Chapter 28: A Change Of Operations

Sorry for not updating in a while, I've just been busy with holidays and personal issues. I'm sorry for starting a new story, but it was an idea I just couldn't let fade away with time. Also, sorry if some chapters in this story feel like I didn't put enough time in them or if this story feels rushed in general. I've always had an idea for the main things that happen in this story, and every major event was going to be there from the start, but I need topics for chapters in between those events, like this one. This is more of catching up with the other characters.

Chapter 28: A Change Of Operations

Arianna P.O.V.

We landed with an 'oof' on the ground in the middle of a forest as the wind finally died down. We'd just escaped a small army of monsters near that wind guy's home, but Michael had been shot by an arrow on the way out.

We all coughed and tried to regain our breath as we looked around. "Where are we?" Crassus asked as he stood up, dusting his shoulders for grass. Aaron looked around, then at the sky. "We were flown west, and judging from the time I'd say we're not in Colorado anymore. Maybe Nevada." He said.

Alex scoffed as he stood up. "Pfft, does this look like Nevada to you? Last time I checked, Vegas wasn't a forest. This must be like Hawaii or something." He judged, and Estelle glared at his stupidity. "Did you fall asleep during the trip or something? Because I didn't see any ocean. It's probably California." She reasoned, and I figured that she was probably right.

"Uh, guys, Mike's dying, remember?!" I yelled over them, breaking them out of their conversation. They nodded, and rushed over to our friend. The blonde was breathing sharply and deeply, trying his best to stay conscious despite the arrow in his chest. "Just hang in there, bud. There's gotta be someone nearby who can help." Aaron calmed, moving over to pick him up.

The son of Jason and Piper grunted as he was pulled off of the ground, and we began to move onwards. We still had no idea where we were, but surely we couldn't be that far from a road or something.

The six of us made our way through the forest, careful not to encounter any monsters along the way. The forest was quiet, like there wasn't any animals to dwell here. We weren't being quiet, either. Sticks cracked every second with our footsteps as we dragged ourselves deeper.

Hardly half an hour into our walk, everything became silent. Literally dead silence. We stopped in our tracks, and I drew my sword. A stick broke behind us, and we whirled around. When I took in the sight, I almost dropped my sword.

A huge wolf stood on the hill, staring down at us. By huge, I meant huge. This one could reach up to my neck probably. It was like one of those wolves from Game of Thrones, the really big ones. It's fur was dark grey, and it had bright silver eyes.

My heart sunk and a smile almost formed on my face as I looked into those silver eyes. Almost the same silver eyes as my dear friend Artemis. When a few more wolves joined the large one on the hill, I knew it wasn't Artemis. For one, I don't recall Artemis saying anything about shapeshifting, and also some of these wolves were boys, judging from their, uh, private regions.

We all almost fell over in shock as a loud commanding voice resounded through our heads. It took us a moment to realise it was the main wolf who spoke. "So you have arrived." The wolf stated calmly.

Aaron spoke for us, emphasising his shock. "You... You can speak?" He asked warily. The wolf nodded, before standing up and walking down the hill towards us. "I can, and I can tell you that we have been waiting for your arrival for quite a while now. What took you so long?" She questioned, but we were still in too much shock to properly answer.

I mean, we had seen weirder things out there, but we weren't expecting Aeolus to drop us off with a talking wolf.

"Who are you?" Crassus voiced our thoughts exactly, and the wolf tilted her head. "Me? I am Lupa, the wolf-mother. You may know me for raising Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome." She introduced herself.

Aaron was the one to piece things together. "Wait, if you're Lupa, then we must be near New Rome!" He figured out, and Lupa nodded. "Very good, young one. You're smarter than you look." She said, and I swear she smiled. Can dogs smile?

"New Rome? The gods must have gone there! Where is it?" Estelle gathered, and the wolf-mother's expression change to one of slight anguish. "The gods are there, yes. But you will not like what you see." She warned, worrying us.

"Why? Are they injured?" I asked, worried for a select few like Artemis and my father. Lupa's eyes turned to me, and she nodded with her ears bent in sadness. "Yes, some of them are, but there is more to it than just injury. Go, you must travel through the forest. There you will find the Romans. You don't have the training I normally give to cubs before they venture to the camp, but I trust you will defend yourself." She instructed, and we nodded.

Out of nowhere, the wolf padded up to us, and she sniffed Michael's face, before nuzzling it slight in affection. "Be strong, my cub." She told him, leaving us confused and then literally.

Now alone, we continued the journey into the forest. It was going completely fine until a hellhound jumped out, knocking Aaron to the ground and making him drop Michael. Immediately, the rest of us drew our weapons, and the beast was taken care of quickly.

The rest of the trek was quiet. We crossed over a river, which was quite beautiful. Then we came upon large stone walls. Two people stood on guard at the top, who I assumed to be Romans. They were wearing metal armor, and both had golden swords strapped to their sides.

"Halt!" One of them, the male yelled. We stopped in our tracks, not wanting to get shot. The other guard, who was female, called down to us. "Who are you? State your name and business!" She ordered, seeing that we weren't monsters.

