Percy's POV
Me and the occupants of the Argo II we're currently fighting the Giants with each of the 12 Olympians. The 7 of the Argo II we're fighting each of the Giants with their godly parent. Me and Poseidon against Polybotes. Jason with Jupiter against Porphyrion. Annabeth and Athena battling Encelaudus. Leo and Hephaestus against Mimas. Piper and Aphrodite fighting Periboia. Hazel and Pluto against Alcyoneus. Frank and Mars fighting Hippolytus. The other Olympians who didn't have Giants to oppose them, helped killing the monsters that got close to us.
I was standing in front of Polybotes with Riptide up and ready with my dad standing beside me, trident in hand. Polybotes had a net in one hand and a trident in the other. We were circling eachother when finally the Giant made a move towards my father. Polybotes made a move to stab his midsection, my father sidestepped but the Giant expected this throwing his net at him. My father, just in the nick of time moved out of the way so only his arm was trapped, although still bad since he could only use his trident in one hand, he was better off. The Giant made a move to stab my father but I quickly intercepted it with Riptide, putting power into the strike, though it stopped the strike I had to take a step or 2 back from the power of the force. A Giant had lots of strength. While blocking the blow my dad made to stab the Giants arm, he moved his arm away quickly but not before getting a nice gash on his forearm. He hissed in pain, roared then charged at us. My dad had gotten the net off his arm by now so he could fight properly. We didn't dare use water in this fight, we both knew that this Giant is very well deadly to Poseidon and his children. When Polybotes reached us he went after my dad again trying to get him in the chest with his trident, my dad hooked the middle of his trident in the middle of 2 prongs of the Giant, then twirled his trident almost disarming the Giant and putting a cut on his leg. All the while I rushed up behind his leg jumping up to cut a deep gash where his knee should be (Do snakes legs have knees?). He fell to a knee trying to swat me away but I jumped over it proceeding to stab Riptide below his shoulder blade, right where his heart would be. He roared in pain then smacked me off sending me crashing into a pillar, black spots dancing at my vision. My dad took the chance to stab the giant right through the skull. He yelled and burst into a gold dust.
I sprinted to my father and said,"DAD! Go help any others you can, I'll do the same." He nodded and took off toward Hades, Hazel, and Alcyoneus. I looked over the battlefield seeing that Mimas and Hippolytus were dead. Frank and Hephaestus were unconscious. Mars, now Ares, was fighting with Athena and Annabeth, Frank was helping Aphrodite and Piper kill Periboia. I suddenly felt a cool air on my neck that sent shivers down my spine and the hairs on my neck stand up. I instinctively ducked and stabbed behind me. Standing there was a enemy demigod, sword though his chest. I noticed it was a camper who was from the Nike cabin. Ironic.
Now, I've never killed anyone before so I was scared shitless. He's an enemy, It's alright. I thought. I pulled out my sword, the life leaving his eyes. I saw a bracelet on his hand with beads the color of the dirt and water, with a tiny version of the Earth hanging from it. Gaea's charm bracelet, like the Kronos spy's had. I don't know why but I took off the bracelet and stuffed it in my pocket. I felt like something told me to do it, and being the idiot I am, I did it.
I checked the battlefield again and the only people without help would be Jason and Jupiter fighting Porphyrion, so I ran to help them.
Jason saw me and grinned, he had scratches all over his body bleeding profusely but I could tell the adrenaline was holding him up. He said,"Nice of you to join the party!" I flashed him a smile before turning my attention to the Giant who immediately saw me and tried to attack with lighting. I narrowly avoided it but had no time to regain my senses as my body acted for me dodging a spear meant for my chest. Since all his attention was on me Jupiter cut a nice gash on his arm with his gladius. The Giant turned and swiped at Jupiter's legs with his spear. Jupiter jumped and backed up while me and Jason took sides on the Giant taking slashed and making cuts on his legs and when his arms got low enough, we would cut those too. This went on for a couple of minutes before we were joined by the rest of the Big 3 and their children. We immediately went on all sides of him cutting him up and making deep wounds. He eventually fell to the Stygian Iron sword of Hades while Jason finished him off, exploding in a pile of dust.
We went up to clean the rest of the Giants. The Gods bravely took most of the brunt of the damage and injuries for their children, but Piper, just before the death of her mothers bane, got a cut on the cheek. I saw blood flowing down her chin before a drop of it fell off.
"NOOOOOO!" I said desperately trying to stop the blood from reaching the ground diving, but I knew it was no use. As soon as blood touched the ground the ground rumbled and shook. Feminine laughter filled the air as I stood shakily fearing what was about to happen. A womanly figure started rising from the ground still laughing like a mad man. Once the figure was fully formed standing there was Gaea herself. Wrapped in a dress of dirt and grass. Her face was honestly beautiful, but the look in her eyes promised death to anyone that faced her. The Gods were apparently having their own problems defending off wave after wave of monsters. Guess were doing this ourselves. Frank was woken from his sleep by now and standing by us.
