A/N: Okay, well most of you are probably familiar with the site Percyquest. Anyway, they're having a contest where you write the climax of TLO. This is my entry. I need some feedback though. It's a oneshot, unless people really want me to continue. You know what that means - REVIEW!
The Last Olympian
"Percy no! You can't do this!" cried Annabeth.
"Why not?" I asked violently. "You know I have to."
"Yeah, but Percy… I- er- I just don't want anything to happen to you." She mumbled.
"Why would you even care? You're too busy with Travis. Stop kidding me."
At this time Luke was fighting through the rest of the camp's forces including the newly assembled Bronze Dragon, the hunters, and the campers.
"Percy, dating Travis has reinforced what I guess I have always known. I just need to tell you before it's too late, and it may be soon."
Oh man. Now she's crying. I'm debating whether or not to comfort her.
"She's your best friend," I think.
But then again, the entire camp - make that the world - is at stake…
"Wait, what did you just say Annabeth?"
"Percy. I love you. I always have."
Now something totally out of the ordinary happens. I kissed her. It wasn't even just a peck on the lips or the cheek this time. It was a full blown kiss. It's funny how we always happen to kiss just before plunging into something that seems to be certain death.
"Percy run!" I hear Chiron yell.
Great. Here comes the Lord of the Titans. I grab Annabeth's hat, place it on her head, and push her to the ground.
"Hey!" she protests.
"Sorry, Wise Girl, but I have to do this alone."
"You're such a Seaweed Brain!" she shouts as I'm running towards Luke.
I pull out Riptide and charge. The rest of the campers are busy fighting Luke's minions, but they all stop and focus on the rest of us. Some of the halfbloods on Luke's side try to jump in on the fight, but Luke just pushes them aside.
"So, Percy. I see you've been training." says Luke.
I don't respond because I know what he's trying to do. We clang our swords together for a few minutes. He jabs at me, but I sidestep. I jab at him, and he sidesteps too. I realize that those days that we spent fighting during my first summer at camp were what is keeping either of us from winning. We know each others' weaknesses.
He jabs once again at me, and I block. As Luke is re-gripping, I see an opening. I stick my sword into my side, but it passes right through. I pull back and swipe again. It goes through as if he were a mortal.
"Ha, Perseus! I see you have forgotten my grandson's warning!" says Kronos' voice.
Wait, what is he talking about? Then I remember. During my battle with Ares, he placed a curse upon me saying that Riptide would fail me at the time that I needed it most.
"Di Immortales!" I shout. "Go to Tartarus Ares!"
Thunder cracks, but not the usual kind. A loud and unreal kind. I stiffen, and I realize that a god or a goddess has appeared.
It's no one that I have met before, and even Luke, who could have taken advantage of the situation, is in shock.
All of a sudden I feel a tug on my shirt. It's Annabeth.
"Who is it?" I whisper to her.
"That's Hestia. Goddess of Hearth, or fire." She says.
It figures that a daughter of Athena would know the answer to the question everyone else was pondering.
"Oh. My. Gods. That's it. What my dad meant when he gave me the sand dollar."
Annabeth looks lost, but there's no time for an explanation.
I walk over to Hestia and say, "Dear Goddess of Hearth, please accept my offering."
I hand her the sand dollar that I have been keeping in my pocket along with Riptide.
"Please, Hestia, I need the fire of the gods. How else can I kill him? I know this is what is meant to happen."
"Perseus Jackson, you have done what both your father and Apollo had failed. You have captured my attention, but not in the way they wanted to. Both men wanted me as their wife, for their personal gain. You want me to help the good of mankind. That is the kind of need I respond to. Though he is my father, you must kill Kronos."
"Wait. Kronos is your father? So does that make me your nephew?"
"Indeed young demigod. And in answer to you request, I do give you my power of the fire. But remember you have the power to extinguish the fire.
Be careful with all that you do."
"Yes, Aunt Hestia."
She did something then that was so shocking I found it hilarious. She started shaking and grabbing my head. I felt all warm and dry instead of the usual cool and wet. She snapped her fingers and disappeared. Luke was in shock. Just then, Annabeth pulled off her cap.
"Percy, you know that if you use your new powers to kill him, he will be gone. As in forever. Luke will not be sent to the Underworld, nor Tartarus. He will be completely gone. You can't do that to me. I love him."
"Annabeth, what in Hades are you talking about? You just told me that you love me."
"Percy, Luke had been like a brother to me before he was a traitor. You didn't know him like I did."
I decide to ignore her. I have to help everyone. I push past her, and pulled out Riptide, which reappeared in my pocket after dropping it at the sight of Hestia.
"Gods!" I say under my breath, "How do I get the power of fire into my sword?"
Grover, still lost, could feel my confusion I guess, because he sent me an emotion which was something like, "I know you can do it!" Good gods, I hope he's okay.
