A/N Hey guys! So this is just a little snippet of what would happen if Nyx were to try to rise. I don't have the time or motivation to make this a full story, so I figured a one-shot is better than nothing. Enjoy! Btw, there are hints of Solangelo, Tratie, and other PJO ships.
Takes place on winter break after BoO.
Winter break was starting out great.
The snow was falling lightly, it was cool outside, the lake was almost frozen; everything was just great.
I, Percy Jackson by the way, really hoped I wasn't jinxing myself. Last winter break hadn't exactly gone as smoothly as I had hoped. Some cow obsessed goddess had kidnapped me (without even asking, how rude) and sent me across the country for eight months. That wasn't exactly what I had in mind for that winter break. I was determined to have a great holiday with Annabeth this time, no matter what.
I hoped no quests would come, no god in need of help, none of the things that interrupted an awesome break. Of course, with my luck, the opposite would happen and I'd be stuck in the middle of the country on a quest to get a god the last rare My Little Pony doll left.
Yeah, things like that really happen. Especially if you're an extremely unlucky son of Poseidon like me.
I was trying to get my head to stop swirling from the Greek lesson I'd just got from Cabin 9 (yes, I still go to those, mostly because Annabeth is there) when Chiron walked—no, wait... trotted up to me.
I greeted my teacher.
"Hey."
Chiron nodded his head at me.
"Ever the formal one. Good afternoon, Perseus."
I really had no idea why Chiron kept calling me that. Sometimes it was Perseus, sometimes it was Percy.
"Now," Chiron started, "I need you to gather the head counselors. Come to the big house immediately, please."
I nodded and turned around to go find them. Right when I took a step, Chiron called out, "Make sure to gather Rachel and Thalia too. They'll be needed."
I offered another nod and set off to go find my friends.
• • •
After gathering up all of the head counselors, including Rachel and Thalia, I sat down.
"Alright," Chiron said, when everybody had found their seats. "There is a problem going on, as many of you might have already guessed."
He stared at all of us and didn't say anything. I wasn't sure what he wanted us to do until it registered in my mind that he wanted us to guess the problem.
"Oh, um, is it a god?" I decided to ask, since no one else looked like they were going to say anything, and nine-out-of-ten times it's a god.
"Not quite. A goddess. One very little have seen. There is only a few ways you could've have seen her. Through an iris-message, which is very unlikely, or perhaps with your own eyes. But she lives in a place very far away with her kin, a place few have ever ventured, and even fewer have returned from."
It was staring to click where this goddess lived, and I wasn't liking the sound of this one bit. I looked over at Annabeth, who was next to me, and saw that she wasn't either.
"But this goddess has escaped. Not that she was ever held down, exactly, but she preferred to live in a place with very little light, seeing as she wasn't very fond of it. This goddess, along with her many kids, has come up to earth and is wreaking havoc."
"Wait a minute," Thalia held up her hands. "You're saying she wasn't on the earth at all? I was hoping when you said she lived far away you meant somewhere like Arizona, or California."
Chiron almost smiled.
"No. She was under the earth, not on it or above it."
"So she was dead?" A confused Connor (or maybe it was Travis, I couldn't tell while he was sitting down) asked.
"No, you dolt. A goddess can't die, and even if she did she wouldn't go to the underworld," Katie Gardener said, smacking him on the back of his head.
"But the only place under the underworld is..." Connor/Travis trailed off, giving a quick look in my direction.
"Yes," Chiron said, nodding his head like he was waiting for us to get it. "Tartarus. The home of all monsters."
"So what's a goddess doing there?" Piper asked.
"Many immortals dwell in Tartarus. But our opponent only likes it for the shade."
I could tell people were getting nervous about who this goddess could be. If she was who I thought she was, we were in big trouble.
"Okay, Chiron," Annabeth spoke up. "Is... who are we facing? I have a guess, a few actually, but none of them are good."
Chiron looked at her, his face grave and his eyes sad.
