The Arena

I paced across the room as the muted voices of a thousand people reached my ears. The time for the duel has come. I was in the arena of the Olympus, deep inside it bowels in a room designated for fighters to get ready. Hephaestus was with me, as well as Annabeth. The rest of my inner circle wanted to join me as well, but I didn't allow them to not arouse suspicion.

"Well Hephaestus," I said. "You agreed to my proposal. Now what do you have for me?"

"This," Hephaestus said, snapping his fingers. There was a long table in the middle of the room, and suddenly a suit of armour and a sword popped out in the middle of it.

I stood up and walked towards it. The suit of armour, including the helmet, was the standard ancient Greek armour worn back in the day. I unsheathed the sword, which looked plain but deadly.

"I hate making standard looking objects," Hephaestus grumbled as if he had read what was on my mind. "I really believe that everything I make with my hands should look unique. But we don't want Ares to figure out it's me, at least for the time being, so this is what we have to work with."

"It looks deadly," I conceded. "But what does it do?"

A gleam entered Hephaestus' eyes. He is the only Olympian who doesn't use his powers to make himself look younger, but at that moment he looked like a kid on Christmas morning. "You'll see. First we have to get it on to you."

The next few minutes was spent putting the armour on me. It honestly looked like a confusing mess to me, but Annabeth had been putting on Greek armour since she was seven years old and she deftly fitted everything to my body. After that I picked up my sword and gave it a go.

"You look like a penguin trying to swing a club," Hephaestus said while holding his laughter in. Even Annabeth giggled with a guilty look, and I rolled my eyes good naturedly.

"Well no matter," Hephaestus continued. "The person wearing this armour cannot be defeated by a mortal with mortal weapons. And to test that, a demonstration!" The god looked at Annabeth. "You! Girl! Attack him!"

"What?"

"You heard what I said!"

Annabeth looked at me confused. I smiled encouragingly and nodded. Annabeth sighed and drew her own sword, the sight of which always take my breath away. It was made of a drakon's tooth that gleamed wickedly in the light of the lamps, and stood about half of Annabeth's own height.

Pointing the sword at me, my girlfriend took a half hearted step forward. Nothing happened.

"Do it like you mean it girl!" Hephaestus growled, now a bit irritated.

"Do it Annie," I said with a smile, before going into her mind and adding your master commands it.

The last part did it for her, and Annabeth lunged at me. This was a good reminder to me that no matter how much of an obedient cum guzzler my girlfriend is, she was also one of the deadliest demigods in the world. As she came at me with an inhumane speed, I had to convince myself that I wasn't going to get impaled. But in the last second, I felt a tug in my arm, and the sound of two swords clashing into one another.

Annabeth took a step back in surprise, while I stared in awe at my simple looking sword. It was like it was acting on it's own accord, going to the place where it needed to be to stop the strike.

Hephaestus meanwhile was smiling contently. "Now you keep the sword down on the table, lad. And you, girl, attack him from the back. Aim his neck. You'll see what happens if you ever lose your sword in the battlefield and someone comes at you from the back."

I kept the sword on the table and reluctantly turned my back on Annabeth, nervously awaiting the attack. No matter how much I knew how loyal she was to me, it was still very hard to turn your back on someone heavily armed whom you know will attack you. It's simply not human nature, and I'm still somewhat human.

Suddenly I heard rapid footsteps and the swish of air behind me. But before the blade could connect, I felt another tug in my whole body. It dragged me off by an inch or so away, so the blade connected with the armour instead of my neck. Annabeth's drakon tooth sword should have pierced any standard armour, but this armour was just supposed to look like the standard and bounced right off.

"And that is it," Hephaestus said as I once again turned to his direction. "The armour is imbued with the same spells that I used on the sword. I suppose you can call it a... self preserving mechanism. I've also made it much stronger than it looks, which you have probably noticed by now. And now, I have to go. The duel starts in five minutes, so I'll let you kids have some time. But make sure you are there on time."

Hephaestus took a few steps before dissipating into the air. I turned back to see Annabeth scowling.

"What is it?" I asked with a smile.

"He just called you kid. He doesn't show you proper respect, master."

I laughed aloud. "I don't mind. Hephaestus is an ally, not a ****. Plus he's a good guy and I have much more pressing issues in my mind."

"Hmmpff," grunted Annabeth, before busying herself by double checking my armour straps.

"You don't have to worry about me, you know," I said.

"I'll always worry about you master. But I know that you have a plan, and trust you to do it well."

I smiled as Annabeth gave me a quick, gentle kiss. Just then a loud bell rang outside. Without a word, I picked up my sword and walked into the arena, hand in hand with Annabeth.