Chapter 10- Indestructible (Disturbed)

(Percy POV)

When Kratos left them room, I wanted to sit and talk to Thalia for a minute, but the moment she realized that other than an unconscious Nico that we were alone she walked right out. Which confused the shit out of me. I guess she just wanted to hurry off to bed to get a head start on tomorrow. I was tempted to do the same, but I was a little distracted. So instead of going on to bed, I decided to take a walk around the clearing around the house. Maybe check out the woods.

Once I got outside I let my thoughts wander. I got beat today. Badly.

I had never been took out of a fight that easy before, but Kratos was on a whole other level than me. It didn't sit well with me. Considering how much stronger Kratos was than me, I couldn't help but wander at how much stronger than me that Kronos was. If the difference between us was the same as between me and Kratos, there was no way to win this war. Unless...

I could always do like Nico suggested, but it was unbelievably dangerous. After all, only one hero had ever survived bathing in the River Styx. I wasn't overly optimistic about my chances of surviving it either. All things considering, I didn't have a very good track record when it came to having good luck. More than likely, I would end up dying in the river and then Kronos would take over before Nico could turn sixteen.

"You know when I told you to get some sleep I meant what I said." A voice behind me called. I spun around coming face to face with the Fallen God himself.

"I was just walking around." I replied quickly, "I got a lot on my mind."

Crossing his arms over his chest, Kratos frowned. "You are the supposed child of prophecy, are you not?"

"Yeah." I sighed. "Not that I want to be, but I'd rather it to be me than let Nico, or Thalia, have to deal with that kind of pressure."

"You are concerned for them," Kratos commented, "You don't want for them to be put in any kind of danger if you can help it."

I looked down at the ground. "Yeah. I don't want any of my friends to get hurt. I'd gladly give my life for theirs. Still, Nico's plan is fucking nuts."

That last part was supposed to be said under my breath, but either I said it louder than I thought, or Kratos had better hearing than me. "What plan would that be?" He asked.

Shit, I thought. My blood turn to ice. "Nothing. Just an idea he had after Kronos rose this summer."

Kratos scowled, "Don't lie to me, Son of Poseidon."

My eyes went wide. I didn't really want to tell him, but I'd rather tell him rather than make the ex-god angry. "Well, he thought that maybe I should take a swim in the River Styx. It's not a big deal."

"How is that a plan?" Kratos frowned, "I swam in that river once. It does nothing for you."

I gasped. "You took a swim in the River Styx?! What do you mean it does nothing for you? It made Achilles invulnerable except for his heel."

Kratos' eyebrows furrowed in thought before he relaxed. "I see. In my world it was just a river that the souls of the underworld used to travel in the underworld. Here in this world it does something different."

Regarding me with a calculating look in his eyes similar to the ones I had seen on Annabeth's face more often than I'd like to admit. Thinking of Annabeth caused me to wince. I hadn't exactly left camp without her on the best of terms.

I was shook from my train of thought when Kratos spoke. "You should do it."

"What?" I questioned.

"The Styx. You should swim in it. In fact you all of you should." Kratos answered, "I'm assuming that you get a boost to your fighting ability on top of the invulnerability?"

"I guess so," I answered, "But are you sure? It's really dangerous! What if one of us dies?"

"I will not train cowards," Kratos sneered, "I will be taking all three of you to the underworld tomorrow. And all of you will bathe in the river if you wish to continue the training. Perhaps it will speed up the process of you training."

I was stunned. "O-ok."

Kratos nodded. "Now get back to bed. You all have a long day tomorrow."

"Er.. yes, sir." I replied, turning on my heal and running back to Kratos' home to find a bed and lay down. I couldn't believe I had just caved like that to him, but I couldn't even begin to rise in defiance to what he said when his anger showed. It wasn't fear, but the pure power I felt rolling off of him when I was in his presence. It was far more than I had felt in the presence of anyone, including Kronos. Suddenly, I felt hopeful about the future of Camp Half-Blood. After all, we could loose with someone like that on our side, right?