"The goddess we're facing is Night."
• • •
I could tell everyone was confused.
"Night?"
"Um... I get some people are afraid of the dark and all, but night isn't a goddess."
"There's night everywhere, so why would she be in Tartarus? And how could night be alive?"
"The same way light is alive," Chiron said. "Night is not what you think of it. I'm talking about capitol N. Nyx, the goddess of night."
Everyone fell silent.
Of course, it's who I thought it was. I really wasn't looking forward to seeing her again, after Annabeth and I barely escaped last time. And all of her children? They were everywhere.
"Night?!" Connor/Travis squeaked out. "How the Hades do we fight the night?"
"The same way—"
"—You fight the light, yes, I know," Connor/Travis cut Chiron off, spraying some chez whiz in his mouth. "But isn't she like, a minor goddess?"
"No!" Rachel screamed. "She's the primordial of the night! She was born from chaos, and she had, like, a thousand kids who were all curses and bad things."
"Curses like the ones let free from Pandora's Box?" Hazel asked.
Chiron considered it. "No one really knows. She is the mother of all terrors—arai, the Fates, Geras, Eris, Hypnos, Akhlys, Thanatos, even Hecate herself."
"That's a lot of kids," I heard Clarisse mutter to herself.
"She is older than any god, Titan, even older than Gaea," Chiron ignored Clarisse. "But she is different than Gaea. She does not wish to take over the earth and kill all demigods, she just wishes to become more well known, to strike down the Olympians and make a new counsel, created from her own children."
Chiron looked like he was holding back, like he knew something else and was reluctant to share it.
I thought about it. It sounded a lot like the Titan War.
"So... like the Titan war?" Annabeth was thinking the same thing as me.
"Not quite. She isn't on the Titan's side, or, obviously, the gods' side. She is on her own side. A side containing her and her children. Well, most of them. She isn't very fond of Hemera."
I sighed.
"No, she isn't. Her children aren't the brightest. Literally. She has to have, like, almost as many as Zeus," I said.
"Hey!" Jason yelled, while Thalia opened her mouth, then closed it and shrugged.
"True."
"Wait—you've met Nyx?" Piper asked.
Annabeth winced next to me. "Yeah. Just some of her children together can make you go insane, and her mansion—do not open your eyes if you ever go there, which I hope none of you ever will. Since it's in Tartarus."
It was silent for a few seconds, but when you have about twenty ADHD kids sitting in a room, it can't be quiet for more than a few moments.
"So... I guess we need a quest." Jason pointed out.
"And we need a prophecy." Annabeth said, and everyone looked at Rachel, who was drawing with a sharpie on her hand.
It was quiet for about four seconds before Rachel looked up and said, "What?"
A few people snickered.
"We need a prophecy," Piper explained.
"Oh."
We all waited, but nothing happened.
"Maybe we should ask," I suggested.
"Don't we need a quest leader?" Katie Gardener asked.
"It might be better if we hear the prophecy first, because we have very little information about what's going on," Chiron concluded.
"So who's gonna ask?" Clarisse said.
Everyone looked at Chiron.
"You should ask," Annabeth told him. "None of use really know as much as you do." I guess she picked up on what I did. He knew something else he wasn't telling us.
He looked at her for a few seconds longer, than looked at Rachel.
"What is Nyx planning? Can we defeat her?"
I liked how he said can we defeat her, not can they, like it was up to us, like the gods would.
Rachel sat there for a second, before bending over in her chair. Lou Ellen reached out and steadied her, and we all saw Rachel's eyes glowing green, smoke coming out of her mouth.
I braced myself, praying to every god and goddess that this prophecy had nothing to do with me or any of my friends.
Half-blood children of the big three and light must unite,
To stand a chance against the night,
The mistress' children on their tails,
The children of darkness must find the trails,
An ally they shall gain along the way,
The chains will hold with the help of Day,
Tired of staying out of sight,
The heroes must defeat the haters of light
Rachel slumped over, with Lou there to catch her again.
