If Your Flaw Could be Fatal (Wiki Contest: July 2013)

Back Story
So I mentioned it a few times in the actual story, but this takes place during that two week time period in The Sea of Monsters when Percy, Annabeth, Tyson, and Clarisse are on a quest. So ya, all you need to know.

Actual Story
“Aren’t you ready for guard duty yet,” Sherman yelled at me. Ever since Clarisse La Rue left for the Golden Fleece, Sherman had made himself the de facto leader of border patrol. Apparently two other demigods had left as well, with one of them bringing their monster brother with him.

Ever since then, Tantalus had banned them from ever coming back and had pretty much been watching everyone with a magnifying glass. However, despite his attempts to keep the campers in line, he really didn’t care at all about the camp itself. I was starting to think that he wanted it to burn to the ground, which was why we did border patrol in secret. Every camper had to; it wasn’t optional by any means.

“I was just about to go get my armor,” I told him. It wasn’t a lie, I was actually on my way to getting my armor when I was distracted by my deck of cards. Someone had knocked them over and when I started picking them up, I started playing a game of solitaire. I still had plenty of time before my shift so I relaxed and had a quick game, or three. It was then that Sherman busted into the Hermes cabin and started yelling at me to get my armor.

“I swear to Hades, you are the worst procrastinator I have ever seen!” Sherman yelled out loud. He then began to mock me, obviously exaggerating my personality.

“Don’t worry, I have plenty of time get to Archery class; I’ll be there in a second. Mythology homework; sure, I was going to do that tomorrow morning. Inspect my sword; I can do that before guard duty. Oh wait, that is right now!”

“Alright, I get your point,” I lied, as I had heard this same speech about fifty times over the past year. Sherman must have heard a hint of sarcasm, so he grabbed my armor, shoved it over my head and onto my body, and pretty much kicked me out the door.

“Get your act together Tylor, or you’re going to end up in the Underworld before you know it,” Sherman insulted, but stormed off to get the rest of the patrols ready. Despite how much I hated border patrol, there was one benefit to it.

“Do you know how long I have been waiting for you?!” came the annoyed voice of Rosemary. Her frown soon faded as a smile took its place. “I’d watch out or Sherman way use you to sharpen his sword.”

“Oh come one Rose, I’m only a few minutes late,” I said, trying to sound sheepish, but she just laughed.

“And how much longer would you have been if he hadn’t of gotten you. What were you on, your third game of solitaire?” She asked with an accusing look. Her bright green eyes looked right into mine and I tried my hardest to look away. I always loved looking into Rosemary’s eyes, but not when she was mad at me. They made me feel like any second a vine would grow out of the ground and strangle me, which may have happened once.

“I was only on my second,” I defended, but it was pretty futile. “You know me too well.”

“Let’s just get to the Northwestern border before Tantalus notices we are gone. That guy can be so annoying sometimes,” Rosemary complained before grabbing my hand and dragging me along. A slight blush went across my cheek, but I doubt she could see it as her face was shrouded in long brown hair.

Despite being on border patrol, it was more of a chance for us to get away from it all. Despite there being a quest to save the camp, things weren’t exactly going well here. Tantalus didn’t care about us at all and seemed to care more about a jelly donut that kept rolling away from him. Monsters seemed to be patrolling the borders at the same times we were. I mean every demigod learns that monsters can smell your scent and with a failing border, more and more were starting to show up. A Draco Aionius even managed to break through the eastern border and burn down the arts and crafts cabin. Rosemary was worried as well. The poison from the tree seemed to be having a negative effect on the plants in the area as well. Half of her flowers were slowly dying while the strawberries in the fields seemed to be growing slower, even after the satyrs performed some woodland magic.

We didn’t just talk about the bad things; that was too depressing. We talked about good things too. She would talk about how Chiron had liked her report on ways to kill the Nemean Lion without the use of super-strength. I remember spending all night writing that report, full of interesting ways that no one had ever thought of, including feeding it disgusting food and shooting an arrow into its mouth. Chiron had given me a C because, as he put it, “Good ideas, but the writing is too incoherent. Try and spend more time re-reading your work.”

“I’m also trying to make a new type of flower,” Rosemary enthusiastically added.

