Lycoris Radiata

You can all thank XHikariSoraX for this chapter. I actually had this chapter already written when I uploaded the first one, but I was just waiting for a good review:3

Disclaimer: The brilliance of Tokyo Ghoul unfortunately still belongs to the sadistic Ishida Sui and PJO to Rick Riordan

Camp Half-Blood

Location: New York

Purpose: To shelter the children of the Greek Gods and Goddesses

Day 2: Into the Depths of Hell

Percy drummed his fingers impatiently on his leg while the Seven filed into the Big House. Chiron had woken him up early that morning looking distressed and tired, and that had been all it took for Percy to haul himself out of his warm bed and into a meeting at six in the morning. Stealing a glance at the centaur once more, Percy could easily tell that the man hadn't had any sleep for days. Heavy bags sat beneath his normally warm, brown eyes, and the fatigue showed itself in every step the centaur took as if the next weighed more than the last.

Finally, Leo stumbled in looking dazed, still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes like a child would. Annabeth, sensing Percy's distress, shot him a sharp glare which got the Latino sitting at his place and at attention in a heartbeat. Percy gave Annabeth a grateful smile and she returned it, squeezing his hand underneath the table.

Chiron clapped his hands together, "Alright, now that everyone is here, I'd like to start." The old centaur's gaze travelled around the table, inspecting each of the Seven in turn. Chiron stopped short at the empty seat to his left. "Where is Mr. Di Angelo?"

"Here." The voice floated around the room in an eerie, disembodied manner. The Seven collectively startled at the sound, sans Percy, Annabeth, and Hazel, who were already used to Nico's shadow-travelling habits.

Frank looked especially creeped out when Nico bled into the room from the shadows in the corner of the room. When Nico stepped fully into the light, the grim line of his mouth did nothing to ease Percy's nerves. Chiron cleared his throat, "Please take a seat, Nico." The Ghost Prince nodded and sat at his seat at the ping-pong table, eyeing Frank's hand atop of his sister's.

Jason spoke up, "So Chiron, why are we here?" Murmurs flew around the table when Chiron pulled out a scroll and lifted a large hunk of a Celestial Bronze breastplate from under the table.

Chiron cleared his throat once more, "This armour was found in the Fields of Asphodel, on the edge of the Pit," he paused, surveying the shocked looks around the table, "and as you've all probably figured out by now, this could only mean one thing."

Leo raised his hand, looking utterly lost, "A Titan is running around naked?"

Immediately, the tension in the room broke. Percy held his stomach, guffawing even louder when Leo looked around at them confused.

"What did I say?"

Jason shook his head waving him off with a huge grin on his face, while Piper held onto her boyfriend's shoulder for support, still snorting. Even Chiron had cracked a small smile, the weight on his shoulders a little lighter. Only Nico stayed still, his lips set in a deep frown. He slammed his fist down on the table, "IT ISN'T FUNNY!"

With tears in her eyes, Annabeth was able to calm down and speak coherently at last, "Nico's right guys. Something big is obviously going on, and we have to pull ourselves together so we don't end up with another war on our hands." At the mention of another war, the table quieted and listened to what she had to say. Looking at Chiron for permission, he nodded, giving her the go-ahead to start speaking, "My theory is-," she stood up, circling the table to inspect the bronze armour, "-that this armour is only a small piece of what is happening in the Underworld. If it was found near the Pit", her, Percy, and Nico visibly shuddered, "then the conclusion could come down to two things: 1) A large humanoid monster, none of which are known to inhabit the Underworld, could have been attacked near the Pit and broken its armour. This reason doesn't stand seeing as Celestial Bronze or any other type of metal we use burn monsters to the touch. 2) Something, most likely a Titan or of that size, attempted to escape the Pit by protecting itself from the safeguards against escapees by wearing armour that shouldn't even be in Tartarus in the first place. This conclusion makes the most sense, however, one thing still puzzles me."

Grunting with effort, Annabeth managed to flip over the piece of armour on its back. The demigods' eyes widened and they all leaned forward in their seats. Chiron looked on at the words as if they were the epitaph on each of their gravestones. Percy's heart felt heavy with dread.

Glowing a deep, sinister red, the Ancient Greek words shone brightly up at them. Annabeth read them aloud:

'We are coming, demigods

We are coming and you cannot hide

You cannot win and you cannot flee

We are coming, and you are doomed'

There was silence as everyone digested this information. However, Leo was still lost,

"Can somebody please explain what the hell is happening and why you all look like Zeus just shat on your graves?"

