K is for Knight in Shining Armor
"Bitch, please," Travis mumbled under his breath as a dracaena tried to attack him. This was his, what? Like, thirteenth dracaena of the day? Psh! All were the same: idiotic, smelly, and weird. Just cuz he was a child of Hermes doesn't mean he's not dangerous. Shoot, Luke's a son of Hermes and he's now the host for a crazy Titan lord who's currently trying to overthrow the gods. Seriously, Kronos, give mea challengefor once, Travis thought as he sliced, parried, and drove his sword right into the heart of the monster. She died with a screech that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
After jumping over the dracaena's powdered remains, Travis continued to run. Back at the Plaza, he had heard a Demeter girl, identity unknown, had apparently been cut with a poisoned dagger. She had died within the hour. He had to make sure it wasn't Katie. He just had to make sure.
Travis stopped in his tracks as he found exactly what he was looking for. About thirty feet away from where he stood, Katie was battling a Laistrygonian giant all by herself with just a small sword and some crazy vines with a mind of their own. He had to stifle a laugh as the giant keeled over in pain before disappearing into dust. This was why he liked Katie so much. Nobody else he knew would ever even think about stabbing a Laistrygonian giant in the nut sack. Nobody.
Katie was staring at the dust as it blew away in the wind. Her hair was flapping wildly, and she had a crazy look in her eyes that only someone who had just stabbed a giant in the balls could have. She was breathing heavily, and Travis thought she looked the most gorgeous he had ever seen her.
But then a stupid enemy's arrow aimed for her heart had to come and ruin the picture.
Most people would start yelling and screaming at the person about to be hit to get out of the way and run.
But Travis wasn't most people.
He ran and ran as fast as he could. He had a strange urge to shout, "You can't catch me! I'm the Gingerbread Man!" but decided that now wasn't really the time. Plus, his chest was heaving so much, shouting would just make it much worse. The only thing he could hear was the rubble being crushed under his Converse and the fast paced beating of his heart.
Finally, after what felt like forever, he was within inches of Katie. He grabbed her and tackled her to the ground forcefully, while his arm erupted with pain.
She gasped as they hit the ground, not expecting Travis's moves at all. Once she got a grip on the situation, she pushed Travis off of her and stood up abruptly. Quickly, she aimed a dozen or so killer vines in the direction the arrow came from. Within just a second, a half-blood, about eighteen or so, was pulled from behind a stray car, vines wrapped tightly around his neck. He clawed at them with his fingernails helplessly. Travis stared in silent shock at the boy lying completely motionless a few yards away. Katie seemed fixed by the sight, too. The vines uncurled from around his neck and shrank back into the ground around Katie's feet.
"You-You aren't supposed to kill the enemy demigods. Just injure them," Travis choked out, eyes still fixed on the body.
Katie snapped around, bringing Travis's attention back to her. The look on her face portrayed shock. "You . . ." She trailed off at a loss for words. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. "You saved my life," she whispered, opening her eyes once more.
"So am I your knight in shining armor or something now?" he asked through gritted teeth while still lying on the ground. One hand gripped his shoulder viciously.
She rolled her eyes and placed her hands on her hips the way she always did when she was annoyed. "I try to be nice to you for once, just once, and you have to go and ruin it. Ugh! You ruin everything!" Her voice had changed from the quiet, pathetic whisper from before to her normal, loud and annoyed yell that she always used while in the presence of a Stoll.
"It's kind of in my job description to ruin everything!" he said calmly, mocking her words at the end.
Katie flared her nostrils. "Is it normal for people to want to punch you in the face?"
"Occasionally." He laughed slightly, but then winced. "But would you really want to punch an injured fellow in the face?" he asked.
Rolling her eyes once more, she stomped her foot on the found moodily. "You aren't injur-" She gasped when she saw the arrow sticking out between his fingers on his shoulder. Her voice changed once again to that worried whisper from before. "Oh my gods, you're injured."
"Really!" Travis gasped sarcastically and looked over at his shoulder as much as he could while removing his hand. "Since when has that been there!"
Her expression changed yet again, this time into an angry glare. "You suck ass."
"Actually, I'm not really one for ass sucking," he said as he watched Katie get down on her knees next to him to examine the wound. "I will admit, I have kissed some asses, and oh wait! I lied. I remember this one time in seventh grade when I did indeed suck an ass. It tasted horrible. It was like a combination of-"
"Are you going to shut up, or are you going to make me make you shut up?"
