#I swear he's a bad ass in Tales from Mount Othrys

[jflashandclash]

Attrition of Peace

Thirteen: Axel

Handicap of Emotional Heartache

(Or: In Which I get My Ass Kicked)

                 Axel wished he could assure Reyna, “No, my brother is not collecting grasshoppers to make a plague in your temples, or filling every doors’ keyholes with superglue, or drawing vulgar pictures with weed killer on your lawns, or ziptying all of your scissors shut,” because those were all things he’d seen Pax do to his friends. There was no telling what he would do to people he didn’t like.[1] He just hoped Pax didn’t have access to hardware or craft stores. Or an exotic animal shop. That had been a terrible prank.

               Reyna had kept up the façade of a proper interrogation for the first fifteen minutes of breakfast. She’d even sent Argentum and Aurum to watch the principia, since there might have been a break in. She didn’t give up until he swore on the River Styx that he didn’t know where Pax was. That was when her shoulders slumped.

               They were sitting on the couch in her praetor house, an empty bag from Pandora’s Bakery: Exciting Surprises with Every Bite on the coffee table. Axel knew they didn’t have a lot of time left. She wouldn’t forgo her praetorian duties two days in a row for him. Plus, his friends should be landing in New York in the afternoon, Cali time, so he’d be escorted to the airport as soon as they got word from Chiron that Euna, Merry, Calex, and Kally hadn’t made a break for it.

               “I’m worried about Pax. He doesn’t… think much before he acts,” Axel said. He leaned forward to pick up the fiercest looking ninja-zombie bunny that lined her coffee table. “How about Cuauhtemoc? He looks like he took his last stand against the Spanish.”

               This rabbit was painted blue and black, and had a half-eaten heart hanging out of his mouth.

               Reyna shook her head gravely. “I don’t want to think of what kind of nicknames the others would give him.”

               Axel set him down and picked up another. This one was red, with its paws outstretched to perform a vicious roar. He leaned back into the couch, feeling a cushion catch him. As casually as he could—which wasn’t very casual considering how nervous she made him—Axel lowered one arm onto the cushion behind her back.

               Her hair smelled wonderful. Once they came back to the praetor house, she’d let it down. Axel didn’t know why she did, but he loved to watch those dark waves undulate along her shoulders and arm muscles.

               “You don’t think Pax thinks before he acts…” she said and leaned back into his arm. Axel felt his heart skip about six beats, do a back flip, and standby for more excitement. “Between releasing the weasels and what he snuck into your pocket yesterday, I’d think he’s more of an idiotic mastermind.”

               Axel felt his cheeks heat up with the threat of a blush. He coughed. “I’m pretty sure his subconscious is always plotting connivingly, but the thoughts in the foreground are just versions of the Harlem Shake.” He lowered his arm around her shoulder, leaning in to show her the zombie-ninja rabbit he was holding. “You could call this one Agis III.”

               She raised a skeptical eyebrow. “The Greek that fought against Rome?”

               “You want diverse representation among your rabbit army,” he said. “And you already have two Romans there, Marcus Cassius Scaeva and Flamma the Gladiator.”

               “Flamma was Syrian,” she chastised.

               “But he fought for the Romans.” Axel had just lost this word battle, but some stubbornness might lead to a fun mockfight. He couldn’t maintain the conversation though—not when Reyna turned more into him.

               He cleared his throat. “When I’m done with my mission, you’re still okay with me coming back here? To clean your armor and show up all your best fighters and help you finish naming your zombie rabbits…”

               “I don’t make suggestions about joining the legion lightly,” she said in answer. Although her voice was firm, Reyna rested her head into the crook of his neck.

               Axel thought about kissing her again. He hadn’t stopped thinking about kissing her since yesterday. But he was enjoying the moment too much: the sweetness of anticipation, wondering if she was thinking about pressing her lips to his. From the quick flutter of her breath against his neck, and the rapid heartbeat that he could feel along his arm, she was. Or she was preparing to attack him. Axel was comfortable with either.

