Prologue: Shattered Glass

                                    

                                          
Chapter set during the final battle against Gaia in "Blood of Olympus"
                          
Percy (POV)
                          
You know, today would've been a nice day. It was warm outside, there was a nice breeze blowing through, and the smell of strawberries and saltwater was wonderful and heavy in the air. However, I was beginning to smell less of the sweet strawberries and more of the sour pungent of monster slime.
                          
But the fight against Gaea was going pretty well, you know, considering all things.
                          
Of course, personally, I wish I never HAD to fight Gaea, you know the EARTH goddess, on a beautiful day like today, and not just because she happened to have a whole army of crazed, blood-lusting monsters at her disposal. Though I'll admit, that was a very big downside to my otherwise horrible situation.
                          
But, you know, it was going fairly well all the same.
                          
Sounding a loud battle cry, I charged an ogre swinging an ax the size of my body at my head. Now, I know what you're thinking: Percy, we don't run TO the ax. We run AWAY from it. But don't worry, it's okay. I do this a lot.
                          
I deflected the strike of the ax off the side of my blade, which gave me an open shot at the ogre's bulging belly. See, I told you I know what I'm doing. Seconds later, I was gingerly wiping residue monster gunk off of Riptide with the ogre's greasy loincloth. Not the most glamorous spoils of war, but considering my head was still attached, I wasn't going to complain. Nearby, Annabeth was engaged in battle with an evil centaur. I didn't like to fight those guys, they reminded me too much of our good, coffee-smelling centaur teacher, Chiron. I know Annabeth didn't like to either, I could see it in the furious gleam in her eyes, but she knew it had to be done. We both did.
                          
Her blonde hair was tied into a messy bun on her head, and she wore a ripped and dirty Camp Half-blood tee under hastily, but professionally, strapped chest plating. She stood in front of the centaur, legs boxed and tensed, and waited for an opening. Blowing a stray strand of hair out of her face, she feigned a dive to the right, before swinging back to the left. The centaur fell for it, hitting the ground with his club where her head might've been, before whinnying in alarm when he realized he made a mistake. With a warrior's cry, she lunged upward and plunged her drakon bone sword deep into the centaur's chest. The club was dropped on the ground as the monster crumbled away into dust. Annabeth grimaced and shook monster dust out of her hair as she wiped the remaining monster gook from her sword onto her jeans.
                          
Di immortals she looked stunning when she annihilated the enemy.
                          
I was snapped out of my musing by the thundering charge of another ogre, perhaps the buddy of the one I'd just killed, as it came running at me with a hammer aligning with my head. The hammer came down. I forced myself to wait a second more before diving out of the way, doing a tuck and roll so I landed on the monster's unguarded flank. The ogre looked at the crop of grass he crushed with a surprised, "Huh?" before he joined his pal in the monster underworld.
                          
Despite almost having my head crushed in, I grinned. I turned to Annabeth, who also had a smile on her face. Cause we were crazy like that.
                          
"Good to be home," I said.
                          
"Sure is."
                          
We charged into battle again.
                          
I would've loved to sit down in the grass to chat, or relax on the beach and catch up with my Camp Half-Blood friends after being gone for nearly two years - yeah, thanks, Hera - but that was a reunion I would have to save for later. That's what happened when you crashed a battle mid-fight. But I suppose I could always do some catching up while I worked.