(Kratos POV)

As I watched the young son of Poseidon retreat to my home, I couldn't help but find myself to actually like the child as a person. He was a decent person. Kind, and honorable, and more worried about his friends then himself. An admirable trait. However, he worried about the consequences of his actions far too much at times, and not enough at others.

Perhaps these children would make admirable warriors. They all already moved like they had been fighting for longer than most of Sparta's more experienced fighters. I knew. After all, how many battles did I lead my fellow Spartans in? Too many to count considering the time in which I was a god.

I had high hopes for all three of the demigods. Especially the daughter of Zeus. I had hopes to make them all Trophimoi of Sparta, so that my ancient home would continue on in the modern day.

Despite the chance I had been given to start over in this new world, I couldn't help but want my old village back. I had not been to Sparta since before Zeus' betrayal.

Either way, I had a job to do. I had to bring these children up to be true warriors of Sparta, and all of that would begin tomorrow after they all took a dip in the River Styx, and became more powerful than they are currently. Maybe then they could actually survive my training.

(Thalia POV)

When I woke up the next morning both Percy and Nico both were up and looked like they had just been given the most terrifying news of all. Did Kronos take over while we were asleep? I thought. That was terrifying enough to think about that it sent shivers down my spine.

"Yo," Percy called over to me, "come here, Thals. Nico's got some bad news for you."

Nico looked at Percy in surprise. "When did I agree to tell her anything?"

Percy just smirked at him and my heart jumped a little at the sight. "Just now." He replied cheekily.

Nico just scowled. "Dammit. Fine."

"What the hell is going on?" I asked.

Nico turned to me. "Listen. You know the tale of Achilles, right?"

As he was talking Kratos walked into the room. "It's time to go. Athena has approved of the trip, with a minor modification of course."

"Trip?" I asked, "What trip?"

Kratos turned his gaze on me which soften slightly. "To the Underworld. Only, you won't be taking the traditional route."

Nico and Percy's eyes widened. "Wait, what?" I questioned suspiciously.

Kratos smirked. "I convinced Athena to make a few modifications to my home here. at the edge of the woods on the far side of the clearing is your path to the Underworld, modeled slightly after the path I took in my world to get to the River Styx, where I will meet you all to ensure that everything goes like I want. On the way I might drop by every once in a while to explain exactly what I did to your weapons last night and how best to use them."

Nico didn't speak up, so I assumed Percy told him what happened after he was knocked out last night. "Why are we going to the Underworld?" I asked.

Kratos nodded at Percy. "I assume that they will answer your questions for you, once you all get started. If you are all ready go ahead and get started."

As I started to walk off with Percy and Nico, a hand landed on my shoulder. "Sister, can I have a word with you before you leave?" The former god asked

"Sure." I replied nervously, turning around to face my half-brother. "What's up?"

"I never had a sister in my world." Kratos replied, "And I would like to do all I can to help the one I do have now, and because of that I want to do you a favor. Let me see your spear and shield again."

Feeling touched that this cold and ruthless warrior said something so kind to me, I and him my spear and Aegis without and hesitation.

Removing two beads from the chains around his wrist he help both in his hands with my weapons, and began to chant in an ancient language over them. When, he finished there was a brilliant flash of red, and as the red faded, I got to look at my weapons in their contained form. They didn't look any different, but power was radiating from them now. Handing them back to me, he told me, "Take good came of them and they will take care of you. I sacrificed two of my weapons to fuse into your spear and shield to make it as powerful as possible." (A/N)

Stunned I asked, "Which weapons?"

"My own personal set of spear and shield, Better known as the Arms of Sparta, and one of my most powerful weapons, the Spear Of Destiny. Take good care of them. May they serve you well."

With that there was a flash of red and Kratos had disappeared. Taking that as a sign to catch up to the others, I rushed outside. Maybe Kratos wasn't such a bad guy. Maybe he just got dealt a bad hand.

