I'm a liar apparently, then. Good to know.
So sorry for the delay, love you all so much, by the way.
Shout outs:
ChrisBMWW155326: Thanks for the compliment and condolence. And your ship is duly noted.
xed17: Thanks, and don't be too sorry; I'll live XD
Guest: I agree with you, I was hesitant to do a pairing anyway so thanks for the suggestion. Thank you so much!
Checkingdude: Percy will always be a lone wolf internally, even in canon, or at least that's how I've always seen him.
DaughterOfPoseidon-HorseLover: Aww thank you so much, I'm always told of for my writing in school so it's nice to know some poeple appreciate it.
Nebular Reaper: That's a fair observation, thanks.
ItsJustABook: Not a pernico shipper then? he he.
ItsJustABook: oh wow i didn't even think about that! Oh that'll be amazing, my god.
Guest: That's true. I mean gods don't have DNA so I guess no one is really related but I can appreciate your concern. Thanks for reviewing.
Guest: Crying? I don't think I've really ever made someone cry before, I'll mark it as a success then. Thanks so much. I have tissues if you need them.
Percy is bae: Hey friend. I went to Portugal, which is my favorite country ever, though my Portuguese is awful. Aww yeah, i do like to think of myself as a sassy bitch so yay for savagery. Oh yeah, I do love Solangelo, good point. Haha, that's siblings for you i suppose, hehe. Greece!? You lucky duck, how was it? Thank you so much!
fishes4: Very good points, kudos to you for that. Thank you so much, I love it when people like my characterization!
DemigodSassReaders: Thank you so much.
(Ok a lot of people reviewed as well saying 'percyxnico' or 'percyxthalia' and i want to say a massive thanks, I just dont want to write a response when there is little else to say but you're all amazing and a huge thanks to you all for sticking around)
NICO
It took about a minute and a half for Nico to start regretting a few of his life choices, namely the notion that he - The Ghost King - had any idea how to take care of an almost fatally injured person in the middle of Tartarus. For Hades' sake, he couldn't even open a bandage without screwing up somehow. Which made him a monumental idiot, which meant Percy was monumentally screwed.
So: good news all around.
Subconsciously he began twisting his skull ring around his finger only to stop a moment later because how the heck was that productive to anyone?
"Uh…" he darted a glance at the barricaded doorway just in case someone decided to come back and give him a hand, sadly the universe was a cruel place and he was alone. "Percy?" he whispered for no apparent reason as he approached the seemingly unconscious boy.
The only instruction he was left with was to give Percy some soup-type-situation when the boy eventually woke up. Why: he had no clue, but Damasen was adamant that it was essential to Percy's survival. Considering the odorous smell of the lumpy soup, Nico seriously doubted this. But hey, what did he know?
"Could you, uh wake up?" He placed an ashen hand on the boy's shoulder. Nico wasn't sure how Percy had managed to keep his shirt so suspiciously clean. However, it wasn't really a good time to ask about it - which was a pain because curiosity could be likened to a hoard of angry red ants on one's mind.
Percy grunted something unintelligible, typically.
"Uh, it's kind of essential that you open your eyes, like, now… oh um, please," he wasn't groveling, right? Just concerned for a teammate's (friend's?) health, yeah, that was it.
"Come on," he muttered laying his palm on the side of Percy's head (the only place he could reach with Percy's head buried in the furs) unsure what he was really doing, Nico pressed his thumb into the corner of Percy's left eye.
"Go away," Percy moaned at him. Nico felt the equal desire to jump with joy and fold his arms and sulk. Nico leaned in closer, before retracting because it was rather clear that there were no showers or baths in Tartarus. Percy nuzzled into his bed but then fell still again, leaving Nico in a slightly awkward predicament.
For a while, it was like Nico imagined the whole thing. The Percy groaned something again, a whole sentence that time, which would've been great, had Nico managed to catch the whole thing, sadly he only caught one word: "Mum."
'I'm not your mother', Nico thought lowering his eyebrows. Percy let out a shaky breath; it was just shy of a sob really. Stunned, Nico moved his hand away and took a step back, much like how when one sees something extraordinary they take a step back to admire the whole picture. The weird thing was that he had never really seen Percy display any emotions except anger and excitement, and more often than not the two emotions seemed to walk hand-in-hand with one another. The grief in his mumble struck Nico right between his ribs, a place he was sure was devoid of any activity after what happened to Bianca.