“I was watching this movie last time I was home and the lead character made a cross between tulips and daisies and called them todaisies. I am so close to getting it just right, but something always goes wrong and they end up dying.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll get it right eventually; you always do,” I encouraged and she gave me a smile. A genuine smile was hard to come by during the past week from anybody, especially after the borders began failing; Tantalus didn’t help either.

“Thanks, you always know just what to say to cheer me up,” Rosemary said as she gave me a quick hug. Now was probably the best time I could look for to ask her on a date.

I had been thinking about it for a long time, but the right moment always seemed to pass me by for one reason or another. I remember looking at the calendar sometimes thinking that I would ask tomorrow, then come back to my cabin at the end of the day, look at my calendar, and think that I would do it tomorrow. Before I knew it, weeks had passed and now Thalia’s tree was dying. I know me asking Rosemary out wouldn’t have caused the tree to not be dying, but it kind of changed everyone’s mood for the worse. I took in a deep breath and was about to say it when…

* BEEP BEEP BEEEP BEEP*

“Looks like our time is over; we better get back to camp so the other shift can take over,” Rosemary said as she detached her arms from me and picked herself up off the ground. She began to walk back as I picked myself up as well.

“Well, there is always tomorrow,” I whispered to myself as I watched her spin around to look at me, the sun running through her hair and illuminating her eyes once again.

“Did you say something Tylor?” Rosemary asked with an eyebrow raised.

“No, nothing Rose. Just thinking about a project that is due tomorrow,” I lied. I mean I did have a project due tomorrow, but it wasn’t what I was focusing on.

“Have you started it yet?” she asked me, her eyebrow never going down the entire time.

“I was going to start it as soon as guard duty was over,” I told her. It wasn’t totally a lie, as I did plan on starting it tonight at some point. Maybe after a few video games or some card games with the guys.

“I swear to the gods Tylor, if procrastination was a fatal flaw, it would be yours,” Rosemary laughed sweetly and we headed back to the camp. We ditched our armor and made sure Tantalus saw us in the camp, which was part of keeping him in the dark about patrol duty. As long as he saw us, he wouldn’t be suspicious.

“See you tomorrow morning,” we said to each other and parted ways; I back to my cabin and she went back to hers.

The rest of the day went by without much difficulty. I got my books out to write the paper I mentioned earlier, but I quickly started making paper airplanes and tossing them across the room. After my fiftieth airplane sailed across the room and out the window, I noticed how late it had gotten and how tired I was.

“Guess I should get started before I fall completely asleep,” I told myself. I began writing my paper about how to spot a monster’s trap before you end up getting eaten. At first it went really well as I jotted down all the things I remembered, then started restating points to get the word count up. As the night went on however, I quickly ran out of things to add and before I knew it, I was asleep.

“Time to wake up man,” Travis said, slowly shaking me awake. “Don’t you have the morning patrol with Rosemary today?”

“Ya, I’ll be right up,” I yawned as I looked at the clock. There was still another half hour until I had to meet her. Travis left shortly after and I set my alarm clock to go off in about fifteen minutes.

 *BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP* 

“Snooze,” I said as I hit my clock and closed my eyes

 *BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP* 

“Five more minutes,” I argued as I hit the snooze again.

“Tylor, wake up!” came a yell from the front door. I opened my eyes and looked at the clock.

“Crap, I’m late for patrol duty,” I cursed as I got up.

“Forget guard duty, a Draco Aionius managed to get inside the camp. It is burning down the Arts & Crafts cabin as we speak. Hurry up,” Connor shouted, as I had finally seen who it was.

“I’ll be right there,” I said as I started putting my armor on and grabbed a Celestial Bronze sword.

Once outside, I saw the devastation caused by the monster. It looked like a huge lizard with green and yellow scales, as well as rows of teeth half the size of my sword. It opened its mouth a shot a blast of fire that lit up one of the cabins. Some of the demigods around camp were trying to put out the fires while the Apollo cabin was firing arrows from behind their barriers. It looked like the Draco Aionius had destroyed two of the barriers already. Sherman and a few of the Ares kids jumped onto the lizard’s back and started stabbing it with their swords. The lizard roared and rolled over like a dog, causing several of the Ares campers to become embedded in the ground like cartoon characters.