No one said anything.
Chiron cleared his throat.
"So, there's our prophecy."
"Half-blood children of the big three and light must unite. I get the big three, but what is the light?" Piper asked, and I frowned.
Looks like I wouldn't get a break.
"Apollo, probably. You fight darkness with light," Annabeth said. "So... all the children of the big three are going? That would be... five people on a quest, plus however many form the Apollo cabin. They would attract monsters like nothing else."
Jason frowned. "It'll take all of us to defeat Night. It did say, to stand a chance against the night. And what about, The children of darkness must find the trails? Who are the children of darkness?"
"Hades' kids, maybe. It does say the big three, and Hades seems like the only one who could fit there." Thalia pointed out.
"What trails?" Pollux asked. "Could they lead to Nyx?"
I wished, but that sounded way too easy. Quests were never easy.
"The mistress' children on their tails. That must mean Nyx's kids. Nyx herself would never be foolish enough to come after us." Hazel noted.
"An ally they shall gain along the way. Who's this ally?" Clarisse asks. "The chains will hold with the help of Day. Like day day, or Day Day?"
"That makes a lot of sense," Connor/Travis said.
"I mean Hemera, who is the goddess of Day, or like the word day, punk," Clarisse said through gritted teeth.
"Who knows? I still want to know who this ally is. Will they make the chains? If so, where will the chains even come from, and what will they hold? Nyx, maybe?" Piper asked.
I nodded. "Yeah. But who's the child of light? Who from the Apollo cabin is coming with us? I, myself, nominate Will. "
Annabeth nodded. "He is head counselor."
Will blushed and shook his head.
"No, no. I couldn't. Maria or Todd would be much better."
"All in favor of Percy, Thalia, Jason, Hazel, Nico, and Will going on the quest?"
Everyone raised their hands. I heard Will mutter, "Fine, fine."
"Alright," Chiron said. "Meeting adjourned. Please return to your daily activities. The quest shall commence tomorrow, plenty enough time to get packing."
Everyone stood up and started to leave. I sighed and pulled Annabeth up, lacing our fingers together.
"You alright?" she asked me.
"Of course, another prophecy with me in it, and another crazy immortal who wants to take over the gods. What else is new?" I told her, as we walked out the door.
She sighed. "I don't want you going off on your own, not after losing you for months..."
"Annabeth," I said softly, and stopped walking, taking her chin and making her look into my eyes. I could see she looked ready to cry. "I don't want to leave you either. But... But I have to. To save the world and all. But I'll come back. I always do."
She looked into my eyes, searching for anything she could find. "Please do. I don't think I could handle it if I ever really lost you for good."
I gave her what I hoped was a reassuring smile and quickly pecked her on the lips. Right after that, I picked her up bridal style and ran toward the beach.
"Hey!" she laughed, putting her arms around my neck. "Don't drop me, or I'll have to kill you with my knife. Or maybe I'll use my sword."
She had found a new dagger this winter, but she still used her sword sometimes. She said it was so sharp and rare that she couldn't let it go.
Finally on the beach, I put her down gently in the sand, and lied next to her. She put her head on my shoulder and sighed, staring up at the sky. It was mid-afternoon, somewhere around two, and the day was sunny, with a few clouds scattered around the sky. It was really weird for a winter day, but there was a thin layer of snow in the camp, just not on the beach. The water was too cold to swim in (not that it bothered me), so we just sat on the beach for a few hours. Sure, we had a schedule to follow, but we were head counselors, so we could disregard it for a few hours and get away with it. Not like we needed anymore training. I was hopeless at archery, so no point in trying there, and Annabeth was a master in fighting with her knife, or pretty much any weapon.
