Chapter 1
1st Chapter Summary: Order's strikes become deadlier and larger. With their leader badly injured, one Champion dead, another MIA, can the final Champion survive much longer?
A/N: Guess who? That's right! It's yo boy J back on the track!
lol that was fun, hope you like this new chapter in the sequel to The Fallen Legacy, numero dos in Champions of the gods (I refuse to capitalize that) and its going to be epic! Let's get it started with a disclaimer. P.S- I think I'm gonna focus on Percy more, and take a break from Ace
DISCLAIMER: C-3PO, say my disclaimer again. "I'm sick of the disclaimer, someone else do it" Anyone? You know what? Im rebelling. A new age and a new story with no Disclaimer!
*lawsuits come flying in at me*
Captain, we're taking heavy fire. We need to order a retreat!
Never, lieutenant. We must stand strong.
*lawsuit hits my legs and they disappear into dollar signs*
Order the retreat!
IdonotownthecharactersandseriesinthisstoryexcepttheonesimadeupandiamnotRickRiordanandidontowntheotherbrands.
IdonotownthecharactersandseriesinthisstoryexcepttheonesimadeupandiamnotRickRiordanandidontowntheotherbrands. IdonotownthecharactersandseriesinthisstoryexcepttheonesimadeupandiamnotRickRiordanandidontowntheotherbrands.
IdonotownthecharactersandseriesinthisstoryexcepttheonesimadeupandiamnotRickRiordanandidontowntheotherbrands.
We may have lost this battle, but we WILL win the disclaimer war (Continued in next chapter)
The Fall of the Champions
Prologue-
Percy POV
"-Styx?" I finished. Chaos, Apollo, Zoe, and Beckendorf had gotten back from the Olympian Gold Storage. There was a golden automaton with them that sounded like Ace. "Don't have a cow, man", the automaton said. "It's me" "What is this thing?" I asked. "I put Ace's consciousness in an automaton", Beckendorf said like it was completely normal. "What if he dies?" someone asked. "We're not sure how the automaton will react if that happens", Beckendorf stated. I used the wind to push the automaton's-Ace's-legs out from under him. "First day on your new feet?" I asked and we all laughed. Suddenly I felt a shock from inside my brain. "Ow!" I yelled. My head ached like a migraine. Ace laughed. His mechanical laugh sounded like someone was coughing out their last breaths. "I tried to send you a mental message, apparently it doesn't work with a robot body", Ace said. "So, what've you guys been doing?" "We were trying to clean up this place for Christmas, but we got attacked...again...and again", Lee said. "We've been attacked like six times in the past few days. Where's their Christmas spirit?" "Well, we can celebrate now. Did anyone have time to buy presents?" I asked. Chaos spoke up. "I think you should follow me". We all followed him to a large room with a tree in the middle. There were boxes of various sizes with different wrapping papers. It was obvious which one was for which person. I walked over an picked up a blue box. "This one mine?" I asked Chaos. "I think it should be easy to figure it out" Chaos said and disappeared. I drew Riptide and cut the box open. Inside was a large wooded area. I stepped inside and saw everyone else was here too. Chaos appeared. "Welcome to the new training arena I've been working on. It can become any environment for training purposes. It attaches itself to a different person's commands every day, so everyone gets to pick a different arena every day", Chaos explained. "Wow, this is awesome. Who picks it today?" Ace asked. "Perseus chooses today", Chaos answered. "Capture the flag, Mount Olympus, blue flag is at the elevator, red flag is at Zeus' throne", I decided. Suddenly everything changes around us, objects moving and shrinking, shapes forming, colors fading. We were standing in a perfect recreation of Mount Olympus. "Begin training sequence", a voice said and a blue orb appeared over me. A red orb moved over above Nico. "I pick Lee!" I said before Nico could say anything. A smaller blue orb appeared over Lee. "I pick Zoe", Nico said. Zoe suddenly had a smaller red orb. When we were done picking teams, I had Lee, Thalia, Ace, and Reyna. Nico had Zoe, Bianca, Medea, and Beckendorf. "Two rules! Lee can't take the flag, and no teleporting", Nico said. Lee groaned and disappeared in a golden blur toward the elevator. Everyone went to their bases and the game started. Suddenly a blue haze outlined everyone on our team. I could see in Iris-Vision that the other team had that too. "Ok guys, Lee, you stay here, if anyone takes the flag you should catch them pretty easily. Thalia, you go after the flag as a distraction, get in the sky. Reyna, you keep watch for her from the ground. Ace, you come with me, hope this rust bucket you're in can take a sword hit, we're going to get the flag", I said. Thalia looked like she might disagree, but decided against it. I heard a loud conch horn signal the start of the game. "Can you do that electric shock thing again?" I asked quietly. He nodded. I motioned for him to follow and we sprinted to the border line between the territories. It was located in a marketplace. We hid behind a market stall where Zoe and Nico were guarding the border, which means that Bianca is most likely at the flag, and Beckendorf and Medea are going after our flag. Or maybe that's what they want us to think. "Get behind Zoe, then send Nico a shock", I whispered. We sneaked (it's a word) over to Zoe and Nico suddenly grabbed his head and winced in pain. Zoe looked his way and I opened a small portion of the golden floor behind her, then dropped her into it, slowing her before she hit the bottom as not to make a noise, and closed the hole, leaving several air vents. I used the Mist to make another Zoe, something I had never tried before, but as long as Nico doesn't look too closely it should work. "Ace, rush him. I'm going to fly over the other side and sneak up on him", I said. "I hope this thing can take a hit", he said before sprinting out from behind the stall. I flew into the air and landed behind Nico as he drew his sword and smacked Ace with it. The automaton's metal skin buckled but before the entire limb could bend it stopped. It must have some sort of internal skeleton. I grabbed Nico from behind and threw him as far as I could, using the wind to boost him away. "Ahhhhh", his scream faded as he sailed through the sky. "Let's move Rusty", I said and we sprinted across the border. I created a fake Nico, but then