||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
Summary: 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 11: Debating on Demigods.
'I had a feeling something like this would happen.'
The God of the Sea ran a hand through his bone-white hair. He'd aged four centuries in one night after the news of his son's treachery reached Olympus.
'I knew he hadn't been the same since Tartarus. But to go so far.. to go against his loyalties in such a fashion... it was all so unlike him. To know that he acted only under the corrupted influence of my brother...'
He sighed.
'It's almost a relief. Percy didn't betray Olympus. And I will not allow Hades to get away with committing such vile acts in my son's name!'
'Now Poseidon,' Athena swept her gaze over the rest of the council. 'We cannot simply turn against Hades with no actual evidence! Father, what proof does your demigod daughter have of this?'
'The Old Man of the Sea explained the fate of the boy, Athena.' Zeus grumbled. 'And he knows everything, doesn't he?'
'Nearly everything.' The Goddess muttered.
'We have all the evidence we need! I don't doubt for a second that Hades would be so foolish. However, there is another issue. We are unaware of his son's whereabouts, and we don't know who killed Annabeth Chase.'
'If it was your son, Poseidon,' Athena's glare was harsh as a hailstorm towards the Sea God, 'I will-'
'Must I remind you that your daughter also spilled innocent blood? They were both under Hades' spell at the time, so they cannot be rebuked for anything they have done!' Poseidon insisted.
Focusing her glare on the marble wall opposite, Athena seethed quietly.
'Either way, we must take action!' Thunder clashed outside the throne room as Zeus spoke. 'We must find the Hades boy and young Perseus before they cause any more trouble. Then we will prepare for war! All in favour?'
Ares grinned at the mention of a war. 'I'm definitely in.'
Athena frowned, troubled.
'Father, we must be cautious-'
'You're a war Goddess, aren't you?' Zeus growled. 'Are you in favour or not?'
All twelve Olympians rose their hands. Some, quickly, others a little more hesitant.
'Good.' The King of the Gods nodded in approval. 'Now we must send out search parties to find the Hades boy and your brat, Poseidon. Your son will be brought to Apollo and Dionysus for healing.'
Poseidon nodded in appreciation.
'Um, dad?'
Apollo pulled out an earphone, glancing anxiously at the Sky God.
'What is it? I was just getting to the climax of my speech!'
'You might want to hear this...' The Sun God began scrolling through his texts.
'I've just picked up an issue from my oracle. She's getting an incoming signal...'
The Olympians leaned forward in their thrones.
'And?' Zeus glowered. He was not in the mood for another gloomy prophecy in this century.
'It's happening! It's happening! Switch on Hephaestus TV!' Apollo jumped up.
With a snap of his fingers, a massive holographic image of a screen appeared in front of them.
Apollo then fiddled with the in-built remote on his armrest to change the channel to 'Know Your Fate- Live with the Oracle.'
Hera blinked. 'It's just the demigods having a campfire. Rachel Dare looks perfectly complacent, as usual. What-'
'I can sense what's about to happen!' Apollo snapped. Shut up and watch.'
As Hera stuttered an angry reply, the other Gods focused on the screen, a hungry intent in their eyes.
Thanks to the incredible high-definition, the Gods could make out every one of the heroes despite the late evening darkness. Shadows leapt from the writhing flames, around which the campers huddled together.
The fire famously reflected the mood of the demigods. Tonight it was low, as inky blue as a bleeding fountain pen and alarmingly hot, if the sweaty sheen glowing off the campers was anything to go by.
They all looked dishevelled. Disheartened. Furious.
Perhaps they missed their leader. Perhaps they hated him. One way or another, it seemed that many of the half-bloods viewed Percy Jackson in the same way they viewed the Gods: Unreachable, untouchable and unstoppable, for better or for worse.
Jason Grace sat alone on one of the logs. He glared into the fire as several of the Apollo campers attempted to tune their instruments.
'No music tonight, guys.' Will Solace lowered his brothers' guitar. 'It's not the time.'
Apollo gaped a little at the screen, but didn't speak.
The tension was stifling. Campers whispered angrily to one another, some spreading rumours and others defending the name of their lost heroes.
The son of Zeus had his eyes tightly closed and his fists clenched in his lap. He appeared to be as restless as the churning blaze in front of him.
The oracle herself stood a little way from the others.
She faced away from the fire, staring into the bleary abyss of the night sky above as if it held all the wonders of the world.
'What are you hiding?' she mused to herself, so quietly that only the Gods could hear. 'And where on earth did you go?'
'It's happening!' Apollo repeated nervously, increasing the volume. 'Get ready!'
'Argh!' Rachel Dare held her head in her hands as she cried out, stumbling into the gathered demigods. She knelt next to the campfire, groaning as the flames changed to a chaotic blend of red and black.
Then only green.
A smoky, greyish green like a murky sea wave rising up towards the stars.
Two half bloods pulled her onto one of the logs as she breathed out a ghostly emerald mist, her eyes rolling to the back of her head.
