Second Chances

Chapter 12 - Farm House Blues

(Chang's P.O.V.)

"Ky...rene... pleasure." The words stumbled out of my mouth with a tremendous pain buring through my chest. "My name is... Chang."

The short girl with sandy blond hair smiled at the dirty youth before slighly bowing and excusing herself from atop the porch. She rushed inside as I was left standing there aloof and only half aware to what was going on. My focus was slightly snapped back into gear as yelling pierced my ears from the deep recesses of the farm house.

"Brock! Get your ass in here already, I want a back rub!" It was definitely a female's voice. She didn't much older than myself and there a strange alluring tinge to her voice. It seemed so far away, despite the halfway screams that permiated from within the door frame. I faintly heard some mumbled whispers before the previous girl, Kyrene, rushed hurriedly back outside to where I was standing on the porch. This time she was accompanied by a boy and girl with her.

The girl had strikingly Asian features but buring hazel colored eyes, she was about medium height as well and her hair was astonished dark like the night. The boy with her was rather unremarkable in my opinion. He had mousy brown hair that seemed to be almost shoulder length and wore a hat that shaded his eyes, as if he were purposefully trying to cover up his face.

"Is this the one, Kyrene?" the boy asked as I nervously gulped from a mixed pang of anticipation and worry.

"Please, Brian, don't do anything to this one. I can tell that he's special."

Brian, so that was his name.

"Go ahead and bring him inside, he might as well meet the Duchess if she'll see him."

As I was being ushered inside the farm house, I couldn't help but take another glance at the dark haired girl with the hazel eyes. As soon as I let my gaze stay a few moments longer than I should have, my line of sight was cut off by the imposing male on the porch.

Brian had stopped directing me inside the house and was clearly standing between myself and the girls. "You had best get inside friend." It was a simple threat but I could tell the olive skinned hand on his shoulder was keeping what could be a rather nasty temper in check. "Yeah, yeah. I get it." I replied curtly, entering through the door frame in which Kyrene led me to an old green couch to sit and wait.

Brian stood leaning against the open door, watching me as the minutes slowly crept by. He at last shifted his weight off the door and was replaced by a small entourage that passed in front of the couch.

The group was just a teen boy and two girls, all of which looked older than me age-wise, though. I visibly paled under the newfound attention as I tried to quickly memorized the appearances of my hosts.

The male stood out slightly from the girls. Besides his obviously more muscular build, he had shaggy black hair that hid black eyes. He seemed to be tall but compared to the protective ball of hatred standing near the door, he was just slightly above average.

The first girl had short brown hair that seemed like it was pulled back more times than not, which was matched with dull brown eyes that flared a fanatical passion for life. "Would you two kindly move so I could see the nice little present that was deposited onto our merry little home?"

That was the same voice as before and I knew that it had to be the other girl. This realization made me aware that the black haired male was probably the one that was called Brock. I might have failed in many areas but deductions and analyzations weren't one of them. "Brock, Hana, do both of you find our guest so interesting as to not let me even get a small peak?" The pair parted enough for what I assumed was their leader, or at least the girl in charge.

She had a mix of fire red and blonde hair, which flowed like irritated sunbursts. Her eyes were a golden color, similar to my own, which only accented her golden tan skin. To say she was breaktaking would be a huge understatement, but the moment felt like staring directly into a lightbulb for too long. I spent the next few seconds blinking stupidly as she started to speak.

"My little pet says that you're name is Chang. I'm not sure if such a name suits you, I think I like Lance."

I stared blankly in disbelief, slightly shaking my head from side to side as if pleading no. It was at this awkward moment when the overly steroid-enhanced bodyguard, Brian, whispered to the brown haired girl. This caused the most unexpected chain reaction, as the girl made her announcement to the house. "Duchess, it's time to leave already."

This caused the others to all seemingly exhale together before the first spoke.

"Alright, everyone pack up house. We have a new destination. Oh, your coming with us Lance, so don't get too comfortable yet." The girl smiled in a disarming kind of grin before Brock called for her as the group left me sitting alone on the couch momentarily.

"Theia, do we really gotta take a whelp like that? Wouldn't it be much easier to just get rid of him and be done with it?"

I wasn't able to hear the mumbled replies before the last person I was hoping to see stood in the doorway.

"C'mon friend." Brian grinned maliciously towards me. "It seems you might come in handy soon, so make sure you keep pace well. I'd just hate to rough you up any on the way home."

Besides the obvious sarcasm that was dripping from the venomous words, it dawned on me that he might be the lesser of the threats from this group of oddly matched teens.

"Hey, you slow pokes, we don't have all century. Do you always have to try and pick a fight with everything, Brian?" The dark haired asian girl smiled at the much bigger male.

"I gotcha, Kat. Will you let the rest know that I'm just taking a few extra seconds to get acquainted with our new buddy?"

The girl rolled her eyes and followed the others out the front, leaving me with Brian.

(Third Person P.O.V.)

The Trojan council was in full effect, voices blaring over the evening feast that rested in front of the increasingly empty table. Nearly one-third of the original officers had been killed already, but what was really drawing heavy criticism was the fact that the allies had been taking the brunt of the losses as of late. Thus, the argument kept escalating as both sides were brewing with contempt.