I heard something behind me and turned around. I saw Medea running with the flag, ice covering the ground and causing her to move faster on her...ice skates? Lee was nowhere to be seen. "Oh Styx, they must have stopped Lee. I'll handle this", I told Ace and sent a wave of water at Medea. It froze in midair, providing a shield for her to hide behind. I blasted several holes in it with fireballs and ran over towards her. Ice covered the ground causing me to slip, but I summoned a wave to ride over the ice. The water froze around me, holding me in place. I tried to melt it, but it was too cold to summon a fireball. Just as Medea was about to cross the border, the flag disappeared from her hand in a golden blur and then someone crashed into her and then me at light speed. I felt most if not all of my ribs crack and my lungs collapse. Good, I'm not hurt badly. I could feel myself automatically healing and Lee stood up difficultly, favoring his right leg. "I think I broke my ankle on that ice, but I got the flag", he said and handed me the flag. I healed him. I looked over and saw Medea had gone flying across Mount Olympus. When Lee had crashed into her, made her fly away, then crashed into me, it was like a pinball game. But with more pain. Painball? Stop, you need to focus, I told myself. I pulled myself out of the mostly destroyed ice and flew towards the throne room of Mount Olympus. Bianca was guarding the flag. I used the wind to pick her up so I could fly under her, grab the flag, and head back, but at that exact moment Thalia crashed into her, knocking her downward onto me, and impaling me on the flag pole. More painball, haha. I got up with the flag still poking out both ends of me, and began flying toward the border. The flagpole coming out of my stomach made it a little hard to fly efficiently, but I suffered through it and landed next to the border, seeing my fake versions of Nico and Zoe were still there. I walked toward the border in slow motion. Suddenly Nico charged at me. He must have flown back pretty quickly. I spun sideways, hitting him in the side with the flagpole and knocking him over. That was probably the most painful thing I've ever done. I'd prefer Kronos' sword to that. Probably. I continued my slow-motion march toward the border when suddenly Beckendorf jumped out of the ground in front of me and hit the flagpole with a hammer, sending it flying out of me and landing on the ground before me. I hope that thing didn't take anything important out of me with it. Beckendorf spun his hammer, Thor-style. I hit him with a blast of lightning and laughed, then used the wind to bring the flag toward me. I continued my slow-motion march to victory yet again. I turned around, looking back towards the Red Team territory and started moonwalking backward toward the border line. I noticed Nico had gotten up and was standing next to my Mistform Zoe. He opened the ground and I started moonwalking faster. Zoe appeared out of the bow, string drawn back, and I noticed in Iris-Vision that the flag was six feet from the border. I raised it above my hand as fast as I could, gripping it tightly. I used my Champion powers to make myself 20 feet tall like the gods, and the rubber-tipped arrow hit me in the forehead, cracking the bone. It healed as I fell backward, the flag in my hands, and as I fell I saw Thalia floating in the air with a Mistform flag. Zoe must have been aiming for her, thinking I had a fake flag. I hit the ground and the end of the flagpole slammed into the golden ground, cracking down the middle. I shrunk to my normal size. The flag was on our side. We had won. I stood up after my head had healed. "Where is everyone?" I asked. Zoe, Nico, Beckendorf, Thalia, and Reyna were here. I could see Bianca and Medea helping Lee back here. So where had Ace gone? "Guys, where did Ace go?" I asked. "I haven't seen him since he got his arm dented". We found Ace standing motionless, not moving whatsoever. "Ace?" I asked. "I can't move", he said. "Did you forgot to charge your body?" I asked jokingly. "It shouldn't need to be charged it's solar and lunar powered", Beckendorf said, looking at the sun above Mount Olympus. "Wait, are we indoors right now?" I asked Chaos. A voice came from a hidden speaker, saying, "This is indoors, underground to be exact. You should probably go outside". I picked Ace up and flashed outside, then set him down in a sunny area. "Be sure to get lots of Vitamin D to charge your motor", I said. "Hah, hah, it's so funny, at least I can do this", he said and shocked my head again. "Whatever", I said and walked inside the castle. Beckendorf walked past me, saying something about needing a new motor. 'Hey Percy, Chaos wants us to come to some sort of meeting', I heard Thalia say in my mind. 'Where?' I asked. 'It's in the room where the Christmas tree is'. In that room, there was a large round table, with Chaos siting in a large chair at the head. At least, I think it was the head, but the table was round, so who knows. I sat down. Thalia, Nico, Lee, Bianca, Tommy, and Medea were also here. "I have called you all here today to discuss how we plan to defeat Order. We need a strategy or master plan, so we can destroy her before more demigods join her side. A new Warrior just joined the ranks today. We don't have much information. We do know that it's a male demigod, bit that's it. I was thinking we could plan a recon mission, to see what kind of powers this new Warrior has", Chaos said. We all waited for him to say more. "That's as far as I got", Chaos said sheepishly. We laughed and I thought of something. "I have an idea. We need a replica of Order's base, so we can plan this out", I suggested. "Good, we can use the training room. The table disappeared into the floor and there was a black circle in its place. We jumped in and there was an exact replica of Order's base, down to the automatons designed to match the Warriors and the other soldiers. "We enter not through the roof, like last time, but through the ground. We'll surface here", I said, creating a small fireball over the spot near the dungeon. "We can check and see if there's anyone in the dungeon to rescue. Then, we'll head back underground, and we can chisel a little hole in the floor of the Warrior barracks. There, we can see who comes in and out. Once this mystery demigod enters, we can shoot up through the floor and grab him, fix the floor, and be out of there", I said. "There's one problem. What if someone sees us?" Thalia asked. "That's why we need a distraction. We can cause several small controlled cave-ins around the area, and maybe send a few decoy people in through there", Nico suggested. "I could burn down some buildings!", Tommy suggested happily. "Maybe", I said, pretending to think it over. "Who's going to help us underground? We need somebody who knows what they're doing under the surface", Nico said. "And I know just where we can find them"