I was going to respond, but Aaron, the responsible one, did the talking. "We are demigods from Camp Half-Blood. We survived the attack, and made our way here." He explained, not wanting to be agressive.

The two looked at each other, then back at us. "Who are your godly parents?" The female asked. Aaron cleared his throat, looking at all of us. "Well, I am a son of Ares. The blonde one is an Apollo kid, the brown haired one a Dionysus kid, and this girl is a son of Poseidon." He said, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"The guy in my arms is Michael, son of Jason and Piper, the heroes of Olympus, and he is injured. The other girl with us is a hunter of Artemis." He finished, making sure they knew Michael was injured to get sympathy points.

The two looked at each other again, then nodded. "Alright, come in. Jason and Piper are here, and they worry for their son." They said, advising us to seek them out first. We nodded, getting the message, and the two guards called for someone to open the gates.

The large wooden, iron-reinforced gates swung open, and we hurried inside in case there was an army of monsters waiting to sneak in.

The camp was bustling. I'd heard about this place a few times from Michael and Selena. They said it was pretty much a more militarized version of Camp Half-Blood, and I could see where they were coming from.

Soldiers hurried around, getting to their stations or attending to something like wounded demigods. We looked around for Jason and Piper, but instead found a girl who looked pretty important. Her cape was purple, and she was bossing people around.

We approached her, and she looked at the body in Aaron's arms. "Michael? Oh gods, his parents have been worried sick. What happened to him?" She asked us. Alex answered her. "We fought some monsters a few hours ago, and he got hurt." He explained.

The girl nodded. "I'm Reyna, praetor of Camp Jupiter. Well, co-praetor, but I have no idea where my partner is. Uh-" She started barking orders to some soldiers jogging past, then turned back to us. "Last I checked, Jason and Piper were in the infirmary bay, looking after some of the survivors of the Camp Half-Blood attack." She said, pointing off in some direction.

We thanked her, and made our way there. A large building was in place near a collection of bigger ones, which had latin text above them that I couldn't read. But there was a red cross on this building, so we assumed it was the infirmary.

The six of us burst through the door, startling most of the people inside. A woman came over to probably yell at us considering her stern face, but I immediately recognized her as Piper. Almost immediately, she recognized us too, and recognized the half-corpse in Aaron's arms.

"Michael! Oh gods, Jason!" She called, bending down to look at her sons unconscious form. Heavy footsteps were head, and soon Michael's much older twin rushed into the room. "Michael!? Is he hurt?" He asked Piper, infuriating the distraught mother.

"Yes he's hurt, Jason! Help me get him on a bed." She said, and Jason hurried to grab his son's legs, while Aaron kept hold of his arms. The two of them moved him to a bed and placed him down, while some sons of Apollo came over to work on him.

We stood there, worried for our friend as they worked on him. Jason put a hand on my shoulder and looked at us all sympathetically. "Come, let them work." He said, gently leading my shoulder, and by proxy the whole group, towards the door.

"You guys came at a good time. We're gearing up for war, and we're gonna need all the fighters we can get. Did you meet any other survivors on your way?" He asked hopefully, and we had to honestly tell him no.

Jason frowned. "That's bad. If... If Percy has killed half of our army all ready, and the gods have locked themselves away, I don't think we have any hope." He said, choking up at the name. None of us could belive it. I was still struggling to comprehend that my own brother, the one everyone idolised, the one I was pretty much aspiring to be like, was the villain of this story. The 'greatest' hero of all time, massacring demigods and betraying his family.

Then my mind clicked. "Wait, the gods are locked away?" I asked, confused. Jason frowned again, and sadly nodded. "They arrived here with a few wounded. They told everyone what happened, and then they went to Mount Diablo, over east. They never came back. We sent people over, and they found a door, no lock or handle. It was probably magic, but we know the gods are behind there." He briefed.

Crassus spoke up, distraught. "What are they doing? Are they planning? Gearing up?" He asked, and Jason shook his head. "We do not know, but I know what I think. I think they are hiding. I think Percy scared them so much that my father has decided to just let him kill us all and take over Olympus."

We all gasped, and Estelle covered her mouth in shock. "They wouldn't..." She assured herself, but Jason shook his head in pity. "Have you ever heard the story of Typhon?" He asked, and we all shook our heads, aside from Aaron, though he didn't say anything.

Jason told the story. "There was a monster named Typhon. He was the father of monsters, the most horrifying one. He was enough to terrify the gods. When Typhon rampaged thousands of years ago, you know what the gods did? They fled. They were too afraid of Typhon to fight. It was left to my father to defeat him. No doubt there's some half-truths to the story, knowing my father, but I don't doubt that the gods fled. Those are the gods we fight for." He explained.

We were all in shock, and it was me who broke first. "No. No, no, no. They wouldn't do that! Dad and Artemis wouldn't abandon us!" I screamed at him. Estelle placed her hand on my shoulder, telling me to calm down, but I shoved her off.