Percy made a loud declarative noise that could've been a phrase but it was definitely not in a language that Nico had any familiarity with. The boy bolted upright in his bed of furry things; Nico jerked back, shocked. Percy seemed equally lost as his dark eyes flickered from the bed to the ceiling to Nico.
"Oh, morning," Nico greeted only to mentally slap himself a moment later, 'morning' really? Smooth di Angelo, he thought bitterly.
"Oh, well, hello Nico. Um, long time no see?" Percy stuttered as he shifted the numerous items off his legs so he could sit up. Nico had moved to help before he was fully aware of what was going on.
"You were shot," Nico felt inclined to remind him. Percy's gaze clouded over slightly – a challenge to see in the dark hut.
"And you look me to Damasen," Percy stated in surprise and confusion, though whether the action baffled him or the location, Nico didn't know.
"Ah no, Iapetus did. He found us after Annabeth, you know," he mimed pulling a trigger, which may not have been the nicest thing to do. Yet Percy brightened up.
"Iapetus or Bob?" he asked all but bouncing in his seat. Lost, Nico stared at the boy. Percy stared back, it was awkward, to say the least.
"Shit, did I forget to tell you? My bad," Percy rubbed his head sheepishly before a pain gasp escaped him and he lowered said hand to his wounded side. Oh yeah, wound, right.
"I have soup," Nico declared standing up to grab the bowl that Damasen had left near the fire.
"Oh yay, I was super worried you had cake or something. But soup! Wow," Percy exclaimed in an extremely typical teenage voice. Nico sent him a withering look that he knew his father would be proud of before turning back to the fire. Only it wasn't really a fire anymore; just a few glistening embers.
Nico withheld a gag as he picked up the bowl of soup, the name used as loosely as possible. Plastering a fake smile on his face he turned back to his charge.
Cautiously, Nico lowered himself to sit next to his almost-friend; Percy seemed wholly unfazed by his presence as he stared horrified at the liquid sloshing around.
"Bon appetite," Nico grinned.
PERCY
Ok, so you know that feet smell bad? Good. Now imagine an enormous foot the size of a university (though Percy was not sure what the eff a 'university' was, his splotchy memory gave him enough to go on). Finally, think about if this foot had been around for millions of years without being washed once.
That was what the soup smelt like, if not worse.
"Bon appetite," was the only warning he got before the abominable substance was transferred into his hands. Percy looked down at the lumpy, grey poison in his palms then transferred his betrayed gaze up to Nico.
"I must've really pissed someone off," he deduced. Nico gave a barely audible snort before relaxing back on his forearms. Like how one would relax to watch a great specter. How rude of him.
"Yeah, well, don't shoot the messenger." Nico huffed. Percy thought that was a rather stupid saying, one: there was no messenger around, technically, and two: he could shoot whoever he bloody well wanted to.
"No promises," Percy warned him reaching down to casually run his fingers along a stray pistol. Nico went pale and gave Percy a pitiful look. Oh.
Oh.
"Ah, so this is the murder weapon then," Percy's teasing grin vanished into the Void leaving an almost afraid look on his face, one that he hoped would never take up residence upon his face again.
"I meant to move it," Nico instantly was reaching down to chuck the weapon who knows where.
"Why it's a perfectly functional weapon - it was made to do was shoot people." His voice hardly wavered, a miracle considering how his heart was pounding in his chest, its tempo that of war drums.
"Ok, I hate to be Thanatos at a funeral but you need to eat."
"What the heck does that mean?" Percy spluttered.
"It means putting the nearest thing to you, like the suspicious stuff in your hands, into your mouth and swallowing it."
"Ok, I have two things to say to you: number one; this stuff is not edible, alright? The bed is more edible than this. And two; Thanatos goes to funerals now?"
"Just eat!" Nico shouted. Percy blinked at him, once, twice and then –
"Sir, yes sir!" Percy glanced down at the liquid that had grown stone cold in his hands. "Uh, not sure if this can be drunk or eaten, to be honest," he admitted eye-balling a floating blob of something-that-should-never-be-in-a-living-being's-mouth.