"No matter how tempting that sounds, I think I'll just stick with shutting up myself."
"Then do it." She looked back down at his shoulder and grimaced. Just to see what would happen, she poked the inflamed skin around the base of the arrow. A strangled sound came out of the back of Travis's throat and Katie removed her hand immediately. She looked down at her hand and frowned once again. "Gods, look at this blood. It's everywhere."
Travis's pained expression turned into one of amusement. He smiled slightly and said, "Ha. 'It's everywhere.' " He chuckled slightly and winced. "That's what she said."
She stared at him in shock. "Really? You're, like, dying and you choose this as the perfect moment for a 'That's what she said' joke?"
"Obviously." This time it was his turn to roll his eyes. "It's like you don't even know me, Katie."
"Just shut up so I can fix this," she said.
"As you wish, milady." Travis smiled slightly and watched her through the corner of his eye as she poked nervously at the arrow, making him wince each time.
After about three minutes or so of Katie having absolutely no progress, Travis asked, "How's it going?"
She hesitated slightly. "Fine."
"Really? Cuz it still hurts. A lot."
"Well what the hell am I even supposed to do with this? There's nothing I can do!"
"I have an idea," Travis mumbled.
"What?" she asked.
"You could pull it out."
"Eww! I am so not touching that arrow. You pull it out!"
He chuckled slightly before wincing once more. "That's what-"
"If you even finish that sentence, Stoll," Katie warned, "I will punch you in the throat."
"You wouldn't punch an injured person."
She squinted her eyes at him. "Try me."
He shrugged as much as he could while lying on the ground. "That's what she said," he whispered, pronouncing each syllable as clearly as he could.
Katie let out an angry sigh through her nose. "You suck ass."
"It was just one time, Katie, I swear." She rolled her eyes and looked back down at the arrow. "But where's that punch?"
She glared back up at him. "Do you want me to punch you?"
"Well you did promise me a punch."
She couldn't actually punch him. No, no, no. That would just be terrible, even for him. She continued to glare at him. "I'm not going to punch you," she mumbled, almost inaudible.
"Wait, what was that?" Travis asked.
"I said I'm not going to punch you," she repeated a bit louder.
"Is that so? Well then, you are now officially declared a promise-breaker in my book."
No matter the circumstances, Travis always seemed able to make her laugh. "A promise-breaker?"
"Yes, you dirty promise-breaker. You break promises."
"But-"
"No! I'm not talking to you anymore!"
"Travis-"
"Nope!" She rolled her eyes at him and looked back again at the wound. After a few seconds of silence, he said, "You still have to pull it out, you know?"
"No, I'm not touching that thing." Katie shook her head furiously.
"You have to!"
"I don't have to do shit!"
"Pull it out!"
"No! As soon as I pull it out, you're gonna bleed everywhere and then you're gonna die in my arms."
"Tonight," Travis finished with a smile.
"You may have great song choice, but your timing is absolutely terrible."
"It must have been some kind of kiss."
"Really? You're just gonna keep singing?"
"I should have walked away."
"Wow. You're serious right now, huh?"
"I should have walked away!"
"Are you done now?"
"Yes, yes I am. Did I make it to Hollywood?"
She shook her head. "I'm not even answering that."
"Cuz I was so ridiculously amazing you're speechless right now?"
Rolling her eyes, Katie answered, "Sure. Whatever."
"Yes! I wanna thank my mom, and my dad, even. Sure, why not? I mean, who else would give me these awesome vocals? And I wanna thank Conner, and I'll even thank you Katie, for being my inspiration."
She continued to shake her head and stare at the wound. "I'm not even going to say anything."
"Well then, you're being another promise-breaker because you just promised that you wouldn't say anything, but then you went and said something."
"But-"
"Promise-breaker!" Travis watched as she rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time that evening. He winced as she poked the inflamed skin around the arrow once again. "So, you gonna pull it out?"
She glared at him. "I think you already know the answer."
"But you have to, Katie."
"I don't have to do anything I don't want to. It's a free country."
Now it was his turn to be annoyed. "Have you ever gotten a splinter or a thorn or something stuck in your thumb before?"
She hesitated. "Yeah."
"You know how it hurts like hell when it's in there?" She nodded. "And then while you're pulling it out, it hurts even more?" She nodded again. "But then like five minutes after it's out, it's all better?" She nodded with her head hanging down. "Then pull the freaking arrow out!"