Without Hector the past week things had been growing increasingly stressful in the walled city of Troy. Deiphobus, Paris, and Polydamas were all battling for control of the base Trojan forces while Aeneas had overall control of the Trojan allies, as well as serving acting commander. There had been more and more in-fighting as the Knights opposing them appeared to be calmly recollecting themselves with relative ease.

"So if we send out the majority of our divisions now we could field just slightly over 10,000 men. They have no way to strike back with such a paltry force, so at daybreak that should be what our plan is then," Polydamas offered his insights to the rowdy council, gaining irritated nods and grunts of approval.

"It's settled then, we launch a full scale attack at dawn," Aeneas and the rest of the Trojan council agreed.

The rest of the evening was more or less uneventful, not as many disagreements or fights breaking out and definitely more feasting taking place. The moon rested quietly on the plains as neither army stirred except for the occassional sentries that patrolled both borders.

(Percy's P.O.V.)

I made sure to awake before daybreak, making plans ahead of time so as to not be caught off guard by an early morning attack like before. As I sat on the edge of the bed putting on my battle armor, I glanced over my shoulder to the sleeping black haired beauty. I was momentarily lost in my thoughts of Thalia, but this was something I mentally had to shake off as I finished preparing and left our tent. Giving a slight morning stretch, I peered through the mish-mash of tents and various flags and banners as I met up with Fumio and Nico.

"All the Knights are accounted for." Fumio added as I got within conversation range.

I didn't doubt they would be and I went over the early morning formations, hoping to grasp a small edge for whatever today held. With the collective Knights and the undead front lines we had in place, our forces were pushing just roughly 3,000. As we finished organizing our ranks accordingly I gave the signals for set out for the edge of the plains.

We settled ourselves, Nico and Fumio on both sides of me, respectively, as the large iron gates of Troy swung open. Their banners and flags swayed in the morning breeze valiantly for our enemies that would come, and a seemingly endless parade of soliders spewed from the city's mouth. We were inexplicably outnumbered and by no small margin.

I took nervous glances at the Knights' officers but all of them held steely resolves. I exhaled deeply and braced my nerves for a moment before willing myself to make the first strike. "Charge!"

I kept it overly simple, mainly because I couldn't really think of anything else that fit properly for the moment. We all rushed head first into the fray of battle, against what must have been the majority of the Trojan army. At least I surely hoped that it was the mass of their army.

The Trojan archers weren't nearly as skilled as ours but paired with the deadly Idaeans, they had us quickly pinned down and were purposefully over shooting our rear lines. They were trying to pin us down, and were doing a darned good job of it.

While the barrage of arrows kept us from backtracking in search of better footing or good behind us, the cavalries smashed at our flanks. I silently thanked the gods, as the skeletons took a huge chunk of our damage for now.

"Shields to the ready!" Fumio called, as the Knights barely had time to brace against the crushing wave of soldiers bashing us straight in the face.

Our lines started to crumble helplessly and I knew that if we broke here, nothing would prevent this Trojan horde from over-running the camp with short work.

"You must hold the lines!" I shouted as loudly as I could in vain, hoping that some spark of hope would ignite and the Knights would persevere.

I suddenly felt the old urge from the guinea pig in me and wished nothing more but to slink away from the combat.

As if hearing my prayers and coming to our aide, a loud horn blew from the distance by the sloshing waters of the Kootenai River.

Everyones attention turned to the east in time to see a rush of centaurs, satyrs and cyclopes. At the head of the charge was my little brother, Tyson. I made a very small fist pump in excitement as our non-human reinforcements collided with the Trojan army and wasted no time in forcing them backwards with a power that we lacked.

Aeneas gave the signal for the armies of Troy.

"Everyone fall back! Retreat! Retreat!" I couldn't help but smile with satisfaction and relief.

Tyson rushed over to where I was on the plains as we slowly pulled the Knights back to our encampment.

"Brother!" came the shout as Tyson bounded over at me full speed. I knew he would come crashing into me, but he somehow managed to come to halt at the last moment. This didn't derail the fact that I was still nearly crushed to Hades, as he picked me up and squeezed me in an ungodly bear hug.

"We came just in time, keep big brother from waiting any longer."

His big grin put me at ease as he set me back down on the ground. The conch shell had roused the sleeping demigods and remaining members of our camp, who had all gathered to see the commotion.

Chiron trotted over to greet us at the command tent, along with Grover and Thalia.

"It seems that we made it just in time. I'm glad to see that you're all still holding up in one piece." He reassuringly smiled and I shot an apologetic look towards Thalia, even if she had known I would be leaving extra early to prevent another surprise attack.

We all shared a few laughs to break the initial tension before getting down to explaining everything that had transpired up to now.

Chiron took it all in stride quite well, even with the deaths and Chang's abandonment. After regaling them with our Trojan adventurers, Tyson piped up enthusiastically.

"We got here with special help. Big brother Triton gave us all rides."

I hadn't thought of how they really had made it here, but the news of Triton helping out almost floored me.

"Triton? Really? Is he still here?"

Tyson nodded as I excused myself from the tent, Thalia and Tyson both trailing after me. I made my way to where Triton was supposed to be, waiting for word on the river that everything had worked as Chiron had expected it would. I wasn't sure how this was going to go over really, but I knew I at least had to thank my older half-brother.