Jason also tried to calm me down, but I ran past him. I needed to see Dad, I needed to see Artemis. Surely Jason was wrong. Surely.

I bolted through the camp, looking for the stables. It didn't take me long to find them, and I shoved one of the soldiers away from a white horse and mounted. I grabbed the reigns, and was about to rush off, when I heard someone calling me. "Ari!" I looked, and it was Estelle.

I glared. "You're not gonna stop me, Estelle." I said, gripping the reigns tighter. My sister came up and mounted behind me, looking over her shoulders. "I know, I'm coming with you. There's the back gate!" She called, pointing over in some direction. I followed her finger, and we rushed through out into the fields.

It was quite a beautiful sight. Lush green fields all around us as the horse gallopped. We passed some hills, and there came another field. This one was entirely dirt, and dry rock. It was brown, and looked more like a world war 1 battlefield than something these Romans would live on.

"That must be their training grounds." Estelle noted. I figured she was right. There wasn't really much space to train inside the camp, since it was pretty much a fort. Estelle pointed, and I followed it. "That must be Mount Diablo." She said, pointing at a large mountain over east in the opposite direction of the sunset.

I spurred the horse into going faster, and within minutes we reached the mountain. The two of us dismounted, and we looked at the mountain in awe. There was some sort of ruins on top, but Jason said there was a door in the mountain.

Then I spotted it, blended in with the rest of the mountain wall. An outline running around some stone that seemed a shade lighter than the rest. I pressed on the door, trying to open it, but it wouldn't budge. I attempted prying, but of course it was stone, so it wouldn't budge.

I tried calling out, hoping they could hear me in the mountain. "Hello? Dad? Artemis? Anyone?" I called, and I could hear the desperation, the hopelessness in my voice. I sounded weak.

Shocking both of us, the door slid open. It truly was a door. It swung like it was on hinges, and inside was complete and utter darkness. I was about to step inside, until a man came out. It was Poseidon.

"Dad!" I cried, launching into a hug. He smiled and embraced me, waving over Estelle as he did so. My sister joined in on the hug, and I felt like crying. I pulled away, looking up at him. "Dad, was what Jason said true? Are the gods hiding?" I asked, desperately hoping I was wrong.

Poseidon frowned, and looked over at Camp Jupiter. "Ari, Estelle. It's good to see you two made it out. Have you heard from Selena or Artemis?" He asked, a glimmer of hope in his sea-green eyes.

Both our faces paled, and Estelle asked. "What? They're not here?" She asked in horror. Poseidon sighed in defeat. "No, they are not. We all split up after the attack on Olympus, but we all ended up here. If they did not, then I think our fears came true. I think Percy got to them both first, or at least what's left of him did." He sighed, thinking of his granddaughter and daughter-in-law.

I was practically sobbing now. Two people I essentially thought of as sisters were now gone, and I didn't know if they were even alive. I was still in shock about the attack on Olympus. "Dad, was that really Percy?" I asked. "Was that really the hero everybody's always preaching about?"

I was angry, angry at Percy for doing such a thing, angry at Artemis and Selena for not coming home, angry at the gods for hiding like cowards. Most of all, I was angry at myself, for which I do not know.

Poseidon embraced us both again, and looked back out onto the fields towards Camp Jupiter and New Rome. "No, it was not."

Holy shit, I finally finished that chapter. I've been having a lot of writer's block as I said, and I'm working on an actual book, not a fanfiction. I started watching Vikings, so that's got me hooked, but it's actually helping me write a lot more. I don't know what I'll work on. Thank you to Jake on my No Choice story for pointing out the obvious and helpfully being a guest so I couldn't DM him a reply. Yes, I know I have way too many stories going on at once. I'm writing fanfictions, not a fucking bestselling book series. I doubt there are any people who care if I just stopped writing fanfictions altogether. Of course, I will still write fanfictions, but please don't be so fucking judgmental. This is not a business. The whole point in my eyes is the ideas I can share with the world. Sometimes it's better if I never finish a story, because then I can't let people down with my endings and I give them ideas to further expand in their own minds.

So, I'm sorry for publishing my ideas, my concepts. I'm sorry for not having the mental stability or the brainpower to finish most of my works. I'm sorry for working on my own things while not thinking that I'll be able to continue others, to not be able to bring myself to ruin my creations with my boredom, lack of imagination and frustration that I'm pressuring myself and being pressured by a few faceless people on the internet to continue these projects I burned out on a while ago.

I don't write these stories for praise. I write them because I don't want my thoughts and ideas to be just that. Mine and mine alone. I want other people with similar interests to be able to gain their own alternate concepts of a fucking childrens book. I will most likely continue this story, but don't expect weekly updates, don't expect me to dedicate my life to this shitty story I thought up on a walk home from school, and don't expect me to hold myself from sharing other ideas so I can come back and stretch out this shit that I could've typed up in 1000 words and given you the whole story. I do this so that I feel better mentally, so that you guys can have the chance to view my thoughts and concepts, and so that I can hone my writing skills and maintain the A+ grade my fucking family stresses me to hold.

I

Am

Sorry

Word Count: 3299