"I don't want to pull the freaking arrow out!"
"Do it!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"I can't!"
"Why not?"
Katie hesitated and stared down at her lap. "I . . . I don't want to hurt you," she whispered quietly.
Travis brought over his good hand and gripped hers, making her look back up at him. "Please, Katie," he begged. "For me."
She had seen many different looks in Travis's eyes before. Humor, mischief, sadness, anger, but never once has Katie ever seen such a pleading look in his eyes. Travis was so independent and proud, she'd never once seen him beg for anything. She was so shocked, she was speechless.
Silently, she nodded her head and gripped his hand harder. With her other hand, she grabbed onto the arrow tightly.
"One," Travis counted down.
"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry," she whispered, almost to herself.
"Two."
"I'm really, really, really sorry."
"Three!"
You could have heard Travis's scream from a mile away.
Katie paced outside of the Royal Plaza Suite. She tried to drag Travis over to some normal, random room or even just a couch out in the front room, but he insisted that if he was going to die - which Katie tried to reassure him he wouldn't - he wanted to die somewhere classy, and just the Plaza hotel by itself wasn't classy enough. Oh no. He had to die in the Royal Suite.
"Who ya pacin' for?" came a voice to her left, making her gasp.
"Gods, Mel, you scared me." There stood Melani in her pink bedazzled body armor. One hand was on her hip and the other was twirling a lock of hair. "Love the armor."
"Really? Silena made some for the whole cabin. I'm sure afterwards she can make you some too."
"Naw, it's really okay."
Melani waited in silence and watched as her friend continued to pace. "You never did answer me."
She stopped her strides. "What?"
"You never did tell me who's behind that door that's got you oh so frazzled."
"Oh." She blushed slightly and started treading yet again, never once looking her in the eyes. "You know."
Melani smiled. "No, actually, I don't know . . . That's why I asked."
"Oh . . . you know . . . It's just . . . Tr-"
"Travis Stoll!" Melani shouted loudly.
Katie was shocked and stopped her pacing once more. "How did you-"
"I knew!"
"But you just said-"
"I know! I just wanted to hear you say it!"
"But I didn't-"
"I know! I was just too excited!"
Katie was flabbergasted. "You . . . you knew?"
Melani guffawed. "Trust me, girl, everyone knows."
"Everyone?"
"Everyone."
"But . . . how?"
"Well when you're dragging his limp body through the doors of the hotel, screaming for a doctor, people assume things."
"Like what?"
"Well I heard that Travis was like totally dead, just lying on the side of the road, when you found him and you kissed him and he woke up."
"What?"
"Mmhm. And then I also heard that he found this pet donkey and then you were stuck up in this tower, guarded by some scary dragon, and then he came and rescued you and you fell in love. But the thing is that during the day, you're some beautiful demigod, but at night, you turn into this hideous, ugly monster, but he still loves you no matter what."
"That's just the plot of Shrek!"
Melani giggled. "I know. I totally just made that up. But I seriously did hear you were about to die somehow, or something and then Travis came and totally saved your life. Then you kissed and fell in love and had sex on top of a dead Laistrygonian giant."
"Well, part of that's true," she mumbled.
She gasped loudly. "You guys had sex on top of a dead Laistrygonian giant!"
"No! He saved my life."
"He did?" Katie nodded her head hesitantly. "Oh my gods! That's the most adorable thing I've ever even heard of!"
"Why? I thought only anything Percy and Annabeth did was adorable?"
She sighed. "They used to be adorable, but now they're just getting boring."
"Boring?"
"Yes, boring. I mean, if Percy doesn't ask her out soon, I may just ask her out myself."
"I could totally see you two together."
"Right? We'd be way too cute."
"Definitely."
"Anyways, since they're now like so last week, I'm focusing on the cutest couple in camp: Tratie."
"Tratie?" she asked hesitantly. It just sounded terrible. She should've known.
"Yes. Tratie! Travis and Katie!"
"Excuse me?"
Melani rolled her eyes. "Shut up! Like you so aren't excited I made you a couple name, Miss Yeah-I-Think-I-Might-Possibly-Have-A-Teeny-Tiny-Little-Crush-On-Travis-Stoll."
"Shut up!" Katie shouted as loudly as she dared.
"Oh, chill, my dear. The only people on this entire level are you, me, lover boy, and his doctor. Who is his doctor anyways?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. Smithy, I think."
