Happy Saturday everyone! Finals and tests are finally over, and that marked the start of Christmas/New Year break! Hope you guys have a good year!
This chapter is not that good compare to the last and next one, but it serves well as a filler-chapter :)
Disclaimer: PJO/HoO characters and plots belonged to Rick Riordan. The cover picture belonged to the owners on Internet.
The next few hours passed like a blur, since the only thing I did was killing any monsters in the way. It's not until Blackjack has come back when I realized the sun was sinking in the horizon.
"What happened?" I asked the pegasus. "Is Percy in danger?"
Even though I don't speak horse, his whine and the way his hoofs stomped the ground was enough to tell me something isn't right. And so after climbing on him, Blackjack took off immediately to the Parthenon.
Passing over the battle field, I looked below to see bodies of demigods, some trying to stand up and fight again, some laying still. I look away, horrifying by the thought that maybe I will see a familiar face down there.
Coming to a stop at the famous site of architecture, I found two thing that look a hundred times more worst than what I just saw: Gaea's face on a tree in the middle of the place, and Percy being hanged up by his hands, bleeding to his death.
I ran as fast as I can to him. The son of Poseidon was tied by his hands and feet, making it impossible for his to escape by his own. And... di immortal!, there is a hole in his left chest, soaking his shirt with blood. With this rate, he could lose too much blood and... die.
No, he wouldn't, I repeated myself. He's stronger than anyone I had ever met, and I can also save him.
But before I reach him, roots from the tree where Gaea's spirit was, shot up and tied my feet back to the ground. Despite how many attempts I gave at cutting it, more keep coming back.
"HAHAHA!", the face on the tree laughed, her voice loud enough for people ten miles away to hear. "Come on, child of Athena, save the sea pawn and end this war!"
I was securely kept at the ground, but my hands were still free. I have to use the advantage and come up with a plan really fast...
"But, you do know this war wouldn't end unless I'm awake", the goddess explained. "And for that to happen, two demigods' blood must be spill here. Now."
Knowing to not open my mouth and come up with a plan, I let the goddess continue. "And with two powerful demigods, now that's what I called a bonus!"
Laughing again, I took the moment and locked eyes with Percy. He look battered than the time he was leaving. With his head keep shaking to his right, I follow his lead and see his jacket stuck out of a pile or rocks. Along with it, Katoptris laid on the left, with... blood on it. And I'm sure there's no one around except him and Gaea.
So this is what Percy had been trying to do, I thought. Sacrificing himself to save the world. How thoughtless of him!
Using the time Gaea was distracted, I cut off the roots tying my legs, this time, they didn't come back. Rolling quietly to the pile of rocks, I picked up the knife, but this time Gaea was having her attention on me.
"The knife of Helen of Troy", she said. "You little demigods believe it can stop me if you add few little drops of blood? Hilarious!", she laughed, but there's a little of uncertainty in it.
"Well, no one have ever try it", I said, bringing the knife close to me. "This can be a good time to prove the theory". And it's true. If this doesn't work, Percy's life would be in danger, and so are all of the other demigods. But we have no choice, so I started making a sprint toward the goddess.
Using the power to control the earth, Gaea seemed to enjoy the moment playing cat-chasing-mouse with me. The roots shot up, not to tie me down, but to simply tripped me. Rocks were being thrown by invisible forces, and I barely has enough time to dodged. Risking a second looking at Percy, he has drop his head down, maybe out of tiredness, or maybe because he passed out. Hopefully this chasing game wouldn't last long, and that's why I need a plan. Fast.
Suddenly something hit me in the stomach, knocking me backward. I then realized it's a branch from Gaea's tree. I must be close, I thought, I can do this. But the hope soon died as roots began to tied me down again, this time my whole body.
"It would be wiser to give me the blade", Gaea thundered. "Nothing can get in my way..."
"What about me, lady?", a voice asked.
Turning my head, I saw Leo standing on the stone surface, looking like he just got beat up with his shirt torn in many places. He didn't have the face that tell jokes and lighten thing up; today it showed anger and resentment.
"Nobody isn't giving you anything, Dirt Face", he announced, his hands burst into flame. "And I will make sure it stays like that."
