Category: Percy Jackson & the Olympians
Rating: M
Couples: hints of Official Couples.
Warnings: AU, Blood (read: torture)
Chapter: 2
Copyright: Characters & places © By Rick Riordan, Plot & OC´s © by me
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Annabeth was quite close to panicking, I could see it. Her eyes seemed glued to the throne of her mother, as if silently begging Athena to pop in. I did the same though. Ares could get stolen for all I cared. Hey, the guy tried to murder me every chance he got. But Athena? We were still talking about the mom of my girlfriend here, even if she wasn't that fond of me either.
The gods were restless as well, waiting for Hermes to return, preferably with the two war-gods. I looked at my father, who was speaking in hushed tones with both his brothers. Zeus looked more worried than I had ever seen him.
Commotion from the outside stopped me from wondering any more. Some nymphs pushed open the door, carrying a man inside. With a shock I realized he was leaving a trail of golden ichor. A set of wings on his head fluttered weakly.
"Hermes!" Apollo called out, rushing over. The nymphs lowered their burden on the ground as the Sun-god came to a skidding stop next to them. "Brother…"
"Apollo, his leg." Artemis said behind me with a shocked gasp. I blinked, blinked again and felt my mouth fall open: the golden ichor fell from a stump which had once been a healthy left leg. Somewhere above his knee it had been ripped apart.
No one broke the ensuing silence, save Hermes who couldn't keep pained sounds from escaping his lips. Apollo glowed now, healing his brother. It took longer than I would have expected: a single sentence had fixed Annabeth after our battle with Kronos, but now he kept chanting as the leg restored itself.
"What happened?" Zeus asked as Hermes drank the offered nectar. "Where are they?"
"I was too late." Hermes said, looking up guiltily. "When I came there the Arena was wrecked and both Ares and Athena gone. I found some of their weapons." He pulled something from beneath his jacket: a squashed helmet and a folded shield. I wondered how he had fit it under there. "The Earth rose up to catch me and had I not been floating above the ground, and had Martha and George not warned me, it would have taken more than my leg."
"No…" Zeus seemed to deflate, dropping back on his chair with an audible thud. "It can't be."
My father and Hades looked from Hermes to their brother, and then at each other. "Repeat the prophecy, please." Hades fixed Rachel with a stare.
"Two Siblings dance under the Moon/Not knowing it is too soon./As the Warriors of Olympus fall/Children of the Eldest three answer the call./Swift they must be,/Lest the daughter her siblings never see./As the Earth rises in anger/She brings the whole of Olympus to danger."
"It is clear what is to happen." Dad looked at me and the other half-bloods. "The children of the Big Three must find Athena and Ares, and so the Fates are with us, save them."
"You will travel to Greenland tomorrow." Hades decreed. "I suggest you return to Camp and prepare yourselves for that. We must not waste any time."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Save her, Percy, I beg you." Annabeth clung to me, her wide, grey eyes pleading.
"How can you think I would not do that, Wise Girl?" I countered, rubbing her back. "I'll bring them both back."
She smiled weakly at me, looking up when someone cleared his throat. The man in the door looked like any fisher, even if I knew he wasn't.
"Annabeth, can I speak to my son alone?" Dad stepped into the cabin. "I need to tell him some things before he leaves."
I hugged her tightly one more time before she left. Dad sat down on the bed and gestured I should sit down beside him. "We'll wait for the rest." I had rarely seen him this serious.
We waited in silence until someone knocked. I opened the door to see Nico and Thalia standing outside. As I let them in the shadows in the corner started to move. Hades stepped out, nodding at his son before seating himself next to my father.
"We'll have to be quick." He told Dad. "Zeus might be too distraught to notice, but Hera isn't."
"Yes, yes." Dad gestured we should seat ourselves.
"What is it then?" Nico looked at his father. "What's so important you help us on our quest?"
"You must free Athena and Ares at all costs." Hades told us, his eyes shimmering with worry. I had never seen him like that. Well, maybe in that flashback of the Curse of the Oracle I never told either him or Nico I witnessed. "If they are lost, we might as well have let Kronos win."
"What?" Thalia stared at her uncles in disbelief. "How can you say that?"
"Athena is too important to lose." Dad spoke. "Even I have to admit that. You saw what became of Zeus after Hermes returned. He is unfit to rule, because – and Thalia, forgive me for saying this – she is his favorite daughter."
Thalia said nothing, instead nodding in agreement.
"If she is gone, Olympus will fall. The reason is quite simple: the gods will have no more wisdom and no leader. Zeus will crumble without her." Hades' eyes started to burn. "You mustn't fail. The moment that Rachel sprouted the prophecy saving them became a quest and the gods are unable to help you."
"To ensure you have the greatest possible chance of winning, there are some gifts we would like you to have." Dad pulled a bag from nowhere, opening it. "For Percy, I have this." He handed me a necklace. On it was a small trident. "It is a powerful amulet; made from the same material my Trident was made. It will enhance your powers and allow you control the movements of the earth to an extent."
"For Nico, I have this." Hades reached into the bag as well, handing my cousin a small bottle.
He accepted it and hissed. "This is Stygian Ice."
"Yes, break it and I will come to your aid." Dad seemed to have expected it, but the three of us were shocked. "But you can only use it once, so choose the time wisely."
"I guess Dad has no gift for me?" Thalia softly asked. She was right though, Zeus wasn't here.
"Zeus has not." Hades confirmed. "But someone else has."
"Artemis sends you your gift, Niece." Dad reached into the bag once more. "And alongside of it, a request: 'Use this well, Thalia, my sister, and bring it back to me. But above all, bring back my siblings.'"
And the bow he pulled out of it was magnificent, even I could tell. Thalia gasped beside me.
"That is…"
"The bow of Artemis. She wishes for you to have it during this quest."