||PJatO||The Nightfall||PJatO||

Title: The Nightfall

Fandoms: Percy Jackson and the Olympians/the Heroes of Olympus

Disclaimer: All rights PJO/HOO related reserved for Rick Riordan. No money is made with this, though reviews are very welcome.

Warnings: Strong language, violence, death

Summery: Percy Jackson's gone for good. He's a traitor of Olympus, or at least that's what the world believes. But once you've killed, cheated and run away, can you ever be a hero again? And when a mysterious deity from Tartarus is influencing your innermost thoughts, how can you even trust yourself? A word of warning: the Apocalypse is closing in.

The Nightfall

Part 1: The End of an Era

Chapter 10: Knowing Nearly Everything.

The Huntress walked over to the unconscious form of Nereus as he morphed back into his regular disgusting self.

She recoiled a little at being close enough to take in his foul stench again, before she wrapped her hands around his neck to throttle him until he woke up.

'Blaughhh!' He choked, 'You're just like him! You're trying to…to kill me…'

'Only if you try to run away again,' Thalia stuck a knife in his face, hovering it between his piggy eyes.

'Stay still! Now talk. What did Percy come to you for and what did you tell him?'

'That's two questions,' he protested.

'Nothing much you can do about that, is there?' She gave his flabby neck a squeeze.

He writhed around like a fish, trying desperately to scrabble out of her grasp. 'I was just sitting by the docks, minding my own business, before he jumped me! The sneaky weasel.'

Thalia was about to remind him who the real weasel was, but thought better of it.

'He had me down in two seconds. He did a way better job than last time, and was a lot faster than you were, girlie,' he jabbed, despite the knife that was poised to gauge his eyes out.

'I didn't even know what was happening until he started demanding to know about The Darkness... or something...' Nereus flinched guiltily at his own words, like he'd let slip some confidential information.

'Um, just.. forget I said anything!'

'The Darkness?' Thalia frowned, feeling a sudden chill on the back of her neck. 'What's that?'

'That's three questions-'

'Just answer!' She seethed, clenching her fist tighter around his windpipe.

'I don't bloody well know, do I?' He spluttered, 'I think he's crazy! That's what happens to all you demigods in the end, isn't it? Just look at Theseus, Jason or Achilles! Any of the old Heroes. They were all oh-so-powerful and strong and beautiful, just like your Percy Jackson, and yet they all fucked up and were sent to Hades in disgrace. You can either die a Hero, or live long enough to become the Villain. I could see just how that boy would turn out from the start!'

'No,' she hissed, 'you're lying. Tell me what you told him.'

Nereus breathed as deeply as he could with Thalia's iron fingers still crushing his throat. 'I can't tell you. The Gods would never forgive me. I swore on my life!'

'I don't care about your life, do I?' She spat. 'Tell me what you told him. Now.'

All Thalia knew was that she needed answers, and this stupid old sea deity wasn't supplying any yet.

A bead of sweat slipped down the side of his scarred and beaten face.

'Sweet Styx forgive me.' he murmured.

He was weak-willed, Thalia observed with a grim satisfaction. That was good.

'The Gods all have their own wicked ways of getting what they want,' He began quietly, 'they aren't so different from you demigods, in that sense. But certain Gods can use the Darkness, if they lack enough heart for it.'

'Go on.' Thalia didn't waver, keeping the knife steady.

'Only certain deities possess the skill. Gods of shadow, night, death, evil and such. Even amongst those few, only a handful have mastered it: the oldest and the strongest.'

'What exactly does it do?' She pressed him, anxious to know more.

'It's a calling.' He uttered, 'A whisper. It's almost silent to start with, but when you begin to focus on it, once you really start to listen, it consumes you. It doesn't let go.'

'Like mind-control?'

Thalia could feel the blood rushing in her head. She could remember all too well the last time a loved one of hers had been taken over by a corrupt immortal. Luke's blue, blue eyes freezing over into gold was still an image that plagued her dreams.

'Of sorts.' He sniffed loudly, 'But it's not that the deity in question takes the mortal as their physical host. They simply bend the victim's thoughts a little, warp their willpower into doing their bidding. They turn your innermost thoughts and feelings against you. The Darkness allows them to pit you against yourself, to drive you loony. The older deities used it a lot back in ancient times. Mainly for amusement.'

'Amusement?' Thalia quirked a judgemental eyebrow. 'That's sick.'

'Yes it was, girlie. It was banned by your father a millennia ago.'

She blinked, 'So…who's using it now?'

'Minor Gods would never cross Zeus, at least not nowadays. Only someone truly powerful with some serious grudge against the King of Olympus would risk getting caught…'

She jumped up, startled by her sudden revelation.

'So what you're saying is a major God is using The Darkness on Percy to start a rebellion against my father?'

'Perhaps!' He gasped for breath.

'Hades.' She looked at the old man for confirmation. 'He's never liked the Olympians and he hates Percy.'

'It's the perfect way to get back on the G-Gods,' he agreed, hands clawing at his neck as he began choking, 'to break their s-special little h-hero and-'

'And use him against us!' Thalia's electric eyes sparked wildly with intense panic.

'Hades wants to use Percy as a weapon to destroy the other Gods! That explains Nico's weird behaviour. He's probably been luring Percy in all this time, leading him into the Underworld...'

Nereus whispered hoarsely. 'Actually…its not-'

'I should have seen it! I have to warn the others, but first I need to find Percy. I just have one more question-'

'No more of those, girlie!' He wrangled out of her grasp as she distracted herself, 'You seem to be assuming the answers just fine on your own!'

He scowled. It seemed that his prophetic nature got the better of him.

'However I will say this: The Olympian Era is ending, but the Age of Heroes will never be complete. There's a bloody new world waiting for you, and for those whom you seek... But I'm afraid, unless you can search in the dark, you won't find Percy Jackson anywhere in sight... So goodbye, young demigod. Goodbye- and Goodnight.'

Then he cleared his throat a little awkwardly, still rubbing his sore neck. 'Ahem... excuse me. The rhyming is just a prophecy thing.'

'Goodbye, young demigod. Goodbye and Goodnight.'

Thalia was too dumbfounded to point out that it was mid-morning before she watched Nereus slip away again. He morphed into a long, slippery creature, and somehow managed to zap his own electric power into the huntress before slithering into the crest of an ocean wave.

'An electric eel,' she rolled her eyes, 'how appropriate.'

At least he still had a sense of humour after that gloomy foretelling.

Looking up, the daughter of the Zeus glared at the blue emptiness above her. No clouds, no nothing. No sign of the storm she'd witnessed just hours ago.

There was no reminder of the troubled skies that once battled above the city of San Francisco.

All she had left was the quivering scent of rain in the air and the fading sensation that she'd once been running under lightning.

A/N: Next chapter: Debating on Demigods- featuring the revered Olympian Council, breaking news and breaking hearts.
Q&A: Which 'corrupt immortal' do you think has been messing with the Hero of Olympus?
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~cold clouds~