(Percy POV)

Once Nico and I had made it to the middle of the clearing, we both turned back to face the house and waited on Thalia to walk out. After a long awkward moment, she finally walked out and I released a breath I didn't know I was holding. I was (slightly) worried about Her being alone in the house with him. Then I realize how ridiculous that was. After all, they are siblings right?

When she finally caught up with us, I asked, "What did he want to talk to you about?"

She looked down at her bracelet and her mace canister, both of which she was clutching in her right hand. "He said he felt that he should help me out since I'm his sister, and he's never had one before. So, he fused a couple of his weapons with mine. Whatever that means."

My eyes widened in shock. "What? How does that work?"

She just shrugs. "No idea."

"Hate to interrupt you guys," Nico spoke up, "But can we get this show on the road, please?"

I grin at the disgruntled son of Hades. He wasn't very happy this morning when I told him everything that happened after he got knocked out yesterday. Especially when I told him about my conversation with Kratos. He grumbled something about took him seconds to convince me, when he had been trying since August. He also grumbled something about how he would never get any answers now, which I didn't understand.

"Sorry, Nicky. Why don't you lead, hunh?"

Nico scowls. "Don't call me that."

"Shut it, death breath," Thalia commanded, "Let's go."

His scowl deepening, Nico turns and keeps walking. I chuckle. This was gonna be an interesting trip.

(Nico POV)

I was pissed. Period. I was so mad I nearly lost it this morning when Percy told me what Kratos was wanting us to do. Now, even if I survived my dip in the River Styx, I was no closer to getting any answerers about my past than I was before, now that I couldn't make the trade off with my dad.

I sighed. oh well, I would figure something else out. I can't say I was too happy about being in the front. All things considered, I wasn't looking forward to Kratos' training exercise, but I wasn't overly concerned about it.

After all, he didn't want to kill us. I think.

Besides he did something to our weapons last night. I figured he must have blessed them or something. Reaching the forest, I was mildly hesitant about going in. I just chalked it up to paranoia, and continued on my way. It was going to be a long day, I could tell already.

I was starting to get tired as we reached a giant chasm at the end of the woods. Directly in front of us was a old looking wooden bridge. Turning to Thalia, I asked, "So, do we cross it or what?"

"I guess so," She murmured back. I looked across the bridge hoping to see the other side. Unfortunately, the other side was covered be an insanely thick fog. Not really trusting it, I took a step forward and placed my foot on the bridge. The moment I did, a tentacle shot from the other side and wrapped around my ankle and yanked me off my feet.

"AAAAHHH!" I screamed as it yanked me upside down and into the air. "Help!" I yelled.

(Percy POV)

I uncapped Riptide as fast as I could, attempting to cut the tentacle off before it could pull Nico away. However, before I could even attempt to slice at the thing, it pulled him backwards into the fog, with Nico screaming curses the whole way.

"Shit!" I yelled and turned to Thalia, "We gotta go get him!"

"Right!" She nodded and flicked her bracelet and pressed the button on her mace canister, activating her spear and shield. I gasped at the sight. Whatever Kratos had done changed her Spear and Shield completely.

The spear was not at least half a foot longer and had glowing Purple crystals running down the back half of the blade and the last three inches of the spears shaft. The shield was now slightly larger, and had Greek letters all around the outer edge. Which thanks to my demigod heritage, I could read it.

Gia na yperaspisteí to spíti mou me opoiodí̱pote kóstos. To defend my home, at whatever cost.

The center of the shield was still the face of Medusa, but the face was stained a blood red color. I looked at Thalia's face to see that she had the same reaction I did.

I brought myself back to my senses, "C'mon! We have to save Nico!"

Thalia nods, and together we set off across the bridge after he captured son of Hades.

(A/N): And another chapter down! Not any real action in this chapter although, Kratos fusing The Arms of Sparta and The Spear Of Destiny into Thalia's shield and Spear is kind of important. Next Chapter will be longer as they look for Nico and the mystery monster that took him. Will they get him back and make it to the River Styx? Or will the son of Hades become a permanent resident of the Underworld? All that and more will be revealed in the next chapter! As always thanks for reading, have a great day and goodbye! Don't forget to review