Camp Jupiter
December 26th
Afternoon
Percy POV
I could've flashed from our secret bigger-on-the-inside base underneath the Hollywood sign to Camp Jupiter in San Francisco. That would've been easier. But my life is not supposed to be easy. So we flashed everyone else there, flashed back to our base, and then raced to Camp Jupiter, soaring through the sky, wind beneath our wings, bugs getting stuck in our teeth. OK, this wasn't as much fun as I thought it would be. I flashed to Camp Jupiter to see a massive attack taking place. Thousands of monsters, including my old 'friend' the Minotaur, were attacking the city. The demigods were barely holding them off with their onagers. Jason and Piper were floating above the battle on pegasi, commanding their troops. I flew up there to meet them. Jason looked at me and gasped, then fell sideways off his pegasi. He caught himself and drew his sword. I remembered again that I still had my hood nd armor on. I pulled back the hood of my cloak, just as a lightning bolt hit me in the face. I backflipped toward the ground, electricity crackling around me. I flew back up to Jason, who had recognized me and was putting his sword away. "How do you do that?" I asked. He looked at me and raised an eyebrow. "Summon lightning? It's kinda my thing", he said. "No, I mean have a powerful bolts. Whenever anybody but Thalia tries to summon lightning, its kind of weak and doesn't last long", I said. "Oh, well the trick is, you have to not just fire one bolt, but make several and bind them together. That's what makes it sting so much", he explained. "If you guys are done, we have a battle to fight here", Piper interrupted. "Oh this thing? This is easy", I said. I tried the new lightning bolt method Jason had told me, binding several lightning bolts into one. It hit a large cluster of Cyclopes and disintegrated them. I tried to make another one but I couldn't get enough electricity to power a lightbulb. "Thats why you run out of lightning so quickly. You use too much with the big blast", I told Jason as I drowned a wave of hellhounds with a wave. "Thanks for the tip!" he exclaimed back to me as he fried a gorgon with a smaller lightning bolt. I flashed down to the battle between a demigod and a skeletal warrior with a sword. The sword hit my armor and broke halfway. I drew Riptide, thankful that Zoe had remembered to give it back to me, and killed the skeleton easily. I heard a roar behind me and saw the Minotaur walking around and swatting demigods away angrily. This should be fun. I ran toward the Minotaur, raising my sword. He looked at me and growled angrily. I faked a stab and leapt into the air, landing on the Minotaurs head. He tried to buck me off, but I held on and jammed my sword into the top of his head. The Minotaur howled in pain and disintegrated. When their leader fell, most of the monsters realized they were done for. I noticed a drakon at the back of the crowd. I flashed over to it and stabbed it's head. I ran backward down its back, cutting it open. The drakon roared and flopped over. It turned into a large pile of golden dust. I flew back up into the air and surveyed the battlefield. There were several straggling groups, but most of the monsters had been defeated. I flew back over to Jason and Piper. "Where's Hazel?" I asked him. "I think she's down there somewhere with the Fifth", Jason said. I noticed the Fifth Cohort taking care of one of the last patches of Cyclopes. I flew down there, remembering to keep my helmet off. Hazel was riding a horse, and I saw an elephant that was probably Frank stomping on some monsters. "Hazel!" I called. She turned her horse around and rode over to me, sliding off her mount. "Hello Percy, what brings you to New Rome?" she asked. "We need someone to guide us underground, and possibly cause a few cave ins in a big cave", I said. I briefed her on the mission as we walked back into the city. "So can you help us?" I asked. "Probably, I don't know if I can get Jason to let me leave. We've been getting these attacks frequently, I know now it's because of Order", Hazel answered. She walked into the praetor's office. She walked outside several minutes later. Her face was red. "I can go", she said. "What's wrong?" I asked. "Jason and Piper were a little...busy when I got in there", she said sheepishly. "How bad was it?" I asked, knowing from experience how they were. "How can you kiss somebody for that long? Don't you need to breathe?" Hazel asked. "They didn't even notice when I came in until I said something". I laughed. "Let's get going, we're already running late", I told Hazel. I reached my hand out. She grabbed on and we reappeared in Dallas. The other Champions were also here. "Ok, you sense anything underneath us? We need to go around it", I asked Hazel. She put her hand to the ground and started walking. We followed her until she stopped. "Here. There's a natural cave that winds down under this place you're headed to", she said. Hazel opened the ground and we descended. We continued walking downward until Hazel stopped us. "We need to turn here, be careful not to dig upward". She motioned toward a narrow branch of the cave and it stretched out slightly. We crawled through the cramped tunnel. I closed my eyes and tried to test Iris-Vision underground. I zoomed in and was shocked to see I could look under buildings and saw that we were under Order's throne room. "Surface here", I said. Hazel looked at me questioningly. "This is where the dungeon is, or at least near it. That's where we're starting out", I said. 