               “How much time do you have before you have to go be a praetor again?” he asked. He set Agis III the Zombie Rabbit to the side and enlaced their fingers.

               “I’ll give you two more minutes.”

               He wished he could be at her side all day, working together to keep Camp Jupiter functioning as a machine. He passively wondered if he’d have to kill Frank Zhang to become praetor, or if there was some other way to replace him. Probably not. He liked the tall, friendly Canadian too much to kill him. And Frank made a better praetor than Axel would.

               Axel’s ears twitched.

               Footsteps shuffled softly outside of the praetor house, at least half a dozen people. From the clink of metal, they wore armor. For an instance, he thought it might be a change of sentry—but that was too many soldiers. Everyone should have been doing their daily duties and they wouldn’t need Reyna until fatigues or camp maintenance…

               Which meant something was wrong.

               He put up his Mist mask.

               Ajax, Axel briefly cursed, until he heard two hushed voices that made him sweat.

               “Why’d you come back? Wait—we’re doing this quietly. We need to get Reyna out of there before you---”

               “What’s the fun in doing anything quietly?”

               Axel knew that gruff voice. He still remembered it cursing him, the day every weapon he touched started to break within a few strikes.

               Axel and Reyna sat up.

               The door kicked open.

               For a split second, Axel could see the thug-like features of Ares. The War God gave him a brief nod, and a sinister smile.

               Then he disappeared and Frank Zhang led five armed legionnaires into the praetor house. Axel immediately recognized a few of them: Michael Kahale and Leila of the Fourth Cohort, and Dakota of the Fifth and Jacob of… some Cohort. They’d practiced fighting with him the morning before.

               Time felt like it was slowing down as they created a semicircle around him and Reyna. Their golden and leather armor shuffled softly, their spears glinted in the morning sunlight from the windows.

Axel tried to keep his breath even. He knew what this was about. He’d been stupid, so stupid to think the God of War—one of the most powerful gods in Rome—wouldn’t notice him here. At Camp Half-Blood, he’d stayed out of their borders as much as he could, but here…

One of the legionnaires, Nathan?, stumbled a little while coming inside. For a split second, Axel realized that the soldier didn’t know how to function with the rest of the team. It was a sixteen year old, bulky around the shoulders, with the symbol of Minerva on his arm. The legionnaire caught Axel’s gaze and winked. Axel couldn’t tell if the motion made his stomach seize up more or relax.

He and Reyna stood. Reyna tried to hide her fear with outrage. “Zhang, what’s going on?” she demanded.

“Reyna, step away from him,” the praetor said. Frank frowned furiously, like this was the last thing he wanted to be doing. None of them wanted to be doing it. The older members looked enraged. The younger members looked scared.

Frank stepped forward, keeping his eyes locked on Axel. Unfortunately, the direction Frank stepped also put him between Axel and the only real exit Axel had: the labyrinth entrance in Reyna’s bedroom.

“Axel Pax, also known by the alias Leonis Caput, you’re under arrest for the disappearance of Praetor Megara Laskaris, [2] the death of Praetor Julian Obademi, and countless others, for being an enemy of the legion, and for the suspicion of aiding Euna Song in the murder of several mortals. You’re to be put into custody until your trial date.”

Reyna froze.

Axel felt his heart sink. His hopes crumbled and, like a phoenix of carnage, the voice of the Leonis Caput rose in their place, Another praetorian medal to our mantel. We’ll go down in the blood of our enemies as your ancestors did before you.

“Under whose accusations?” Reyna asked, voice trembling.

Axel already knew, but hearing the god’s name made him clench his jaw.

“Ares, the Greek aspect of Mars Ulta,” Frank said.

“Why the Greek aspect?” Dakota asked, like he hadn’t noticed the oddity before.

Frank sighed. “I don’t know.”

What kind of trial would that be? Axel could envision it now, Well, our patron deity says this guy is the beast we’ve wanted to kill for years…. So uh, who wants to pretend to be his defendant? If he was captured, he’d be dead within the week.

