Will sat on the beach watching the waves crash into the shore. The smell salt and seaweed filled the air. Will remembered his last day at camp when he sat with Nico on the beach. Small tears collected in his eyes. He hoped his fever had gotten better. Will suddenly felt someone standing behind him. He slowly turned and saw the dark figure. Will jumped with fear.
"I told you that they were coming but you didn't want to believe me." It hissed.
"That's 'cause your not real!" Will snapped.
The shadowy figure slid a knife into its hand and placed it to Wills cheek. It nicked the flesh and blood pooled in the small cut. Wills eyes widened. The figure pressed something, a walky-talky.
"Queen Rovina, he knows the truth."
More shadowy figures walked towards him. They were carrying a tall skinny girl. She wore a black latex suit with a thin black cape that fluttered gracefully in the wind behind her. Her skin was dreadfully pale and cracked. It looked like she had gotten coal and drawn with it under her eyes. She had horns on top of her head, he couldn't tell if they were real or not. They looked like Aka Manah. It sent chills up Wills spine. Will stood up.
"Will Solace, son of the murdering sun god, prepare to fight me!"
Will remembered Aka Manah's last words, "Rovina, avenge me!" So, this walking ghost was the one that had been given the task to avenge Aka Manah. Will could see why he chose her.
The shadow figures dropped their queen down gently onto the hot sand.
"Its a shame you cut your strings and destroyed your puppet." She taunted.
"Well this meeting would have been embarrassing, since there would have been two puppets instead of one."
Rovina snarled, "Are you asking for an early death?"
"Who said anything about dying?"
"I did. Didn't you hear my declaration of war?"
"There's only two of us. That's hardly a war."
"I like you better when you were broken and a puppet."
Will was handed a sword. He had never been good at sword fighting. He cursed in Ancient Greek. Rovina spoke to the shadow figures in a language he didn't know.
Rovina smiled fakely to Will, "Its Ancient Persian you dummy!"
Rovina walked away from Will. She walked like a model, she was so elegant. Will shook his head, he needed to concentrate. A shadow figure ordered him to go stand on the wet sand like Rovina was doing. Will raised his sword and took in a deep breath. He hadn't a clue on what he was doing.
Rovina was quite a distance from him, but still close enough that he could still make out her features. She removed her cape and handed it to a shadow figure. The shadow moved the mid point between them. It waved the cape and Rovina began to charge. Will finally clocked on to what she was doing and began to run as well. Their swords clashed together, they were stuck pushing against each other for a long time. Rovina gave in and stopped pushing. She had the upper hand she went to drive her sword into Wills stomach but he back away from the sword.
They were both panting under the hot mid summer sun. The wind whipped sand into both of their eyes. Rovina looked like she was about to throw up, but she would have nothing to throw up. She was weak physically and mentally. She had been plagued with the voices of evil and her lust for destruction. She was an angry and confused little girl. Rage burnt brightly in her tired eyes. She charged at Will again. She swung at Wills face. Will blocked her attack and managed knock the sword out of her hand. She turned to retrieve it but she tripped on a rock. She burst out crying.
"Just kill me!" She wailed, "I'm a failure!"
"No, Rovina." Will said softly, "You can turn the tables if you stop this."
"What, you think that I can 'become good'?" She scoffed.
"I did."
She laughed mockingly, "Oh Will, you were always good. My name means destruction. We all have our set fates, mine is to be the next reincarnation of Aka Manah...well it was."
"Fait isn't sold, you can change your fate."
"FATE IS SET! I cannot escape this!" She cried even more, "My mother said it was my fault that my sisters dad left. She met this other crazy woman who had the same thing happen to her with the same guy. She blamed me when she left my sister at the strawberry fields! My fate was set the moment I was born. I was born for destruction and failure."
Rovina stood up. She spoke to her shadow people and they left. She moved Wills sword so it was facing her. Will eyes widened.
"Rovina, don't." He whispered.
She shook her head. She was too broken and defeated to continue on living. She backed up then ran into the sword. Blood covered Will and the sand. A small smile crept into her face.
