Hey guys, I'm baaaaack
Sorry for the cliffy
On with the chapter. (Loads of fluff)
Percy
'There's a way to stop it,'
Annabeth suddenly sat up straight in the bed and spoke very quickly, 'What is it? We have to get it quickly, you need all your powers to face this threat. And I'm not letting you die. Not on my watch. Also we need you, I need you and if you die I will personally walk into The underworld and force Hades to bring you back to life.'
When she saw that I wasn't reacting, and just breathing heavily, she stopped talking,
'What is it, what's the cure?'
'The River Styx,'
Her eyes widened in shock and fear,
'What?! Percy, that is just another curse. The only way that with help you if the curses just mathematically cancel each other out.'
'No, that's not it. Apollo said that our best shot would be to get my Achilles heel back. He said that I should keep it for at least six months, then I can walk through the Little Tiber. It's the only way. Since it makes me invulnerable and yet, it tells me exactly when I need to rest, that way it sort of tells me the limit of using powers.'
Annabeth still looked worried and I couldn't let her worry about something other than this quest.
'Annabeth, it'll be fine. You need rest, we'll talk about this later, ok?'
She nodded and she said, 'Are you going to tell the others?'
I shook my head and said, 'I can't let them worry about something else, we'll figure this out together, like we always have,'
She looked ready to argue but I leaned forwards, whispering in her ear,
'Sleep,'
She fell asleep after a few minutes and I played with her hair, about to drift off into a deep sleep when I heard a whisper-yell,
'Percy!' I turned around to find Piper looking at me horrified, and it dawned on me that she probably heard my conversation with Annabeth
'Is it true, your curse?'
I thought about telling her but then I knew that wouldn't make any sense since she already heard me. It's not that I don't trust her, it's just that she will probably tell Jason, who will tell Leo and it will just keep on going.
'Yes, yes they are'
'And what are you going to do about it,'
'I'm gonna do what you heard me tell Annabeth. The River Styx'
She looked very worried, this is exactly why I didn't want to tell my friends, it would get them worried. And Piper is super kind to all of us and she is one of my best friends too. Our friendship is also an example of how two people of opposite genders can just be best friends. And she seemed to have that same type of relationship with all of the demigods except Jason. We were practically her brothers. And seeing your brothers and sisters worried about you is something I don't want them to experience. Especially with the weight of another quest.
'Look Piper, don't worry about me, I told you it's fine, I'll take a dip in the Styx. Have the curse for six months, then walk in the Tiber.'
The nodded and said, 'Percy, you have to tell the others,'
I was about to argue but she stopped me, 'Percy, Annabeth only stopped now because she is tired right now and she loves you, she trusts you to make the right choice. She knows the pressure you are handling and she wants you to rest. But tomorrow she will try to convince you again, and I will be on her side. We all care about you, you aren't a burden and we don't care if we give up this whole quest to protect you, because you are our friend.'
'She's right Percy,' my head snapped to where the voice is coming from.
Leo was sitting up straight in bed looking as if he just woke up and Nico was starting to wake up.
'Ok let's have a Percy is about to die sleepover and talk about this,' I said sarcastically
'Wait Percy is about to die?!' Said Hazel all of a sudden as she woke up quickly
I groaned and Nico said, 'what's going on?'
I realized there was no stopping them now so I told everyone to wake the people who were sleeping up so I could explain. I looked at Annabeth and brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
'Wake up beautiful, let me see your eyes,'
She stirred a little and despite the serious atmosphere, I placed my hands slowly around her waist and started tickling her. She woke up screaming and laughing and she smacked me on the arm, so I did the most logical thing a good fiancé would do in that situation: I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into a long, soft kiss. She definitely calmed down after that and responded with enthusiasm. She ran her hand through my hair, but we were rudely interrupted by Leo.
'Guys seriously, this is not the moment and Percy has something important to say.'
Wow, if Leo is serious, it means we have to pay attention. I thought. We broke apart with Annabeth redder than I have ever seen and she was avoiding eye contact with everyone including me. So I smirked and and pulled her next to me so that she was resting in the crook of my neck as she was about 7 minutes ago.
