Hey guys i'm back... finally. i'm sorry I haven't updated in forever, but Practice is insane. (I got setter in Volleyball BTW) anyways this will probably occur more often now with school starting in a week, i don't want to start High school, but i guess it's inevitable. (Yes i am a Freshman) i hope you like the chapter. :P
I had always dreaded that question. What if we did fail? What if Kronos won and the world was plunged into eternal darkness? What if everything we had sacrificed meant nothing? Those thoughts sickened me.
We walked in silence for the rest of the time. Our feet kicking up dust as they dragged along the cave floor. Thoughts of failure kept racing through my mind. What if? What if? What if? I didn't know. But thankfully I wasn't the only one. Everyone had those thoughts and nobody knew that answer to any of them. I shoved my hands inside my jean pockets.
We soon reach the center of the underground cave where most of the demigods lived. I had been here multiple times since I escaped Kronos's prison and it was always full of activity and life, with demigods rushing to and fro. Others just chatting away almost like regular teenagers. Now, the place was dark and quiet. Only a few demigods were actually in the cavern, 10 to 15 at the most. These demigods were younger, some, no older than nine years old. I only saw three faces that I recognized. Nate, Jerimiah, and Bradford, the conceded bullheaded son of Ares. The first time I'd seen the guy he'd punched me in the jaw for no reason then every time after that he'd accused me of working with Kronos or doing nothing to stop him. He hated me and the feeling was mutual.
Jerimiah was the head of the Titian's Bane, he was an okay guy. Honest, trustworthy, and a bunch of other things that made him a good leader. He was a son of Athena, only three months younger than me. Bradford was standing beside him his thick black eyebrows scrunched so close together that it looked like he had unibrow. Nate was in front of them his back turned to me and Anya. I knew that Nate was explaining about our arrival and about Anya being the daughter of Poseidon. Jeremiah wasn't a person who you could surprise very easily, but the look that he had on his face when he saw me and Anya told me that he was slightly shocked.
"Come on." I say starting towards the three of them. Anya follows right behind me. She seems jumpy and on edge but I assumed it's only because of what she saw back in the tunnel. We stand before Jerimiah and he smiles.
"Welcome back Nico, I didn't expect to see you here what with Kronos's searches getting more and more frequent."
'I'm surprised you made it here alive while we got slaughtered just for being associated with you." Bradford breaks in scowling. I glare at him but he continues his rant. "I don't get why we're still helping you. In the past four months you haven't made any progress in finding a way to stop Kronos and all you've been doing is taking apart of our rations every time you come."
"Enough Brad!" Jerimiah demands. "You know as well as anyone that Nico is one of the only people in the world who have even a chance at saving us. Everyone knows that and we have to help him in any way we can."
Brad glared at Jerimiah but says nothing. He knows not to questions Jerimiah's orders. Satisfied that Brad would say quiet he turned back to me an apologetic look on his face. "So… I take it that this is Miss Anya Westfall, daughter of Poseidon."
Anya nods meekly. "It's nice to meet you." She says holding out a hand. Jerimiah takes it and smiles.
"Likewise."
The released hands and Anya stepped back behind me. Jerimiah cracked his neck and yawned. "Well I for one am ready for sleep." He said in a much more sophisticated manner than necessary. "Nico, you, Anya and your two friends are welcome to stay for as long as you need."
I nod "Thank you Jerimiah, but Anya and I will be leaving tomorrow. She and I have to keep moving otherwise Kronos will find us."
"He already did." Brad growls quietly. Jerimiah glares at him but says nothing. Only sighs and nods in understanding. He turns to Nate.
"Will you please show Nico and Anya to the storage rooms? They will need supplies for their journey."
Nate nods and starts off towards one of the storage areas. Anya follows behind him. I start after them but Jerimiah puts a hand on my shoulder. "Nico, wait a minute." I turn and see Jerimiah staring at me his face etched with worry. "Have you heard anything from the hunters as of late, or my sister?
I freeze. I hadn't seen them in almost three months. After the battle of Manhattan the hunters of Artemis had been killed off and only Artemis had survived. After that she had rounded up others to her hunt but they were never the same. They had tried to hit Kronos hard about two and a half years ago, none of the hunter were ready for the fight and things went horribly wrong. One of the hunters betrayed them to Kronos and Lady Artemis was locked in Tartarus along with all of the other "dead" gods and goddesses. The hunters were devastated but after a while they turned into the second most effective rebel group going against Kronos. They usually were my eyes and ears for what was going on outside of New York but all of the sudden they had just stopped communicating with everyone. It wasn't good but there was nothing I could do.