"Don't make me force feed you," Nico warned, only he clearly wasn't as angry as he was trying to be; the smile on his face was evidence enough.
Percy dropped a cautious finger into the stuff, which made a sound like Medusa getting run over by a stampede of Hellhounds. He then, with a quick prayer to anyone and anything he could think of, popped it into his mouth.
"How's that then?" Nico asked sounding for the world like a proud father teaching his son to ride his first bike. An event that strikes most as liberating (Percy didn't think he ever had a bike) and exciting. However, the soup was certainly not 'liberating' in fact there were a lot of other words that could be used to describe the sticky stuff.
Percy gave the most nonplussed look to the Son of Hades that he could possibly conjure up. Why do you ask? Well:
THE SOUP WAS THE WORST THING THAT HAD EVER TOUCHED HIS TONGUE
There, understand now?
It was lumpy and seemed to be dragging itself down his throat, which closed up like a clam for the sake of survival.
"Oh sweet fucking-" Percy spat at the floor – like any good house (hut?) guest – whilst Nico cackled maliciously. "Oh, why me!?" He bemoaned squeezing his eyes into little knots and thinking happy thoughts.
Like killing Nico. And Iapetus. And Damasen. Oh, and whoever created soup.
"What does it taste like?"
"Hmm let me think… oh, it tastes like Empousai spit mixed with Kronos' underwear, Iapetus' toenails, and Tartarus' cologne."
"Uh, yum?"
"No Nico, not yum."
Half of Percy hoped that Nico would tell him he didn't have to finish the whole thing, yet the look in his babysitter's eyes squashed that hope rather quickly.
"If I die, find Hyperion and tell him I was the one who painted his helmet pink whilst he was sleeping." Percy croaked as he raised the bowl closer to his face. True story, and let's say that Hyperion was far from pleased, though it was most definitely worth it.
"Why did you do that?" Nico asked leaning away from him. Percy turned his body towards him and grinned over the rim of the bowl.
"Because he tried to make me do something I didn't want to do," with that he raised the liquid to his poor lips and took a mouthful. Flavours bombarded him and he gagged and covered his mouth. Nico sat inelegantly next to him, having gotten up to dispose of the gun. The boy cackled ruthlessly. Percy longed to punch him but he was in the middle of, you know, trying not to vomit.
He had hardly made a dent in the overall mass of 'soup' he noted with the most remorseful sigh he had ever conjured. Well, that at least he guessed he could be remedied with little tears, at least from him anyhow.
"Sharing is caring!" Percy announced scooping up a handful of the devil's food and slapped it into Nico's still wide-with-laughter mouth.
The effect was instantaneous; Nico's eyes went worryingly wide before he began spitting onto the floor, much like Percy had only moments ago. Percy began to laugh and then found he couldn't stop the hysterics bubbling up his throat.
"Percy, I want to make this abundantly clear to you," Nico growled, still doubled over in disgust, Percy's laughs began to leave him in peace, "if you weren't injured then you would be a rotting corpse right now, got it?"
"Oh Nico, Nico, Nico," Percy shook his head, his laughter lost to the Void. "If I weren't injured then I'd be receiving a postcard from Thanatos at your funeral, you copy?"
Nico gave a remorseful sigh; one that Percy thought could lead to either a truce or an apocalypse, hard to tell which. "Look, let's just throw the rest away then, alright. Admit defeat."
Percy's right eye gave a weird twitch. Because admitting defeat at a bowl of soup was not a thing he'd ever imagined he'd have to do, no matter how foul the stuff was. Also, wasn't the soup supposed to help him or something? It was medicine, wasn't it?
He glanced down at the bowl, it beheld just about three more mouthfuls or poison; he could handle it.
"Being shot hurt, di Angelo, this is nothing." Truth be told, he hardly remembered the bullet except for a second of paralyzing agony. Pain was pain, no matter how big or small.
Nico watched with wide eyes as Percy tipped the stuff to his cracked lips and chugged, like a student during fresher's week at university. For a while, Percy thought that he would manage it in one go, but then that notion seriously got the crap beaten out of it.