Everyone was looking at me expectantly, I sighed and started explaining. My friends getting shocked by every sentence I completed. After I finished they looked at me with concern.
'I need to get the Achilles heel as soon as possible, so I decided I'm going tomorrow with Nico and Annabeth. That's my final decision and I'm not going to argue right now, I'm tired and so are all of you. I'll see tomorrow, if this goes well?'
' "if this goes well?" What do you mean, why wouldn't it go well?' Leo asked
'The River Styx can literally burn you up and result in your undeniable death if you don't focus on your mortal point,' answered Nico. Then Will smacked his arm.
'Oh' answered Leo in a small voice
'Ok guys, go to sleep and I need to talk to Nico and Annabeth.' I said
Said people walked over and I told them when we will meet.
'Ok look, it's about 12:30 now. We'll be leaving at 6 so get some good sleep and I'll get Mrs. O'leary tomorrow ok?'
They nodded. Nico went back to sleep and Annabeth took my hand and walked me back to bed where we held each other in a tight embrace under the covers. She whispered, 'I love you,'
'I love you too,'
And on that happy note, we fell asleep.
Nico
I woke up at 5:37 and since we were leaving at 6 I didn't bother going back to sleep. I got out of bed and I had a good look at the place.
Seems very colorful
I thought as I looked around. But I had to admit that the place was pretty impressive, it was twice the size of my cabin at camp half blood and it had like 7-10 bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room and 3 bathrooms. I walked outside the tent and walked towards the forest. It looked quite depressing and eerie, in other words, my kind of atmosphere. As I walked between the trees that filled the forest. I felt a sense of beauty to this area. Most people assume that because I'm a son of Hades, or that I wear black and that I'm pale that means that I have to hate everything and think that everything is ugly. But in truth, it just means that I can see a different kind of beauty. For instance, when people look at the forest, they see a scary place with unimaginable horrors. I can see a place with nature, incredible creatures and beautiful scenery. I wandered through the never ending twists and turns of the forest and stopped at a large circular area with no trees.l looked around the area and sighed; this small area reminded me of myself, the emptiness inside me is unsheltered and dark. Everywhere I turn, I see the people I care about in comfort and happiness, sheltered by the love that is provided by friends and family. I felt like more of an outsider on this quest more than ever and I don't even know why. Maybe just a hunch. All of the people that were are in the tent with me were and still are the people closest to my heart, they reached out to me and accepted everything I am. However, I reach a point where I have to put up the borders that completely separate me from my friends, like this small hollowness in a crowded forest. I couldn't let my friends worry about my nightmares as well as Percy and Annabeth's, not even Will could have known the full content of the terrible dreams. For some reason, this small insignificant part of a large forest made me feel comfort. Like sitting in a place completely dedicated to me. It also had some beauty to it that only a few people would understand, with the tall trees that acted and boundaries and the sense of security that was provided from the outside world, I could have spent the rest of my life there. I sat down and leaned against the roots of the largest tree in the area whilst thinking of all of this. After awhile, a noise came from behind the tree in front of me. My stygian iron sword was in my hand within the next second. Nobody knows this, but I actually call my sword Soul Reaper sometimes. At first, I considered Bone but then decided on the former.
Anyway, I got into a fighting position and waited for a dracaena or a chimera to pounce, but my heart almost stopped beating when a little white bunny emerged from behind a tree. My breathing began to speed up and I could practically feel my heart beating out of my chest. That furry fluff face will probably hiss then attack my beautiful and luscious face. The monstrous creature simply cocked its head to the side as if considering my sword. Then it's eyes focused on me. It had a look of amusement, not fear. The fact that it wasn't already hating me because of my parentage was a good start, so I put Soul Reaper away, and sat down in my old position, leaning against a tree. The bunny approached me as if my stench of death was the smell of cabbages on a large meadow. Although the little creature showed no harm, I couldn't let my guard down Incase it attacked me. What really surprised me, was when the bunny hopped towards me and sat in the space between my right arm and my hip. This fur ball immediately struck me as a diva bunny, but honestly, I didn't mind. The fact that a living thing other than my friends didn't attack me was a miracle. It showed me that I could still be loved. I know my friends and Will love me, but sometimes, I feel like I'm dangerous to them, I mean, I could have pulled Percy and Annabeth before the fell into Tartarus. If I didn't blame Percy for Bianca's death, I would have spared them a lot of trouble looking for me.
