Tales from Mount Othrys
Axel: When Lion Meets Praetor V
“You left the sword, Axel? The one weapon that won’t break on you with Ares’—”
“Garies—”
“Not now, Ajax—with Aries’ curse?” Alabaster said once the Pax brothers finished debriefing him, “And you didn’t kill the Roman?”
Alabaster lay in their “infirmary.” Since Jack would kill any other children of Apollo that might come into camp (intentionally or otherwise) it was staffed by a daughter of Ascelpius, the God of Medicine, a son of Hygeia, Goddess of Hygiene, and a daughter of Panacea, Goddess of Universal Remedies. These three were, in fact, all half siblings with the same mother. Axel chose not to listen to Alabaster when he pointed out, according to Epione, that also made one of them a half-sibling to the others’ parents.[1]
Aoi, the son of Hygeia, and Himari, the daughter of Panacea, grumbled about the number of wounded in their infirmary. Their older half-sister, Mei, shook her head and shoed them to tend to the others injured from the Sabotage Unit. None of them could instantly heal the way Jack could, but Aoi could disinfect any wound, Himari could cure any illness over time, and Mei could mend wounds overtime. They were perfect for keeping demigods stable until Jack could help.
For such a vicious fight, they had few causalities. It was an overwhelming success.
But Axel couldn’t stop replaying that final fight in his head.
Alabaster seethed at being ignored. “Axel. The sword? The Roman? Are you concussed—?” He cut off with a gasp. Mei had set his broken wrist, but couldn’t do much for the three broken ribs.[2]
Pax sat in a chair beside his infirmary bed. He fidgeted with one of his spy photo albums in one hand while his other squeezed Alabaster’s good hand. His grin was goofy. “We did have a handsome, unconscious witchboy on one hand and were retreating from the Second Cohort with the other. We would have needed more hands.”
“There are four between the two of you,” Alabaster said, but Pax’s tactic worked: their embarrassed friend’s scowl had weakened. His pale cheeks brightened with rouge.
Not for the first time, Axel wondered what was going on between the two of them. Now, however, wasn’t the time to remind Alabaster how fragile the rest of his ribs were.
“It can’t be that hard to find another weapon outside of Ares’ curse,” Axel said.
Alabaster glared.
“You are the grumpiest victor ever,” Pax teased.
They did kill Praetor Ari. Her medallion hung on his lion skin, threaded beside Julian’s. Two lovers together again at last.
Axel felt sick. Just as the sensation threatened to make him shut down, it seeped away into the Leonis Caput helm.
Leaving him replaying that battle. [3] He rubbed the contusion on his thigh. It was tender. As were the bruises along his bracers. Even through the Nemean Lion fur and his bracers, the centurion’s sword blows still left him bruised. “We’re lucky we didn’t lose more. That Centurion recovered the troops much faster than we predicted, even calculating in her training from Circe. She was good. A better fighter than me.”
“But, you can kick Luke’s ass. And Garies’,” Pax said.
Axel glanced at his little brother in confusion. He hadn’t been seeking a confidence boost; he was stating a fact they would need to keep in mind. “I’ll bet,” he said, “she could too.”
Before she kicked him, he saw something he wasn’t used to seeing: it wasn’t that she didn’t fear the monster attacking her. She did. She didn’t care about fear. Her courage, the kind she was sharing with her troops somehow, was choosing duty over terror.
Something Axel did often.
Something Axel did when he realized she could have killed Alabaster and Pax in under ten seconds.
“I think her shampoo was honey-scented,” he muttered absently. It had been bothering him—that sweetness barely perceptible intermixed with the armor and sweat. Had he really made a joke about being Canadian? He definitely wasn’t going to share that (or how she chased him around the clearing like a scared, hopping chicken) with his friends.
Pax almost choked, “Wow—that is the creepiest thing you’ve ever said. Stop everything. We need to call 1-800-APOLLO-STALKING for advice.”[4]
Axel fumbled. “Excuse me?”
“Ajax, that’s too many numbers for a—” Alabaster tried to sit up, grunted, and sank back into his bed. Pax, subtly, propped him up. “Axel, is there any chance she bewitched you when the two of you were alone?” Alabaster sounded genuinely alarmed. “If she had tutelage under Circe, she might be able.”
