard, and multiple creatures invaded the camp, running faster than ever towards the three boys.

donghyuck recognised some griffons, the creature that had almost killed him in his apartment, and also furies, but the other strange creatures remained unknown to him.

"we should run." chenle said simply, not waiting for jisung and donghyuck's approval to dart away.

the two other boys followed him immediately, finding themselves running opposite the crowd of armed demigods who was screaming in unison, ready to fight the monsters that had invaded their place.

chenle, jisung and donghyuck ran quickly to the back of the crowd, looking for jeno.

"jeno!" chenle screamed, looking around.

"oh my..."

jisung and chenle both looked at donghyuck who was petrified on the spot.

his eyes were glued on those horrible monsters that were fighting against the demigods. he could hear screams of pain, he could see blood everywhere, he could sense the pain that all those people were feeling.

this made him feel uneasy, to the point he felt like throwing up.

chenle quickly reacted, hiding donghyuck's eyes with his hand.

"ji. we need to hurry." he warned.

"i can't find jeno." jisung answered, searching for zeus' son.

a loud bark was heard from behind the boys, making chenle and jisung step aside to allow the huge red-eyed hell dog run past them.

once the dog disappeared in the crowd, its owner appeared.

"go look for jeno. i'll protect him in the meantime."

jisung glared at the boy. "in your wildest dreams, mark." he spat.

mark span his huge scythe in his hand before pointing it at a fury, a black lightning appearing between the end of the scythe and the fury, killing it on the spot and making it fall to the ground miserably.

"i have the ability to protect him." mark said.

"but i don't want to- "

an explosion was heard just next to them, making chenle and jisung flinch, and making donghyuck throw himself in the arms of the closest person which happened to be mark.

"go, find jeno!" mark yelled, using his scythe to push another monster away.

"what?! no! we- "

"ji..." chenle interrupted jisung. "we don't have much time."

against his will, jisung nodded in mark's direction, and ran back in the crowd, followed by chenle so that they could find jeno.

"i-i'm scared..." donghyuck said, his body still glued to mark's.

"don't worry, everything will be alright." mark reassured him. "come with me."

donghyuck allowed mark to take his hand and pull him towards a less crowdy place.

they got into the glade where they had met for the first time very quick.

"they won't find you there." mark said.

"b-but... what if they do?"

"then, we'll fight." mark replied, stressing donghyuck even more.

"fight?! but i don't know- "

"shh!" mark cut donghyuck by placing a hand on his mouth.

donghyuck looked around, wide-eyed, his body restrained from moving because of mark's grasp on him.

donghyuck glanced at hades' son, finding the way he was worriedly looking around too hot to handle.

"fuck!" mark exclaimed, letting donghyuck go.

"w-what?"

mark didn't answer; instead, he hit the ground with the end of his scythe, making the earth move underneath their feet, as if it was coming to life.

donghyuck jumped on mark once again when black things – donghyuck honestly didn't want to know what they were – got out of the earth between their feet and flew away.

"what was that?"

before mark could answer, three chimeras appeared in the glade, circling mark and donghyuck.

the tanned male shrieked at the view of the creature.

"w-w-what i-is..."

"chimeras." mark answered simply, allowing his dark aura to appear. "aim for the goat head. the heart is just underneath."

"what?" donghyuck squeaked.

"attack in 3... 2... 1..."

donghyuck gulped.

what was he supposed to do?

he had no weapon, he didn't know how to fight, and there were three horrible lions with snake tails and a goat head on their back that were looking at him as if he would make a good dinner.

"now!" mark yelled, killing one of the chimeras with his scythe as the two others ran to a petrified donghyuck.

mark turned around, expecting donghyuck to attack, and to show his special tricks.

but nothing happened.

donghyuck stood there, looking at the two beasts running towards him.

before the chimeras reached donghyuck, a whip wrapped around the goat head of one, and the other's body got pierced by a trident, making both monsters stop in their trajectory. 

caught by surprise, the two beasts died in the hands of the two demigods.

"what went through your fucking head mark?!" jisung yelled, approaching mark furiously. "i should never have trusted you!"

"b-but..." mark's eyes wandered between a pissed jisung and a frightened donghyuck who was being hugged by jeno.

"he doesn't know how to fight!" jisung yelled, pushing mark. "and you asked him to fight two chimeras with bare hands! how stupid can you be!"

"i swear that i didn't know!" mark yelled back.

the two stayed in silence, glaring at each other.

"it's okay..." a small voice interrupted them.

mark and jisung faced donghyuck, who was being carried by jeno.

"he didn't know..."

"but he shouldn't have done that!" jisung exclaimed.

"he wanted to help. he couldn't know... i'm sure he would have found another strategy if he knew..."

jisung's eyebrows furrowed and he exchanged a look with jeno as mark smiled lightly at donghyuck, mouthing a 'thank you'.

"let's bring you to your bungalow." jeno said.

"and the attack?" donghyuck asked, trembling again.

"they all left after mark brought you there. the fights are finished." jisung told.

Ω

"no."

"what? why?"

"because. it's no." letteuk answered firmly. "go back to your bungalow, mark."

"but- "

"i said no. this is the place where he'll be the safest."

mark snorted loudly, making leeteuk glare at him.

"safe? really?"

"yes. we are here to protect him." leeteuk spat.

"open your eyes. they found the camp! they know he is there! he is not safe in the camp anymore!"

leeteuk lowered his head, thinking for a moment.

"the outside world isn't safer, mark. you'll never find a place safer than here."

"the world isn't safe but it's huge. they won't find him."

leeteuk shook his head. "i'm not so sure..."

"and if they do, i'll be here. to protect him."

leeteuk combed his hair back using one of his hands.

"and what do you intend to do exactly?"

"help donghyuck hiding in the outside world, and protect him at all costs."