As Axel glanced at Reyna out of the corner of his eye, he could see her put the pieces together. She already knew he was an excellent fighter and a former strategist, part of Kronos’s elite. Her lower lip quivered, though he hoped it was anger instead of…

He didn’t want to think he’d hurt her, but that was as stupid as thinking he could have lived here.

She slowly slid her hand to her knife, tensing.

Although the words felt dumb, Axel had to whisper, “I’m sorry, Reyna.”

He glanced back at the legionnaire who had winked at him. The legionnaire nodded back, eyes flicking to the general direction of the labyrinth entrance, beyond Frank. That was Axel’s brother, but one of them would need to cause a distraction for the other to act.

“You’re disgusting!” the legionnaire cried, in one of Pax’s best I’m-upset-but-not–really voices. He threw something at Axel’s head that Axel barely caught.

A lighter.

Chaos broke out.

The legionnaire let go of his spear to throw something into Jacob’s neck.

Jacob collapsed.

Pax morphed back. With a crazed laugh, he dropped a smoke bomb onto the ground and flicked his other hand up to dart Dakota in the neck. Dakota stumbled over, almost taking Michael Kahale with him.

Kahale growled in confusion, unable to fully see Pax around Dakota. “Nathan, what the—”

Axel kicked the coffee table at Frank Zhang, hoping he didn’t murder any zombie-ninja bunnies on the way.

He snapped out the obsidian blades from his forearms. He used one hand to strike the lighter and the other to slice open his tongue. As the blood dribbled from his mouth, he growled out the incantation, “Xma’su’tal Xib, Liik’il Xtaabay!”[3]

Although Axel couldn’t do the full transformation without the helmet, he felt the Mist swirl like a maelstrom around them, making the room flicker from the praetor’s house to a surreal ethereal plane of Pax’s green smoke. The barometric pressure dropped, and his ears popped. The sunlight shrank back as the fire from the lighter blazed a deep turquoise on contact with his blood. He tossed it onto the couch, so the material would burst into bluish flames.

Hecate taught them how to make the world into a nightmare for Romans, and that was exactly what he was going to do. He just needed to scare Rome’s best and most courageous warriors out of his way.

From what he could see through the curling mist, Pax managed to dart Leila as Michael Kahale crashed into him.

Axel could feel a Mist tail morph out of his body and his jaguar features enhance. This made him vulnerable to their weapons, but there’s no way he could escape without some extra speed. To maintain this form though, he would need to make someone else bleed.

Yes, lieutenant, we will.

“We’ve brought Tartarus to you, Romans,” Axel roared, enlacing as much fear magic as he could with each howl. “Leave this house, or I’ll eat your hearts and souls like the comrades I’ve eaten before you.”

To an extent, it worked. Michael Kahale and Frank both flinched.

Reyna punched him in his bad shoulder.

Axel hissed out in pain, stumbling backwards. He snatched a sword off Reyna’s wall, but felt the blade shudder and torque, like it was fighting his control. Like it wanted to listen—instead—to the Daughter of Bellona’s will.

As Axel crouched low to the ground, Reyna almost kicked him in the head. He barely dodged.

“ROMANS!” she screamed, the rage and hurt in her voice making Axel tremble. “WE DO NOT FEAR MONSTERS OR DEATH!” Her tattoo gleamed in the murky lighting and smoke.

With those simple words, Axel could feel his fear magic shatter. Her powers completely negated it. That shout was loud enough that back up would be coming soon.

Frank broke out of his paralysis with Reyna’s courage. He side stepped, so he could flank Axel, and jammed his spear forward.

Axel twisted to avoid the strike, grabbed the pilum’s shaft and snapped it in half. Just as Reyna threw her knife at Axel’s chest.

Axel whipped the broken shaft in front of him, smacking it into the projectile. The blade still grazed his ribs before clattering onto the floor.

