The Jinchūriki and the Olympians Chapter 11
Disclaimer: Sadly I do not own Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, Percy Jackson, Heroes of Olympus, or any characters or any things mentioned in this Fanfiction
"Talking"
"Yelling"
'Thinking'
"Sound Affects"
"Demon or God or Monster Talking"
'Demon or God or Monster Thinking'
The van exploded, that's all there was to say. A few moments prior Gaara had jumped off my bike and flattened himself against it, keeping his head low. Gaara didn't see exactly what happened, but the warning shout he heard from Thalia warned him to get off the motorcycle as fast he could. Several shrapnel impaled itself in the motorcycle, and Gaara felt the need to hit whoever destroyed the van. He stood up, tapping the bike with his hand, turning into a sword, he tapped his backpack and it turning into a sheath, and he slid the two swords in, crisscrossing each other. The others stood up as well as Percy started for Zoe before she hit him on the head, hissing at him.
Zoe walked straight into the mist in the center of the road and Gaara barely kept track of her. He took a deep breath, and then followed her, walking to make as little noise as possible. Gaara followed her till they came across a beautiful meadow, and then he saw it. A dragon coiled around a large tree growing golden apples.
"The apples of immortality," Thalia said breathlessly.
The dragon had a serpent's body, thick with coppery scales. It seemed that it had too many heads for its body, too many to count correctly. An eerie singing rang throughout the meadow, and Gaara bristled, his right fist clenching and unclenching as the singing grew louder. Beautiful women came out from the forest, and Gaara chose to ignore their beauty, relaxing slightly. That was, up to when Zoe had finished talking with her former sisters and she awoke Ladon.
'Is she insane?' Gaara thought, his face setting into a calm outward demeanor. At Zoe's demand, the rest of the group started going uphill, Zoe distracting Ladon. Gaara, who had stayed still this whole time, was unseen by the dragon, and he stayed to ensure Zoe's safety. The group was almost out of the meadow when Ladon's confusion turned to something else, and he attacked. Zoe dodged and started running toward the group. Ladon prepared to snap at Zoe's side, and Gaara did something extremely stupid. As Ladon's teeth inched slowly toward Zoe, Gaara slammed the heel of his foot on Ladon's main snout; the force was so great that the dragon jerked to the right, off balance. Gaara slammed into the ground and started running, almost tripping over Percy. Ladon stayed, and the group sighed in relief. Zoe turned to Gaara but instead of lecturing him, she turned and started walking, everyone following her.
"This is-" Zoe started again, but something caught her attention. A small figure, a 12 year old was holding up the roof of the sky, and Artemis legs were bound to the rock. Zoe started running toward her, even though Artemis objected several times. Zoe tugged at the chains, and Gaara ran half way toward them and the group before he heard the voice.
"My my… how touching…" The voice made Gaara stop in his tracks; he whipped around, taking an instinctive step back, his eyes narrowing. The general stood in a fine brown suit, Luke held a sword to Annabeth's face, gagged and bound, and Annabeth was helpless. "Boy," The General, also known as Atlas faced Gaara, "or rather, a demon in a boy's body, or someone who has blood on his hands, or perhaps, the one who killed so many he lost count." Gaara's limbs trembled with rage, this man had taken Annabeth. "And you, my little traitor, along with the promised one and the son of the sea god, all together! This will be excellent! I am Atlas, and I will kill all of you."
"Let Artemis go!" Zoe said through gritted teeth.
Atlas gave a mock frown, inspecting his nails before answering, "Perhaps you'd like to take her place?"
"I forbid you!" Artemis growled at Zoe as she opened her mouth to speak.
"See? Artemis seems quite comfortable with her new job, no one to look after but the sky, so much more relaxing than taking care of you lot. This will teach the gods some humility." The rest Gaara didn't hear over the blood pounding in his head. The only thing that broke him out of his stupor was Percy and Thalia charging. Gaara turned on his heel, running to Artemis and sliding on his knees the last few yards.
"'…the one who killed so many he lost count'?" Zoe asked him as slid home, looking around hopelessly at the chains.
Gaara looked at her, bewildered, a flush of anger covering his face for a brief moment from Atlas, "Is this what we're talking about? Really? Right now? When we should be fighting over with Bianca and Percy and Thalia?"
"Then why are you over here?" Zoe said, partially answering the last question.
"To get you on a move on! I knew you would stay by Artemis side, but this is ridiculous, there is nothing you can do right now! Fight!" Gaara said, grabbing Zoe's arm, dragging her up, letting her go and then unsheathed Titan's Curse aiming at Atlas.
Though Percy was already fighting, or rather getting killed by Atlas, Percy needed help. He jumped, aiming to slash across a chink in Atlas's armor, but he stepped back, nearly running Gaara through as he aimed his javelin at him. Gaara foolishly ran full speed at Atlas, aiming to impale Atlas with his sword. Atlas bashed his sword aside with his javelin and kicked Gaara In the head. Gaara slammed into the ground, skidding a long time before he crashed head first into a wall. Gaara blacked out for a minute, and when he woke up, he found Percy in danger at the face of Artemis, and both Percy's and Gaara's sword were lost, into the ocean or spun off somewhere. Gaara, unthinkingly got up and threw himself at Atlas, though he saw it coming and the javelin caught Gaara in the chest, and he was thrown against the ground, ribs broken and saw Atlas coming toward him.
"So you want to die first? Fine then, It doesn't matter who dies first," Atlas said, though his voice was blurred. Gaara could hear a small cry from Artemis. At least a dozen arrows slammed into Atlas's side and he staggered sideways. Dizzy from pain, Gaara set his head on the ground, staring at the sky. His vision flickered, and a shadow fell across his face. He looked a bit harder, to see a Sopwith camel, which had Annabeth's dad in it. Gaara felt numb, and suddenly… he knew what was coming. Death. It was becoming increasingly hard to breath, his breath becoming fast and short. Soon, he couldn't hear himself breathing, only the slowing of blood flow. His vision was failing, collapsing into white. Gaara remembered, he saw Yashamaru, his father, Temari and Kankuro, Percy and the rest, Bianca and Nico, and of course, Naruto. The one, who had saved him, helped him become who he was today. A tear trailed down his cheek, as painful memories flickered in his eyes, but a small smile came at the memories of cheer, the ones that were for the best. His eyes closed, a small smile, and a tear on his face. Atlas had dealt the final blow, though injured; he would've survived, if not for the bone piercing his heart. Only strength had kept him for living as long as he did. The fates were cruel, unwilling to let him save one, to have one die, wasn't, wasn't one enough? The man in the black cowl did not foresee this, the Fates had always complied to his wishes, and yet, today they did not. The man frowned, shaking his head in anger, this would put a very, very big holt to his plans.
Percy grabbed him, hauling him over his shoulder, running to the silver sleigh Artemis had called. They had to hurry, monsters where coming rapidly up the mountain, and Dr. Chase couldn't hold them off forever. Percy didn't see if Gaara was alive, and as they went to Olympias, Bianca checked him to see if there was any damage. She put her ear to his chest… nothing.
Hi guys! I hope that the ending was adequate, and don't worry there will be another chapter after this one, and another book. The man does have a name and he is someone that will shock people, as it will be unexpected. It might've been a bit clunky. I will take two or three months as I'm going to take time to work more on my other story before I work on the next book.