Jerimiah looked at me expectantly but I sighed. "No… I'm sorry. There's been nothing since August."
Jerimiah closes his eyes and clenches his fist. One of his sisters, Emma, had joined the hunters just after the battle of Manhattan and she'd become the first lieutenant of the group. I had known Emma for a long time and she was actually a close friend. I was worried about her and I knew that Jerimiah was even more so.
"Okay… thank you, but Nico?"
"Yes."
He looks like a young and worried kid rather than the leader of the Titan's Bane. "When you hear anything from them… will you please let me know? No matter what it is?" he pleads.
I grip his shoulder. "Of course Jerimiah, you'll be the first."
He lets go of my shoulder and gives me a grateful look before turning and walking in the opposite direction. I sigh. I felt useless, even though I was the person that everyone had been counting on to save them and I couldn't do anything to help even one person.
I shake my head and take off running to catch up with Anya and Nate.
0-0-0-0-0
Finding the two of them wasn't that hard, I'd been around the compound before and the storage rooms were on the far side of the caverns but getting there was easy, you only had to follow a single tunnel until it dead ended into a room filled with supplies.
At first I couldn't see Anya, only Nate standing near the entrance with an amused smile in his face, but when I got closer I could see why he was smiling. Anya was looking at the array of weapons along the eastern wall like a little kid would look at candy in a candy store window. Craving to have them all and imagining herself holding even one of them in her hands. It would have been slightly disturbing if it had been any other girl but Anya made it look… kind of hot. I could feel my cheeks turning slight red as she came running back towards them a huge smile on her face and giggling like a school girl.
She grabs hold of my hands. "Nico! Oh my gods this is amazing! There's so many of them. I've never been around this many weapons in my life!" she says excitedly.
Nate laughs. "I'm glad that someone appreciates the hard work that I do around here."
"They're beautiful!" she says looking back over her shoulder. Her hands are still intertwined with mine and my palms are beginning to sweat. Why was I reacting this way? Anya and I had only met yesterday, but the way her eyes glittered with excitement and her smile were making my senses go crazy.
"We're just friends, we had to help each other survive and fulfil the prophecy; there's no time for anything else." My rational side said trying to calm my hormones.
"Yeah right, you know you can't stop staring at her amazing legs, her shiny black hair, oh and especially her beautiful eyes." My hormones argued.
I realized that these two sides had been arguing since I had meet Anya and so far… my hormones were winning.
Nate smiled brighter at Anya's comment. "I'm glad you think so. Go ahead and choose any one you want, we've got more than we need."
Anya's eyes widened and she ran back to the weapons with renewed enthusiasm. As soon as her hands released mine I let out a breath. My hormones died down and my rationality came back forcing my emotions back down into my heart.
As Anya began inspecting each and every weapon Nate leaned against the door frame and crossed his hands over his chest. "Never seen a girl get so existed over items that can kill people." He shook his head in amusement. I chuckle and watch Anya continue to appraise the weapons.
Surprisingly she didn't take very long to find a weapon that suited her. She came back holding two dagger sized three pronged weapons along with sheaths for each one already fashioned around her waist. I'd never seen a weapon like this before; I mean they looked something like ice picks that had horns attached to the handle but aside from that I had no idea what these things could been.
Anya on the other hand seemed to know exactly what they were. She flips the weapons around her hand and smiles as the blades slice through the air. "These… these are the ones."
Nate looked at her uncertainty in her eyes. "Um… are you sure. I've never seen anyone actually kill a monster, or anything for that matter, with a pair of Sai's.
She laughs. "Of course I'm sure, the ancient Chines used these all of the time, they were mostly used for defensive purposes but when used in the right way, they can be as deadly as you want."
"Well okay… if you're sure…"
Anya smile confidently and brandished the blades. "Trust me."
Nate mumbles something under his breath, and shakes his head disbelieving. Not that I blamed him those…Sai's I guess they were called, didn't exactly scream terrifying. They looked more like oversized salad forks than actual weapons. I didn't say anything to her though as we began gathering supplies.
We didn't need very much, a few rations of food and water, one pair of clean clothes for each of us, one small canteen of Nectar, and a single bag of Ambrosia for medical purposes along with some gauss and antibacterial medicine. I shoved the supplies in my bag that I had been carrying around as Nate packs away what's left of their supplies.
"Well I guess that should hold you over, for a while at least." He says whipping the dust off of his hands.