Frank answered this time, still staring down at the glowing letters but not seeing them, "Finding this wasn't a coincidence, guys. Tartarus has declared war."

Before full-blown panic could break out, Chiron cut into the conversation, "Frank is right. This is a declaration of war. But, the prophecy I received from Miss Dare spells some hope for our situation." Chiron unrolled the scroll sitting on the table and read the prophecy with no small amount of shakiness in his speech:

'Into the depths of Hell, they must go

Seven plus One and Two more

To the Asylum and down the stairs

Salvation in humanity's darkest tragedy

He who feasts on mortal flesh

Yet takes no lives but his own

The Centipede still crawls underneath

In the sewers far below

Acquire his aid and perhaps all lives will be saved

Except maybe his own'

"M-mortal flesh?!" Apparently Percy wasn't the only one who was disturbed by this information. Piper looked sick to her stomach, holding onto Jason's shoulder for support.

Still staring at the words on the paper, Chiron didn't even acknowledge Annabeth's burning stare. Nico chose this time to speak up, "They're called ghouls." All eyes were fixed on him, urging for him to continue. Nico shifted under the sudden attention, but continued on, "I've met them before in the Underworld, very few stay above Tartarus, and the first time I met one in the mortal world, I didn't expect anything different. You see, in the Underworld, they are very complacent beings. They wander around like a spirit would, in a painful trance of memories but not remembering what those memories are. They tend to form groups, always quietly talking amongst themselves. Monsters and spirits avoid them and they avoid the monsters and spirits. It was in Tokyo, Japan that I met my first live ghoul."

Suddenly, Nico's whole body shivered and his nose wrinkled as if he were smelling spoiled milk. Percy could only guess at what he had witnessed for it was most certainly horrifying for a child of Hades to look as fearful as Nico did in that moment.

He continued in a hushed voice, as if afraid that anyone but himself should hear his words, "I-I was walking alone in the street at night", the demigods at the table gave him a look at that, "I thought I could defend myself of course. I was wrong, so wrong. . . I didn't stand a chance. I had turned into an alleyway when I heard a sort of shuffling from behind a trashcan. I thought perhaps it could be a monster, and I drew my sword to fight it. It was a monster, I just didn't know it.

I knew that ghouls were human in appearance, more human in nature than any other monster I had ever seen, but it was too much seeing that thing there covered in human skin. It was a girl, with long teal hair and a tattered red cloak. She was bent over something, at first I couldn't see what and I wish I never had. There were bandages hanging loosely around her neck, yet the blood on them didn't seem to come from her, and as she picked up a long object I realized it was a human arm and then-" Chiron placed his hand reassuringly on Nico's shoulder and he took a deep breath. No one even breathed.

"-And then she saw me and I was scared. I was truly and utterly terrified of this human-but-not until she was no longer human in appearance. In seconds, a monster, one-eyed, tentacled monster, was bearing down at me and I was still frozen from the sight of that arm. . ." Nico trailed off. He shook himself and cleared his throat to continue, "Soon enough I learned that not all ghouls were like that thing, but all have the same diet. Even more disturbing is that the mist doesn't cover them." There were gasps at this revelation and Annabeth seemed ready to protest.

Percy didn't know how to respond. Mortals in Japan knew about these monsters, yet the rest of the world didn't? How could a city as big as Tokyo keep such a gruesome secret? Instead, he asked this, "Nico, how come you didn't tell anyone?"

Grimacing, Nico fingered his camp necklace not answering. Instead, he turned towards Chiron, probably to avoid the stares he was receiving. "There does exist an organization to combat ghouls in Japan. It's called the 'Commission of Counter Ghoul' or 'CCG' for short. They must be in charge of controlling information leaks about ghouls to the rest of the world."

Finally, Annabeth burst forth with her questions.

"Isn't there any way to identify ghouls?"

"How come the gods didn't tell us?"

"Do our weapons affect them?"

Percy could see Annabeth's mind working overtime to process all this new information and pick it apart in hopes of finding a solution.

Nico answered each question in turn:

"Yes, the whites of their eyes blacken and their irises turn red when their. . . appendages are activated."

"I don't know. My father refuses to tell me."

"Yes, I know at least Stygian Iron can."

At this last bit of information, Nico fell silent, sitting quietly in his chair. The demigods looked around at each other in hopes that the prophecy was some kind of a sick joke played on them by the Fates.

". . . ."

"Her hair was GREEN?!"

"SHUT UP LEO!"

Okay, so it's pretty damn obvious who Nico met ;)

Update: So the ghoul's hair is green/(still) teal now, so that should give those of you who were confused a hint.