'Nico, can we get that distraction now?', I asked mentally. Hazel gasped. "We need to get out of here, there was just a huge cave-in near here", Hazel said urgently. "That's our distraction", I said. I opened up the roof of the tunnel to see the artificial sky of Order's base. I climbed out, followed by Thalia. According to Ace, the trapdoor was under Order's throne. I opened it and saw an empty room with spiky walls. "Nobody here, let's get back underground", I whispered to Thalia. We tunneled under the barracks and opened a small hole in the floor. The Warriors were running through the place, but we could only see their shoes. I punched a hole through the floor and jumped into the barracks as the last one was leaving. They turned around. It was a male demigod, with long dark brown hair, too long for a dude, in my opinion, and gold eyes. He reminded me of someone. As I tried to grab him, I slowed down. He stepped out of the way at a normal speed. I tried to turn in midair but I couldn't reach fast enough. Time was slowing down for me. I realized who he reminded me of. Kronos. 'Guys, the new demititan is a son of Kronos', I mentally told Thalia and Nico. The demigod walked out of the barracks easily. I felt the time magic breaking and took off after him. Thalia followed me, sticking to the shadows. Kronos Jr. froze me in place but didn't see Thalia. She slammed her dagger hilt onto his head hard, causing him to slump to the ground, unconscious. "Let's go!" Thalia said and grabbed Kronos Jr's arm and flashed out. I ran back to the barracks and leapt into the hole to see Hazel still there. "Let's go, now!" I said and was about to flash is out when she yelled at me to stop. "You could disturb the cave and cause a sinkhole, you'll bury Nico and the others", she said. "The best thing to do is just get out of here and find them, without causing any more-" she was cut off as another cave in crushed the barracks above us. Boulders and debris rained down toward us. I shoved Hazel out of the way as the debris buried me. Dirt and gravel filled my mouth and nose. I struggled to breathe but it just made things worse. I couldn't flash out or this whole place would collapse. 'Nico, need help. Buried in barracks cave in', I sent mentally before I fell unconscious.
I woke up when I felt the boulders being lifted off of me. Nico was picking up the debris and moving it away as fast as he could. "Good, you're up. Why don't you get yourself out of here before we end up dead. Everybody else was already shadow traveled out", Nico said. I pushed a boulder off of my shattered leg. "That's not good", I said. I waited for it to heal, but it didn't. "My legs not healing". Nico shoved a pile of rocks off of my arm. "That's most of the debris, see if you can stand on your other leg. I tried to move but I couldn't. "I can't move". "Well, that would definitely keep you from getting up", Nico said. "Thanks for that completely new information, Einstein", I said. Nico was about to help me up when the ground shook and another boulder fell into the hole, landing on my slightly better leg. I felt the bones shatter loudly. "Is there as Greek god of anesthesia? Cause I could really use that power right now", I said. "Maybe Hypnos?" Nico suggested as he struggled to move the boulder away. Thankfully, Hypnos powers actually worked pretty well, and I felt a numb feeling filling up my limbs and chest. "Hey, it worked!" I said. "Actually, that was me. I gave you a shot of morphine", he said apologetically. "Where did you get that? I wondered. "I know a guy", Nico said and rolled the boulder off of me, finally. "I can't shadow travel anymore, too drained. We're gonna have to fly out of here", he said. I stretched out my wings and realized they were the last part of my body that worked properly. It wouldn't be fun, but I could probably fly somewhere and then flash out. "Wait, why can't we just flash out? If there's a cave-in here, none of us are gonna get hurt, so what does it matter?", I asked, beginning to feel light headed and dizzy. "I wouldn't want to try to teleport you in your condition. Then again, flying wouldn't be good either", Nico pondered. "Our best bet would be to get someone else and carry you. I can't flash out and leave you here though, or this place could cave in, and if Thalia flashes in the same thing could happen". I suddenly had an idea, somehow my mind working even though it was half unconscious. "Tell Thalia to flash somewhere near here and bring Medea. They'll fly the rest of the way in, then you guys can freeze me and fly out of here", I slurred. Nico nodded, so I think he understood me okay. Several minutes later Thalia and Medea were peering in from the top of the hole. "Good, you're finally here, took you long enough". "Chill out, Percy", Medea said and a blast of ice hit me, freezing a layer of ice around me. It didn't feel very cold, just kind of wet. Thalia and Nico picked me up and we flew out of the hole. "Once we're clear you can flash out!" Nico called down to Medea. We floated up in the air and I heard the rumble of the cavern collapsing in on itself. We couldn't fly very quickly, trying to tow me, so it took several hours to make it back to...where were we going? We were at the coast of-somewhere. There was an island floating in the distance. We flew towards the island. 'Hey, where we going?' I asked. 'They're meeting us at the coast, you knew how long it would take to fly to California lugging you around?' Thalia answered. The ice on my fingers was melting quickly. They threw me down to the island and we landed, then slid me to the portal. "Hang on, Percy!" Nico yelled and shoved me through the portal. I landed and the ice immediately thawed. Apollo immediately rushed over to me and gave me some nectar and ambrosia. I felt some of my minor wounds heal, but I still couldn't move. "I can't move, Apollo", I said. "I think you broke your spine. Multiple times. It'll heal, but not for a long time, you're gonna be stuck in bed for a long time", Apollo said and snapped his fingers. I was suddenly in my bed, metal braces wrapping my legs, arms and back. Ace walked over to check on me. "What happened to you? You look like you were run over by a truck. Twice", he commented. "Thanks", I said sarcastically and created a bubble of water, washing my face with it. "This isn't good. We have one Champion incapacitated and another...whatever you are", I told Ace. "Most of our campers are injured in one way or another, some badly. Who's next?". Ace appeared to contemplate this for a moment. An another moment. "Ace?" He didn't respond. "Hey! Guys!"I yelled. Nico flashed in. "Ace isn't responding. I think something's wrong", I said. "I'll get Beckendorf and Apollo", Nico said.