I decide to do what I did at Mt. St. Helens last summer, but a little differently. Last year I released the sea within me. Now, I release the fire within me. I feel the water tugging, as if it wants to extinguish the fire. I resist the temptation with the water, and then I hear an explosion. I look around, and I see Annabeth lying on the ground.
In the midst of my confusion, Luke had recovered. He had Kronos' scythe above Tyson.
"Annabeth!" Luke screamed, "Now is your time to choose! If you choose me, and come to my side, I will spare the Cyclops. If you stay with Percy and the gods, all will die. Now CHOOSE!"
I saw a look that I had only seen on her face once before. Last summer in the Labyrinth, when Janus tried to make her choose. She was in pain from the burden of the choice.
"Annabeth!" I shout to her, "Stay with us, and fight! We can defeat him. Don't worry about it!"
"Luke. I must say, I thought I loved you as a brother. Now I don't. I'm sure that you're completely evil. I choose Percy." Everyone around us, who had resumed fighting, stopped again and stared. Annabeth came over to me. Put her hat on my head, and ran away. I know that I'm invisible. I take Riptide, try again to exert the force of fire into it, and succeed!
"Yes!" I think, "Here goes nothing - or everything"
I charge. Instead of puncturing Kronos - I'm sure that that's who it is now - I just point my sword at him. He throws his head back and laughs.
"Aha! Young demigod! At last I have found your weakness. You are afraid to kill!"
"You lie! You know that you are about to die, you just don't want to admit it! But be ready!"
At that very moment, Hestia's fire came out of Riptide. It singed Kronos everywhere. I could hardly believe my eyes.
Kronos fell to the ground and started weeping. Trust me, the only thing scarier than the lord of the titans, is the lord of the titans weeping! I was very freaked out.
Annabeth ran up to him and hugged him.
"Luke! You lived through it all! But how?"
"I was trying to tell you guys that I would, but Kronos wouldn't let me."
Luke stood up and yelled, "Monsters of the Underworld! Leave now. Your leader is dead. Completely dead. Never bother us again!"
The monsters ran as fast as they could to get out of the place. It seemed as if they could understand Luke. I shot him a questioning look, and he sent me a look back that seemed to say "I'll tell you later." I know he never will.
Chiron galloped up to us.
"Explain yourself." He said to Luke.
Luke started rambling on about how he didn't mean to do all of this, but he had been sucked in. Chiron explained to him that he would be brought before the gods and most likely sentenced to eternity in the Fields of Punishment. Luke nodded and said that he understood.
As if they were spying on us, all twelve Olympians, plus Hestia and Hades, appeared before us.
"Luke Castellan." Zeus spoke slowly, as if trying to decide on what to say, "You bluntly turn our backs on us. If it were up to me, I'd zap you on the spot."
"Yes, grandfather." Luke said.
"But," said Hermes, "Luckily it is not up to him. It is up to me. Your dad. Now, I am most disappointed in you. I expected great things from you, and I still do. I have decided, and most of the others agree with me on this," Hermes shot Zeus a fatal look, "To let you live. But, you must be aware of the conditions. You will spend the rest of your mortal life as a counselor for my cabin here at Camp Half-Blood. You will not be permitted to leave the boundaries. There is already a blockade set up."
"Thank you Father. I promise, I will NEVER let you down again."
"We'll see about that." Hermes replied.
Annabeth, who had been at Luke's side, came over to me.
"Percy, we should go check out who-"
"Yeah. Let's." I said.
She lifted my hand, and we walked to investigate. Laying on the ground dead we saw Nico.
"NO!" I cried. "NOT NICO! HE'S ONLY A KID!"
"Percy! Percy! Calm down. Nico was a good kid. If there's any justice in this world, he will be Fields of Elysium. Or maybe, since he's a son of Hades, he will get some sort of special treatment. Come on. Let's keep looking."
It was hard for me to leave him, but Annabeth pulled me up for a kiss, and I couldn't resist. We walked some more, and we saw a bunch of Hermes kids, two sons of Athena, and Clarisse dead.
Annabeth was crying, so I hugged her. We stood there for what really was ten minutes, when I heard some feet shuffling.
"Umm… Sorry. Am I interrupting something?" Asked a familiar voice.
I turn around to be sure that it's true.
"Grover!" Annabeth cries before I get the chance to. "I thought you were lost!"
"I was, and the empathy link wasn't working right, so I couldn't send a message to Percy. I saw a puddle of water and I thought of Bessie! She came to the puddle, and we disappeared into nothingness. We just arrived in Long Island Sound, and I ran here as fast as I could."
"Well thank the gods your okay!" I said.
"Yeah I know! Anyway, the reason I came to you guys is because Chiron sent me. The gods are having a celebration in your honor up on Olympus. You better go! No one parties better than the gods!"
"Thanks G-man." I say.
I take Annabeth's hand and prepare to face her mom. This'll be great I suppose. That was sarcasm. Oh well. Nothing could ever be as bad as facing Kronos.