Bandages and Salt (PJO X BSD AU)

Chapter forty-six

Dazai POV

The wounded bodies of both campers and Hunter alike was the first thing that I saw when our small group made it back down to the street below, strewn about where they fell. The daughter of Ares was frozen in a block of ice from what I can only assume was her losing to a hyperborean giant. The Party Ponies couldn't be seen at all in what remained of the battlefield. I knew that some of them had been slain, but that others must have run as well as things started going downhill.

Finicky little bastards.

Not even twenty feet from the doors to the Empire State Building, Kronos's forces were gathered before us with the titan himself at the front of it all, scythe in hand, as Nakamura, the dracaena queen herself, and two of the giants gathered themselves at his back.

The only thing keeping the titan from advancing any further was the lone figure of the last centaur.

Chiron raised his bow with all of the practiced grace of someone doing so since ancient times, the arrow aimed true and sure, right for the titan's face.

But Kronos's gaze wasn't on his at the moment, but following my movements with a heated gaze that would have made any normal human being's body freeze as their limbs grew heavy with fear. I just found a small hint of satisfaction at the knowledge that I could make the titan lord hate me so much with so few interactions between us. The look didn't last long, more of a glance really, before Kronos turned to look back at the centaur.

"Step aside, little son," he said scornfully with Luke's mouth.

I didn't listen to whatever it was that the centaur had to say back, it didn't really matter if it wasn't going to be anything other than the normal hero garbage that everyone else here seems to spew with ease. Instead, I focused my energy on trying to move, even just a little bit, but my legs felt like they'd been encased with concert. When I looked to my side I found that Chuuya wasn't faring much better either.

The dracaena queen surged forwards with impatience normally found in the demigods around Chuuya and I, the kind of thoughtless impatience that doesn't let you think your actions through as you normally should. It wasn't that surprising when the move was met with an arrow to the chest and memory empty armor clattering to the ground.

It was a wide move to make on Chiron's side, but left the centaur with an empty quiver and having to resort to using a sword instead, something that he once told me that he likes just about as much as I like the bow.

"You're a teacher, not a hero," the titan sneered, watching in unmasked glee as Chiron skittered nervously to the side with his tail flicking violently back and forth.

"You're right," the centaur agreed. "Luke was a hero, a good one at that, until you corrupted him!"

Real, unrestrained anger burned in the titan's eyes as he looked down at his son with more hate than what belonged to just one person.

"Fool!" The titan lord cried out with a voice strong enough to shake the city around us. "You filled his head with empty promises. You said the gods cared about me!"

All of the struggling demigods in the area went still for a moment at the choice of words that they just heard as a cold sensation washed over my bones. Chuuya and I looked at one another, a small glance of confirmation to ask if the other had heard it too.

"Me," the centaur noted, sounding just as bewildered by it all as we were. "You said me."

A look of confusion scrunched over the titan's stolen face, as if he hadn't realized the words that he had been saying himself. It happened for a moment, but that was all that it took for Chiron to strike. It was a decent play on the centaur's side, especially considering that the creature is an archer and bit a swordsman, but the titan lord in Luke's body was faster. With a feral scream, Kronos knocked aside the blade in the old teacher's hand just before a blinding white light exploded between the pair.