Morning, December 27th
Camp Champion Island
Nico POV
I flashed to the island. Beckendorf was guarding the portal. "Beckendorf, Ace's robot thing stopped working again, he's not responding", I told him. "It's probably something wrong with his body, the automatons fine. He should be in the Olympian Gold Storage, under Hades, palace", Beckendorf pointed out. "Let's go", I grabbed his arm and flashed to the Gold Storage. Order was waiting with Luke and Clarrise. I guessed that Annabeth and Lucas weren't far behind. That must be why they didn't fight us off at the base. I grabbed Beckendorf and flashed him out. Clarisse raised a crossbow with a barbed Celestial Bronze arrow that glowed faintly. The arrow hit me in the shoulder, and the shaft disintegrated, but the tip stayed in. It was to keep me from flashing out. Clever. Ace's body was on the floor, a dart sending poison into him. "That poison should wake him up, and the magic from that dagger will finish its job. It also should be excruciatingly painful for him", Order explained cruelly. "What do you want with me?" I asked. "Simple. We're going to kill you", Luke said and drew his sword. It was a replica of Backbiter, except this one had half a Celestial Bronze, and half blue rune metal. He charged me, slashing diagonally from the air. I drew my sword with my good arm and blocked his strike, barely. I dove sideways and tried to pull the arrowhead out of my shoulder. Luke's sword hit me in the back, cutting me as I remembered I hadn't put my armor on. I felt the magic starting to work its way through me. I put on my armor and turned around, before remembering Celestial Bronze is a precious metal. 'I have Hazel's powers, too, thanks to Chaos and Order', I thought and pulled it out. I was about to flash out when Luke's sword slammed into my stomach, piercing my armor and stabbing through me. "This is the first time I've been stabbed before. Usually it's Percy or sometimes Ace who gets stabbed with things. It's not as bad as I thought it would be", I blurted out randomly. "It won't be the last", Luke said as I toppled to the floor, unconscious. The last thing I saw was Ace's eyes opening breiefly before he started dying from the magic of Will's dagger all that time ago.
Ace POV
I felt my mind rush back into my body as the dart broke my skin. I was in a room with glass walls, surrounding by bubbling, acidic green liquid. There was a small crack in the wall. It ever so slowly grew until the crack widened and drops of acid began dropping in. I floated up in the air, trying to avoid the flow of poison. It slowly filled the glass box, burning me alive until...suddenly I woke up. I felt the deadly magic from the dagger spreading through my body, killing me again. I flashed to the castle, hoping someone could find me and help me before it was too late. My vision was darkening. I saw a shape above me, and someone holding my hand. I somehow knew it was Thalia. "...sorry...goodbye...", I whispered hoarsely. It started at my feet. I began feeling my body fade away. My vision was almost completely gone now. I thought of Eve, who I hadn't seen in days. I thought of my mother, who had died when monsters had raided my home. I thought of Percy and Tyson, my brothers, and my father Poseidon. And I thought of Thalia, who had always been there. She was there when I had first come to Camp Half-Blood, and she was there when I died, all three times. I couldn't help but wonder if all this time, we could have been together, if I had the courage to say something about my feelings. Everything I had done in my life ran through me, and I wondered what would happen when this was over. Would I reform slowly in Tartarus, alongside Kronos and Medusa and the other monsters and Titans we had killed, or would I travel to the Underworld and be judged. I didn't have any doubt that I would make Elysium, since after all, I had given up my life to save Thalia. But did I only do that because I wanted her to like me? Or was it a completely selfless sacrifice? I hoped either one would be acceptable. And the scariest thing...what if there was nothing after this? What if that magic doomed my soul permanently, or what if I lay trapped in some sort of Limbo forever? I knew whatever I faced, I would face it head on, and I would not back down, because that was my fatal flaw. I now realized that my fatal flaw was bravery, diving headfirst into danger just assuming I would make it out okay. If I have another chance, I hope I can fix that. I'm comforted in knowing that if I do go to Tartarus, I've brought a lot of monsters, Titans, and whatever else wants to fight me along with me. My visions completely gone, and I can't feel anything except my head. I opened my mouth to try to say something, some sort of profound last words, but I couldn't speak. Hoping our empathy link was still intact, I said to all of the Champions, 'Goodbye, guys. I'll never be able to thank you enough for everything you've done for me. I hope that wherever I end up after this, that someday I'll see you again on the other side'. 'Don't worry Ace. With Orders constant attacks, we'll be there soon enough', Percy replied grimly. 'Nico, where am I going?' I asked. 'I...I don't know...if you're going anywhere. I've never seen anything like those runes. We'll do anything we can to find out, and get you back. You have our word'. 'Thalia..I don't know what to say, except...I wish we had more time together, but in a way, I don't , because then I might not have had the courage to tell you what I'm about to say. Ever since that day at training, when we were flying, I knew...I don't know how to say this'. 'It's okay, I think I know what you mean, and I...You probably know', she said. I wished more than ever that I could survive. I felt the magic finish its path, ending my life, and everything stopped.
End of Prologue
Chapter 1 of The Fall of the Champions.
