50 Traitors everywhere
[ Cristina pov ]
"<Duck!>" said Thalia, and immediately I obeyed, narrowly dodging a hit that came from behind.
"<Now roll and hit.>" continued instructing Thalia, guiding my actions to defeat the three guys from the Ares cabin.
As I rolled and punched, I ignored the stare of the boy whose hit I just avoided. It was obvious he was confused, seen as his attack undoubtedly came from my blind spot, but he wouldn't understand.
No one did.
No one but Thalia.
As my fist connected with the boys chin, I watched him immediately fall down, like a puppet whose strings were cut off.
"<Raise your guard, and stop distracting yourself!>" ordered Thalia fiercely, and my arms went back up, ready to block any movement or attack from the two remaining boys.
A grin grew on the boys faces as they stared at the boy who had fallen, a boy whose name I didn't learn.
"<He is Kyle.>" said Thalia, getting behind me. "<But that definitely does not matter, and you will forget it anyway, so stop letting your mind wonder around and focus on the fight.>"
I nodded and the two boys attacked instantly.
"<Great, now they think you challenged them to attack at the same time.>" said Thalia, exasperated. "<How many times do I have to tell you not to waste movements on a fight, nor to provoke enemies unnecessarily? We could have picked them apart one by one, which would have been much more efficient. Now they confused the nod you gave me to a signal or taunt for them to rush forward.>"
I couldn't concentrate on Thalia's words, and focused solely on dodging the punches and kicked that the boys were throwing at me.
Seven months of training with the goat-guy were rather useful, even if most of his classes were giving me a bat and telling me to go make fun of the kids in the Ares cabin so they would get pissed and fight me. Apparently it was great training experience, and since Thalia told me I should do it, I did it.
I felt a fist pull me out of my thoughts, as usually happened, and I was forced to look at the huge grin in the face of the boy who threw it.
Next to me, Thalia growled in anger. "<I told you to focus on the fight.>" she said.
It was strange, watching Thalia get angry about someone hitting me. I knew it was because she loved me, but it made me feel oddly warm and weird.
I don't like feeling warm and weird.
"<Act like you are unbalanced and when he throws you another attack, aim at his joints.>" said Thalia.
It wasn't the first time she had told me to fight by targeting joints, and by now I was rather good at it.
I liked the way they fall when I hit their joints, it feels cold and nice, like someone just poured an ice bucket over me.
I like ice.
If someone threw a kick, I would aim at their knees. If someone threw a punch, I would grab their wrist and hit their elbow. If they were close enough and unguarded enough, then the throat was the place to hit.
"<You don't have the bat, so you will have to get in his space.>" continued Thalia, right as the boy threw another punch in my direction after seeing how I was 'affected' by his attack.
Before the fist touched my face, I ducked slightly and got closer to him, way closer than I used to get when fighting monsters. I was right below his arm, and almost touching his body, when my fist rose and hit directly in his elbow.
I didn't look back to meet Thalia's eyes, but I could feel the smile growing on her lips.
"<Hurt him.>" she said, her voice flowing with something that I knew made me feel good. Something cold like the ice I like.
My feet rose as well, before it came down on his knee.
The boy screamed, probably because my arms were made out of metal and according to Thalia did more damage, or maybe because I just felt something snap under my foot, maybe his knee got dislocated?
"<Now finish him>" she said, and in an instant my elbow was on his chin, and he fell like a puppet without strings as well.
"<Duck!>" said Thalia, and I did.
"<Now swipe the floor with your leg.>"
I moved fast, and the boy who tried to attack me from behind fell instantly.
"Urgh," he muttered under his breath, trying to sit up. "Just move in with us already Christine, you are clearly as mean as the rest of us in a fight." he said with a. small, amused smile.
"And it's over!" screamed the goat-guy from the side. "My cupcake wins! Which means you three brats will forever live with the shame of being beaten by a girl four years younger than you! Though you will live with the pride of having fought my disciple... well whatever, let's settle it at you guys have to clean the stables when it is her turn for the next month!"
The eyebrows on the boy that was sitting on the floor twitched at the goat-guy's words. "Yeah yeah, whatever," he said begrudgingly. "I will tell them when they wake up... ugh, Carius is gonna double our training now, just great..."
"<Damn I really like this guy!>" said Thalia, referring to the goat-guy while laughing. "<He totally knows how to make others feel shame! As soon as you reach a higher level in fighting, you will have to learn how to be cruel to others alright?>" asked Thalia while coming closer to me, wrapping her arms around my neck and placing her mouth right next to my ear. "<Don't worry though, I will teach you step by step my cute little sister...>" she whispered.
My eyes returned to their usual dead state as the fight was over, though a pleasant shiver went down my spine as Thalia talked to me in hushed tones.
"Now get over here cupcake!" said the goat-guy, indicating me to follow him.
"Yes..." I muttered, before staring at Thalia.
"<Coach.>"
"Yes Coach?" I asked.
"This settles it at 12-11 in their favour." he said, nodding his head. "When I get back, I want you to have the advantage by at least five wins, understood?"
When he gets back?
"You... are leaving me?" I asked, hesitantly.
"I have been given a mission to go pick up a brat in Arizona." he explained, before staring at me seriously. "But if you think for a second that you've got a vacation, then you are very, very wrong missy."
He's leaving me
Why is he leaving me?
"<Because he doesn't care about you...>" muttered Thalia sadly. "<A shame, since I really liked him, but at the end of the day he is just like the rest.>"
I said nothing else on the rest of the walk, and I didn't say goodbye when he left, instead I silently asked Thalia why he left me over and over again.