"Thanks" Anya says clearly still excited about her new weapons.
"No problem, it's the least we can do for the two people who we're counting on to stop Kronos." I knew that Nate wasn't trying to dampen our mood but the comment made my heart sink. Anya's smile and enthusiasm diminished. Nate clearly took notice. "Did I say something wrong?"
"No…it's nothing just don't worry about it." I say quickly trying to get off the subject. My thoughts kept coming back to the questions and doubts that were lurking in the back of my mind. I didn't want to dwell on them any longer than I had to.
Anya cleared her throat trying to keep the conversation moving into another direction. "Um anyways… Nate is there a place where I can clean up a little? I mean I don't care what it is, even a bucket of cold water at this point would be amazing." She was right, we both were covered in dirt and monster dust. Anya's hair was flying all around her face and her shirt was more brown now than black. I'm sure I didn't look any better.
"Yeah sure… though you won't have to use a bucket of water. We've got running hot showers near the sleeping quarters. Nico can take you there, I've got to go finish a little project that I've been working on; hopefully if I can get it working we won't have to worry about another monster attack."
I didn't want to ask what he was working on, knowing Nate it was some sort of fire breathing bronze dragon that would rampage around the forest tearing apart anything and everything in its path. (Hint ;) hint) I pulled Anya out of the storage area before Nate could go into more detail.
"Yeah! Nico I wanted to know what project he was working on." Anya protested.
"Not if you want to get any sleep tonight." If you ever let Nate explain how one of his machines worked, you'd be there for hours. I speak from experience. "Just trust me."
I steer her towards the showers. The showers they have aren't exactly your standard home improvement showers, but they worked well enough. You had hot water to run and soap to wash up with, it's a heck of a lot better than taking a dip in an icy river, and again I speak from experience.
They didn't have room for separate boy and girl showers, but each one had a curtain to draw back. Luckily no one was in there at the time. "Well… um I guess you can pick whichever one you want… um… man this is awkward."
Anya smiles. "You know you're cute when you blush." My cheeks turn deeper red. She walks towards one of the showers a draws the curtain back. I let out a breath as the water squeaks on.
Fates she was pretty; even when she was covered in grime. My heart was beating a thousand times a minute. How could one girl make me feel so…weird, no that wasn't the word for it…more like twitterpated? Gods when did I turn into Bambi?
I sigh and walk into another shower on the other side of the room. Tugging off my cloths and placing my bag outside of the shower, I flip the water on and let it roll over my body. I brace my hands against the wall and breathe in the steam. The water washed away all of the dirt.
I look up and see the scars that run up my arms. My hair hangs in my eyes as I stare at the white streaks. Thankfully my skin was so pale most people didn't notice but I was always paranoid. I didn't cut myself if that's what you're thinking, (even though I can relate to people who do) no these scars were form my time with Kronos. Every scar told a story. Some very vague and distant, others like they had happened only yesterday.
I clench my fists and hang my head as my anger rose. Every time I looked at the scars I got furious, with Kronos, the gods, but mostly myself for being such a coward. My thoughts begin to drift to the day where everything went wrong, August 18th. Percy, Annabeth, Grover, Thalia, everyone…
No! I tell myself as the water runs down my chest. I couldn't go down that path, not again, not here. I purse my lips together and clench my fists even tighter. Kronos was going to pay, no matter what.
I stand there for a few minutes just letting the water rundown my body and splash onto the floor. My mind goes blank for that time just letting the feeling and the sound of water fill my ears.
Soon I hear Anya turn off her water and step out of the shower. Quickly I finish washing up and do the same. I pick up my bag and throw it over my shoulder. My T-shirt is ruined so I don't bother to put it back on, but I slip on my black jeans and shove my hands deep into the pockets trying to hide the scars. Shaking my hair out I pull the curtain back.
Anya stand near the entrance wearing a black camisole that fit her perfectly and her old jeans that I now noticed hugged her body beautifully. I had to look away before I did something stupid. I take a deep breath and walk towards her trying to keep my gaze on the floor.
She's humming something as I approach. I've never heard the tune before. I take a glance and see that she's pulling her long black hair into a side braid. She catches me looking and smiles. "So what now?" she asks finishing up the braid and wrapping a ponytail holder around the end.
"Well the only thing we really can do is go to sleep unless you have another idea."
She bites her lip. "I won't have to sleep in a tree will I?" I can't help but chuckle.
"No, but they do have common sleeping areas so we're kind of stuck together." She raises her eyebrows.
