"In Latin my name, Aurelia, basically means 'the golden one.' My mother literally named me her golden light through the storm that was her life. That is my job. To be everyone's light at the end of the tunnel. And I got stuck worrying so much about...
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Aurelia hated fighting by herself.
From the time she learned to hold a sword, she has always had a partner in her fighting endeavors. First it was Hylla, who had taught Aurelia how to properly use a sword on the pirate ship. Then it was Reyna, who fought alongside her to the Wolf House in Sonoma and through her first months at Camp Jupiter. Then when Reyna became praetor, Jason became her partner in that regard.
Well as she and Percy stood around Frank, defending him from soldiers, Aurelia continued her trend of having a partner.
Aurelia would knock one down, Percy would take down another.
The two moved like a team, shielding each other, and fighting in perfect counteraction moves so that no soldiers could come even close to Frank.
They weren't even using their powers yet.
"Hey, I've never seen the eagle before," Percy said as he took down another incoming soldier. "But do you see that one guy with a lion skin cape?"
A shower of arrows came at them and Percy brought up a wall of icy water to block them. When the wall fell Aurelia's eyes scanned the field. One of the vapory ghosts was wearing a lion skin cape of a standard bearer and holding a pole with a golden eagle, icicles frozen to its wings. The legion's eagle.
"Go," was all Aurelia said and Percy took off like a whirlwind.
In fact ... he was a whirlwind. A miniature hurricane of water and ice vapor churned around him as he waited through the enemy, knocking Roman ghosts away, deflecting arrows and Spears. Since when did he have that power?
Percy plowed through a line of legionnaires, scattering their shields with his personal cyclone. He knocked down the standard bearer and grabbed the eagle. "You want it back?" he shouted at the ghosts. "Come and get it!"
A small smile was etched on Aurelia's face. Most of the ghosts chased after the son of Poseidon, and the few who stayed behind were easy enough for Aurelia to take down. Emotions were running all around her. Hazel's anger. Frank's determination. Percy's waning energy. And the fear of the ghosts. Their fear was more powerful than everything else combined.
Fear coursed through Aurelia's veins. Aurelia touched one of the fallen soldiers. The vision was quick but powerful. She saw them sinking into the earth, being sent to the Fields of Punishment: they feared their second chance was going to get stolen from them. And who was Aurelia to keep that fear from happening.
Fear was an illusion, but the power it derives from can be manipulated. Holding all the power was making me tired, but I glanced at Percy, as he was fighting the ghosts off and leading them away from Frank, and let the fear grow even more.
