A/N: After a long period in hiatus, I'm back. I've finally decided to pick up my pen and continue. Many things have happened this year, which was a totally new stage of my life, both positive and negative, that would have influenced my writing. I hope that you all will enjoy this story, which idea came to me in the middle of the night. Please R&R and enjoy the story.
The Price to Pay
This was it.
The final battle.
The one that they had prepared so hard for. To face a Protogenoi was not an easy task, even more so the firstborn of Chaos, with her children. Even with the massive artillery and colossal amount of power that the Olympians had, they still felt so threatened and so puny compared to the monstrosity of the opposing army.
The Olympian Council gathered. But unlike usual, they were silent. Battle-harden, their eyes failed with fatigue, they saw the almost impossible task right in front of them. Zeus said, "This may be the last time we are united. We know that the chance of us beating them is near zero, however we still have our children the united Roman and Greek demigods. You all are each in charge of taking out your bane with your children. However small the glimmer of hope is to us, we will defeat them."
The army of demigods behind them issued a battle cry. Percy, Jason and Nico, the three commanders of the Olympian army, stood shoulders to shoulders, unsheathing their swords. The three swords of Celestial bronze, Imperial gold and Stygian iron glimmered brightly in the sky. Before they charged.
The final battle was one to behold. It seemed like the earth was tearing upon itself. Storm clouds blew across the sky and hurricanes were forming, and the dead crawled out of the earth.
Annabeth thought back to the time where Percy pulled her away. She clearly remembered his heart pounding, his laughter and his promise upon the Styx to protect her. She charged against a centaur, killing him with one swipe of her knife.
Percy, Jason and Nico were battling the Titans. They stood shoulder to shoulder, furiously defending Olympus.
At the front of the battle, were the Olympians. United in a goal, they furiously attacked the giants with a children of theirs. Zeus and Thalia attacked Porphyrion, while Apollo attacked with Will against Orion. The battle between the gods and giants were seemingly equal until the giants unleashed a surprise.
Gaea had awoken.
How could they fight against a Protogenoi, especially one that had regained her full power?
This was the creator of the Titans. Now, they knew that they were doomed. Seeing her children fall one after the other, she rose to protect them. In her rumbling voice, she said, "How dare you kill my children!"
The Olympians knew then that this battle would be lost. They attacked with all their might, their power and courage. But just a swipe of her hand and Aphrodite was thrown back, and knocked unconscious, to their watching horror.
Dispatching of the last Titan, Jason, Percy and Nico joined the fight with the Olympians.
They fought continuously, never resting against the Earth Mother. But a battle never ends without losses to both sides. The monster army was decimated along with the Titans, but the demigods also suffered severe losses as well. Reyna, Will, the Stoll brothers, were only one of the few noticeable losses. The demigod's numbers were cut in half at the very least, with most suffering injuries.
Percy had enough. Enough of everything that happened. Enough of the losses to his friends, his fellow Praetor. He charged with all his might at Gaea, but he never thought about Jason and Nico following him as well. They unleashed their last strength of power at Gaea together and never thought that Gaea would have stumbled. Something, maybe something that he had called forth from the very inside of his soul, maybe even a little bit of power from the Creator himself.
Gaea looked up, with glowing bright eyes, and asked, "What is this power?" She blasted huge amounts of power at them. And Percy knew nothing but only darkness after that.
When Percy regained consciousness, bright spots were floating all around him. He shook off the effects and stood up, seeing Gaea attacking the Olympians. He used his last bit of strength and attacked Gaea, unknowingly draining his life force. The Olympians let forth a blast of power that would throw everyone around, and Gaea with her final breath, blasted power at Annabeth who was standing over Thalia, trying to wake her.
Time seemed to slow as Percy looked in horror, and with his eyes darkening he knew what to do. He dived in front of Annabeth as the blast of power almost took hit. And he screamed in pure agony and he laid on the floor, motionless.
Annabeth didn't know what to do, whether to cry or faint. She stood there like a blank shell, and heard Athena softly whisper, "Sleep child."
Poseidon kneeled down by the side of Percy and cried. Zeus and Hades stood beside him, not knowing how to comfort Poseidon. The greatest hero of all time just sacrificed himself to defeat Gaea, and also for the love of his life.
Poseidon whispered, "Is there anyone that thinks of my child as undeserving of a hero's burial?"
He took Percy's body and flashed away.
Zeus and Hades searched endlessly in the flattened terrain after destruction for their children until they came across the sight of Jason and Nico, lying side by side. And they cried.
The demigods went into a state of mourning for the three commanders of their army, the protectors of Olympus, and the defeater of Gaea.
*Time skip: 2 days later*
Annabeth sat up straight in her hospital bed. She thought to herself, that it was only just a dream and it could never be real. Until she walked out of the hospital of Olympus, she was deceiving herself. Life could never be so brutal.
A day later, it was the burial of the three great heroes in the newly created Museum of the Protectors. Piper was crying, reflecting upon all the memories of Jason with her. Leo was trying to comfort her until in walked Annabeth.
She was in a state of disbelief. Percy was the only thing she thought about. Percy. From the young boy that she first met, to the Retriever of the Master Bolt, to the man that gained the respect of both Zoe and Artemis, to the defeater of Kronos, through them going through Tartarus together, and till now the Protector of Olympus.
Reminiscing the memories made it so difficult for her. They had been through so many years together. She walked up the steps to the open coffin and gazed upon him. His look was one of peace. She heard his laughter once more, and took the knife out of her back pocket of the gown, and stabbed herself. Right in the heart. To reunite with her lover in Elysium.
The price to pay was huge. To win the war, and how it affected people. The price to pay was death.