"Hello little demigods. I have awoken, and there is no one who can stop me!" Gaea said laughing creepily. She looked at us before grinning sadistically, "I think I will start my rule by killing all of you!" I looked over at my friends to see some of them terrified but still having a determined look in their eyes.
"Good luck with that." I growled. She turned to glare at me but we were already charging. We were all pushed back by the Earth but not before I managed to get a small cut on her calf. I looked at it then realized how stupid we were just charging at her. The Earth scooped itself up, flowing into the wound instantly healing it.
"We have to get her off the ground. She heals with dirt." I yelled at my friends through the sound of battle.
"I have an idea hold up and try not to die!" Leo yelled as he went sprinting after the Argo II. We tried our best to hold off what we could of her attacks. She didn't seem to like using a weapon, just her powers. I suddenly saw the Argo II come rushing toward Gaea, but it looked like it had a chunk missing from it. I saw the Argo II coming close and began running far from it, the others smartly did the same.
"HAHA, running like the cowards you ar-" That's when the Argo II crashed into her in an explosion of Greek Fire and regular flames. I heard the distinct "WOOHOO" from Leo and turned to see him riding a completely bronze dragon with red eyes coming in toward us. We all cheered for Leo but that quickly stopped as we saw a figure emerge from the flames.
Gaea standing there looking like shit. She had golden ichor splattered all over her, covering most of her body. The parts that weren't covered in godly blood had burn marks all over them. "Getting rid of me won't be that easy demigods." She grinned at us and I felt my face grow pale. Leo growled and burst into flames so hot I had to look away. I heard Festus creak and the light lessen, so I assumed he was going toward Gaea.
"Jason help me make a storm! Piper start putting all your power into your charmspeak! Get her to fall asleep! Everyone else do whatever you can to injure her!" Everyone but Jason nodded and I sent him a quizzical look.
"Won't his flames be extinguished?"Jason asked.
"Did you see how powerful those flames were? I couldn't even look at him. Trust me Jason!" He nodded and we started going to work. By the time we started, Festus had Gaea in his claws as she struggled to break free and stay awake at the same time. I was glad I was in the middle of a literal storm because if I heard Piper's words I swore I would have passed out right then and there. Just looking at her lips move made me dreary. Leo was hitting her with completely white flames making her harden, making it harder for her to move. Festus was circling in our hurricane. Jason and I had sweat dripping down our heads, panting heavily, looking as pale as ever. This was the biggest storm we've ever made. This went on for at least 3 more minutes before Leo yelled and burst into flames so bright I had to look away a second time. I waited for a bit before the light dimmed out. Everything was quiet. I peeked out and every bad thing was gone. Giant piles of yellow dust surrounded us and the Gods. No monsters, no Giants, no Gaea, no Leo or Festus.
I was frantically looking around, my eyes searching every corner of the battlefield,"No, no, no ,no ,no." I found myself muttering letting the tears drop. I looked at my friends and they weren't doing much better. Some were sobbing while the others just cried silently. I picked myself up and walked over to the others almost dropping into unconsciousness from all the power I used. We all huddled up in a group hug of tears for our best friend and hero, Leo Valdez. The kid to always crack a joke to cheer people up. The one to always have a place in our hearts.
After a few minutes and looked at the Gods of Olympus expectantly. All of them looked grim,"Leo Valdez, my son, now dead, died a heroes death. A shroud shall be burned in his honor as soon as we settle the dispute with the Romans at Camp Half-Blood."Hephaestus said. We all nodded as they flashed us to camp. There was an uproar of yelling against the two Pantheons. As one stepped forward to attack the Greeks, Jupiter stepped in before anything could happen.
"SILENCE!" Everyone immediately quieted. "We have won the war, demigods. There is no reason for dispute. The Greek children have the Parthenos back. We will now rejoice in victory on Olympus to give our heroes reward for their heroic deeds." Everyone cheered but still warily stood by eachother. "We will have a shroud burning for our lost heroes before the session on Olympus." We all nodded grimly.
After about an hour all the shrouds we prepared. Almost everyone had tears in their eyes as we went through the casualties. When Leo came, our group and the Hephaestus campers burst into tears with some crying and sobbing openly. Jason and Piper were the ones to burn his shroud after giving a small speech about his goofiness and imagination. After the sad moment we were all flashed to Olympus' throne room for the rewarding ceremony.
AN: I have not put the twist in the story just yet. That should be next chapter so I'm going to keep the summary short for now. I already have a pairing for the future. Which is not Percy and Annabeth if you were wondering. The namesake of the story will also come up next chapter so just wait.