Chapter Twelve

Ah, just couldn't leave you with a sorta, kinda, cliff hanger like that for more than a few hours. So it's update time! :)

LizCraft I already sent you a PM but I'm gonna thank you again so thank you! :) haha

Strawberrygirl2000 Haha, *furiously pours five bottles of blue food dye into milk* IT LOOKS PURPLE, DOES IT LOOK PURPLE TO YOU? Bah, what do I do now? Hm.

Let's get on with the show, shall we? And next to me is The Maze Runner and I'm scared to read it, I don't think I can take anymore feels...

Love you all!

*Virtual Hugs*

Ro x

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Percy's knees threatened to collapse underneath him. Klea had said it like it was the most casual thing in the world. The earth mother... he'd only ever heard stories from Annabeth and the other campers. Occasionally, he'd overheard Chiron and Mr D talk about her in hushed tones in the darkness of the big house, but it'd never been loud enough for Percy to be able to understand.

As Klea's knife ran along the last cut in the vase, the ribbons of gold dust started to whisper like the stars speaking wishes. They started out quiet and sleepy, as if whoever spoke them had slept or had not had contact with the world for a millennia. Then, as time seemed to slow, the voice grew stronger and louder until it bounced off the walls and hammered in Percy's ear drums.

Thinking back to a time where he was not trapped in a cell, Percy tried to remember what Annabeth and everyone else had called her. The earth mother and... something else.

Klea whispered some quiet words that Percy didn't understand and had no idea where he would start if he were to ever repeat them. Then, the whispers merged into one voice, one set of words. Percy shuddered.

Whoever the earth mother was, whatever species she was made from, whatever kind of monstrous destiny she was made to fulfil, Percy realised that she must of been incredibly powerful and dangerous to have these monsters make this big a deal of her.

He tried to concentrate, tried to hear the voice above the pounding in his head and sickness in his stomach. Klea bowed to the vase, murmuring more sweet words that Percy couldn't hear and didn't want to know and, as she rose from her deep bow, she cast a look towards Percy.

A look that was so condescending and powerful and manipulative and brutal and cold and harsh and angered and cruel all at the same time. Percy wasn't sure how many times Klea had lived, how many times she'd come back from the living heart of Tartarus but he knew one thing for sure: Klea had lived for a long time, perhaps a longer time then Percy could even begin to decipher and she had seen things and heard things that had turned her into this thing stood in front of him.

There and then Percy realised that in some strange, twisted way, Klea was a hero. A hero meant that someone would die for what they believe in and that they would try to save others in the process, too. Not all heroes could be angels, not all heroes were be on and bred to fight on the right side. And that dark, unusual way of looking at things was actually something rather remarkable.

Eyes widening, the pounding in his head became silent and bearable and the fuzziness of his mind slowly started to clear. The voice was speaking to him, he realised. The voice was blowing away the fog. What Gaea wanted to do with Percy, he had no idea -

Gaea.

That was who the earth mother was. Gaea. All the stories and nights spent with Annabeth as she told every ancient Greek tale and all the hurried eavesdropped conversations Percy had heard all came flooding back.

As his head and pain finally cleared (or so, it became tolerable), Percy focused harder on the voice until he heard only one sentence, playing over and over again. Recited like a long forgotten piece of poetry. "The son of the earth shaker has fallen to the earth mother. The son of the earth shaker has fallen to the earth mother."

Hadn't Klea and the shadows said similar words that night in the forest? Percy felt Riptide brush against his skin in his pocket. It burned, waiting to he uncapped and used. But Percy would wait, as much as that thought annoyed him. Percy's eyes flicked to Klea and he said in a low, commanding, strong voice that he had never heard himself use. "Explain. Explain everything and don't leave a single thing out."

Through the gold dusted ribbons, Gaea laughed. A deep, wicked thing that sent Percy's skin crawling. "You have certain requests, young hero. But I shall honour them." Klea was silent. "You have power. More power than you know. And, in a way that I cannot tell you, we will extract that power. Just like that little Hecate girl. And we shall use it as our own."

Her words were low and cruel and proud. It made Percy sick. Gaea was proud... of this? "Your friends will come looking for you. For they cannot survive without you. The hero. And when they come, we'll do the same thing that we have done to you. Then, an army shall rise and we, the creatures of shadows and nightmares and monsters, will rule."

The entire thing was so well thought out, so perfectly executed. But there was one flaw in Gaea's plan. Percy would never bow to her. His fatal flaw was loyalty, he'd never give up on his friends. Even when they had tortured him and he was on the brink of death and insanity, there would always be a part of him who fought against the darkness.

"Never." Percy growled and, without a thought, uncapped Riptide. The sword looked to match the ribbons of gold flowing around the room and, at its appearance, Gaea chuckled.

It made Percy mad. So mad that he felt the water from the plumbing surge with his furiously changing emotions. But he knew better then to try to use his powers. Especially after what happened before.

Then, Percy was forcefully being pushed out the room. So fast and violently and hurried, he didn't even have time to fully understand what was happening. As he was pushed into his cell, Percy whipped around with Riptide in hand, ready to strike.

Klea hissed, "Stupid, stupid hero. Do you not pay attention to the rules? There is a hierarchy and we must abide to it. Ugh!" Klea stomped her foot, drew out her blade and flung it and the opposite wall. It landed, embedded into the wall with a sickening crunch.

Percy ignored her, his eyes catching on the half empty glass of water in his cell. He no longer cared about saving it. It was clear that he wouldn't try to use his powers again any time soon. Percy picked up the glass and chugged it down in one gulp.

The water didn't taste like normal water. It was thick and fizzing and burning. Percy put it down to it just being in the room for so long. There was the sound of shattering glass as the glass in Percy's hand fell to the ground as all of his pain came back, crashing over him like a tidal wave.

He slid to the ground, his hands quivering. The last thing Percy saw before blacking out was Klea, grinning darkly.

Oooh, can you guess where I'm going with this? Does the prophecy make any more sense now?

"Powers that are too great to wield,

Shall be used as a shield.

A hero must fall

And with him, so will all."

Let me know what you thought!

I love you all!

*Virtual Hugs*

Ro x