"<Because he isn't me, so he won't love you.>"
"<Because he is looking for another student to take your place, so he will leave you.>"
"<Because he wants to replace you.>"
"<Because to everyone other than me, you are dispensable.>"
"<Because->"
"Hey Chris!" screamed a pretty girl, calling my attention. "How are you doing- ughhhhh no! No no no! Not this again! Oh in the name of Mother why?!"
Thalia, who was interrupted, growled angrily while hatefully glaring at the girl. I on the other hand simply stared at the girl before turning my attention back to Thalia, who sighed.
"<Silena.>"
"Hey, Silena" I said, however my greeting were pretty much ignored.
"Look at you!" she said, pouting. "You are all sweaty! And it that a bruise on your eye? Oh. My. Mother. Why do you keep hanging out with those brutes?! Or were you around the tinkerers these time? No... you usually smell like oil and metal and bad air when you are with them, but now you just smell like sweat and grass... yeah, you were definitely with the Ares kids right?"
I said nothing at her barrage of questions, and instead tuned her out as she continued to hover around me, smelling me and touching me only to put a slightly disgusted and angry expression afterwards.
"Seriously! It's like you don't even want to look pretty!" she continued.
"I don't-"
"Ugh, now we will have to go through the entire procedure all over again!"
"<Sigh, whatever,>" muttered Thalia, indicating me to just go along. "<You know how they all get in her cabin over you, so just let them dress you up before dinner and let this be done with.>
I nodded, replying to Thalia's comment, however the girl took it as an agreement.
"<Silena.>" reminded me Thalia, as we continued to walk along.
Right, that was the girl's name...
.
[ Arianna pov ] [ Head of the Aphrodite cabin ]
"And this..." I said with a beautiful smile, unraveling the poster for my siblings to see. "Is Tristan Mclean!"
Gasps went around the cabin as we all stared at the new poster he released for his upcoming movie, one in which he was shirtless, and gorgeous, and beautiful, and stunning, and-
The door of the cabin flew open, and in came Silena, dragging along Christina.
"-s only a matter of time until Mother claims you, which means you will need to stop hanging around the others and start acting more like a daughter of Aphrodite! Ugh we have this conversation literally every day!" said Silena exasperatedly, and it didn't even take for her to finish scolding Christina for everyone in the cabin to understand what was going on.
"Sigh, I'll get the bath ready..." said Elizabeth, a 14 year old beautiful girl. Well, this is the cabin of Aphrodite and we are all daughters of the Goddess of Love and Beauty, so being... beautiful, was basically our inheritance.
Elizabeth, who was among the prettiest of our cabin if I do say so myself, ended up being the one who bathed Christina whenever the child came from fighting the children of Ares, because she was the most experienced one when it came to dealing with twigs and leaves stuck in the hair.
On other occasions, it was me who bathed her, since no one really had any experience in how to get rid of those terrible oils that the children of Hephaestus use. Not that I had any, but as the head of the cabin this type of responsibility unfortunately falls on me as well.
Whenever it wasn't either one of the things - which barely happened a couple of times a month - the girls would literally fight over who could bathe her, since the one who bathed her always got to choose the colour palette we used to dress her afterwards.
A smile grew on my face as I wondered if Elizabeth would use some red colours as the main focus or if she would go for a more purple-themed outfit. Elizabeth had a thing for those, probably because she was raised in the countryside and now enjoyed using avoiding green and yellow as much as possible. Hmm, green would look rather good for Christina, though not as much as blue, but still... might be worth trying it out the next time it is my turn to bathe her...
"But I am not Aphr-" said Christina as Silena handed her over to Elizabeth, however as usual I interrupted her. Wouldn't do good for little Chris to finish that sentence, it might upset our Mother after all.
"Dear, with your looks you can only our sibling. It is only but a matter of time until Mother claims you, which means you should start growing accustomed to not getting so dirty every day," I said, shaking my head. "And while we let you go and... play, yes let's say play, in the grass with those brutish men and lock yourself up in those ugly labs of the tinkerers, mainly because they are children of the ones Mother usually involves herself with and because we technically can't hold you up here, you should at least try to look pretty while doing it. Granted, it doesn't take much for us daughters of Aphrodite to look pretty, and there is indeed a certain charm to someone who has been working out, but that is no reason to just let you hair get filled with plants or your face covered in oil, or these bruises you come along with. And most of all, you shouldn't go around saying that our Mother isn't your Mother, since it is very much obvious that she is."
Christina remained silent as Elizabeth began to undress her in the bathroom, staring at nowhere in particular with her dead eyes.
'Sigh, what am I to do with out little sister, Mother?' I asked Aphrodite, hoping for some guidance in how to help our little sibling who had yet to be claimed. 'I know it is common for siblings to have different preferences, but those preferences should be colour palettes and dressing styles! Not going around and enjoying those activities that little Chris does! How am I to turn her into a proper lady if she holes up in a workshop? Sure, fighting is important, but so is looking beautiful!'
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Author note:
Christina doesn't like feeling 'warm', even though those are usually associated with nice feelings, because I reminds her of the fire. She likes ice because it is the complete opposite, though all of this is subconscious and she doesn't really know why it is the way it is.
Also, I really enjoyed the irony of people thinking that she might be a daughter of Aphrodite, and lets be honest, Violet Evergarden has the looks to be one. (Yes, Violet is a definite waifu)