The Final Champion
Nico POV
I woke up in a prison cell, Celestial Bronze bands around my arms and legs. I could move freely, except for the gaping wound in my back and stab wound in my stomach slowly killing me. When I got Ace's message, I just couldn't tell him that I would be joining him shortly. I laid on the ground, miserable with pain, for hours, before I decided to try to escape. Only then would I have a chance at living. I checked Iris-Vision to see I was underneath...Stonehenge? Wow. I debated whether to call for help. Ace dead, Percy paralyzed and bedridden, I couldn't ask Thalia to come help me now. The living wouldn't be helping me now...I tried to summon a skeletal bird. It flew over next to the bars in my cell. I tried to figure out a way to make a message. I tried to summon some sort of prescious metal, and there was a loud rumbling sound. I think I broke Stonehenge. The bars of my cell buckled. I stepped out to see the place was deserted. Perfect. I limped down a hallway and to a set of stairs, I climbed to the top, which took several agonizing minutes. As I reached the top, a door swung open and hit me, knocking me backwards down the stairs. "Going down?" Luke asked. I rolled down the stairs, breaking several ribs and my left ankle. Luke flashed down the stairs and kicked me in the neck while I was down. I couldn't breathe. Every inch of my body was screaming with pain. I tried to summon a skeleton, but I couldn't get anything. "It was very nice of you, freeing me from Elysium. Order had already planned for that to happen. She planned all of this out". He kicked me again, this time in the back. "Order gave us computers, set our Facebook accounts up, event sent Ace some dreams to convince him to let them out of Elysium. She got you to leave the doors open and let the Giants out, she sent Will to sabotage the missile, she helped Tartarus beat down Percy to take out both of them, she even told Lucas about Camp Half-Blood, knowing he would destroy everything for Percy there, and it would make it easier to take you down, the one thing she didn't expect was Chaos showing up and trying to recruit them when she did. Thankfully, new recruits started showing up, Medea, then Kron, before you captured him", he said. 'Kronos Junior's name is Kron, use that to your advantage. Also, Order planned for everything that's happened up until we joined Chaos', I told Thalia, who was interrogating him. I almost felt bad for him. Luke pulled me up and tossed me through the pane-glass window next to us. I fell several feet before spreading my wings and taking off. I got a good distance away before a ballistae shot me down. I dove I to the ground, dislocating my shoulder. Luke appeared next to me. "You shouldn't have done that", he said. He slammed his sword downward, but I raised my arms and he cut the bands off my arms. My arms were cut badly, but it was worth it. I pulled the bands around my legs off and was about to flash out when an arrow hit me in the back. Celestial Bronze. Luke punched me in the face, knocking my head backwards. "Aren't you just a nice little prisoner. We'll upgrade you to a first class room. Max security", he said and flashed me to a padded room with a door in the ceiling. I tried to reach the door, but it was too high up. I could fly, but in my condition that wouldn't be a good idea. I decided to rest for a while and get my strength back.
Thalia POV
I was interrogating Kronos Jr. when I heard something in the castle. I closed the lock and flashed up there. Ace was lying in the ground, the dagger wound in his chest starting to run its course again. I had no idea where Medea was, and it was probably too late to freeze him. I ran over to his side and grasped his hand. "Ace? Can you hear me? Are you still there?" He apologized and said goodbye, and I thought we had lost him. Several minutes later I got a mental message from him, and soon after he began disintegrating. I held his hand until it disintegrated, weeping. All that was left was a silver sword that glowed faintly. I picked it up. It suddenly changed into an axe. Then a dagger. Then a shield. I tried to change it back into a dagger and surprisingly it worked. I took my armor off and suddenly my single dagger sheath transformed into a black leather double sheath. My dagger from Chaos and Order was in one side. I put Ace's dagger carefully in the other side. I turned my bow that was on my back into necklace form and put it on my neck. I began to walk back to the dungeon and put my armor on. 'What the Styx?' I wondered as instead of my normal Champion armor, a black hood appeared over my head and thin, light armor spread over my body. I checked my reflection in a dagger briefly and realized this armor was much better than the older version. I checked and noticed the wrist blades Leo had designed were still there. This was the kind of armor I had always wanted. But what had created it? I drew my daggers and walked forward to the dungeon quickly, my footsteps not making a single sound despite the armor upgrade had given me black boots. I walked into the room and The prisoners eye's widened when he saw me. Guess this stuff looks pretty scary. "I'm in a very bad mood right now, as someone very important to me just died for the third time", I said, suddenly I got a mental message from Nico. "All three times it was from something Order planned. So if you don't tell me everything right now, Kron, were both going to be very unhappy", I said, my voice deathly cold. He see,Ed very scared that I knew his name. "Okay, so you know my name already, I'm a Son of Kronos. Order must have known my dad, because only he knew the place where I hid and trained, at Camp Othrys. I-" I cut him off. "What is Camp Othrys?" I asked sharply. "It's like Camp Half-Blood, but not nearly as big. It's full of children of Titans and gods and goddesses that sided with Kronos and Gaea in the wars", he said. 