Eventually, we left the beach to go to dinner. I sat at my table alone, eating my blue food and looking around. Hazel had Nico, and Thalia was sitting with Jason so he wouldn't be alone. Tyson had to go back underwater to continue helping with the damage to dad's palace, and making new weapons just in case a war happens. I heard the game room was going to be even better, and take half the time to make. So I still wouldn't see it, but the blueprints looked really nice. I've gained an appreciation for buildings ever since Annabeth got her dream job on Olympus. She hasn't stopped talking about all her plans yet, but I managed to find a way to tune out the rambling parts so my head wouldn't completely explode.
The downside of dating an Athenian kid.
But I still love her.
After dinner, we all went to the campfire. The Apollo cabin had found a whole bunch of new songs for us. I swear I heard Will whisper, "The more to torture you with," under his breath while smiling evilly right after he announced one of the songs. I noticed Nico sitting in the front row, staring at Will. Ever since last summer, when he admitted he was gay and he liked me, we'd grown closer. Now that I know he wasn't trying to kill me or anything, and he seemed to have found a home, we finally started to become better friends. I could tell by the way Nico always blushed when Will was around, and how Nico always showed up at the infirmary to help when he had time, that he liked Will. It would probably take some time for Nico himself to admit it, but anyone could see it. Even my oblivious self, as Annabeth says.
I saw Piper and Jason snuggling, and Hazel's curly hair bouncing as she dragged Frank over to Nico. Thalia was sitting with her hunters, all of them glowing sliver and laughing while Thalia pointed at a guy from the Apollo cabin, whose pants had fallen down after Connor had pulled off his belt and Travis pulled down his pants.
I shook my head, laughing at them. I was glad things hadn't changed much.
I could see some Romans hanging near to back, and Reyna sitting next to Nico, Frank, and Hazel, teasing Nico so badly he started blushing. It didn't take an Athena kid to figure out who they were teasing him about. The boy in words was standing somewhat in front of Nico, singing and trying not to look at him. Clarisse and Chris were off to the side laughing at an Ares kid who almost fell into the fire after he was shoved by his brother. Katie and Lou Ellen were snickering at Travis, who was now sitting next to Connor and blushing. Travis and Katie had yet to declare their undying love for each other, but it was coming up. Clovis was half asleep, hanging off the bench he was sitting on and almost falling on Pollux.
I though about Leo.
No one had seen him since the day Gaea was defeated, and no one knew what happened to him. Nico admitted he felt something weird with his death, after Hazel threatened him to tell the rest of us. No one knew where he was. Maybe he had gotten that cure. He wouldn't have made up that plan if he didn't have a way of being able to drink the cure. We weren't the best of friends at first, but after we got the Calypso thing out of the way we were on the road to friendship. Thinking about him made me sad. First Beckendorf, now Leo? And I couldn't even save either of them...
I shoved the though out of my head. I was going to enjoy this night. Who knows how long I have before I get to see camp again?
The fire was thirty feet in the air and glowing a red-ish blue by the time the campfire was over. I walked Annabeth back to her cabin.
"Goodnight," she told me, and pulled me in a hug.
"Goodnight."
She pulled away after a few seconds, and lingered by the door. Neither of us wanted to leave the other.
She made the first move and leaned up a bit to kiss me. This time, it wasn't a soft peck like the other kisses we had to share because of the other people around. It was passionate and slow, and I could feel my heart beating faster, even after dating for more than year.
She wrapped her arms around my neck, and I did the same thing to her waist. I held on tight, not wanting to let go.
Too bad we had to breathe.
She pulled back a little, resting her forehead against mine.
"I don't want to go," Annabeth said, saying exactly what I felt.
"Me neither. But we have to. Curfew has already past."
"Then we can't get into much more trouble, right?"
I laughed and made patterns on her waist, where her shirt had ridden up.
"Way to look on the bright side. Aren't your siblings waiting for you?"
"Yeah. But I don't care. They can manage without me for a bit. And Malcolm has been dying to say lights out again."
I laughed softly again.
"Whatever you say, Wise Girl."
I leaned forward and placed our lips together again, kissing her slowly. I pulled away when I couldn't hold my breath anymore, and slowly trailed kisses down her neck. She giggled quietly but didn't say anything. I stopped when I reached her collarbone and pulled back, giving her one last kiss.