He focused on me, and shot a line of fire barely missing my stomach, cutting the lines of tree roots. Gaea, now with two opponents, and with her limited power because she's not awake yet, can't fight us both at the same time. Everytime roots wrapped around Leo, he just need to burst into fire. The perfect offense and defense.
But we're talking about a goddess here, and they tend to have a lot of tricks up their sleeves. Which is when instead of using plant-related stuff, Gaea make a wave of rocks shooting at Leo. He went down in an instant, as fire got nothing good against stuff like rocks.
The problem was now back to me. Before I could thrust the knife exactly in the middle of the tree, branches took both my hand and hanged me up just like Percy, except my feet is free and I still managed to hold Katoptris.
"Leo Valdez, I'd told you, nothing can get in my way and I meant it", the goddess boomed. "The Western world is doomed; demigods, the Olympians, all of it. It's time for me and my children to rule again!"
"No, you wouldn't", I said, trying to sound dangerous. I do has a plan now, but it also has a small chance of succeeding.
Focusing on the blade, I pray to every gods and goddess who expertise in wind, and drop the knife. When it reach the point of kicking length, I used my free leg to kick it straight to the tree. Surprisingly, it lodged in the bark.
For a few moment, nothing happened and I'm worried this maybe a false theory, maybe the vision was wrong. But then light came up from the blade, engulfing the tree on fire.
"NOOOOOOO!", Gaea wailed, loosen and dropping both me and Percy back to the ground. I close my eyes and turn from the goddess, thinking it would have the same effect when the Olympians show their true form.
"You have just put me into another long sleep!", she hissed. "I can, and will, come back to take over. This is not over, demigods. My plan would remain." With that, the tree turn into ashes, and Gaea was nowhere to seen.
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"Are you ok?", I asked Percy, panic rising in me. Obviously he's not okay, the bleeding has stopped but he still have a very severe injury to dealt with.
"Le... Leo... Ar... go...", he mumbled over the sound of the battle. Which hasn't end, as we expect, by stopping Gaea. It continued as more of demigods were suffering. And I understood Percy completely. He wanted me to tell Leo to start the Argo II, then transported us out of here. We're losing demigods, and no one can risk to lose more.
I told Leo what to be done, and he took off to the direction of the armored-ship. Outside of the Parthenon, the battle waged on. I see a glimpse of Jason floating on the air, but something hit him and brought him down below.
Faster than expected, I saw the Argo II in the sky, sliding through the air with impossible mechanics, but possible if it's made from Cabin 9 of Hephaestus. Before Leo parked the giant ship at clear ground, something went wrong.
The ship fall straight down.
I heard a CLANG! as metals met the ground, and I'm sure there's more stuff being damaged than armor. Running there with Percy's arm over my shoulder, I found Leo jumped off the ship's ladder, his face sweating.
"No good", he muttered. "I'm sorry, Annabeth, but the engines were damaged. It will take a few hours to fix it..." He left the thought there.
Looking back at the battle field, I reminded myself there were lives to be saved, and quickly made up my mind.
"Let's get everybody on first", I told Leo. "Then we will see."
-o-Pagebreak-o-
After getting everyone on board, which included fending off monsters while retreating, we were temporary safe, because sooner or later the monsters would try to climb their way on this ship to to brought it down pieces by pieces. While Leo was working on the engines, we rested and discussed our next moves to get out of this situation.
"Jason, can you carry this ship by the wind?", Piper asked.
The son of Jupiter tensed, raising his hands up. Except for the little lurching of the ship, nothing seem to move.
"Can't", he finally decided. "This thing is huge, me alone cannot bring it to the air."
I tried to think of another way, but we're out of option. Percy was still healing, thanks to the nectar, but not anytime soon. I doubted he can even walk without falling backward. I got up and checked Leo in the mechanic room, seeing if he need anything else, when the ship start lurching sideway.
"What was that?", Leo asked, holding up his tools.
I immediately raced up on board, and what I saw confirmed the thing we'd been worried around. Monsters were now surround us, and we have nowhere to go.
Next chapter: Percy's and Annabeth's POV, also the last one :)
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