Chapter Twenty-Two:
The Inherited Rage of Gods.
— Babe, there's something tragic
about you,    something so magic
about you,         don't you agree ?

Pure fury was a motivator.

It was a known fact that anger was enough to motivate anyone as long as the adrenaline kicked in long enough. Colette Victoire knew that all too well. She was her father's daughter. She was the heat of the sun. She was the anger that could flood her father's veins.

She was the Sun's kin, and the Sun burned any and everything in its path if need be. And, on that day, she called upon her true power for the first time. As her legs carried her to the crest of the hill, not bothering to look back on where she'd left those tied to her heart and soul. In one fluid movement, she yanked the necklace that sat on her collarbone. A bow made of pure gold appeared in her hands, and the arrow made of silver spawned in her palm. Since there was still a large distance between her and the crest, she aimed for the Colchis Bull's weak spots, piercing through its armor, and relishing in the wail of pain and anger. She spun the bow and it became her necklace again. As she got even closer, she twirled the gold ring on her finger and readied her axe for battle. There were cries of relief from the other campers when they saw the blinding glint of her axe's blade.

"Border patrol, to me!" Clarisse La Rue shouted, playfully knocking her shoulder against Colette's. The two girls shared exhilarated looks. It had been a while since they fought together — they were always paired up together during past camp activities because of how well they did with each other. They both shared an incredible amount of anger, one they knew how to use. They could shape it into whatever weapons they desired and take down anything that even thought about crossing their path.

The two girls did well together. They fought back to back like a tornado in the wind. Where Clarisse struck with her broken spear, Colette defended her without hesitation. And where Colette struck with her golden axe, Clarisse defended her without question. They worked like a well-oiled machine. They tried their hardest to defend their warriors, too. But it wasn't easy when they were all running amuck, trying not to be burned by the breath of the Colchis Bulls.

Clarisse started yelling again, commanding the border patrol to get into phalanx formation. The few that were listening lined up to her left, Colette being the only one she could trust on her right. Colette had picked up a shield from the ground, locking it with the line to form an ox-hide-and-bronze wall, the warriors' spears and Colette's axe bristled over the top. Unfortunately, there were only six other campers who had the gall to stand in the demanded formation, not including the War and Sun's daughters.

Annabeth suddenly ran toward one of the other bulls, the one with a silver arrow sticking from its hind leg, nearly taking Colette's focus, but with a kick to her Achilles heel from Clarisse, she snapped back in attention. She could still hear her smart girl taunting one of the bulls, getting it to chase her rather than the injured campers, turning invisible to confuse it.

The other bull charged at the line.

The bull moved deadly fast for something so big. Its metal hide gleamed in the sun. It had fist-sized rubies for eyes, and horns of polished silver. When it opened its hinged mouth, a column of white-hot flame blasted out.

              "Hold the line!" Clarisse bellowed. If there was one thing about her that everyone at camp knew, it was that she was made to be a War Commander. It was something Colette told her all the time, and made her blush furiously. She was one of the bravest girls to ever live at camp. She was a tall and muscular girl with cruel eyes like her father. While Ares had flames in his eye sockets, Clarisse had eyes as dark as burnt wood — deep and malevolent. She looked like she was born to wear Greek battle armor.

What the line hadn't noticed as they waited was that the bull chasing Annabeth had lost interest in finding her. It was charging on the line's undefended back side.

              "Behind you!" Percy screamed as he made it up the crest. "Look out!"

Colette wished he hadn't said anything. All he did was startle Clarisse, which shocked the line of defense. The first bull crashed into her shield, and the phalanx formation broke. Clarisse and Colette fell backwards, but not before blasting the other heroes with its fiery breath. Their shields melted right off their arms. They dropped their weapons and ran as the second bull closed in on Clarisse for the kill, Colette managed to scramble backward and onto her feet.

Percy managed to lunge forward and grabbed Clarisse by the straps of her armor. He dragged her out of the way of the second bull's freight-train path. He tried to give it a swipe with his sword, he managed to knick its flank just barely with his blade, but the monster just creaked and groaned and kept on going.