"Night."
She sighed contentedly (at least I hope that's what it was) and gave me one last look before sneaking into her cabin.
I walked to my cabin with a smile on my face. I didn't even care if the harpies caught me. Not like they haven't before.
I collapsed on my bed, and fell asleep with Annabeth on my mind. But not even that could take away my nightmares.
I was standing in a dark room, with a huge throne made out of the galaxy sky in front of me. A very tall woman sat on it. She was made of smoke and ash, turning solid only when she moved. Her eyes were a galaxy themselves—filled with stars and lights.
I couldn't see anything else around me, except for the a few of the walls that has stars shining on them.
The woman laughed, the sound sending chills down my back.
"You may have escaped me once," she said, "but you will not be so lucky a second time. My children are after you as you sleep, and not even that camp can save you. I could drive you to madness with a flick of my hand, but that would defeat the purpose. You will be my pawns, what I use to make the Olympians bow down to me. Condemning me into Tartarus—ha! Like that would stop me. Nothing will stop me! My sister... she was a right fool for showing herself so much. Always talking about how she would take over, blah blah blah. I was always the wittier sister, the smarter one! Father liked me best."
I had to resist the urge to mention that she fell for Annabeth and my's act.
"I am not asleep. I am fully awake. I am at my full power. You can not defeat me. No one knows of my true power. I may only control night, but I am just as powerful as Gaea! Night is everywhere, every corner, every crevice. You cannot have light with night!"
And you also can't have a villain without a boring speech about how you can't defeat them.
"Father always said Gaea was more powerful, and Uranus agreed. But what did he know? He indirectly created the first god and he got chopped up! Not every primordial is powerful, but most are. Like me. When I rule the heavens, darkness shall prevail! Beware, Perseus Jackson!"
Everything turned black, well, blacker, and the world spun. I could now see Camp Half-Blood, everything cased in shadows, people lying on the ground, driven insane.
I woke up gasping, grabbing at the sheets to steady myself.
Just a dream, just a dream. It was just dream.
Just another immortal trying to scare me, right?
I wasn't so sure.
I started to get ready for the day. I didn't pack last night so I got a bag and put a few extra changes of clothes in it. I would get some other supplies from Chiron, like some nectar and ambrosia, drachmas, mortal money, etc.
I went to the pavilion for breakfast. I noticed Thalia slumped next to Jason, looking like she didn't sleep very peacefully.
I could relate. I wonder if she got the same dream.
I shoveled down some blue organic pancakes and thought about Nyx. She wasn't as powerful as she claimed to be. If she was, I would've been dead the last time I met her. She wasn't the brightest—no pun intended—, and she was obsessed with being more powerful than her siblings. That was something we could use against her.
After breakfast, I met up with Hazel, Nico, Will, Thalia, and Jason at the big house. Annabeth was there too, along with Chiron and Frank. I don't know where Piper was. Probably being tortured by her siblings.
We packed our bags with some much needed supplies—the stuff I mentioned earlier. I decided to ask Thalia about the dream, to see if she knew anything.
"Hey," I said, walking up next to her.
"Hey," she mumbled. I guess she wasn't quite as used to receiving bad dreams as I was, because she looked a little weird.
"You okay?"
"Bad dream."
"Me too. Was it about Nyx?"
She stopped packing to look up at me.
"Yeah. She was on her throne all high and mighty, talking about how powerful she was, and blah this, and blah that."
She played it off like she wasn't scared, but I knew her well enough to see under the mask she was putting on.
"She isn't all she says she is, you know. Gaea is way more powerful than her. Gaea controlled the whole earth. Nyx isn't even half as powerful as that. Nyx is more like a... major goddess. A Titan, more accurate. She only controls the night, like Helios controlled the sun. She's just old, not powerful. If she was, she wouldn't have been hanging around awake in Tartarus all this time. She would've teamed up with Gaea, even if she didn't like her. But she didn't. Because she's weak and prideful. She wants to be more powerful than Gaea, which she can never be, so she's like an overachiever. Don't worry too much about it."
