Chapter 54

[Third Person's PoV]

"GATHER AROUND, EVERYONE! IT'S TIME FOR CAPTURE THE FLAG!" Chiron's voice reverberated throughout the camp.

Everyone dropped what they were doing and ran towards the armory, getting dressed in their Spartan-type armor. Lucian was no different; he was excited to participate in his first Capture the Flag event. Lucian used his abilities and covered himself in his shadow. When he dispelled it, he was wearing the armor like everyone else.

They all went towards Chiron, who started to explain the rules.

"Every camper who is not injured has to play. Zephyros Creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is considered 'fair game.' All magic items are allowed. The flags must be prominently displayed and can have no more than two guards.

Prisoners may be disarmed but may not be bound or gagged. Killing or maiming is NOT allowed. The punishment for breaking this rule is the loss of dessert (for one week). Guards aren't allowed to stand within ten yards of the flag.

Now, to make this game interesting, we are going to have two captains choose which cabin they will lead. Those two captains are Thalia Grace, the Daughter of Zeus, and Lucian Blackheart, the Son of Hades."

Both Lucian and Thalia stepped up, standing next to each other, looking at each other competitively and smirking.

Chiron then took out a Golden Drachma and held it in his hands as he turned towards Lucian and Thalia.

"Call it, and whoever wins is the first one to pick which cabin joins your team," Chiron said as he flipped the coin in the air.

"Heads," Lucian called out.

"Tails," Thalia said at the same time.

They continued looking at each other without taking their eyes off one another. The coin landed on Chiron's palm as he flipped it onto the back of his other hand.

And it was Tails. "Thalia is the first to pick," Chiron called out.

Thalia looked at Lucian smugly as she said, "Hermes cabin."

Lucian smirked right back, "Yeah, be happy with the only win you'll ever get against me. Athena's cabin."

Thalia: "Ares cabin."

Lucian: "Apollo's cabin."

Thalia: "Aphrodite's cabin."

Lucian: "Hephaestus' cabin."

Thalia: "Demeter's cabin."

Lucian: "Dionysus' cabin."

Chiron nodded his head when all the cabins had been chosen, "Alright, since everyone has been chosen, get into position. You have 30 minutes to discuss among yourselves and get everything sorted. Once you hear the horn, that's when you know the game has officially begun."

Lucian and Thalia stopped staring at each other and went their separate ways. Some of the people on Lucian's side looked reluctant to follow, as they didn't want to follow a little kid. While Annabeth happily followed Lucian.

"So what's the plan?" One of Athena's children asked.

They all waited to see what Lucian would say to determine if he was someone worthy to follow into battle.

Lucian smirked, "Knowing that Thalia is going to be the one leading them we can most likely expect a frontal attack, and that she is most likely to come right after me in order to prove herself. So here's what I have planned…"

After Lucian finished explaining his plans, he turned towards the Hephaestus children and asked, "Do you think you guys can do it?"

They all smirked, "Who do you think you're talking to? Leave it to us."

The children of Athena then nodded their heads towards Lucian, thinking that their plan was a good one. They then started working around the plan coming up with additional strategies.

The children of Hephaestus all then started running towards their cabin, with some of Apollo's children following closely behind.

Everyone then got into position with their weapons drawn and their shields raised and started getting into their positions while waiting for the Hephaestus children to appear.

After a few minutes before the horn was about to be blown, The Children Hephaestus all came rushing towards tossed small bags towards everyone.

And with the few minutes remaining they started setting up everything.

The horn was then blown which caused Lucian to smirk and yell out his command, "Alright everyone into position! Just remember the plan and victory shall belong in our hands!"

They didn't say anything else except let out a war cry as they charged on ahead. Some of the Apollo children jumped onto the trees and made themselves scarce.

While the others got into smaller groups mixed with different demigods of different cabins and charged ahead.

While Lucian and Annabeth stayed behind to guard the flag.

"Are you sure it was wise to send the others ahead while we defend the flag?" Annabeth asked, looking at Lucian anxiously.

Lucian turned and grinned towards Annabeth, "What? Has being away from one another made you lose confidence in me or something?"

Annabeth just snickered at that, "No it's just that Thalia wasn't lying when she said that we have gone stronger while you were away. *sigh* We have been training ourselves like crazy since you went away, afraid that you would leave us being in terms of strength. And I don't know just how strong you have gotten"

Annabeth then smirked towards Lucian. "Who knows we might have even got up to you"

Lucian hearing gave Annabeth a deadpan expression before he burst out laughing, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

Lucian was on the ground with tears in his eyes with how much he was laughing. After a while he started to stand back up while wiping the tears in his eyes.

Annabeth looked slightly offended at Lucian, she believes that he is laughing at their efforts. It true what she said before about them growing stronger. The three of them would wake up early in the morning and face off against each other until they couldn't lift their arms up anymore.

They even had help from Chiron, the trainer of the legendary heroes, giving them pointers and ways to improve. So hearing Lucian laughing ticked her off slightly.

Lucian waved her off as he put a hand over his mouth to stop himself from laughing, "Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to laugh at you that hard it's just…"

Lucian gained a crazed look in his eyes and a dark sinister aura which shocked Annabeth and frightened her, causing her to take a step back with a look of horror.

"No matter how hard any of you trained and tried to surpass me I just won't let it happen. I'll always be one step ahead of everyone, it doesn't even have to be you guys specifically, anyone that tries to show off that they're better than me will receive the same treatment. I will defeat them again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again until they lose the will to keep trying and admit that they will never be better than me"

When Lucian noticed that he was scaring Annabeth he just sighed and closed his eyes withdrawing his darkness which was affecting her.

He waved his hands at her again, as he apologized, "Sorry for scaring but I was just proving my point" he then playfully stuck out his tongue at her, "So don't try it, it doesn't matter if that person is friend or foe"

It was at that moment that Annabeth realized that the time he spent away has affected Lucian much more than he was letting on.