"Would that be so terrible?" my mouth stops working for a moment. Her eyes are staring into mine and we're only about a foot away from each other. My heart is pounding so loudly I'm certain that she can hear it.
She smiles again and I almost lose it. "Come on Mr. 'Prince of the Underworld' I'm tired and I want to get a good night sleep while I have the chance." she turns and starts down the corridor. I follow after her like a lost puppy.
Once we enter the sleeping quarters and find only a few people are actually there. It's amazing how drastically this place has changed since I was here last.
We find a fairly large area open near the back wall, plenty of room for the two of us to sleep and still have enough room between us that we wouldn't be touching. Two mats have been laid out with blankest folded at the foot of each one.
I place the bag on my shoulder near the wall and stretch; I was grateful to have a place to sleep for the night. I knew I wouldn't sleep very well but either way I was glad I didn't have to worry about monsters pulling me out of a tree while I tossed and turned.
Anya was unfolding her blanket and preparing for bed. Looking at her was making my brain go haywire, but a question was nagging at the back of my brain.
"Anya?"
"Hmm?" she mumbles not even looking up.
"What happened back there, when you started to… you… you almost started an earthquake." Anya's hands freeze and she looks at the ground.
"I was hoping you'd forget about that."
"Well I didn't, now spill."
She sighs and stands up, brushing the dust off of her jeans. "You know I'm a daughter of Poseidon…"
"Yeah we've established that." I say.
"…and you know what Poseidon is known for…"
"Making nasty storms on the ocean, horses, fathering over powered kids. Your point?"
She clenches her fists. "He was also known to the Greeks as 'Earth Shaker'."
"So what, does this mean that every time you get pissed off you cause earthquakes?" I wasn't really surprised, I wasn't kidding when I said Poseidon fathered over powered kids and Anya was no exception.
"Well… that and I can kind of create earthquakes… at will." She says timidly. I stare at her. "It's not that uncommon actually, I'm sure Percy could have done it if he had tried." She adds hastily. I continue to stare.
She closes her eyes. "Would you stop that?!" she huffs.
"Stop what?"
"Looking at me like I'm some sort of freak! I get enough of that from other people." She hugs herself and sighs. "I'm sorry, I just don't want you to…"
"It's okay I get it." She looks up at me. "I know what it's like, being a son of Hades doesn't exactly make you popular with most demigods. Everyone either thinks I'm some super-powered hero who's going to save them or a gruesome necromancer who will kill anyone if they so much as look at me the wrong way."
I sit down on my sleeping mat and sigh. "I guess we both have problems like that." Anya nods ruefully and sits down on her mat. We stay that way for a few minutes neither of us saying a word. Being children of the big three has its perks, but it definitely has a down side.
The room is quiet, everyone else is sleeping aside from the two of us.
Anya sighs and lays down on her back so she's staring up at the dirt ceiling. "Do you ever wish we were normal?"
I look at her. "What do you mean?"
She turns on her side and props her head up and her hand. "I mean do you ever wish we were all mortal, that the gods didn't exist and none of this was real? Like it was all some huge nightmare that everyone was having and suddenly we all woke up from it?"
I think about it for a moment before answering. "Sure…I guess…I mean I hate that all of this is happening and I wish that I could rewind the clock and start over, but I wouldn't want to lose some things."
She looks at me curiously. "Like what?"
"My memories mostly, there are some that I would be happy to forget, but others…I don't know I just would hate to lose them. Like the time when I was trying to play fetch with Mrs. O'Leary." I smile at the memory, "I had thrown the Frisbee and Mrs. O'Leary had gone to get it. Percy had walked into the Arena. I tried to warn him but Mrs. O'Leary bulldozed over him on her way to return the Frisbee. He got up and looked like he'd just taken I dive into a sand pit." Anya giggled slightly but her face darkened.
"I wish I could have met him." she rubbed her arms uncomfortably.
"He would have been proud of you." A single tear escapes her eye and she wipes it away quickly.
I thought at the time that she was just sad ad missed her brother, but much latter I would realize that wasn't the case.
yes i finally got some NicoXAnya fluff in! i'm happy. just so you know i figured out what i'm going to do with the backstories for both characters so that's going to be fun.
if you guys really like Percy Annabeth stories and you haven't already read this i would recommend "Fire at Will" and "Eagle Eye" by o Mischief Managed, they're amazing stories and i got hooked.
leave a Review and fav/follow if you haven't already, thanks again to those who have reviewed and followed already i love you all and i hope to see you guys latter! :P
