Disclaimer: I do not own any works credited to Rick Riordan. I am not even a male. I, sadly, own nothing. Except my ideas for this fic, I suppose.
I didn't feel any pain. And it was all more of a far off out of body experience, where all the sound is muffled and distant. The moment the knife entered, I was watching from some point above. I watched as my body fell to the ground, as Tartarus gaped, as Cypress screamed and screamed, as Rain cried and Adam sat there shocked as his bubble went through the ceiling. I watched as my friends got away and the monsters went into a frenzy. And I watched as my body erupted into pure, bright golden light, leaving nothing behind, not even the knife, and killing some monsters in the vicinity. I closed my eyes at the light.
I opened my eyes to find myself in the afterlife. I saw the River Styx, and I spotted Charon in his boat nearby. I knew that to get to the afterlife, I would have to pay Charon to give me a ride across the river. The Styx would tear my soul apart as a dead person.
"This ride's not for you, Missy." Charon told me as I neared. "If you'll look that way, you'll see your exit." He told me politely. I looked in the direction he pointed and saw a larger set of doors. I could see Thanatos standing near to them.
Why are you helping me? I asked him.
"You saved me my job. Had you let the creature of the pit rise, I would have been jobless. Chaos would have ruled, and that certainly would mean the dead would not stay dead as they are supposed to, as you are not going to do." Charon told me. "Now hurry, Missy, or you'll miss your exit." I thanked him and ran along the beach toward the doors, not even taking time to wonder how he knew ASL. He was very old, he must've picked it up somewhere.
When I reached the doors, Thanatos spoke. "You have done much for the gods. In return, they give you a second chance for life. Do not waste it." He told me. I stepped through the doors.
When I stepped out of the doors, I was at camp. There were many campers gathered around. They were gathered around Cypress, Rain, and Adam. And my body. Cypress was cradling my dead body to his chest, weeping. Rain and Adam were on one side of him, also crying. I guess when my body burst into gold light, it came here with them. The doors disappeared behind me, but none of the campers seemed to see them or me. Except Nico, and an African American girl. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see them watching me.
I slowly made my way over and knelt beside Cypress. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do now, so I leaned my head on Cypress's shoulder. Nico and the girl came over, and Nico knelt beside me, the girl in front of me. My friends didn't look up. "You just have to touch your body." Nico said softly. At that, Cypress did look up, but Nico wasn't looking at him, and neither was the girl. They were looking beside him, at me. I placed my hand on my body's forehead. There was a brilliant flash of light, and I closed my eyes.
When I opened my eyes again, I was back in my body. I sat up from where I was on the ground with Cypress cradling my body. Everyone was too stunned to speak. I turned to Nico and the girl. Thank you. I signed. I stood, my friends joining me.
"Niki? How-" Cypress started.
Not now. I hear we still have monsters to defeat. And he'll be after you three. I said. Now, how do I go about getting my weapons back?
"Just concentrate." Cypress said. I closed my eyes for a moment, and when I opened them, I was wearing my weapons belt and my dagger was in my boot. It was a shame about the pocket knife, but it seemed to have been destroyed.
Find some weapons, guys. I told them. A moment later, their weapons appeared on them. Guess they found a chance to enchant them.
Nico, can you get everyone ready? There's going to be a lot more monsters, and we're going to need all the help we can get. I asked. Adam quietly translated for him. Nico nodded and ran off. Well, friends, let's go fight.
We made our way to the fleece. There were campers all over the border, fighting, but I wanted to help here. Also, this was the closest to where we had been. We joined the fight, and the campers fought with a renewed strength when they saw us.
With a start, I realized I was still in my bloodstained wedding dress. How fitting. The wife of their Lord would kill them all. Every single last one of them until they left my friends and my home alone.
I found myself in combat with the empousa that had stood in as a priest. She had changed from her formal wear into a cheerleader's outfit. The nametag read Kelli. "You live?" She hissed.
Yeah. I told her, momentarily sheathing one sword. But you won't. When you get down there, tell your Lord that I'd like a divorce. I told her. I stabbed her through the gut and she exploded into golden dust.
"What happened? How are you- How are you alive?" Cypress asked. He had a broken look on his face as we battled a hellhound, as if he thought I would disappear at any moment.
