Always Protect

Percy's first Friday at camp, they were going to be playing capture the flag. That was cool with him, he'd played it a few times at mugg-mortal school and it wasn't too hard. All the yard work at the Dursley's had given him a fair amount of muscle that he had kept up over the school year (old habits die hard, it felt weird to not do any real physical activity so he found ways to work). Despite only being at camp for less than a week, the son of Poseidon had taken to his courses like a duck to water. Especially sword fighting.

He only sparred with Annabeth, Luke, Castor, and Pollux, who was very nice if a bit aloof. None of the other campers had ever seen him in action and with his short stature, still suffering side effects from growing up severely malnourished, many assumed that he would be an easy target. He had taken to wrapping his forearms everyday and wearing jeans to hide his scars while everyone else carried the occasional scars with pride, furthering their underestimation. If he had learned anything useful in his time in Surrey, it was that the more people underestimated you, the easier it was to strike back if needed.

When the time came, Percy was surprised to see everyone grabbing armour.

"Everyone remember the rules! No maiming and no killing!" Came from Chiron, the leader of camp and a centaur. He was the legendary teacher of the ancient heroes and Percy was amazed when he met him.

"Uh, Annabeth? Could you further explain what exactly we're doing? I feel like this is not the same game I played in mu-mortal school."

The blonde girl was already wearing a bronze breastplate, a bronze dagger strapped to her side and was leaning over a table with a map of the woods spread across it.

"It's basically the same," she said without turning away from her strategizing. "The only difference is that everyone has sharp pointy objects, there are usually archers attacking from in the trees, and some people have powers or special abilities they can use against you."

Percy blinked and was silent for a moment before nodding to himself. It wouldn't be the first time he'd dealt with unfair odds.

Luke walked over with a smaller breastplate.

"Here, take this you're gonna need it. Do you have your sword?"

Percy took his pen out of his pocket and uncapped it, taking a moment to stare at his reflection in the blade. Many campers looked over, not expecting the newbie to be holding the shining blade which almost none of them had seen before.

Annabeth glanced up at him.

"Percy, you're going to be guarding the river right by the flag."

He raised a disbelieving eyebrow at her, the one closest to the flag usually got the worst treatment. The daughter of Athena had a glint in her eye, one he had become very familiar with over the school year. She had a plan, one sure to succeed.

With a sigh he nodded, fully aware that he didn't really have a choice in the matter.

The twelve year old girl smirked and turned back to her plans.

Castor and Pollux wandered over from the other team and Percy met the twins half way.

"You ready for this Aquaman?" Pollux asked, quiver on his back and bow strung in his hand.

"Ready as I can be."

"I'm sure you'll be fine," Castor said, resting one end of his staff on the ground. "Newbies are always put in the less dangerous positions."

Percy scoffed lightly.

"I may be new here but I think I know the game well enough to know I'm not in a very safe place."

The twins frowned at him.

"Where are you going to be?"

The Stoll brothers appeared on either side of the dark haired boy so suddenly Percy could swear they apparated.

"Now, now-"

"-no consorting with the enemy."

"And no corrupting the opposition."

If Percy didn't know better he'd assume that Fred and George were actually quadruplets with Travis and Connor Stoll. However he did know better. The Stoll's weren't even twins, though they could fool many otherwise. Travis was older by one year and the only way to semi-tell was that he was a few inches taller.

The actual twins rolled their eyes and walked away with a quick "good luck Percy!". As soon as the sons of Hermes were certain they were out of earshot, they turned to the Potter boy.

"You know-"

"-you really don't have to-"

"-worry about where you're positioned."

"Annabeth always has a plan."

Not waiting for a response, the Stoll's dashed off too pester another group of campers.

"Yeah," he muttered under his breath. "She'd better."

<><><>

That one thing that Percy could say was not reassuring in the slightest: the rules given for demigod capture the flag.

"Remember campers, no maiming, no killing!" Chiron had said.

Great. Awesome. Bloody brilliant.

Being positioned, alone, right by the flag was not his idea of a fun time but whatever Annabeth Chase says goes at this camp apparently. Not that Percy was particularly surprised. That girl is quite frightening. He just wished her plan didn't involve his murder.

For maybe twenty minutes (though it felt like hours) the wizard stood beside the river, waiting. The only thing he could do was sit and listen to the sounds of yelling, people crashing through the trees (to the nymphs' chagrin), and the clash of metal on metal echoing through the woods. Percy quickly became bored and it was because of that that he didn't realize Clarisse had arrived until she charged him, wielding her electric spear "maimer" and yelling a battle cry.

If it weren't for the battle cry she may have taken his head off. As it was, he was able to duck just in time to miss the sharp edge though the daughter of Ares was able to react quickly and slam the butt of the spear down, getting his head with a glancing blow that disoriented him enough for her to get a jab in. As the electricity jolted through him there was a tugging sensation in his gut and suddenly Clarisse, and her spear, were gone.

Regaining his breath, Percy sat up at the same time as his housemate, who was soaking wet and stared in shock at her weapon which had been snapped in half.

"You little punk!"

Grabbing a half in each hand, she attacked with a new fury. Thankfully the people he was training with were no slouches.

His bronze sword raised to block nearly every hit, at least every hit that might break skin. While he was able to hold his own well enough, even training with the best fighters in camp wasn't enough to hold off dual weapons. She beat him back turning him around until he had his back to the river. Still, he was able to hold her off. That is, until four of the vicious girl's half siblings came and joined the fray.

Percy was struggling to hold them off, hearing cheering from the direction of the halfway point. It sounded like his teammates were successful in grabbing the flag. Sadly, that didn't save him from the immediate threat.

In a moment of distraction, he left his guard open and one of Clarisse's brothers slashed at his stomach. The armour did its job in preventing him from being sliced in half but it didn't stop him from being shoved into the water. As soon as he hit it, he felt a pulse of energy flow through him. His bruises and cuts washed away as though they were just special effects makeup in the flowing river.

Luke and Annabeth burst through the tree line, the daughter of Athena holding the flag high in victory, just as Percy got to his feet in the middle of the water.

It felt like all those years at the Dursley's when he suppressed his magic to the best of his ability. Pure power rampaging through his veins. The power of the sea does not like to be restrained. Percy had no clue where that phrase came from but as it floated across his mind he felt it was true. Relaxing, Percy gathered up all that power, and set it free.

The water left the river, rising like a tidal wave and crashing down onto the children of Ares, ripping their weapons from their hands, knocking them back on their asses.

Chiron trotted forward as the water receded.

"And the winners of this week's Capture the flag match is Blue team!"

Everyone from Percy's team cheered though many of them who had seen his little trick were looking at him wide eyed.

As more campers gathered, they took in the scene that was the newbie standing unharmed and bone dry on the river with five long-time Ares campers soaking wet and lying on the ground, weapons either far from their reach or broken next to them.

The Stoll brothers approached Percy and as he stepped off the water they each slung an arm around his shoulders.

"See?" Travis said.

"See what?" Percy asked, looking between the brothers.

"Annabeth always has a plan." Conner said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Looking over at the blonde girl's smug smirk, he had to acknowledge that they were correct. Of course that didn't stop him from grumbling about it just a little when they all met up to head back to camp.

"You could've at least told me what you were planning."

Annabeth's shrug confirmed his suspicions that she didn't plan on sharing her ideas at any point in the near future.