'There's another camp', I told Nico and Percy. 'Another? That's like four now', Percy said. 'Its Camp Othrys, demititans, kids that's parents sided with Kronos in the war', I said. "Where is it?" I asked Kron. "It's underground, hidden under Chicago", he said. Chicago. That's where Lee was found. "Since you've cooperated, I'm not going to kill you", I said and flashed out. Percy was in his bed, still immobile from the cave-in in Dallas. "The other camp is in Chicago, or under it, to be exact", I told him. "That's where we found Lee. I bet he knows something about this", Percy said. "I'll ask him", I said. I looked around, trying to find him. I noticed Medea leaving the dungeon. "Any info?" I asked her. "Nothing, only you scare him enough to get any information", Medea answered. "Have you seen Lee?" I asked her. "I think he's training with Bianca, Zoe, and Reyna. Apparently a 'stupid male' has no chance in beating two Hunters and a former Amazon, no matter how fast he is. I like the new armor, by the way, you look dangerous. You'll have to get me some of those", Medea answered. She left quickly. I found Lee after leaving the training arena. "Lee. We need to talk. Alone", I said, my voice flat. Zoe and Bianca left, and Lee looked worried. "Two words. Camp Othrys", I said. Lee flinched like he'd been punched. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. I thought that if you knew I had been there, you would never let me in your camp", he told me apologetically. "Can you find an entrance? That place could hold many potential recruits, and we need them to fight off Order. I can't do it alone", I said. "What about the others?" he asked. "Percy's immobilized, Nico's been captured, and Ace is d-", I began to say, but at that moment everything came crashing down on me. I collapsed to the ground and sobs racked my body as I cried uncontrollably. Percy was temporarily paralyzed, an easy kill, Nico was captured and could die any second. Ace was already gone. Gone. I would never see him again, because he died saving me. That dagger was meant for me. Even to the end he was brave and loyal, and it cost him his life. Lee sat down next to me and placed his hand on my shoulder. I don't know how long I sat there before I realized I was making a fool of myself, and that wouldn't make anything better. I stood up and wiped my eyes. "We can't just leave him behind Thalia. I know we have things to do and this will be hard for you, but we can't forget him", Lee said quietly. I knew he was right. "Okay. First, we rescue Nico. Then, we'll deal with that", I said. 'Percy, how did Apollo say you were doing?' I asked him. 'Should be able to move my arms, but I'll need a wheelchair because I'm still paralyzed from the waist down and my left leg is still shattered, and my right leg is only a little bit better. My arms won't be very strong though, they did get crushed by boulders yesterday', Percy said. Gods, was that really just yesterday? 'I'm getting Nico tomorrow, we'll take care of the situation with Camp Othrys, and on New Year's Eve we'll have a memorial service for Ace. I have something special planned for him', I said. 'Did he leave anything behind?' Percy asked. 'His silver sword, I think it was called Typhoon. I'm sorry, I should have given it to you', I told Percy. 'No. You keep it. Did it do anything?' he replied. 'It turned into a few things before turning into a dagger. And...my armor changed into some sort of assassin outfit', I said. 'I wonder...bodies leave things behind as an inheritance, like a Minotaur horn or Medusa's head. Maybe, he left something in the dagger as am inheritance to you?' Percy wondered out loud. 'I don't know', I said. 'I've got to get the team ready if we're going to help Nico. See you later'. I talked to Nico and found out he was at Stonehenge, or what was left of it. Only Luke was guarding him as far as he could figure out. Luke...that traitorous dirtbag. Nico told me how they had woken Ace from the coma to kill him. I couldn't wait to return the favor. 'Do we still have any of those blue rune weapons?' I asked. Percy told me they were in the armory. I flashed there and picked up one and suddenly my armor changed into a black hood and cape with silver and violet accents, and a matching half-mask, plus a dark, thin chain-mail armor plate stretched over a black zipper jacket with a sleeveless t-shirt under it which I assumed was also black. My arms had silver gauntlets on them for my wrist blades with emblems of a wolf etched into the fabric and strong but light shoulder armor that covered me down my back and chest. I also had a leather belt with several pouches in it for supplies. There were two sheathes on each of my sides, so I could now carry four daggers. Impressive, but where did this come from? 'Nico, Percy, try putting your armor on. I think we got an upgrade', I called out. I didn't get a response from Nico, which worried me, but Percy replied with, 'Come see this now!'. I flashed into his room. He was sitting up in a chair and had the same armor as me but his was navy blue and gold, with some kind of bird emblem, and for whatever reason he had a quiver of arrows on his back, along with two sword sheaths parallel to each other. "Interesting", I said. "This is definitely something Ace did. Do you think everyone gets a last wish, maybe?" Percy wondered. Suddenly Medea and Lee appeared in the room. Medea had a light grey design with a crossed bandolier for her shurikens, and a sword sheath. Lee's armor was bloodred and gold with a cheetah emblem, and he had a specialized wrist blade that had a grappling hook on one side and a crossbow on the other. "What are these?" Medea asked gesturing to the armor upgrade. "Not that I don't like them, of course", she added quickly. "I think this is a last gift from Ace", Percy said. "What?" Medea asked, shocked. She hadn't heard yet.