We'll talk later. Just fight right now. I signed, before drawing my second sword. He nodded and the hellhound exploded into golden dust.
Sometime hours later, we moved out of the way so others could take our place holding the line. We were exhausted and needed to rest or we wouldn't be able to properly protect camp.
My friends and I gathered in my cabin. They had all changed, but I refused to change. When they asked why, I gave them two reasons. One, it seemed to inspire some fear in the monsters. Like, hey, I killed myself and rose again and I defied your Lord. Two, it wasn't over yet, and I wasn't going to even let myself feel like any part of it was until it actually was.
"Nikita, you have to tell us how- how all this happened." Rain commanded, but her voice broke. She was sitting on the couch, Adam with her. Cypress was in a chair and I was sitting with him, in his lap.
Well, I sent you guys up. I knew I had to get you guys out of there. And then, I didn't feel any pain. It was all like a distant out of body experience. I watched as my body fell, and I saw all of your reactions. And then... My body like burst into a bright golden light. Nothing was left, the knife was destroyed, and some monsters were killed. When I next opened my eyes, I was in the afterlife. I knew I was supposed to get Charon to give me a ride over the Styx. But when I went up to him, he was really polite about it too, he told me that's not where I needed to go. He pointed over at a spot on the beach, and there were the doors of death. And Thanatos. I went over and Thanatos told me I'd done so much for the gods that they were giving me a second chance at life. I went through, and then I was at camp. I saw all you guys, and I saw my body. I don't know how it got up here. Nobody could see me. Nobody except Nico and that girl. I explained.
"Hazel." Cypress clarified. "Nico's Roman sister."
So when I went over and I sat next to you guys, I sat next to you Cypress. I didn't know what to do. So I leaned on you, Cypress. Then Nico and Hazel came over, and Nico told me I just needed to touch my body. So I touched my forehead, and then there was that light and then I was alive again. I said.
"And somewhere in there, your hair turned to a bright gold color." Rain said.
What? I asked.
"Your hair is a different color. It's not white anymore." Cypress said, playing with a strand that had come loose from the bun.
"Here." Rain said. She stood from the couch and came over to me. She handed me a plastic bag with a bunch of photos in it. "I didn't mean to take so many horrible pictures, but it calms me." I took the bag from her.
I guessed when I saw you had your camera and kept taking pictures in the courtyard. I said.
"I put the three you gave me and the card in there, too." Cypress said.
I took the pile of photos out and started to look through them. The top three were the ones I had given to Cypress. Then were the ones Rain had taken.
The first couple were the landscape of Tartarus and a couple of them travelling to rescue me. Then there was the one of Cypress and I's interlaced hands, from when she thought we weren't looking. Then the two of us. Then the one she had taken of all four of us. We all looked tired and defeated, but there was some hope in each of our eyes.
There was one of Rain's dress, and one of Adam in his tux. One Adam must have taken of her, because it showed her in the dress. There was one Rain had taken of the two of them in a hall. Then when Cypress had to walk with me down the aisle. I looked absolutely beautiful in the dress, even with the dirt on my face and bruise on my cheek. Then one of me standing on the stage with Tartarus.
Another of me holding the knife to my chest, taken from a little higher, and through a golden light. And another of the moment when I shoved the knife into my chest, when there was blood all over, taken through the bubble. Another of when my body hit the floor. One of my body glowing very bright, very golden, just before it disappeared in that flash of light. There was a photo of Adam and Cypress in their bubbles, Cypress breaking down and Adam too shocked to move. There was one of Rain, but the camera pointed down at her legs in the red dress.
Then there was the moment that they rose all the way to camp, and campers were staring at them. Then one of my body appearing, the light fading away. Then Cypress was on his knees at my side, holding my body, tears streaming down his face. Then one of Adam next to him. Another, where Adam had taken a picture of Rain crying. Then one was taken from an angle facing my body and Cypress's side. The blood stain was bright against the red of the dress. And it was blurry, but you could faintly see my spirit sitting next to Cypress, my head on his shoulder. Then I was sitting up, turned to Nico.
Another of me standing, weapons at my sides, looking strong and confident even though I had just risen from the dead. And the next picture was of me, fighting monsters. I looked deadly and graceful at the same time in the that photo.