That was the second blast that Colette felt during the fight. She wasn't phased by it those times, she absorbed it, but with the flames that kept coming from the bull, she didn't know how much more she could withstand.

"Let me go!" Clarisse pummeled Percy's hand. "Percy, curse you!"

He dropped her in a heap next to the pine tree and turned to face the bulls. They were on the inside of the slope then, the valley of Camp Half-Blood directly below them — the cabins, the training facilities, the Big House — all of it was at risk if the bulls got past them. Annabeth shouted orders at the other heroes, telling them to spread out and keep the bulls distracted.

              Suddenly, Annabeth yelled again. "Tyson, help him!" She ignored Percy when he shouted in protest, she saw he couldn't stand because of his injured ankle. "I, Annabeth Chase, give you permission to enter camp!"

What they hadn't noticed was Colette. And she was beyond angry. Her eyes were burning their molten gold, and her veins were slowly taking on the same hue from all the heat of the flames she'd absorbed from the bulls defense.

Tyson dove between Percy and the bull, but no one saw Colette slip between both monsters. She wrapped her arms around the Cyclops as a blast of fire swirled around them like a red tornado. When the fire died, Tyson was uninjured, not an ounce of soot got on him, and his clothes were well intact. Colette was the one who suffered the worst damage. The hem of her overalls were singed and the back of her tank top was burned black. Her skin, however, wasn't burned. The tan of her flesh had turned red. It was her veins that caught the attention. They'd turned the same burning, raging gold of her eyes.

As much as she hated to, she looked at Tyson, who was looking down at her in awe — the same awe from when she'd spoken. Her eyes told him everything he needed to know. He nodded at her, and she rewarded him with the smallest uptick of her lips. His eye seemed to gleam in happiness that he'd gotten a smile — even if it was minuscule — out of her.

To distract the bull, Colette concentrated. She balled up her fists, tensing her body, and glaring. All the heat she'd absorbed from the bulls breath was shot back at it with a flame much hotter. Despite panting and feeling the use of her powers tire her, she ran to Clarisse.

              When the bull reared away from her, groaning, Tyson lunged. With his own fists, he slammed them into the bulls face. "Bad cow!" He screamed. His fists made a crater where the bull's snout used to be. Two small columns of flames shot out of its ears. Tyson hit it again, and the scorched, bronze bull crumpled under his hands like aluminum foil. The bull's face looked like a sock puppet pulled inside out. "Down!" He yelled. The bull staggered and fell onto its back. Its legs moved feebly in the air, steam coming out of its ruined head in odd places.

              Annabeth ran over to check on Percy, who was cringing at the pain in his leg. She gave him nectar, watching as he started to relax his body. "The other bull?" He asked.

Annabeth pointed down the hill, they watched as Colette swung her axe at the bull's leg, Clarisse impaled its back leg with her celestial bronze spear. The snout was half gone and there was a gash in its side. It was still trying to run in circles, only managing to go in slow motion.

Colette swung her axe, less graceful than when she'd pulled it out, and let it become a ring again. Clarisse pulled off her helmet, wrapping the blonde's arm around her shoulder to help the girl up the hill. Clarisse had noticed just how much effort it took for Colette to even hold her weapon, she knew the Sun's Daughter wasn't going to make it up the hill on her own. War's Daughter made sure to keep her hold gentle, she'd seen how sunburnt Colette's back looked and she didn't want to irritate it any further.

              A strand of Clarisse's hair was smoldering, but she paid it no mind when her eyes landed on the culprit of her rage. "You ruin everything!" She yelled at Percy, bitter. "I—we had it under control!"

              Percy seemed too stunned to say anything. "Good to see you, too, Clarisse." Annabeth grumbled.

              Clarisse let out another scream. "Don't ever — ever! — try saving me again!"

              "Clarisse." Annabeth interjected, her eyes stuck on how Colette's eyes were fluttering. "You've got wounded campers."

              That sobered her up. She cared for each of the campers she'd had under her command, especially the one she was holding up. "I'll be back." She growled, trudging off to assess the damage of the other heroes.