Before I could go on, I checked my watch. It read 5:53, so I started to head back. When I entered the tent, I saw Percy and Annabeth getting ready and packing a few supplies such as nectar and ambrosia in case we got hurt. Percy turned around and when he saw me he said, 'Ready?'
'Yup,' I answered popping the 'p'
He nodded and we walked outside the tent. Percy grabbed a handful of my hair and Annabeth placed her hand on my shoulder. I rolled my eyes at Percy then I gathered the shadows around me and let them engulf us as we disappeared into the darkness.
Annabeth
Well, we appeared in the underworld. For the hundredth time in my lifetime, and we followed Nico the whole way. I zoned out until we actually reached the River Styx. Nico looked at Percy and he nodded in confirmation.
Percy looked at me and he said, 'don't I get a kiss for good luck?'
I smiled and said, 'come back alive Seaweed Brain, then we'll see,'
He nodded again and turned his back, he faced the river, took a deep breath, then he jumped. If I looked hard enough, I could see him thrashing about in the water in pain. I was going to call out to him to remember his lifeline but then I remembered that he probably wouldn't hear me.
A few minutes later, he swam to the top of the water and we had to pull him out.
When I touched his hand, it was like he was put in an oven,
'Percy you're hot,' I said as rested my hand on his his. He looked at me and smirked,
'I know,'
That's when I smacked his head, then I remembered that he was invulnerable so that was pretty much useless,
Nico shook him head and we walked back to the entrance of the Underworld. Before we could even prepare ourselves, he grabbed our hands and Shadow travelled back to Hogwarts.
Percy
Yeah, you know the whole painful experience, the Annabeth lifeline, blah blah. The point is that I had what I came for, no matter how excruciatingly painful. This time I decided that my Achilles heel will be a tiny spot between my left big toe and the one next to it. I planned to tell my friends when we got back. I trust them all not to betray me.
We walked in on breakfast after we changed into our uniforms, I saw that Leo cut the sleeves of his hoodie off, probably because his powers made him feel warm all the time, so he didn't need the sleeves to keep him warm. We had breakfast in silence then we all got up at the same time to head to class. We took a turn to an abandoned hallway and Jason started speaking, 'did it work?'
I nodded and said, 'we'll talk later in the tent after classes, to make sure nobody is watching.'
We all agreed to that plan and started heading towards History of Magic.
This next part is weird, I mean very weird. All of a sudden, it felt like I was in the River Styx again, except ten times more painful. Every bone in my body felt like it was snapping, all my muscles felt like they had a knife shoved through them, and every vein in my body felt like popping.
I tried to scream, but no sound came out, at all. I could faintly hear my friends shouting and panicking as I fell to the floor and arched my back in pain. A few seconds later, all of the pain was gone and Annabeth rushed into my arms and I held her tight as the shouted,
'You stupid Seaweed Brain, I THOUGHT YOU WERE DYING OR SOMETHING, DON'T EVER DO THAT AGAIN!' She smacked me with every word in the last sentence.
I nodded slightly because I couldn't speak properly yet as I tried to regain my senses.
We all looked at each other apprehensively until Will broke the silence,
'Well, you may have gotten the Achilles heel, but I think it just causes another problem,'
I AM SOOOOO SORRY GUYS, IM TERRIBLE. I SHOULD UPDATE SOONER. I'll make a deal.
If I get reach 30-35 reviews, I'll update within 2 days of the day I reach my target.
IMMA OUT