Reyna grabbed another blade off her wall.

He couldn’t take on both praetors. Not at the same time. But he didn’t need to. He just had to get past them.

Axel retreated further into the room, keeping low in the dissipating green smoke and Mist shadows. If Axel backed up far enough, and Reyna and Frank advanced on him, it would leave a gap of space between them, Reyan’s bedroom, and Pax. They would think he’d run for the exit, not for her bedroom. Maybe he could dash past them, on the other side of the flaming couch, grab Pax--

Frank’s skin rippled and a jaguar snarled where Frank had been standing. The jaguar leapt over the flames of the couch, landing comfortably on the other side, so he could flank Axel again. A good strategy—now, they could back him into the corner of the room.

Axel couldn’t help but smile. He’d been wrestling jaguars since he was a kid. This shouldn’t be a problem.

Before Reyna could charge, Axel lunged at Frank. He threw the broken pilum forward for a diversion, and followed through with the sword. As he suspected, the sword bent before it even got near the son of Mars. Axel cursed, discarding it to tackle into the jaguar instead.

Frank the Jaguar rose onto his hind legs to bat the pilum piece. He wasn’t ready when Axel slammed into him. Axel latched his claws into Frank’s forearms, so he couldn’t prepare another swing. They skid backwards, past the flaming couch, and closer to Reyna’s bedroom.

Axel sank his fangs into the fur behind Frank’s ear and twisted. He didn’t want to tear Frank’s skin off, but he did want to direct Frank’s jaws away from him. As typical jaguar battles go,[4] Axel had already won, having Frank pinned and his teeth ready for a killing blow—though he didn’t want to kill Frank, just disable him.

But most jaguars didn’t shift into something much bigger.

Axel felt the fur under his teeth thicken. Before he could disengage, a paw the size of his chest slammed into him. Gravity stopped working. Axel found himself airborne before smashing into—

Everything fuzzed.

When he could orient himself, he was winded and felt like he’d been hit with a chariot. He was on the floor. The world sounded hollow: his brother’s shouting, the roar of… of…

Axel blearily raised his head to find a bear the size of a car stalking towards him. There was a huge hump on the bear’s back—a grizzly—and blood spilled down one side of the bear’s head.

Axel coughed again, spitting out a half-morphed jaguar-grizzly ear that flopped back into a human one upon contact with the ground. “Ew,” he breathed. That was something he hadn’t meant to do.

Get up, the Leonis Caput snarled.

Trying, he wanted to growl back. But his body wasn’t responding. Kinda dazed from being backhanded by 600 pounds of pure Canadian mascot.[5]

Then a foot caught him in the stomach and smashed him back against the wall. For a split second, he could imagine meeting Jack in the Fields of Punishment and the pleasant chats they’d have between eternal punishments.

“Oh, how did you go?”

“Beaten to death and mauled in my recently-ex-girlfriend’s house.”

“Ah, charming. Such a fitting spectacle.”

Reyna stood over him, scowling down. A pain, sharper than anything he’d be dealt in this room, pierced him when he saw the red rims around her eyes.

Let me fight her, the Leonis Caput growled. I was made to embrace her in battle.

No, Axel snapped. But he could already feel himself losing his awareness. His Mist tail went to wind around her ankle without his permission. The Leonis Caput was about to rip control from him.

“Why?” Reyna whispered.

Frank shouted in alarm.

Before she could kick him again or he could trip her, Axel was alarmed to see the Pandora’s Bakery: Exciting Surprises with Every Bite bag shoved over Reyna’s head. Pax grabbed the ends of her hair and pulled her backwards, shouting, “Eat bread, witch!”

Later, Axel would have to give Pax a lecture on things Pax wasn’t allowed to do to his girlfriend, even if she is trying to kill him.

Pax dashed past Reyna to grab Axel’s arm. Axel hadn’t realized—when Frank threw him—he’d crashed into the wall closer to the labyrinth exit. Pax dragged Axel towards the wall, shouting a, “So long suckers!” before smacking into solid rock.