December 28th
Stonehenge
Nico POV
Thalia told me they were coming to rescue me today, so I began preparing. First, I put my armor on. For some reason I had this crazy ninja costume instead of normal armor, but it was pretty cool, so I'm not complaining. It was a black hood and cloak with a cape, and it had dark grey accents, and the wrist blades had skulls carved on them. I drew my sword and flew up to the door, the wounds in my back and stomach stretching painfully. I jammed my sword into the crack between the door and the ceiling and pried it open. 'You almost here?' I asked Thalia. A hooded figure crashed through a wall and landed next to me. They had a black and violet hood and cape with a half-mask covering most of their face. There were four daggers sheathed in their armor. One was blue rune metal, one was silver with Imperial Gold twisted into it, but it had a curved handle with an amethyst in the hilt, an another was silver with a shimmering glow coming from it, and the last one was a basic Celestial Bronze dagger, old and jagged. They also had a quiver on their back but no bow. "Hey, Nico", they said. Oh, it was just Thalia. "Hey, did you take care of the guards?" I asked. "Yeah, it was just Luke and four spirits, Luke disappeared when he saw us", Thalia said. 'Us?' I wondered. Suddenly two other figures appeared, one grey and one bloodred. Their hoods fell backward to reveal Medea and Lee, respectively. "We don't have much time, Luke will be back soon, with bigger numbers", Thalia said. "Let's move". "I have a bronze slug keeping me from flashing out, can we take care of that?" I asked. "Get rid of the armor, I can do it", Medea said. My armor disappeared. They gasped. "Why didn't you tell us you were hurt?" Medea asked. "Didn't want you to worry, you had enough on your plate", I said. Medea pulled the bronze out of my shoulder and closed the wound in my back using ice, and applied some nectar to the wound in my stomach, healing it slightly. "If we had waited any longer to take care of that, you'd have ended up dead", Medea said. "Why didn't they just kill me to begin with, instead of capturing me?" I wondered out loud. "Because it was a trap", a voice said and Celestial Bronze nets fell down on us. Order appeared along with Luke, Annabeth, Clarisse, Lucas, Nyasa from the Hephaestus cabin, Malcolm from the Athena cabin, and Chris Rodriguez from the Hermes cabin. Seeing them all together made my blood run cold. "Luke. When Ace reforms, he'll come after you first", Thalia threatened. Order laughed. "I didn't tell you? You don't reform when you die from these weapons. Your soul is destroyed". I grabbed the net and tore at it, trying to escape. "I wouldn't do that", another voice said and a cloud appeared with a video stream of Tommy holding a blue dagger to Percy's throat. "Tommy, you worthless traitor", Lee seethed angrily. No way out. "What do you want from us, Order?", Percy asked. "Simple. I want you all dead", Order said. Tommy pulled the knife back, but it went through Percy without making a mark. Percy shimmered and disappeared and Tommy slumped to the ground, Percy standing above him with a sword. The blade was spotless, but the hilt had a gold stain from ichor. "Now!" Percy yelled. I tore the net off and flashed away, then pulled it over Malcolm and Chris' heads with my power over precious metals. I pulled the net downward, trapping them, and then the Champions sprung into action. Lee sped towards Nyasa, knocking her over, then fired a grappling hook around Order. It strapped around her and he pulled her across the ground and out the door at lightspeed. He came back into the room and tossed Order into the floor, leaving the Bronze grappling hook around her, keeping her from teleporting away. Thalia picked up a blue dagger and stabbed at Order, but Luke knocked her away before it hit. She drew another dagger, holding one in hammer grip and the other in ice pick. Luke swung his sword, but she deflected it and stepped behind him. Luke backflipped with his sword, slashing at Thalia, but she sidestepped and slashed his side open with her silver and gold dagger. Something moved toward me from the side and I barely blocked a swing from Lucas' sword. I fought him off, pushing hi, against the wall. Something hit me in the back and suddenly a blue tip was protruding from the right side of my chest. I felt dangerous magic moving through my body from the point of impact. Lucas swung his sword downward and I heard Thalia scream, "NO!" and suddenly Lucas' sword was made of foam. It hit my head and bounced off. The sword tip flew out of my chest and I turned around to see Luke about to stab at me again. Suddenly Luke crumpled to the ground, a blue hilt sticking out of the back of his head. Thalia was standing several feet behind him. I slashed my sword at Lucas, cutting his chest open. Lee, Medea, Thalia, and I regrouped at the wall we had entered through. "That's all of them", I said, coughing ichor. "Hades, Nico, you got stabbed again. Let's get back to base and find Apollo", Thalia said. We flashed into the castle. Percy was downstairs, talking to Chaos. "Good, you're back", Chaos said. "I trust there were no casualties in the battle?" "Luke was killed with a rune dagger, and Lucas was hurt badly with Stygian Iron. I think I know why Ace left this dagger, too", Thalia reported. "He left me his shape changing ability". Chaos nodded his head. "I expected as much, he was very fond of you. I'm sorry for your loss", Chaos said. Apollo appeared. "I heard someone needed help?" Nico tried to step toward him but passed out. Apollo frowned. "That's not good. Multiple stab wounds and it looks like a curse". Apollo flashed him out. "Do you know anything about these daggers?" Thalia asked, handing him the blue dagger she used to kill Luke. Chaos looked at it closely. "This is a cursed blade. It does much more damage to an immortal than usual, but there's nothing special about it", Chaos said. "So, Ace is just reforming. Order lied, then", Thalia said. Chaos looked uncomfortable. I pushed the thought out of my mind and wondered briefly when Ace would reform.
December 31st
Minutes before Midnight
Mount Olympus
Percy POV
Thalia laid Ace's automaton down, pulling it into pieces. She took the head and gave it to Beckendorf, then lit a fuse next to the rest of the body. At exactly midnight, it fired into the air, shattering the automaton into microscopic pieces, creating a firework covering the entire city of New York, and spreading the pieces everywhere. Beckendorf melted the head down and shaped it into a dagger, the two jeweled eyes becoming the hilt, and combining it into blue rune metal. The result was an amazing dagger, beautifully carved and jeweled. Beckendorf cooled it and Thalia sheathed it. 'Ace, if you can hear me, I want you to know we are on our way, and we will avenge you', I sent out mentally.
Epilogue
Unknown Location
Unknown Date
Unknown Time
Ace POV
I can't describe what was happening to me. Everything was black, or white, or red, I couldn't tell. There was another entity similar to me in this place when I got here, and I felt another enter soon after, or maybe a long time later, time was fluid here. I had no idea who was with me, or where I was, just that I was there, and I was me. I couldn't move, or see, or feel, I just existed. Suddenly I felt movement. There was something pulling me away, and gradually I could feel myself becoming alive again. "Welcome back to the world, half-blood", a sinister voice told me. And everything became clear.
A/N: Here we go! A new story, shorter chapters so I can update faster, and lots more sadness and death. Yay! R&R, all!