Hi guys! I had an assignment in English class that involved writing a speculative story about Earth in the future. Naturally, I turned it into an AU with Pertemis! Here's the first chapter! - Spathi
Nico di Angelo's POV
It was too late.
It was too late for him; too late for anyone or anything left on this slowly dying planet he called Earth. The once peaceful planet was now riddled with natural disasters. In some places, lightning shattered the sky; in others, hurricanes ravaged the shores; and yet that was not the end of the Earth's many troubles. The sun threatened to vaporize the Earth 6 moon cycles from now. Because the sun was growing closer, one Earth year was no longer 365 days. However, the moon was still rotating at the same speed, so one moon cycle was still around 29.5 days. So there was only 177 days until the earth was close enough to the sun to be burned to ashes. The sun grew closer, more species went extinct, and now he was stuck on that planet while the apocalypse loomed on the horizon. 177 days left to live. And in about 12 hours, it would be 176.
As the shuttles began to lift off, Nico di Angelo screamed in defiance and punched the nearest wall. The metal groaned as he mercilessly pummeled it with fists of stone, over and over until his energy was spent. Nico sank to his knees in front of the wall, watching as his skin morphed from dark slate back to his original pale complexion. He looked up to the sky, caught sight of the shuttles streaking through the sky, and howled in grief. He buried his head in his hands and did not look up for a long time.
Eventually, the teenager sighed in defeat, running his hand through his shaggy brown hair. His amber eyes searched for any other humans who hadn't made it onto the ships. If he only had six moon cycles to live, he wanted to make the most of it. At least his sister Hazel and his parents had made it onto the ship. That was more important than his own survival. To his relief and horror, he found several other humans who hadn't made it. About 50 feet away, there was a girl who couldn't be any older than twelve, with white blonde hair and icy blue-gray eyes. She was sobbing, and Nico's heart went out to her. Kneeling besides her was another girl, this one around his age, with dark brown hair and hazel brown eyes. She was embracing the younger girl, trying to comfort her. Nico approached the duo cautiously. As far as he could tell, the younger girl looked to be from the Ice sector, and the older girl looked like she was from the Earthquake sector.
Nico wondered what had caused natural disasters to be so frequent that humans actually had to genetically adapt to them. He quickly pushed the thought away. He couldn't afford to be distracted right now. He needed to make friends, and then make a plan for either surviving as long as possible or getting off of this self-destructing planet. The teenager held his hand out to the older girl. "Hi. My name's Nico di Angelo. I'm from the Fire sector", he said. The girl shook his hand. "Reyna Avila Ramirez Arellano of the Earthquake sector. And this is Annabeth Chase of the Ice sector", she said, confirming his suspicions. Annabeth nodded at him, but didn't say anything.
"Normally, I wouldn't associate with anybody from other sectors, but I think that we can all agree that this is a special case", Nico said smoothly. Reyna glared at him with disgust. "You are too kind. It is a great honor to meet you, let alone talk to you", she responded sarcastically. Nico winced. He hadn't meant to sound so arrogant. But he had never been good at thinking before speaking. "Sorry," he said. Reyna rolled her eyes and stood. She hoisted Annabeth to her feet, and said, "Come on. Let's go introduce ourselves to the rest of the people left behind."
There were three other humans who hadn't made it onto a ship. Each of them came from a different sector. There was Perseus Jackson of the Hurricane sector. He had raven black hair and his eyes were two different colors. One was blue, and the other was green. Artemis Bolt was from the Lightning sector. She had reddish brown hair, and gray eyes so bright they were silver. And then there was Apollo Windsor of the Tornado sector. He had sky blue eyes and blonde hair. They had one representative from each sector.
The sectors weren't divided by the people, but by the genetics of the people within them. The Fire sector, for example, was a section of land in which volcanoes erupted and wildfires broke out daily. After constant exposure, the people in that area developed the ability to turn their skin to slate. They could walk unharmed through extreme heat. Nico himself had that ability. He didn't really know what abilities the people from the other sectors had, but he knew he'd soon find out.
"Okay. Does anybody have any idea where we can find some shelter", he asked. Percy raised his hand tentatively. "We could go to my father's complex. It's not far from here", the Hurricane native replied. Nico frowned. "Who's your father?, he asks. Percy grinned sheepishly. "Poseidon Jackson, leader of the Hurricane Sector. I doubt I'll ever see him again, but I don't think he'd mind if we used his base for a while." Nico shrugged. "Well, it's probably the best option we've got. Lead the way." Percy smirked."If you'd follow me this way, my lord." he said sarcastically. The Hurricane native started to walk away. Nico huffed and started to follow him. The rest of the group did the same.
Like it? Hate it? Should I continue it? You tell me! BTW Artemis and Apollo don't have the same last name because they don't know that they are related in any way.