She looked at me and smiled, her blue eyes shining.
"Thanks."
"No problem," I replied.
"Always the casual one."
"Not always."
"That's a lie."
"I'd like to think I know myself."
"Well, that's the problem. You'd like to think. And you don't like to think."
"Thalia?"
"Hm?"
"Shut up."
"Don't tell me to shut up, Kelp head!"
"Or else what, Pinecone Face!"
"I'll shock you with my damn spear, that's what!"
"And I'll stab you with my dam sword," I said, not able to get through the whole sentence without laughing.
She caught on and laughed too.
I was glad nothing had changed between us.
I looked up to see everyone staring at us with a mix of emotions. Jason looked half-scared and half-confused, while Piper looked surprised. Hazel looked amused, while Frank just looked confused. Nico, Will, and Annabeth were laughing at us, since they were used to this, and Chiron looked at us with a smile on his face, his eyes twinkling.
It was a step up to trying to kill each other during capture the flag, I suppose.
Everyone finished packing, and we looked at Chiron.
"Where are we even going? I know the prophecy mentioned something about children darkness following the trail, but where do we start?" I asked.
"Think about it, Percy. Where would one who wished to be cloaked in darkness hide?"
I though about it.
"Underground?"
He nodded.
"She would be underground, but not as far as the Underworld. Close, but not quite. Hecate was offered a home on Olympus, be she preferred to dwell in the Underworld. It's better for her to practice her spells in darkness. Hecate is one of Nyx's children, so Nyx would be close to her. So where would Nyx be most likely to live?"
I didn't want to say it, but I knew the answer.
"Near the underworld, near Tartarus."
I wanted to scream. She couldn't live somewhere like Pennsylvania, where it was close and easy to reach? It always had to be across the whole freaking country.
"So she'll be in California?" Nico asked.
Chiron smiled at him
"Yes."
Oh my gods. I really had to go to California, for, like, the sixth time? I was starting to get tired of the sunny state.
"How are we going to get there? On foot?"
Chiron smiled.
"Not quite."
I was confused.
"Huh?" Jason asked.
"The camp has a car. The Hephaestus cabin made it in case someone needed to go across the country. It's made completely out of celestial bronze, seats eight people maximum, and can go up to 500 miles per hour. It's magical, of course, so it looks like a regular sports car. But the inside has extra weapons, nectar, ambrosia, clothes, anything you need, really. It will always come when you call it, so it can never be stolen. It is not indestructible, just very strong. You might find out some of the other... interesting features later. You need to leave."
He led us over to the camp garage. We arrived at the car.
My jaw dropped.
It looked like a Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport, and it was a sleek black, with blue outlining the bottom part.
I noticed Jason, Frank, and Thalia's jaws also on the ground.
"What... where... how...?" I stuttered out.
Annabeth smiled and whacked me upside the head, giving me a kiss.
The six of us got in.
It was bigger on the inside. The inside was painted a dark blue, with nice cushion sheets and weapon holders.
"Alright," Jason said approvingly, nodding his head.
"Well, I guess this is it."
Chiron gave us one last look, before shutting the doors and standing back.
"Who's gonna drive?" Will asked.
Silence.
I rolled my eyes and said, "I will."
"No way!" Thalia yelled.
"Can any of you guys drive?"
"I'm old enough to," Thalia protested.
"Oh, I'm sorry, did you steal and drive a police cruiser across California? Have you ever even driven a car before?"
She didn't say anything.
"That's what I thought."
I got into the front seat and adjusted the seat a bit.
I took one last glance around the sunny camp, and took off.
A/N There you go! I hope you enjoyed this one-shot I wrote as I continue to put off writing another chapter for my other story! Maybe I'll do another short story, idk. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this! Au revoir!