Behind all those photos were two others, of a happier time. It was one of when he had landed and I had landed sitting in his lap. And then the last was of when he had fallen and taken me down with him, one of him on top of me and smirking at me, and you could literally see the amused/annoyed look in my eyes.
Thirty-four photos in all. I tucked the photos back into the plastic bag and closed it. I got up and put the plastic bag on the nightstand in my bedroom. Then I went back out to the living room and sat on the chair with Cypress, again in his lap, because the chair wasn't very large.
"We should all rest." Rain said.
That's fine by me. We've got the chairs, the couch, and the loft's got a mattress. I replied.
"I'm gonna stay on the couch." Rain said. Adam nodded. He didn't want to move, either.
I'm going to sleep up in the loft. Or, try to, at least. I said. I removed myself from the chair and went up the ladder rings built into the wall. Up on the loft, the top of the mattress was a few inches below the floor. I arranged the pillows on the side I planned to sleep on and pulled a blanket over myself. A few minutes later, I felt Cypress laying down beside me. I didn't say anything, just laid there until I fell asleep.
I was the second to wake. When I went down from the loft, I found that Rain was up, sitting on one of the chairs, staring at the wall. Hey. I said.
"Hi." She replied.
What do you think about helping me make pancakes? I think there's stuff in the cabinet, and camp's breakfast is just go to the mess hall when you get a chance until this is over. I said. She got up and followed me to the kitchenette that was across from the fireplace.
We woke the boys after making the pancakes. Well, woke is a mild term for it. More like we dumped cold water from the bathroom on them. Got them both jumping up and spluttering.
After we had all eaten, and the boys dried off, we strapped on our weapons and went out to join the fight. It seemed that the spot we always went to help at was half blood hill, where Thalia's tree and the goodness fleece resided. Peleus helped, too, when they came too close to the tree that the purple dragon protected.
We fought all day, forgoing lunch when others switched out to rest and eat. All four of us had been down there, we had seen him, we had suffered because of him. None of us was going to stop until we absolutely needed to.
We did have to stop sometime around dinner. We moved aside for other campers to join in, and then went to the mess hall for dinner. When I sacrificed a part of my meal, I sacrificed some to my father; and some to Thanatos, a silent thanks for his help.
The following days all followed the same schedule. Get up in the morning, fight as long as I possibly could, eat, go to my cabin and rest until the next morning. I believed we might make it through this, but I also knew that something was going to happen on my birthday. I knew that he would've had something up his sleeve. There was no way something was just not going to happen, and the monsters weren't going to stop coming unless he got what he wanted. Which was my friends, and me, if he knew I had come back to life.
The morning of my birthday, I didn't eat. I didn't wait for anyone else to get up. I just strapped on my weapons and went to fight. My friends joined me half an hour later.
It was noon when something changed. The monsters attacked with a renewed force, and even more campers had to join the fight to hold them at bay. Then I began to glow.
I didn't know what was happening, but my body was emitting a golden light, like that of my weapons. Not like the glow when I died, no, it was the glow of my power. I tried to stop it, but it was like someone else was using my powers. As the minute grew longer, I found I was frozen in place, though no monster went to harm me. Then I couldn't breathe and my entire body erupted in pain. I fell to the ground, screaming. Then a path cleared through the monsters, and Tartarus was there, laughing in his 'non-scary' mortal form.
"I told you that you should rest. I warned you that you might not make it through my rising." He said with a laugh. Cypress tried to get to me, but Tartarus waved his hand and Cypress went flying, landing twenty feet away. Campers circled around him to protect him while he recovered, and Rain and Adam got new looks of anger in their eyes.
Then I saw Lily. She was really angry at him for hurting her brother, and the look in her eyes said she would kill them all.
Will Lily kill them all? Or will Nikita? Who wants to kill them all? I know I do.
Thank you to anyone who has reviewed, followed, or favorited! You are not inclined to do any of those things if you do not wish, but it would be much appreciated! I send my love to all of you!
So, I will be in Maine for nine days, I'm leaving on Friday. I'll try to post from my phone if I have the chance, but I'm going to be visiting family that I haven't seen (except for like twice a year for a day each visit) for the past couple years, so any updates may have to wait until I get home. In the event I don't post while I'm gone, I'll make sure to post a chapter or two the moment I can when I get back, I promise!