He gagged and careened forward so that his head was between his knees. Was that an eyeball? It sure as heck had the texture of one – it even did the pop in his mouth that they were renowned for! How did Percy know this? Well, now that was a very long story.
Nico was saying something, probably unimportant as Percy heaved. The soup didn't do much except make his head swim with disgust. His abdomen still screamed at him, slightly dimmed by the nope, nope, nope coming from his stomach.
Half a mouthful that was all that was left: he could handle it. He was fine, he was fine, and he was fine, fine, fine.
THALIA
"I'm no therapist but I'm gonna assume that there is someone that Percy is mad at," Thalia assessed, sending a not so subtle look Annabeth's way.
"Grow up, Thals," Annabeth scowled at her. Anger bubbled in Thalia's brain but she sent away.
"It's your funeral, remember?" Thalia asked monotonously, Annabeth gave no visible reaction but the shadows closest to her seemed to shudder with laughter, and not the nice kind.
"Guys, come on let's save it for after school," Jason rolled his eyes at them, Thalia was so proud.
"Correct, Grace," Iapetus nodded his head at Jason, who didn't blush or stutter – he just nodded like a wise old wizard.
The walls around them rumbled once again, like someone trying to turn on a lawn mower; having to pull that cord over and over again. Thalia shuddered and wiped her eyes, come on Thalia, keep it together.
They needed to move, that much was obvious, but finding a destination was a whole different matter. For what must have been the first time in nearly a year, Thalia missed Luke. Sure he was an angry person, and more often than not Thalia had gotten irritated over his endless talk of 'the new gods' and 'out with the old and in with the youth'. Yet he was resourceful and level-headed in sticky situations, and Thalia missed that.
No one spoke for a long time – a relief. Then Damasen gave a curse, one that Thalia stowed away for later. "He's not coming for us!"
"What?" Iapetus blinked at his friend. Thalia stared at Damasen, a pit opening in her stomach. Oh, was that a pun? Pit = Tartarus? She'd ask Percy when she saw him next; he was good with puns.
"He saw us here dilly-dallying and came to a rather obvious conclusion." Iapetus made a go-on motion with his hands but Thalia had already figured it out.
"Percy isn't with us." She whispered.
Shit.
NICO
Nico wasn't sure whether to punch Percy or get on his knees in respect, neither seemed entirely appropriate given the situation.
"Nico," Percy whispered, voice rough as sandpaper. Nico turned to him.
"Yeah,"
"What's that smell," Nico thought that Percy was joking, given that the only thing that he could smell was the poorly named soup. Except it wasn't, there was another thing just lingering beneath it.
"It smells like flesh," Percy muttered, looking dead ahead. Nico followed his gaze to the barricaded door.
"Rotten flesh," Nico corrected with a dawning sense of horror.
THALIA
"We have to go back!" Thalia shouted at Iapetus, who did the oh-so-kind with of ignoring her. Thalia gnawed on her lower lip before stealing herself and marching right up into the Titan's face. "Take. Us. Back."
"It's too late," Damasen answered. Though Thalia wasn't remotely interested in what the Giant had to say, her focus was on the so-called friend of Percy's and him alone.
"TAKE US BACK!" She shouted raising her fist, at her side Piper made an aborted move towards her. To support or to restrain, that was the question.
"Thalia," Piper's voice was lava, and Thalia was Pompeii, ready to be burnt. "Stand down."
"You said that he'd be safe," Thalia ignored the fire, instead opting to glare at a being older than she'd ever be able to comprehend.
"He's never known 'safe', Thalia Grace." Iapetus spat. "And thanks to you lot, he never will."
PERCY
"We need to go," Nico noted. Percy turned to him, furious.
"Oh, you don't eff-ing say?" He felt kind of bad; Nico had been nothing but helpful and a tad annoying.
"I thought they couldn't get here!" Nico spluttered as Percy stood, the soup still clutch in the crook of his arm. He wasn't going to let it go, he knew it would be a weapon if needed.
"I didn't think they could," Percy admitted. Damasen had always been adamant that his dwelling was the safest place in Tartarus, and that Percy was always to go there if he needed to recuperate himself for a while. Did he lie? No, Damasen was many things but he'd never lied to Percy.