"Smithy?" Melani smiled.
"Oh no! You are so not hooking up during a war. Plus, doesn't he have a girlfriend?"
"Uh, doesn't a certain Stoll have a girlfriend, too?"
"So?"
"So having a little crush doesn't matter."
"How many times do I have to tell you to shut up?"
"Chill. They can't even hear, but I'm sure if they could Travis would be absolutely thrilled to hear that you have a thing for him seeing as he's so madly in love with you."
"He is so not madly in love with me."
Melani guffawed. "He so is madly in love with you."
"Is not."
"Is to! If I were out there, about to die, he wouldn't have saved my life."
"Yeah he would have."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"He's a nice guy. He would have saved you."
"Well I sure as hell wouldn't have."
"Yeah. That's because you're a terrible person."
"It's true." Katie rolled her eyes. "Well I'm just gonna say 'I told you so' when it's finally the day that Travis goes up to you and says, 'Katie, I love you so damn much! I always have! Hey look! A rainbow! Do me on it!' "
Smithy cleared his throat behind them, making them both turn around, faces bright red.
"How is he?" Katie bombarded him.
"Oh he just has a-"
"Hi, Smithy," Melani interrupted, wiggling her fingers and batting her eyelashes.
"Hey, Melani," he replied dreamily.
Katie groaned. "Move," she said, pushing him out of the doorway so she could get in.
Travis lay on a giant bed in the corner with a bandage wrapping his left shoulder. He seemed slightly hazy when he looked over at her.
She walked over hesitantly. "Hey. How's it going?" she asked.
"Pretty good. There was an arrow in my arm a little while ago."
"That's not very good."
"No. No it's not."
"I like your new bandage though. It's ginormous."
Travis smiled. "You did that one on purpose."
"Maybe a little." She smiled and blushed slightly when he started laughing.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, just staring about the room. "Why did you do it?" Katie asked, breaking the quiet.
"Do what?"
"Why did you jump in front of that arrow? Why were you even over by me? I thought you were supposed to be on the Brooklyn Bridge." He shrugged without looking at her. "You saved my life, Travis. Why?"
"I didn't exactly save your life. The aiming was terrible and there was slight chance that if you hadn't bled to death, you only would've been paralyzed from the neck down."
"Oh, only paralyzed. It's perfectly fine then." Katie rolled her eyes at his wording. "Why did you do it, Travis?"
He shrugged once again before saying, "I couldn't just stand there and watch you get shot with an arrow."
"Yes, but you could've yelled at me to run or-or-or something," she stuttered. "You didn't have to block the arrow's path just so it wouldn't hit me. You almost died because of me."
"And I would've been perfectly fine with that," Travis said simply.
"What! Other than Hades, that donkey or whatever Eeyore, and weird emo kids, nobody's perfectly fine with dying! Are you Hades, Eeyore, or Nico, Travis? Are you?"
"I called Nico emo once and then Percy yelled at me and I pissed my pants a little bit."
"This is no time for piss pants. What do you mean that you'd be fine?"
"I would've been perfectly fine with dying because," he took a deep breath, "I would know that I died for a good reason. I died protecting you and keeping you alive."
Katie shook her head, tears coming to her eyes. He couldn't be serious, could he? "But I'm not-"
"Don't you dare say that you aren't worth saving," Travis demanded, cutting her off midsentence. "I would've been perfectly fine dying if you were the last thing I saw."
A tear escaped and fell down her cheek. He must've been joking. He must've been!
But maybe Melani was right. Maybe he really was 'madly in love with her,' as she had put it.
"I would've been fine dying because if I had let you die, I wouldn't have been able to stay alive anyways. I don't think I'd be able to live without you, Katie."
Deep in his eyes, Katie could see that same pleading passion from before, but ten times stronger. The tears were flowing fast, no matter how hard she tried to stop them.
"Well maybe," she started, regretting the words as she said them. "Maybe you should talk to me first before you go and save my life again."
Travis looked confused. "Wh-"
"Cuz maybe," Katie interrupted. "Maybe I just wouldn't be able to live without you either."
He smiled widely and turned his head, trying to hide his excitement. After a few seconds he looked at her again and said, "Well then, I'll just have to try and warn you next time."
"Thank you. I'd appreciate that."
And maybe, just maybe, she might have possibly been a little teeny tiny bit in love with him too.