Percy Jackson, the embodiment of hope.

Chapter 38: The Fates. (And a fall.)

Everyone stared at the unconscious body of Percy, eyes wide.

"Oh gods," Bianca said. "Just... how close was he to..."

Luke swallowed uncertainly. "Maybe 30 seconds?"

Suddenly, the door to the arena barged open. The 7 (minus Leo and Frank) barged in, along with the Hunters.

They all suddenly stopped in confusion. Artemis stared at the bloody body of Percy, unable to form words.

"Is that... Hope?" Annabeth asked.

"Where the hell were you?" Zoe asked angrily. "As much as we don't like you, you might've been helpful!"

"What happened?" Hazel asked.

Achilles slammed his hands together and dusted them off. "I just saved everyone from being obliterated."

"Who are you?" Jason asked, pointing his sword at Achilles, who laughed. "My name's Red."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "Are you an Old Hero?"

Achilles shrugged. "Doesn't really matter to you, does it?"

"Well... if you're working with us, we should know who you are. Some others told us," Annabeth replied.

Achilles waved her off. "Sure, but Hyacinthus doesn't count. He was never planning to hide his identity."

Annabeth shook her head. "No- well, yes, he did tell us who he was, but..."

She pointed at the heroes who had revealed themselves. "That's Bellerophon, that's Icarus, and that's... Orpheus?"

Orpheus nodded and took off his mask. "Yep, that's me."

Achilles stared at his team members in disbelief. "Guys! The whole point of our hidden identities was so enemies wouldn't know about us, or..."

He looked at Percy. "Or so that those of us who wanted to stay hidden stayed hidden."

"Wait, what?" Hazel asked. "What do you mean by stay hidden?"

Luke opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Artemis. "Wait. What happened? And don't day you just saved us, tell us what actually happened."

Luke sighed and explained.

"Wait, why was that a problem?" Jason asked after listening. "It seems like you beat him pretty easily."

Achilles shook his head. "Yeah, because he essentially just woke up. Do you remember how easily Gaea was defeated when she finally awoke? It was like that."

Hyacinthus gulped. "30 more seconds, and... well, let's just say we'd have to get Hope's father involved."

Everyone stared at him, terrified.

"Well," Achilles said. "With that out of the way, let's all go back to what we were doing, shall we?"

One of the Hunters spoke up. "Is this gonna affect Capture the Flag tonight?"

Achilles groaned. "Unfortunately, yes. I won't be allowed to participate due to my... power, and one member of our team will work against us."

Bellerophon raised his hand. "Me!"

Icarus facepalmed. "I thought it was gonna be me."

Bellerophon shrugged. "You don't like doing it anyway. I do."

"Fine. You go with them," Icarus said. "But I'm not baking for you in the next week."

Bellerophon face fell, as if his world had been shattered. He looked to the ground and kicked a rock. "Okay..." he mumbled.