"I don't understand," Nico shook his head ruefully, "I thought that Kronos couldn't find you anymore. I thought you, you know, broke the chain," Percy wished that Nico would understand without him needed to say it allowed. He wished a great many things.
"A dog may rip the leash out of its owner's hand," Percy shrugged reaching down for a bow (of the only weapon in the vicinity was a bow, what with his luck), "but it's still only free until it's too tired to run any longer."
Nico drew a dark looking sword, only that he ran his hand down, like waking a sleeping dragon for its slumber. "Are you ok to fight?"
It took a couple heartbeats to realize that the question was directed at Percy, not Nico's sword. "I don't really have a choice do I?" The squelch of armored boats in the water got louder until it drowned out Percy's thoughts.
Nico raised his arm, whilst Percy knocked an arrow. They must've looked quite the pair, what with Percy barely able to support his own weight and Nico skeletal as an old king.
"You have no choice, but that doesn't mean we'll lose," Nico's voice was a force to be reckoned with, Percy decided.
"Someone must lose, di Angelo." Percy reasoned, breathing already more uneven than he liked.
"So someone must win too, Raider."
Raider never lost a fight; Raider couldn't feel the phantom pain of a wound.
Raider would tear Nico apart, but what choice did they have, risks were risks no matter how calculated they were made out to be.
The door splintered like a fist in glass, and so it began.
Nico didn't move to strike yet, but by his side, Percy released arrow after arrow as glowing eyes peered at them through new cracks. He must've shot twenty by the time Nico finally decided to lend a hand and slashed at the molten flesh reaching for them.
"What the Hades are these things?" Nico shouted. Percy didn't have the breath to berate him for using a god's name before his quiver ran out and he cursed instead.
"No clue," His voice was strained at the inky fingers of Raider caressed the back of his mind, Raider wanted to do this, that much was clear. Heck, Percy and Raider were so similar it was hardly worth giving his other conscious another name. Percy 2.0 wanted to lead for once, there that was a better name.
"Hold on a sec," Nico instructed whilst Percy swung a bundle of who knows what at the door, still standing protectively over his almost finished bowl of slime.
"Holding on!" Percy shouted back as he continued to throw things at the skeletal hands reaching for them, a few minutes; that was all they had left.
"There's water outside!" Nico screamed at him as he swiped at a rouge hand. Well thanks for the update, Percy thought bitterly before it struck him. Ah, well, that was rather convenient.
Percy reached deep for that familiar feeling of home and safety that he always felt when he used his powers; he fought to find that salty breeze that accompanied it.
He let out a roar at the whole building shuddered as the hands suddenly recoiled back. Outside there was a sound that would most certainly be heard during a battle between gods and monsters.
Nico, being an awful lot closer to the door than Percy was, let out a string of curses.
Percy, guided by some otherworldly instinct, scooped up his discarded, but miraculously in-tack bowl and drank the final drops of liquid. However, he didn't swallow it, not even as he felt His presence, one that always came with the promise of humiliation and scars.
Nico stumbled back until the two of them were shoulder to shoulder against Him.
Percy's mouth began to burn, times up, he thought as he spat the liquid back into the bowl. Nico gave him a very weird look.
He should've had more faith, really. After all, in the bowl there was no longer the most hideous thing known to them. Instead, there was a supernatural-green substance, also known as their salvation.
"Holy shit," Nico breathed. "Is that-?"
"Yeah," Percy interrupted as he heard the footsteps get closer and closer. "Greek Fire,"
The most destructive military weapon known the man, maybe Iapetus was smarter than Percy thought.
Pacing was a bit off in this chapter, but eh I'm tired to it'll do. And let's just pretend that Greek Fire is less common than it seems to be in canon, because its really awesome and i dont want it over used.
Ok, sorry again for the delay, I've been so busy. Next one will be faster I promise. Some dark stuff is gonna go down in the next few chapter so if you have any concerns drop a comment and I'll try to sort it out, but i want to emphasis that Kronos is his fathers son, and that means that Percy isn't gonna get away with what he's done.
Anyone else pumped for Ship of the Dead, because I sure as hell am! I fricking love the Magnus Chase books.