"Rovina! What the-"
"Will, go to Aka Manah's palace. Look for the file with your name. It tells all."
Will held back his tears. Rovina placed a small hand on his cheek.
"Please, let me go to the ocean. My mother drowned in the ocean, I want to be with her."
Will let the tears roll down his face. They dropped onto Robina's dying broken body. Will placed her body into the ocean and waited with her until she died. He cried harder when he felt her hand stiffen. He pried his hand free and pushed her off to sea.
She hadn't gotten that far out to sea when a sea creature popped up and ate her. Will just stared blankly at the sea. Tears streamed down his dirt covered face.
"The world is cruel." He said, his voice had been striped of all emotion.
A shadow figure placed a hand on his shoulder. It took Will to the place of his former master.
He entered the place, the throne room had been redecorated. Will walked up the the throne and found the file. Will was tempted to sit on the throne but it'd probably set off some booby-trap or he'd become Aka Manah or something else crazy like that. He grabbed the file and ran out of the place.
He found himself back on the beach. The mortals continued on with their normal lives. Will plonked down onto the sand. He stayed on the beach until Jason gave him a blanket and told him that he could stay the night at his place.
Will was too numb to take much interest in the inner workings of Camp Jupiter. He wanted to soak it all in but he couldn't focus.
At Jason's apartment Jason made Will a hot chocolate while he had a shower. Jason had gotten some spare clothes for Will, he didn't have any camp half-blood t-shirts. Will said he didn't mind. Jason's clothes were two sizes too big on Will.
Jason set up the sofa so Will could sleep on it. Will sipped on the hot chocolate and he cried. Jason quickly put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him.
"Is the hot chocolate bad?" Jason asked.
"No," Will sniffed, "it's really good actually. I wish I could have saved Rovina. What's the point of all this Jason? What's the point if you can't save everyone?"
Jason rubbed Wills shoulder, "I know it feels pointless Will, but with Rovina gone other people will be saved."
"Yeah, you're right. Thank you, Jason."
Jason eyes sparkled. He smiled widely and embraced Will. At first Will was stiff but he softened into the hug. Jason always seemed to know what to do when it came to situations like that, maybe dating a child of Aphrodite had something to do with it?
Will went to sit down of the sofa. Jason took his empty cup and made more hot chocolate. The file had been left on the oak coffee table. Will picked it up. It had Nico written in thick ink pen but it had been scrawled out. Wills name was written underneath. Jason sat next to Will on the sofa. Will had to ask him to move.
"You and Percy seriously need to work on personal space." Will commented, he then scowled, "Stop touching me."
Jason backed off and laughed, "You've been spending too much time with Nico, his anti-socialness has rubbed off on you."
Will ignored him and opened up the file. Will saw data on Nico and himself. Aka Manah had gotten every detail on them. He knew how his parents meet, that his fatal flaw was wanting to fix everything. Will scanned over Nicos name, he didn't read about him. it would have been rude to read it without his permission.
Will turned over the page. The rest of the file was recounts of the tortures and schedules that Will had been subjected to. There were photos. Will didn't remember there ever be a camera or someone take his photo. Wills hands shook as he read the reports and looked at the photos. Will wanted to stop reading but he was hooked. The way Aka Mnaha had wrote the reports was captivating and thrilling, he forgot he was reading about himself, it felt like fiction. 'I did it for pleasure.' 'It was so fun watching the boy squirm.' 'I know what he likes and i'm giving it to him.' 'He was disobedient, so i made my mark. He won't disobey be again.' 'He finally submit to me. My beautiful puppet.'
The pictures made Will cry. He hadn't realised he looked that bad. Some of them he hid from Jason, they were too explicit.
Will felt the file being replaced with something else. He looked down and found a box of tissues. Jason closed the file.
"Thats enough for now."
"You're right." Will said wiping his eyes, "Sorry Jason, but could I sleep now?"
"Sure dude," Jason smiled, "Just call me if there are any problems."
Will nodded and slid down the couch to sleep.