              "You can ..." Colette swallowed thickly, feeling nauseous as she tried to speak. She huffed and puffed for breath, but even that seemed to hurt. "...you can put me by a tree, Clar. Assess their wounds first." She breathed out.

"Don't be stupid," Clarisse snapped at her, full of concern, "I'm taking you to the infirmary so your brothers can treat you."

"Clarisse." Her accent was stronger, thicker with that name. The only other person with a name of French origin like her own. "Please. I need a second."

War's Daughter glared at the Sun's kin for the stubbornness, flaring her nostrils as she let out a sharp breath. "Fine," she growled out the word in frustration set the blonde down at the roots of a nearby tree, "but I'll be back for you, and I'll take you to your siblings. Lee and Michael are gonna have a field day." She grumbled the last bit under her breath.

Colette could only watch as Clarisse did inventory on injuries. Once she realized no one had a fatal injury, she sighed quietly in relief. She wiped the soot off of her forehead, walking back over to Annabeth, Percy, and Tyson.

"Is she okay?" Annabeth bombarded Clarisse with questions.

"Annabeth!" Clarisse snapped, tired of the questions. "She's gonna be fine. Her stubborn ass didn't let me take her to the infirmary yet." That must've been when Wisdom's Daughter realized how similar the Sun and War's kin had become. Clarisse saw the realization, too. "She's meaner, sure, but she doesn't have the heart to stop caring about the campers, Annabeth."

"What?" Percy questioned, exasperated. He looked between the girls, lost.

The girls shared a look, shaking their heads tiredly, and scoffing quietly. Clarisse sighed. "Jackson, if you can stand, get up. We need to carry the wounded back to the Big House, let Tantalus know what happened."

             "Tantalus?"

              "The activities directory."

              "Chiron's the activities directory. And where's Argus? He's head of security. He should be here." Percy argued with her.

              Clarisse pulled a sour face at the name. "Argus got fired. You two have been gone too long. Things are changing."

              "But Chiron ... He's trained kids to fight monsters for over three thousand years. He can't just be gone. What happened?"

              "That happened," Clarisse snapped. She pointed to Thalia's tree. The needles were yellow. A huge pile of dead ones littered the base of the tree. In the center of the trunk, three feet from the ground, was a puncture mark the size of a bullet hole, oozing green sap.

              The magical borders were failing because Thalia's tree was dying. Someone had poisoned it. The sight that haunted her nightmares was the last thing Colette saw before her eyes rolled back into her head. "Clar ..." she managed to call out weakly to her friend. The last thing she felt were strong arms picking her up, her smart girl's voice fretting over her, and her troublemaker's extremely panicked breathing.

It was the after effects of the inherited rage from her father, from the gods.

ICARUS INQUIRES:

^^^^^^^^late update, ik, I apologize sincerely

I completely forgot it was Friday ngl. & I haven't really been able to continue writing since the last prewritten chapter because of school and everything to do with writing just feels like a chore to me atm. So, updates will be slowing down from this point forward until I get some good momentum going for the rest of TSoM.

This chapter is shorter than the previous/next few and more "action-based."

We see Colette use her powers some more here! If you all don't remember, in TLT we saw her absorb heat from the zoo transportation truck, but we didn't get clued into what would happen if she'd overloaded with the heat. In this chapter, we see what does happen: She is able to force back everything she absorbed at her opponent. If I have an Marvel fans here, think of when T'Challa (Black Panther, in the first movie): He is able to absorb the blast of a bomb's explosion and gun shots until it propels back as kinetic energy. For Colette, instead of kinetic energy, it's the heat of the sun at its most powerful/deadly — think heat waves and how strong they can be in warmer environments.

Other than that, this chap is defo more angsty (ish), we're not really seeing a lot of an explanation for Lettie's changes, but that's only because it's a chapter of fighting rather than anything emotional. However, her inner monologue will come around eventually. She's not acting like this for no reason, please don't lose faith in her, guys!

Hope you guys enjoyed. Thanks for all the love and support. Don't forget to vote and comment, though I much prefer comments because they're more motivating.

With lots of love,
From Icarus <3