'Not again.' Jason muttered under his gravelly breath. 'Please not another one yet.'
Alas, the Oracle rose to her feet as a new prophecy slowly left her lips.
'Young are the demigods, fallen from grace,
Old is the darkest one, playing the ace.
Into Pandora's Box one will go,
So there is evil unleashed for the life of a hero.
All nations are crushed with a traitor's call,
And the powers of Olympus will shatter come nightfall.
The Dark Age will surely come to be,
While the mortal son of Poseidon still breathes.
A hallowed silence befell the listeners.
Every last word was echoed in the scream of the wind.
'Catch her!' someone cried as the Oracle tumbled to the ashy ground.
At the last second Clarisse La Rue broke her fall, lifting Rachel back onto one of the logs.
Then even the fire was quiet. The surviving little embers that flitted to the floor sparkled white in their last moments of heat. They looked more like falling stars than anything else.
'I believe,' Chiron announced, wiping his sweaty brow, 'that we have just been told another Great Prophecy.'
Hell broke loose between the campers.
All at once, the fire shot up and broke into a plethora of colours; all dark, clashing and frantic.
'What are we supposed to do now?' Drew Tanaka wailed. 'We've just been told that the word is ending, all thanks to Percy and Annabeth betraying us!'
Shouts of bitter grief were hurled amongst the half-bloods. Unlike the Romans, most of the Greeks weren't quite as eager to accuse their leaders of such heinous crimes, but things looked pretty bleak on that front.
In the midst of calamity, Piper's mellow voice rang out. She sounded calm, despite her shaking hands.
'We'll just have to do our best without them. I'm sure we can figure this out together.'
Jason honed his stern gaze onto each individual, silently ordering them to sit down and shut up.
'Old is the darkest one, playing the ace.' Piper recited. 'That's got to mean Hades, like Thalia said in her iris-message. It's referencing his control over Percy, with him being the 'ace', right?' She turned to Malcolm for reassurance.
'It would certainly seem so.' The newly appointed leader of the Athena cabin confirmed. 'After all, Hades is hidden in the darkest place ever: the underworld, and he's pretty ancient, not to mention evil. The first two lines are pretty obvious, to be honest.'
Travis kicked a pebble into the fire. He looked distraught.
'There's no way we can ignore that last line, though.' he said. '"The Dark Age will surely come to be, While the mortal son of Poseidon still breathes."... that sounds pretty obvious, too.'
Two hundred heartbeats thumped loudly out of time.
'Does Percy have to die?' A small girl asked, sounding close to tears.
Travis stared back at the fire, where the pebble he'd kicked into it refused to burn.
'It's him or the Gods, Lacy.'
'Oh Hell. Why is this happening?' Piper mumbled, horror gleaming in her kaleidoscope eyes.
'What the bloody fuck?!' Connor Stoll exclaimed, 'There's no way we're letting that happen, right? We aren't letting Percy die.'
He was met with no reply.
'Listen to me!' Rachel stood, startling everyone who had assumed she was still passed out.
'Prophecies are abstract! Things are never as they seem, so Percy may not necessarily have to die. If we can find him, then we can have him healed and put back into the right state of mind. Apollo could be working on an immunity to The Darkness as we speak! And Annabeth-,' Rachel blinked quickly.
'We've lost our most brilliant strategist, and well, some of us lost a lot more than that. A great friend, a powerful fighter. She saved many lives, including mine. When Percy returns, we will burn her shroud and the Gods will send her soul up into the stars forever.'
She continued hastily, 'Hades is responsible for the deaths of both Annabeth and Reyna, and for framing our strongest hero for his filthy actions! He wants to divide us!'
'Yes!' Jason stood by her side, 'it's time to avenge their deaths. We know our real enemy. Our job now is to fight back for justice! Fellow Half-Bloods, this is war. And this time, it's personal.'
With the push of a button, the holographic screen blacked out.
'Well that was all very inspiring.' Dionysus commented dryly.
'To quote my son: what the bloody fuck?!' Hermes scowled. 'There's no reasonable way out of this so-called Dark Age. Unless...'
Poseidon's eyes were still fixed on the empty screen, like there was more to see in the blackness.
Athena, meanwhile, eyed her father warily.
'Are you still so sure of your plan, Lord Zeus?'
The King looked stunned for a minute, and then angry. But the Wisdom Goddess felt that she could also detect just the tiniest hint of terror from him.
'Send out everyone to find him. The Hunters, the Amazons, the nymphs, every one of your subjects. Bring the boy to me! Percy Jackson must be dealt with.' He decreed. 'And severely so.'
A/N: Next chapter: Walking into Traps- Featuring an ambush and a fight long forgotten.
Q&A: Who do you think will succeed in finding our lost hero? Thalia and the Hunters of Artemis, who trust and respect him? Or perhaps the Amazons, of which the Queen just so happens to be related to Percy's first victim...?
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~cold clouds~