“Hephaestus cabin fire,” came the voice of Beckendorf, a big guy for his age with a stern face. Behind him was a pair of large cannons that fired two spiked spheres of Celestial Bronze at the same time. They collided with the monster and it fell to its side, groaning in pain as it tried to get to its feet. Beckendorf had two more cannons primed to fire, but the Draco Aionius fired a blast of fire at him. He moved out of the way and the ball of fire exploded almost harmlessly against the steel walls of the Hephaestus Cabin. During the confusion, the Draco Aionius ran off toward Half-Blood Hill, pushing its way through the magical borders of the camp.

“So it got away,” Sherman complained as he pulled himself from the ground. “Damage report!”

“The Arts & Crafts cabin is toast. We’re going to need to make repairs, but that can wait. Most of the other cabins are intact and the fires have been put out,” one of his half-brothers reported.

“And where did it come from?” Sherman asked.

“The North-West border,” the camper reported back. That was where Rosemary and I were supposed to be patrolling. On pure instinct, I started running for the woods. I ignored the orders and calls of people telling me to wait and kept going. As I got to the spot, I saw Rosemary leaning against a tree.

“Hey, you made it finally,” she said as she saw me running. I saw her smile as the sunlight illuminated her eyes, making her look perfect. I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding and began walking toward her at a slower pace.

“Well I couldn’t keep a beautiful lady waiting,” I replied, shrugging my shoulders.

“You always know…” Rose began, but let out a small cough. “…know just what to say.”

“Are you ok,” I asked as I noticed her taking in deeper breaths. As I took another step closer, I saw the red that stained the front of her dress. “Oh gods, you’re bleeding Rose. Hold on, I’ll go get a healer from Apollo’s cabin.”

“Wait, don’t go!” she ordered and I stopped. The stern look she gave me soon faded into another smile, this one not as bright as the ones I was used to. Rosemary then turned and pulled something from behind the tree she was leaning against. It was a small pot filled with soil and a small bud was popping out just enough for it to see the sun. “I wanted you to be the first to see it. It is a gift for all the times you encouraged me.”

“No Rose, you’re the one that is always trying to keep me on track,” I told her. I could feel the tears forming in my eyes, but I did my best to hold them back.

“Listen, I know you aren’t the best at keeping to schedules or being on time,” Rosemary coughed again, with some blood dripping onto her lips and on the back of her hand as she whipped it off. She then lifted the pot toward me shakily and I pulled it from her hands, or else I feared she would drop it. “But it needs to be watered twice a day to keep it healthy. You think you can remember that?”

“Sure I will. It will be the most beautiful flower you’ve ever seen,” I told her and forced a smile to my face. “Even I can keep a plant alive.”

“That’s good; I know it is in good hands. Now I just need to rest for a little while,” Rosemary sighed as she leaned back and closed her eyes.

“Hey Rose?” I called to her. “When the Fourth of July comes around, would you go see the fireworks with me?”

“Of course Tylor, I think that would be nice,” she said and I saw her smile for the last time and a tear rolled down her cheek. Then, she was gone.

I carried her back to the camp and saw the destruction the Draco Aionius had caused. The camp looked fine for the most part, but several of Apollo’s children were running around trying their best to heal the wounded. Kids were being carried into the Big House for medical attention.

“This is my fault,” I told myself as I looked at the destruction. Rosemary once told me that procrastination wasn’t a fatal flaw, and in a way she was right. It hadn’t caused my death, but it had lead to all this. Because I put things off, I didn’t meet Rosemary on time and she went on patrol by herself. It wasn’t her fault and yet she paid the price.

That night we burned her shroud in the amphitheater. I got more than a few angry looks from the other campers, but I deserved every set of eyes I got. I headed back to my cabin that night and looked at the plant on the end table next to my bed. I took some water from the cabin sink and poured it into the pot. I got into my bed and watched the plant as I fell asleep.

Some time later…

I wish I could say that I changed overnight, but it is hard to change a person. I still hand in reports that are only halfway coherent and a lot of the time I wake up late. However, there is still one thing I’m always on time for and that is a start. When I wake up, I water my budding plant and I do it again before dinner. Once the Golden Fleece was brought to Camp Half-Blood, all the plants in the area began to bloom to life and mine was no exception. In fact I was sure I could never help the plant grow as much as the Golden Fleece did, but it didn’t make me feel bad. I did my part and I kept the plant alive and will continue doing so until I couldn’t anymore.