“Aye!” Pax whined, grabbing his shoulder, where he’d made contact.

Axel coughed again and punched the glowing symbol of Daedalus on the rocks beside where Pax tried to exit. It was hidden under a map of old Rome. “To your left,” Axel gasped.

“Oh,” Pax grumbled.

Reyna caught her balance and ripped the bag off her head. Human Frank… was still whining and pawing at his face from whatever Pax had done.

But, of course, Pax still took the time to shift Axel to the left and shouted, “So long suckers!” again before running them through the labyrinth entrance.

The world plunged into darkness. After about ten feet of Pax dragging him, his little brother took a sharp turn to the left. Pax must have been tracing his other hand along the walls. Another few feet in, so they’d be outside of any flashlight range, Pax dropped him and plopped onto the ground.

From what Axel could feel, this was still smooth stone, likely a part of the labyrinth modeled off of ancient Rome’s limestone rooms. Everything smelled damp, and had the dankness of monsters.

Distantly, he could hear Reyna and Frank arguing over getting back up to try following them, though Frank sounded like he was in a lot of pain.

Once all his sense of sight was deprived, Frank could feel how hard Frank the Grizzly Bear had thrown him and how hard Reyna had hit him in the shoulder. He’d be lucky if he were just bruised tomorrow. Although his mouth was coated with Frank’s blood, Axel thought he could smell someone else’s.

“Are you badly injured?” he gasped. Breathing hurt.

Pax patted around, accidentally pinched Axel’s ear, then patted him on the head. “I’m probably feeling better than you. At least you got to date Reyna for a day without anything going wrong. I mean, that’s pretty good for us, right?”

When Axel thought about it, he stopped trying to stand up. He collapsed on the labyrinth floor. Normally, he was always about struggling forward, because, normally, he had a purpose. But they’d killed his father already. Camp Othrys was gone. The girl he loved rightfully hated him.

He still had Pax though, and the other five.

He just had to digest that the best future ever—building up retirement as an acrobatics instructor that got to beat up Romans every day and got to go on dates with the most beautiful, intelligent, and the bravest warrior ever—was gone.

“Just… give me a minute,” he said.

Then he punched the floor and pain shot through his arm. He was halfway through every curse he knew in Spanish when he realized he had been hissing them in Mayan, Kriol, and English too.

“More like a few years,” Pax snorted.

“Shut up,” Axel exhaled. He dragged himself to sit up beside Pax, or, where he assumed was beside Pax. “We need to beat them to New York. You heard what Frank said, ‘suspicion of aiding Euna Song in the murder of several mortals.’ We should keep moving.” The labyrinth was different now. From what Axel understood, the structure had collapsed and rebuilt itself. This wasn’t a place one would want to stay for long.

He closed his eyes, exhaled, and rubbed them. When he opened them again, he could see a faint, glowing trail along the floor. “That way,” he pointed before realizing how dumb that was.

“Let me just put on my night vision goggles to see your hand—”

“Shut up. Just grab my arm and follow me.”

 Is this the end of Rexel?!?! Eh, probably not, but it'll take a Hades of a demigod therapy couples session (also known as a gladiator arena in New Rome) to get through some of this. Regardless, I hope you enjoyed! Were you expecting things to start to fall apart in this way? I hope the ear was at least a surprise. Let me know what you think in the comments! :D

 [1] So, I just disposed a dangerous power on many of you. As my pranking days are over (or are they?) you must go forth and do my bidding. But wisely. And tactfully.

[2] I’m debating on rewriting Thus Stalks the Lion of the Labyrinth, so bear with me on names here.

[3] “Abandon the man, ascend the demon.”

[4] Yea, everyone knows how typical jaguar battles go, right? >>’’

[5] Their symbol is actually a maple leaf and their animals are a North American Beaver and a Canadian horse…. But a beaver didn’t seem like quite a fair fight, so I took liberties with this Belizean’s knowledge of national symbols.