“What? No—”
“Ta—da!” Pax interrupted. He plucked a photo from his album, triumphantly presenting it between the three of them. “Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano, Axel’s new crush.”
Axel’s cheeks felt hot. “She is not—” His fingers froze while reaching to snatch the photo.
Pax’s grin was one of sinister delight. “You think she’s cute, don’tcha?”
Centurion Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano: the name sang and rolled like sunrise on the Gulf of Honduras.
His little brother had trapped him. If he said, “no,” he would sound unconvincing and like an asshole. But, could Axel say, “yes” in a way that showed factual indifference?
“Fuck, she is cute,” was not the right way to put it, and that is exactly what came out.
Axel could feel his ears sink into his hairline.
“OooooOOOooo!” Pax called, gleeful, “But where would you raise your children—?”
“Shut. Up.” Axel hissed.
The members of the Sabotage Unit were desperately pretending not to hear this. They were scattered around the infirmary, but they weren’t that far away.
As Mei walked by to bring more bandages to Nasir’s bedside, she took a quick glance at the photo, nodded, and continued forward. “She looks like someone who stretches before battles. Someone could learn a thing or two from her,” she said.
“Yes, ma’am,” Jazmin, who had torn a muscle, grumbled from her bed. This proved, in fact, everyone could hear them.
“Do you think they’ll have cat ears?” Pax went on, grinning evilly. He tucked the photo back into his album. His expression widened to earnest excitement. “Titans, Axel, I could knit them little hats with cat ears built in! Why have I never done that for you? The Cat Cap. The CatKNIT—hee hee hee—”
“Ajax, stop. This is serious.” Alabaster glared.
“So is the CatKnit—”
Alabaster ignored him. “I’ll have Lou Ellen help me make a potion to counteract this. She knows more about Medea-like magic.”[5]
“No, you will not,” Axel snapped.
“He’s right. You can’t,” Pax said, “Lelly will be too heartbroken to hear Axel is in love.”
“I’m not—” Axel clenched his jaw. Each time he denied it, he sounded less convincing.
Besides, what if…
Wouldn't she be perfect?
He would never need to worry about liking her. It’s not like they would ever meet outside of battle.[6] He didn’t need to worry about it preventing him from fighting, because she was already a better fighter than he. Santiago Pax would never know about her.
She was safe. She was safe to idolize from a distance.
But, that didn’t help shut Pax up. Or stop Axel’s face from burning.
“Do you think you breed in litters--?”
“My boys!” The infirmary door slammed open and Jack’s voice boomed into the room.
Axel mouthed, “I’ll rip your fucking ear off,” in Mayan. Jack was not to hear about this.
“But you need a best man with ears. Two ears. To model your future children’s cat knits—oh, but what if one of the demi-kittens only has one ear—aye!”
Axel snatched at Pax’s ear.[7]
Pax ducked out of Axel’s reach, behind Alabaster.
Alabaster hissed in pain. “Broken. Ribs.”
Author's Note: Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed the boys' last chance at being goofy (in-a-less-traumatized-way)
I've been contemplating doing an AU (yes, an AU of an AU) with Reyna and Axel. I keep going back and forth. Let me know if it is anything you'd be interested in reading!
Footnotes:
[1] Don’t overthink it. It isn’t worth it. I just like to think the Camp Othrys kids don’t pretend they’re not all distant cousins.
You also know Pax will IMMEDIATELY point out that, in most telling, he and Alabaster are not related on the godly side.
[2] I made a whole character for Mei that can’t be jammed in here. She’s in her thirties, is a pediatrician, and is horrified these kids are fighting an adult war. And she’s one of the only people Alabaster won’t give lip to because he respects her and fears her temper. She also keeps her hair in a tight, braided bun.
[3] Leonis Caput, “You could think about that. Or you could think about the hot girl that made us look like a fool.”
[4] Axel, “You literally stalk Reyna.” “Yeah, but that’s my job.” Alabaster, “That’s also too many numbers for a phone number.” (Yes, I made this joke as a footnote, decided to put it in the text, and kept both.)
[5] Pax, “Now, Lou Ellen. It would be immoral to bewitch my brother.” Lou Ellen, staring dreamily after Axel with Medea’s playbook in her hands, “I knoooowwww.”
[6] Lol. I don’t even know if Traitors of Olympus counts as “outside of battle.”
[7] So Pax can model for the one-eared demikitten.
