A/N: Alrighty, here is the second to final chapter of Pain Killer. I know that Minerva does not have any children; I just have not had time to edit the previous chapters yet. I own very little of the plot now, mostly this entire chapter belongs to the original author, I just wrote from Nico's point of view to the best of my ability. I apologize if this chapter is awful, but please leave a review and let me know what you think. –MOTH (Maiden of the Heavens)

Chapter 21

Nico could feel the bronze jar he was stuffed in begin to tip sideways, he wasn't exactly fully conscious, he was still far too weak to even open his eyes, but he felt his body hitting hard floor. It was not exactly as hard or as uncomfortable as the bronze jar had been, but he did not like feeling like jelly that had been stuff into the bottom of the jar and then slammed out. The air was not exactly fresh either; it might have been as deadly as the air that he been surrounded with. But he could smell sweaty giant and unwashed animals, which was almost as bad. The giants were talking to some other people, but the voices of both his captors and his rescuers were muffled as if he was underwater. Hadn't Cassandra said something about his friends coming to rescue him? He tried desperately to pull in a weak breath of air, which left his body shuddering with the effort to breathe. But he was still alive, and that was a good thing wasn't it? The Son of Neptune's voice was starting to come out clearly, and something had happened to Annabeth, had the clever Daughter of Athena really allowed herself to be captured or worse? But he heard the giant Ephialtes responding to Percy. And the answer gave both Demigods reassurance.

"Dead?" the giant asked. "No. Not yet. But don't worry! We've got your other friends locked up, you see."

Then a female voice he did not recognize spoke, it was choked back with worry, making it sound like she was being choked. "Leo? Hazel and Frank?"

Nico drew in another breath; it hurt to breath, like trying to inflate a balloon, but it was better than death. If Hazel was in trouble then he had to save her, he could not lose another sibling, another sister. He did not want to lose Hazel, like he had lost Bianca. He could feel the effects of the unfamiliar female's Charmspeak washing over him, as she tried her best to persuade the giant brothers to let them go. He was not fond of the Children of Aphrodite or was this girl a Roman and a Daughter of Venus? He could not be sure, but he hoped that he was not going to be as annoying and as stuck-up as some of the girls at the Camps.

Nico could finally feel his fingers and toes beginning to twitch and squirm. He could feel the air of Otis's snaky feet flickering their tongues above his head. The giant brothers were arguing over whether or not they should allow the demigods and demigoddesses to leave. But Ephialtes' answer left them with lost hope. "No…no, I'm afraid not…." The rest of the conversation was lost to the Son of Hades as he struggled to get himself to move more. The sound of something falling from above them and making a soft plopping noise. Nico froze and stopped trying to wake up his limbs and other body parts.

Percy voice answered his wondering on what had dropped from the ceiling. "Wonder bread?"

The giants must had a thing for bread, because the next words that came from Otis's mouths were, "Wonder bread is good," the next thing that he said, made Nico wish that he had more strength so he could attack them and find Hazel. "Though the Romans should dance for it." There was no way in all the depths of the Underworld that Hazel would allow them to her humiliate her like that. He really wanted to roll his eyes when the giants mentioned something about messing up the choreography. And something about hating clowns. It was the fact they were planning to destroy Rome that made him even more worried, who cared about clowns and fancy dance moves when Rome was going to be destroyed? And with Gaea rising in only month, that left such little time to plot and save the entire world.

He could hear the rage in Ephialtes voice as Percy insulted him. Why couldn't the Son of Neptune ever stop to think before he spoke? "This is no warm-up, demi-god! We'll release wild animals and monsters into the street. Our special effects will produce fires and earthquakes. Sinkholes and volcanoes will appear randomly out of nowhere! Ghosts will run rampant."

If Nico had the strength he would have sighed, things were going to get worse now weren't they? He struggled onto his hands and knees, his limbs quaking with the effort. He felt as slow as a turtle as he began to move, concentrating all his energy on trying to get himself out of danger until he had the strength to defend himself and help Percy and the rest of the demigods he had brought with him defeat Otis and Ephialtes. He could not help the groans of agony that escaped his body as he struggled to keep himself moving. It was painful to move after being cramped up in that bronze jar like a sardine. He tried not to let himself feel fearful when he heard the giants saying that he had planned their deaths and that would love them. He highly doubted it, and he was not going to allow himself to die here of all places.

He had to get to back to Cassandra, Roman Daughter of Apollo. He promised her he would come back to her and would not break that promise. He had been so busy concentrating on moving that he had not bothered to keep listening to the conversation that had surrounded him.

Twin puffs of smoke surrounded him leaving him to choke on the fumes. The giants had vanished, but to where he was not certain. Suddenly the ground beneath his feet shook, and he could feel the ground beginning to spilt and separate. He could hear something bubbling up around him like boiling water, but it was so hot that he could feel himself beginning to sweat. He could smell the scent of burning cement and ash. No, defiantly not boiling water. It was lava. Nico groaned in both frustration and pain. He did not feel like dying at all, but he was too weak to move.

Suddenly he could hear the clanking of cages being opened and the sound of some of cat growling. So instead of being burned alive, he was going to get eaten? Oh, things were just getting better after all…dazed, weak, and weaponless. Could things get any worse? He struggled to keep himself upright as he heard the large cats continuing to growl. He was so weak, and hungry…the cats that wanted to eat him were probably hungry too. He was probably so thin by now, that he probably wouldn't last very long. Before he could make his himself move another inch, the world went dark again.

When he gained enough strength to open his eyes again, he found himself sitting beside a girl with his skin the color of Mocha or a light brown chocolate dusting. She had short dark black hair, except for the braids that were dangling on both sides of her ears. And her shoulder looked like it was bending completely in the wrong direction. She had gotten hurt, trying to protect him, but he did not know her. There was a blond haired boy with a scar on his mouth, fretting over her. But she tried her best to reassure him that she was alright by saying, "Fine. I'm fine." He recognized the voice of being the one that had tried to use Charmspeak on Otis and Ephialtes; she must have been the Daughter of either Venus or Aphrodite that he heard before when it felt like he was drowning. The voices had been muffled before, like he had cotton in his ears. He blinked rabidly to focus, only to notice just how much of tough time that Percy and his gang of misfits was having on trying to defeat the giant brothers.

It looked like Ephialtes was reforming and Otis's really ugly costume was in tatters and he had a dent in his forehead. This just made him show more of a body that nobody wanted to see, ever. Nico could feel himself sinking into a daze again; his body was still far too weak. It felt like he was trying to lift sandbags instead of his own body. He could feel himself starting to feel like he was drowning again and everything was beginning to cloud over once more. Somehow he felt better like this; the pain wasn't so bad now.